David Graeber has died

[Grizzly]

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/03/david-graeber-anthropologist-and-author-of-bullshit-jobs-dies-aged-59
David Graeber, anthropologist and author of Bullshit Jobs, dies aged 59

The anarchist and author of bestselling books on capitalism and bureaucracy died in a Venice hospital on Wednesday

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24365811

cause of death is not yet known

Yeah, I’m pretty sure tptb, aren't in pain by this...

As this is published in the Guardian, it's fair to point out that David Graeber was very much outspoken against the Guardian in the last couple of years and refused to write for them again.

> as for the Guardian, we will never forget that during the "Labour #antisemitism controversy", they beat even the Daily Mail to include the largest percentage of false statements, pretty much every one, mysteriously, an accidental error to Labour's disadvantage - https://twitter.com/davidgraeber/status ... 5229094912

> these venues only allow people like me on to legitimate themselves; i.e., the Guardian would systematically refuse to allow me to say anything about the Corbyn antisemitism charges, but simultaneously beg me to write about trivial matters like Black Friday. I finally was forced to face up to the reality: they wanted the name of prominent intellectual lefties associated with them so their systematic attacks on the political left would be taken more seriously. We were being used. - https://twitter.com/davidgraeber/status ... 9542401024

> oh I'm definitely not writing for the Guardian again - https://twitter.com/davidgraeber/status ... 2991040512

https://heavy.com/news/2020/09/david-graeber/





Democracy May Not Exist: Astra Taylor and David Graeber
https://www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/events/past/2019/10/democracy-may-not-exist-astra-taylor-and-david-graeber

‘Banks get bailed out, slave owners get bailed out, the people get sold out.’

In her latest book, Astra Taylor – ‘a rare public intellectual, utterly committed to asking humanity’s most profound questions yet entirely devoid of pretensions’ (Naomi Klein) – argues that democracy is not just in crisis, but that real democracy, inclusive and egalitarian, has never existed. Democracy May Not Exist but We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone (Verso) aims to re-examine what we mean by democracy, what we want from it, and understand why it is so hard to realise.

Taylor was in conversation with David Graeber, author of Bullshit Jobs and Professor of anthropology at the London School of Economics.

Podcast https://media.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/2019-10-18-astra-taylor-david-graeber.mp3

[Wombaticus Rex]

In retrospect, pretty much the only honest person involved in #OCCUPY, I definitely have a lot of respect for Graeber.

It's been interesting to see how much of his post-mortem coverage eulogizes him as "the author of Bullshit Jobs" rather than acknowledge his monumental Stephen King sized book about the history of Debt.

I'll be charitable and assume that's unrelated to mass media being totally controlled by the financier globalist ruling class.

[Iamwhomiam]

Democracy Now on Friday aired an interview with Graeber recorded 2 days after Occupy Wall Street began its demonstration in Zuccotti Park.

“We Are the 99%”

https://www.democracynow.org/2020/9/4/rip_david_graeber

Upon the death of acclaimed anthropologist and anarchist David Graeber, we feature his 2011 interview on Democracy Now!, two days after the Occupy encampment began. Graeber helped organize the initial Occupy Wall Street protest and was credited with helping to develop the slogan, “We are the 99%.” “The idea is the system is not going to save us; we’re going to have to save ourselves,” says Graeber. “So, we’re going to try to get as many people as possible to camp in some public place and start rebuilding society as we’d like to see it.” He also discusses how his influential book “Debt: The First 5,000 Years” makes the case for sweeping debt cancellation.

Visit link for Transcript and Video

[kelley]

just spit coffee and now struggling to grasp how this can be

[norton ash]

A shame he won't be here to assess this weird new western world. Universal Basic Income would appear inevitable in sane societies.

[Elvis]

When Debt: The First 5,000 Years came out and there was an RI thread on it, I had by that time about given up on trying to get an accurate framework of money & debt, etc., so I didn't dig in. Now, just after Graeber's death, I clicked on his Google lecture and sort of fell in love. So now I'm catching up on his writings & lectures. I should dig up the old thread.

It's been interesting to see how much of his post-mortem coverage eulogizes him as "the author of Bullshit Jobs" rather than acknowledge his monumental Stephen King sized book about the history of Debt.

I've noticed that, too! And I recall being more drawn to discussions of the Bullshit Jobs book—more relatable, I suppose—than to a big book about Debt.

I think I got the gist of Debt from his lectures, but will try to squeeze in the book later this year.


Watching Graeber's lectures, I want to hand him a comb. But a neatly coiffed David Graeber might not carry the same gravitas.

[PufPuf93]

A shame he won't be here to assess this weird new western world. Universal Basic Income would appear inevitable in sane societies.

Like societies with well structured post-full employment capitalism.

[thrulookingglass]

Capitalism is the beginning of our problems, not the answer to.

[Elvis]

just saw this...

"capitalism seeks to sabotage public abundance in order to generate private riches.

...growthism depends on the perpetual creation of artificial scarcity...

As Giorgos Kallis has put it, “capitalism cannot survive under conditions of abundance”

https://www.jasonhickel.org/blog/2020/9 ... experiment

[Grizzly]

Reflections on Graeber and Wengrow’s ‘Dawn of Everything’

On the day that climate trumps all, who will we be? Perhaps we’ll become what we’ve been.

https://neuburger.substack.com/p/reflections-on-graeber-and-wengrows

[Elvis]

I bought The Dawn of Everything; scheduled to read sometime next year. (It's big!)

Graeber was a threat.