Yale Anthropology Professor and Anarchist, David Graeber on Charlie Rose

Run time: 09:26 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUM5WfO60AA   Posted on YouTube: November 07, 2006 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: June 26, 2007 By DU Member: personman Views on DU: 988

 
Prominent anarchist, anti-globalization activist, and Yale anthropology professor David Graeber speaks with Charlie Rose about anarchy, anthropology, immigration, globalization, and why Yale has decided not to renew his contract.

YouTube only has about half of the interview, a full video of it is available http://www.anarchismtoday.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=11">here.

-personman

Just 'cause.

-personman

An excellent explanation of Anarchism.

Young, smart, well spoken, no crazy reptillian 9/11 overlord bullshit...

With Chomsky and Zinn getting up in age I'd been a bit worried about the future, bit of a relief to be honest.

The one thing virtually all anthropologists understand is that it was the advent of governmental hierarchy and structure and food surpluses that led to an intellectual elite that started humans on the road out of caves and to where we are now.

Obviously everything we have now is not great--but anarchy was what existed for all the time of humankind up until about 10,000 years ago. Always before then people lived to be 25, were hungry and cold and sick most of their lives. Maybe anarchy could do more for us now, but it sure never has done anything for us before.

and I'm with you on not understanding his anarchism. Perhaps he likes anarchy as a means to change into another form of order but anarchy for the sake of anarchy would seem to see us go backwards in evolution, I dunno 10,000 years at least?

That is actually the meaning behind the symbol in my avatar, it's an "A" inside of an "O". I attempted to address some of your other points in my reply to DuaneBidoux.

-personman

"The one thing virtually all anthropologists understand is that it was the advent of governmental hierarchy and structure and food surpluses that led to an intellectual elite that started humans on the road out of caves and to where we are now."

Interesting...I was recently reading a writing by a famous anarchist from about 150 years or so ago, don't recall which exactly, but he stated something along the lines of "Anarchism may in the future, prove as necessary as the systems of domination and coercion have been in the past."

"Obviously everything we have now is not great--but anarchy was what existed for all the time of humankind up until about 10,000 years ago. Always before then people lived to be 25, were hungry and cold and sick most of their lives. Maybe anarchy could do more for us now, but it sure never has done anything for us before."

Most anarchists I've talked to or read advocate a directly democratic-progressive-libertarian-left path of some sort, that is at least in my admittedly largely unqualified opinion, progressive and more fitting of an advanced society, and not a descent back to the stone age.

IMO, in some ways, anarchism is to government what atheism is to religion. A rejection of faith thinking and submission to authority and an embrace of logic and reason. Trust in this machine we call government is faith on a level that should make the most rabid conservative fundamentalist loon holler, "GODDAMN!!! They believe the FUCK out of that SHIT!" :)

-personman

Edit:

Admittedly, I'm no expert... and even some of the people who are, within and around the anarchist movement, are extremely cautious about making predictions of what shape a future large scale anarchistic society might take, because they believe the way must be found through trial and error experimentation, scientific method, reason and logic, etc. It's probably messy, but so is "Do what we say or we beat you with a stick."

Hmm, I must have pulled this out of my ass because I can't seem to find it anywhere...

I'll keep looking though because I'm curious.