9/4/2020 David Graeber, anthropologist and architect of Occupy Wall Street, dies at 59 - CBS News
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David Graeber, anthropologist and architect of Occupy Wall Street, dies at 59
S E P T E M B E R 3 , 2 0 2 0 / 3 : 3 8 P M / C B S / A P
Anthropologist David Graeber, who worked on the initial stages of the Occupy Wall Street movement, has died in Venice at 59, his agent said.
A professor of anthropolo y at the London School of Economics, Graeber studied anarchism and anti-capitalist movements, and challenged the world to consider the plight of the Kurds in the Middle East. His agent, Melissa Flashman, on Thursday announced his death.
Graeber authored many books skewering aspects of modern society, including "Debt: The First 5,000 Years." He is perhaps best known for his role in the Occupy Wall Street movement, a grassroots response to the 2008 nancial crisis that highlighted the domination of the economy by the richest 1% of the population.
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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/david-graeber-dies-59-occupy-wall-street/ 1/6 9/4/2020 David Graeber, anthropologist and architect of Occupy Wall Street, dies at 59 - CBS News
While Graeber is often credited with the slogan "We are the 99%," he said on his website it was a communal e ort.
"I did rst suggest that we call ourselves 'the 99%,'" he wrote. "Then two Spanish indignados and a Greek anarchist added the 'we' and later a food-not-bombs
veteran put the `are' between them. And they say you can't create something worthwhile by committee!"
Activist and anthropologist David Greaber speaks in Vienna in 2012. F L I C K R / I N T E R N A Z
Born in New York, Graeber taught at Yale University before moving on to Goldsmiths, the University of London and nally the London School of Economics. Tributes poured out across social media from fellow academics, former politicians and publishers.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/david-graeber-dies-59-occupy-wall-street/ 2/6 9/4/2020 David Graeber, anthropologist and architect of Occupy Wall Street, dies at 59 - CBS News
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"He was monstrously original," essayist Nassim Nicholas Taleb wrote.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb @nntaleb
David Graeber
He was a real intellectual; very real: not one fake cell in his brain, not one fake bone in his body.
He thought independently.
He was monstrouly original.
He had intellectual courage.
The world seems much much smaller today than before Sep 2.
David, RIP 1:20 PM · Sep 3, 2020
4.8K 973 people are Tweeting about this
The anarchist collective CrimethInc called him "a brilliant and wide-ranging thinker and an indomitable anarchist who saw freedom even in the workings of electrons." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/david-graeber-dies-59-occupy-wall-street/ 3/6 9/4/2020 David Graeber, anthropologist and architect of Occupy Wall Street, dies at 59 - CBS News
CrimethInc. @crimethinc
It breaks our hearts to report the passing of our friend and comrade David Graeber, a brilliant and wide-ranging thinker and an indomitable anarchist who saw freedom even in the workings of electrons.
Please read something he wrote today. For example:
thebaffler.com/salvos/whats-t…
10:30 AM · Sep 3, 2020
1.8K 683 people are Tweeting about this
First published on September 3, 2020 / 3:38 PM
© 2020 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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