Listen to full episode :
In this episode, I’m joined by Julio Linares, author of Decolonizing Money: The Promise of Abolishing the US Dollar (Pluto Press, 2026), to discuss the colonial roots of the dollar system and what it would mean to envision a decolonized monetary order that prioritizes human flourishing over war, bondage, and ecological destruction. Drawing on a synthesis of anarchist, abolitionist, and Third World Marxist frameworks, this conversation takes a critical look at the current state of the international economic order, and what opportunities and contradictions this conjuncture poses for the project of articulating a democratic and abolitionist theory of money.
About the show:
Return to Bandung is hosted by Pranay Somayajula, an Indian-American writer, researcher, and organizer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His work explores themes of diaspora, (inter)nationalism, anticolonial politics, and the many lives and afterlives of empire. You can learn more about Pranay and read his writing on his website, as well as on his Substack blog, culture shock.
Support Return to Bandung:
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave a review or rating, and subscribe to the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts! If you’re able, please also consider supporting my work—which encompasses both my writing and this podcast, as well as various other political education projects by signing up as a paid subscriber to my Substack or making a one-off contribution:
Sources and helpful links:
Julio Linares — Decolonizing Money: The Promise of Abolishing the US Dollar (Pluto Press, 2026)
Karl Polanyi — The Self-Regulating Market and the Fictitious Commodities: Labor, Land, and Money in The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of our Time (1944)
David Graeber — Toward an Anthropological Theory of Value: The False Coin of Our Own Dreams (Palgrave 2002)
David Graeber — Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology (Prickly Paradigm Press, 2004)
David Graeber — Debt: The First 5,000 Years (Melville House, 2011)
Return to Bandung interview with Radhika Desai on dollar imperialism (April 2025)
W.E.B. Du Bois — The African Roots of War (May 1915)
David Graeber and David Wengrow — The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity (Macmillan, 2021)
Return to Bandung interview with Cira Pascual Marquina and Chris Gilbert on defending Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution (October 2025)
Emma Goldman — Patriotism, a Menace to Liberty (1908)
Social links:
Return to Bandung:
Twitter: twitter.com/returntobandung
Instagram: instagram.com/returntobandung/
Pranay Somayajula:
Twitter: twitter.com/p_somayajula
Instagram: instagram.com/pranay.somayajula/
Website: pranaysomayajula.com/
Substack: culture-shock.xyz/
Basic Income Earth Network:
Twitter: twitter.com/BasicIncomeOrg
Website: basicincome.org/
Debt for Climate:
Twitter: twitter.com/debtforclimate
Instagram: instagram.com/debtforclimate/
Website: debtforclimate.org/