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CMP is a collection of short case studies from scholars and practitioners from all over the world that explore design, technologies, and engagement approaches social impact media.

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Strike Debt and the Rolling Jubilee: Building a Debt Resistance

EL_News
12 min readApr 6, 2016

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From The Debt Resisters’ Operations Manual:

“There are countless ways to ‘strike’ debt: demanding a people’s bailout and an end to corporate welfare; collectively refusing to pay illegitimate loans; targeting and shutting down collections agencies, payday lenders, or for-profit colleges; regulating loan speculators out of business; reinstating limits on usurious interest rates; defending foreclosed homes; fighting tuition hikes and school budget cuts; resisting austerity policies; fighting militarism, which accounts for half of our nation’s discretionary spending; organizing debtors’ associations and unions; and more. On the constructive side, building an alternative economy run for mutual benefits is a long-term goal.” (Strike Debt 2014, 213)

Strike Debt banner at S17 (Photograph by Chase Wilson in Portland, Oregon, September 17, 2012)

Prehistory of Strike Debt

Building the Movement

“While not a structural solution — and not applicable to student loans — scaled up it could become what David Graeber imagines as a “moving jubilee” capable of both garnering media attention around debtors’ struggles and taking business away from the intermediary companies that profit from hounding and penalizing those unable to pay.” (Ibid.)

The Rolling Jubilee and its Limits

Rolling Jubilee teaser page screenshot shared on Facebook, October 22, 2012
The People’s Bailout, Rolling Jubilee “telethon” Poster

Next Steps

Market-based Activism, Media Activism, or Both?

REFERENCES

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Civic Media Project
Civic Media Project

Published in Civic Media Project

CMP is a collection of short case studies from scholars and practitioners from all over the world that explore design, technologies, and engagement approaches social impact media.

EL_News
EL_News

Written by EL_News

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