Search Results for debt

Lisa Bigeleisen Debt doesn’t need to be isolating—it can be a platform for collective action. The first step is coming out about our debts. More

Daniel Arauz Wearing “hello, my debt is …” nametags, activists take part in a Debtors Assembly in East Oakland, California. More

In the world of biblical Israel, one would go into debt only “if one didn’t have enough food, perhaps because one’s family had to eat next year’s seed grain in order to survive,” Borg writes. Today the situation is much different. How might the Jubilee laws be adapted? Pixabay Public Domain More

Caitlin Ng ( caitlinng.com ) Taken alone, debts are individual problems. But when lumped together, they are a systemic threat. The threat of mass debt refusal could usher in a contemporary Jubilee. Illustration by Caitlin Ng. More

Joe Alterio ( joealterio.com ) The Rolling Jubilee is a good consciousness-raising tool—it buys debt for pennies on the dollar and then abolishes it. Now activists are taking the next step: organizing toward a debt strike. More

Creative Commons/notanalternative ( notanalternative.org .) Did you know that debt cancellation is the biblical norm, not the exception? Occupy Faith’s next big project is a rolling jubilee to abolish debt and uproot internalized capitalism. More

Olivia Wise ( oliviawisestudio.com ) Millions will remain chained to their college debt for decades to come. What is called for is liberation, not “forgiveness.” Illustration by Olivia Wise. More

Creative Commons/Mistvan This Tibetan illustration depicts samsara—the indefinitely repeated cycles of birth, misery, and death caused by karma. The Buddha uses freedom from debt as a metaphor for liberation from samsara. More

Creative Commons/Vincent van Gogh People who lose jobs at midlife “stay unemployed longer and earn much less afterward,” the author writes. Those who fail to re-enter the workforce may enter old age in debt, often blaming themselves for what should be understood as a structural problem. Old Man More