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Debt is a tie that binds the 99%. As individuals, families, and cities, most of us are drowning in debt to Wall St. for the basic things we need to live. Even those of us who do not have personal debt are affected by predatory lending, like from cases of “mistaken identities.” Our essential public services are cut because our cities and towns are held hostage by the same big banks that have been bailed out by our government in recent years.
We are NOT a loan. Strike Debt came from a coalition of Occupy groups looking to build popular resistance to all forms of debt imposed on us by the finance industry. Debt keeps us isolated, ashamed and afraid. We are building a movement to challenge this system while creating alternatives and supporting each other. We want an economy where our debts are to our friends, families and communities.
One project from Strike Debt is Rolling Jubilee - a bailout of the people, by the people. Jubilee comes from many faith traditions including Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and is an event in which all debts are canceled and all those in bondage are set free. It is why many progressive faith groups in the West Coast partnered up with Strike Debt and Occupy, seeing this as an opportunity to live out their spirituality relevantly.
Banks sell debt for pennies on the dollar on a shadowy market of collection agencies who then turn around and try to collect the full amount from debtors. Rolling Jubilee intervenes by buying debt, keeping it away from collectors, and then abolishing it. Occupy is going into this market on a national scale not to make a profit but to help each other out and highlight how the predatory debt system affects our families and communities. And it’s been highly successful: to date, they have raised $595,446; enough to abolish nearly $11.9 MILLION worth of debt.
Strike Debt first started in NYC, and has now spread all over the US. – to San Francisco, Philadelphia, Detroit, Denver, Chicago, Minneapolis, and other cities. It’s time for Portland to join the list to strike back against debt.
If you can donate, organize, give insider access, or say “NO” to your debt, YOU can make this happen.
Join us at our 2nd Strategy Meeting; MON., JULY 8 at the Bula Kava House, starting @ 6:30 PM. Sign up for our e-newsletter here. Contact us for any questions, comments or concerns, and ask us how to get copies of our new, 3-fold brochure for you to share to family and friends. Get informed and educate others, to start planting the seed now – while it’ll take months before it’s in full bloom, there is so much potential here, and the benefit, immense.