The Rolling Jubilee project and the Strike Debt initiative aim to leverage the debt collection system as a tool for direct action and mutual aid. We buy defaulted debt for pennies on the dollar, just as debt collectors would, but instead of attempting to collect it, we abolish it. For every dollar of defaulted debt we buy, $20 of debt will be abolished. This program launches on Thursday November 15th with a The People’s Bailout, a live “telethon” event in NYC – where the goal is to raise $50,000, every penny of which will go toward abolishing $1,000,000 of defaulted medical debt. (In general, you cannot buy the debt of individuals. Rather, you have to buy categories of debt either by geography–folks in a given zip code, for example–or by category–medical debt, credit card debt, etc.)
There will be a livestream simulcast of the telethon this Thursday November 15th at 5 PM upstairs at the Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library at 6501 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA 94609. Hannah Appel will host the livestream event and has a box of Debt Resistors Operations Manuals to distribute, so we can start talking about debt as a broad platform for resistance and direct action, and maybe get a Strike Debt working group going.Please contact Hannah if you would like to help organize this event! hannah.appel AT berkeley DOT edu
The People’s Bailout, a variety show and telethon to benefit the 99%:
w/ Janeane Garofalo , Lizz Winstead , Max Silvestri , Hari Kondabolu , David Rees , The Yes Men , John Cameron Mitchell , Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel, Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Guy Picciotto of Fugazi, Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio , Climbing Poetree , the Invisible Army of Defaulters , members of Healthcare for the 99% , Occupy Faith , and many more
Thu., November 15, 2012 at 8:00 PM (5:00 PST)
After we have purchased and successfully abolished this $1,000,000 worth of debt, those whose debt was abolished will be notified with a letter that explains:
(1) That their debt has been abolished, and how that was done
(2) How to contact credit agencies to make sure the debt cancellation is reflected in their credit score
(3) How they can pay some of the jubilee forward, to abolish others also in debt. This is the “rolling” aspect of the jubilee.
NEXT STEPS/HOW TO HELP
- ‘Like’ the StrikeDebt Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Strike-Debt/244850825627699
- Share the Rolling Jubilee event page: http://www.facebook.com/events/394920527248194/
- Follow @StrikeDebt on Twitter (we’re almost at 1,000 followers!)
- Consider loaning your twitter or FB account to for a once-a-day blast: http://donateyouraccount.com/StrikeDebt (choose ‘Gold’ level)
- Once you’ve done that, make some buzz! Try to post a few times a day about the Jubilee. Every single post counts. Here are some sample posts: http://bit.ly/RJSampleTweets. Feel free to copy and paste, or customize to your own liking. Just make sure to include the website www.rollingjubilee.org, and the hashtags #PeoplesBailout and #RollingJubilee, if you can.
- Email your friends and ask them to do all of the above, too. Here are some articles you can use to get the conversation going:
Rolling Jubilee: will it work?
New Statesman
For really troublesome debt, sometimes that value can shrink to pennies in the pound – hence the Rolling Jubilee’s plan, to buy $16,000 of debt for every $500 they raise (that is, $32 for $1). That’s how it works. But will it work? Maybe. The legal mechanics of…
A new project to buy up and forgive thousands of dollars worth of debt is, at the …
Salon
Occupy and Strike Debt plan to do the latter on a large scale. The Rolling Jubilee campaign, also dubbed “The People’s Bailout,” kicks off with a good-ole-fashioned fundraiser telethon in New York on Nov. 15 with big name musicians including Jeff Mangum …
Occupy Wall Street Launches ‘Rolling Jubilee‘ To Buy Up And Forgive Debt
ThinkProgress
Members of Occupy Wall Street — various branches of which have recently been saving families from foreclosure and aiding victims of Hurricane Sandy — have launched a new initiative. Coined the “Rolling Jubilee,” Occupiers are raising money to buy …
People’s bailout: A social innovation you won’t have heard about before…
Slugger O’Toole
Now, after many consultations with attorneys, the IRS, and our moles in the debt-brokerage world, we are ready to take theRolling Jubilee program LIVE and NATIONWIDE, buying debt in communities that have been struggling during the recession. Hey, it’s …
Occupy Wall Street Wants to Buy and Forgive Your Debt
Gawker
Occupy Wall Street’s visibility may have been reduced in recent months, but that’s only because the movement has been working hard under-the-radar to launch the next big phase of its protest: The People’s Bailout. As part of a new initiative called “TheRolling Jubilee,” Occupy Wall Street-affiliated operatives at Strike Debt have been coordinating with attorney, the IRS, and “our moles in the debt-brokerage world” to buy up distressed debt from lenders at bargain basement prices in order to forgive it. “To head off one …
Telethon Will Raise Funds to Buy, Then Cancel, Consumer Debt
Bank Technology News
Strike Debt, a movement that emerged from the Occupy Wall Street movement, announced plans Friday to stage a variety show and telethon to raise money to buy and cancel consumer debt. The event, which is slated for Nov. 15, will benefit “The Rolling Jubilee,” a project that organizers say can raise awareness of what the group describes as predatory debt practices, debt resistance and mutual aid. “We buy debt for pennies on the dollar, but instead of collecting it, we abolish it,” Strike Debt says on its website.
Occupy Wall Street campaigners buy-up debt to abolish it
The Rolling Jubilee project is seeking donations to help it buy-up distressed debts, including student loans and outstanding medical bills, and then wipe the slate clean by writing them off. Individuals or companies can buy distressed debt from lenders at …
Debt Buyers May See Competition from Occupy Wall Street
InsideARM
Occupy Wall Street (OWS) formally announced the launch of The Rolling Jubilee, a program intended to raise money to purchase consumer debt and then forgive that debt. The program is currently in fundraising stages, but the group said that it has already ..
Warren and Grayson bring Occupy to Congress
Washington Post (blog)
If Cole Porter were alive today he’d say that Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was “just one of those things” that was “too hot not to cool down.” The loosely affiliated band of people fed up with the excesses of financial institutions saw their influence spread around …
Occupy Wall Street buys up and cancels debt
The Economic Voice
‘Strike Debt‘ is running a variety show and Telethon on November 15th to launch The Rolling Jubilee. This move will not hurt the banks, they will still get the pennies in the pound/dollar that they would normally get. But it will kick those companies that normally …
43572
Raising money in order to throw it away on creditors?
I dunno.