Strike Debt!

You are not a loan.

Strike Debt is a nationwide movement of debt resisters fighting for economic justice and democratic freedom.

Debt is a tie that binds the 99%. With stagnant wages, systemic unemployment, and public service cuts, we are forced to go into debt for the basic things in life — and thus surrender our futures to the banks. Debt is major source of profit and power for Wall Street that works to keep us isolated, ashamed, and afraid. Using direct action, research, education, and the arts, we are coming together to challenge this illegitimate system while imagining and creating alternatives. We want an economy in which our debts are to our friends, families, and communities — and not to the 1%.

The Debt Resisters' Operations Manual

Available Now

The Debt Resisters’ Operations Manual
Available in print and on the web

Read our principles →

Get Involved

Visit a Strike Debt Event

  • Strike Debt Events July 31, 2014
  • Strike Debt Events August 16, 2014
  • Strike Debt Events September 20, 2014
  • Strike Debt Events September 25, 2014
    • September 25, 2014 · Third International Participatory Budgeting Conference

      12:00 am – 12:00 am

      Oakland, September 25-26; Vallejo, September 27 (details to follow)

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      The conference will include over 25 sessions including presentations, panel discussions, and interactive workshops, as well as networking and social opportunities to maximize time for attendees to share, discuss, learn, and collaborate.

      The initial line up already includes the full range of players in participatory budgeting: local officials, PB participants, community organizers, policy experts, researchers, tech developers. On September 27, Vallejo will be holding its first fair to showcase this year's participatory budgeting proposals which we hope will include two from Strike Debt Bay Area.

Current Initiatives

The Rolling Jubilee

We buy debt for pennies on the dollar, but instead of collecting it, we abolish it. We cannot buy specific individuals' debt — instead, we help liberate debtors at random through a campaign of mutual support, good will, and collective refusal. All proceeds go directly to buying and canceling people's debt.

The Debt Resisters’ Operations Manual

Written by a network of activists, writers, and academics, The Debt Resisters’ Operations Manual reveals how the predatory debt system works to increase inequality, undermine democracy, and ruin lives. It provides detailed strategies for fighting common forms of debt and lays out an expansive vision for a societal movement of debt resistance. The full text of the manual is available for free.

The Strike Debt Organizing Kit

Want to build your own Strike Debt chapter? Here's how. The information and advice in this kit can be used by Strike Debt affiliates, or by existing groups who would like to affiliate because they have shared goals. It is a living document, which means it will be revised periodically to reflect the experience and input of new affiliates.

Blog

Coming on September 17 – Rolling Jubilee Debt Buy #4

This time, it’s different. Since the beginning of the Rolling Jubilee campaign, we’ve wanted to buy and abolish student debt. But most student loans are guaranteed by the federal government, and so they are not available for purchase. As part of our effort to buy private, unsecured student loans, we talked to Doug St. Peters, …

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