We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Debtor's Revolution: Are Debt Strikes Another Possible Tactic in the Fight Against the Big Banks?

Click here to access article by Sarah Jaffe from AlterNet. 
What does it mean to stop cooperating with the banks? Some activists, organizers, and technologists think the answer might be mass refusal to pay debts.
This is another creative idea coming out of Occupy Wall Street movement that needs further study. It looks like a major weapon that, if properly organized, could threaten the major banks and their overlords who constitute the very nerve center of capitalist rule. Social technology seems to exist to be able to create the organization necessary to pull this off.  

However, the use of this tactic would constitute a declaration of war on the capitalist class, and thus should be undertaken with an awareness about all that this implies. On the other hand, I don't see that many people have much of a choice: it's either live out the rest of their lives as debt slaves or wage war.