It’s ‘business as usual’ as glass prisons continue to be constructed in London, encasing the ruins of the 1980s in an attempt to put a gloss on the failings of the system. After all, they say, ‘Economic growth is key’. The rest of us have a better handle on reality, […]
Michael Hardt has combined his role as Professor of Literature and Italian at Duke University with political writings and activism. Together with the Italian Marxist Antonio Negri, he has produced an influential critique of our present time. Their trilogy of books – titled “Empire”, “Multitude”, and “Commonwealth” – have been described […]
It seems somehow fitting that we began writing this editorial on the day that Margaret Thatcher died. After over thirty years of neoliberal governance, we are now being subjected to the next malevolent mutation of the state she revolutionised. The neoliberal project has rewritten many of the rules that British […]
Why Strike Debt? Because today most debt is illegitimate and unjust. Most of us fall into debt because we are increasingly deprived of the means to acquire the basic necessities of life: health care, education, and housing. We are forced to go into debt simply in order to live. ‘We […]
Every 5 minutes someone is made bankrupt or insolvent. 105,000 people a year. Half the population of Kensington & Chelsea. Last year average household debt (including mortgages) was £53,786. Enough to heat and power the same house for 45 years. Every hour 4 properties are repossessed. 35,000 a […]
The first signs of a UK movement focusing on debt emerged during a session organised by the OT at the Up the Anti conference on 1 December 2012. Titled ’Are “debt strikes” the future of anticapitalist resistance?’, the session utilised a more participatory format than others during the day. Following an introduction […]
Four million Britons have financed their Christmas using payday loans. This is not a statistic about greed or a lack of ‘personal responsibility’. On average, people have spent less on festivities this year. Instead, the figures point to an economy built upon debt. Unsecured loans with staggeringly high interest rates […]
Every single one of us holds the key to power – debt. Just as coal miners in England used their access to coal to flip the balance of power, so debtors can use their access to credit by declaring a ‘debt strike’, to force a revaluation of the bank stranglehold […]
When we arrived at 7.30am, the NYPD had already locked down much of the centre of New York’s financial district. This prevented some of the more set-piece actions from taking place, such as the “human wall” to block off access to the New York Stock Exchange. Many of us were kettled […]
It’s a shameful thing to be in debt. Once you’re in debt, you’re not supposed to talk about it. It’s your fault. You borrowed too much. You must accept the consequences of your immoral actions, after all, no one forced you to take out that loan. Lenders, on the other […]