At The Intercept I have a story about new organizing from The Debt Collective, a group that formed out of Occupy Wall Street with a focus on cancelling mortgage, medical, credit card, and student debt. They’re the group behind the first student debt strike in 2015, and their organizing has led to the federal government cancelling billions so far in federal student loans.
Today they announced two things. They purchased, and then cancelled, $3.2 million in probate debt for 20,000 people living in Mississippi and Florida. They also launched a new online tool to start helping people in California more easily cancel their bail bond debt.
I spoke to one of the 20,000 who learned, out of the blue this month, that his probate debt had been cancelled. I also looked at how this activist group began to see carceral debt as more integral to their organizing than they once did. They’re doing some really exciting work, and their overarching goal is to create a national, or global, union of debtors. You can read about that and the story here!
Thanks a lot and have a great weekend,