Rolling Jubilee

Rolling Jubilee

What is the project?

Rolling Jubilee is a nonprofit organization that formed in 2011 as an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement. They are struggling with debts and they have a goal of building a broad movement, with more effective ways of withstanding debt, and with creating economy that benefits not just the 1%. A jubilee is an event in which all debts are canceled and all those in bondage are set free. “Together we can liberate debtors at random through a campaign of mutual support, good will and collective refusal,” it says on its website, rollingjubilee.org. The idea of this project is to buy up the personal debt of those who are struggling to fulfill their basic needs, like health care or housing.

What do they do?

Rolling Jubilee says that “banks sell debt for pennies on the dollar on a shadowy speculative market of debt buyers who then turn around and try to collect the full amount from debtors.” So the Rolling Jubilee buys these debts and abolishes them.

How it is related to the Occupy Movement?

Occupy Wall street was protest movement against social and economic inequality. Goals of it were a reduction in the influence of corporations on politics, more balanced distribution of income, more and better jobs, bank reform, forgiveness of student loan debt or other relief for indebted students. The Occupy movement has become a global collection of groups working toward similar goals under the Occupy name than an effort to occupy physical spaces. One them was The Rolling Jubilees program of Strike Debt, which is raising money to retire "zombie debt," debt, such as medical bills, that the individual cannot re-pay. As mentioned before one of the goals of Rolling Jubilee project was to create new alternative economy which will be for benefit of all, not only for richest mans.