EDIT: Show's over – with enough raised to abolish over $5,000,000 of debt! Keep the Jubilee rolling: click here to donate!
Join Strike Debt for an updated version of an old classic, the telethon, to launch The Rolling Jubilee, a campaign that buys debt for pennies on the dollar and does away with it. Instead of collecting the debt, we will abolish it and help free the debtors!
People shouldn’t have to go into debt for an education, because they need medical care, or to put food on the table during hard times. We shouldn’t have to pay endless interest to the 1% for basic necessities. Big banks and corporations walk away from their debts and leave taxpayers to pick up the tab. It’s time for a bailout of the people, by the people.
It will be a wild night of music, comedy, magic, education, and the unexpected. This fast-moving variety show will mix well-known performers, intellectuals and activists from Strike Debt and Occupy Wall Street.
THE PEOPLE’S BAILOUT will feature music, comedy, education, magic, and the unexpected. Special guests include Janeane Garofalo, Lizz Winstead, Hari Kondabolu, David Rees, actor/director John Cameron Mitchell, Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel, Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Guy Picciotto of Fugazi, Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio, Climbing Poetree, the Invisible Army of Defaulters, Holistic, Kool A.D. and Dapwell of Das Racist, The Music Tapes, Rude Mechanical Orchestra, members of Healthcare for the 99%, Occupy Faith, and many more.
$25 (abolishes an estimated $500 worth of debt)
$50 (abolishes an estimated $1000 worth of debt)
$100 (abolishes an estimated $2000 worth of debt)
$250 (abolishes an estimated $5000 worth of debt)
It’s finally time to tell you about our exciting new project, “The Rolling Jubilee” (www.rollingjubilee.org). The basic premise is simple: people shouldn’t have to go into debt for an education, because they need medical care, or because they have to put food on the table during hard times.
No politician is going to fix this.
The Rolling Jubilee is a bailout of the people by the people - we buy defaulted debt for pennies on the dollar, but instead of collecting it, we abolish it. Our goal for the launch is to raise $50,000, which will likely allow us to abolish more than $1,000,000 dollars worth of personal debt. The more money we raise, the more debt we can abolish. Donations can be made online at rollingjubilee.org beginning around November 15.
More details will be released as we get closer to the launch.
THE PEOPLE’S BAILOUT – TICKETS ON SALE TODAY!
This campaign will launch on November 15th with THE PEOPLE'S BAILOUT, a telethon and variety show at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City. There will be music, comedy, education, magic and more. Confirmed guests include: comedian Janeane Garofalo, Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead, actor/director John Cameron Mitchell ('Hedwig and the Angry Inch'), comedian Hari Kondabolu, David Rees ('Get Your War On'), Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel, Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Guy Picciotto of Fugazi, Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio, and more. (Download Poster at https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/46531_297288527050595_1862553266_n.jpg)
** N.B. Events at EFA coincide wth "TO HAVE AND TO OWE" an exhibition on how we understand and experience debt, as well as EFA sponsored artist open studio tours!
This is a reminder to join us TODAY for Strike Debt's inaugural action!
Come with your bills, debt notices, city budgets, and other symbols of debt to burn.
Life After Debt: A Gathering of Refusal
Sunday, September 9th, 4-6pm
East River State Park. 90 Kent Ave at N.8th Street. facebook invite
Debt is a way of life; it is the bedrock of a rotten system. From birth, we're told that in order to achieve success, we have to get into debt. This happens to individuals, towns, cities and countries alike. It affects us all, whether we actually have debt or not. Some of us take out huge mortgages and student loans under the assumption that doing so will allow us to achieve the elusive dream of success. We buy things we can't afford and work jobs we don't want, striving towards promises of success that seem to be getting emptier by the day. Despite our best efforts, we struggle to find meaningful work, secure housing, and accessible healthcare. We've been buying into the system, but getting very little in return. Meanwhile, banks and credit card companies get rich off our debts and the debts of our communities. Our labor props up a system based on illusory rewards, and we find that we have less and less time for our lives and each other.
It's time to turn our backs on this system of debt and create something new in its place. In a gesture echoing the draft card burnings of the 1960's, we will be burning symbols of debt to express our refusal to be conscripted into a life of exploitative work and empty consumerism.
Being in debt can make us feel alone, trapped and inadequate, hopeless in the face of endless bills and service cuts. But debt can also bring us together. We believe we can be free if we invest in one another, rather than in a system that seeks only to take from us. Burning our debts is a celebration of that possibility.
Join us on Sunday, September 9th, at 4pm in East River State Park as we burn our debts and share our stories and hopes for the future. Together, we can step out of the shadows and light the way towards something better.
Let's imagine life after debt.
Wear your Sunday best. Refreshments will be served.
About Strike Debt:
Strike Debt is a network of students, artists, academics, and organizers who are sparking conversations about how debt affects us all and what we can do about it. Through militant research, direct action, and mutual support, we are exploring ways that we can break the chains of debt and create new bonds of solidarity.
