The biblical notion of Jubilee is both strange and radical: after the seventh cycle of seven years, economic chaos is unleashed, and it’s good news for people for whom justice is long overdue.
“This fiftieth year is sacred—it is a time of freedom and of celebration when everyone will receive back their original property, and slaves will return home to their families.” —Leviticus 25:10
An offshoot of Occupy Wall Street, Rolling Jubilee buys debt (for pennies on the dollar) to forgive it. Ultimately, they’d like to abolish debt and “create a new world based on common good, not Wall Street profits.”
Spend some time on their site, read the FAQs, see the stats and watch some of the videos (especially David Harvey’s). It’s compelling, and of course, leads to the conclusion that what we really need is beyond Jubilee: financial reform.
Predatory lending flourishes on an epic scale. In one video, Elizabeth Warren says, “If you cut out the people who are least likely to be able to repay… the most marginal borrowers, the ones who are deepest in trouble, then you are cutting out the heart of [the financial institutions’] profits.”
The online launch party for Rolling Jubilee is November 15.
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