Astra Taylor is cofounder of the Debt Collective and the director of the documentary films What Is Democracy? Zizek! and Examined Life. She has written for The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Baffler, n+1 and other outlets. She is the author of The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age and Democracy May Not Exist, but We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone (Metropolitan Books)
The campaign to buy and abolish debt was never intended to fix the debt crisis by itself. It’s an act of solidarity and an opportunity for public education.
Bereft of their big tent at Zuccotti Park, activists have found a unifying theme in debt.
Unless the movement gets more strategic about its image, it may end up talking to itself.
Banks trying to foreclose on homes are surprisingly vulnerable to direct action—a fact that Occupy Our Homes intends to exploit.