A grassroots jubilee: Debt resister Thomas Gokey
Thomas Gokey, who has taught art at Syracuse University and is a former student at Bethel Seminary, was one of the organizers of Strike Debt, part of the debt resistance movement. An affiliated organization, the Rolling Jubilee, bought more than $17 million worth of student loan debt with $107,000 in donated funds—and then abolished that debt. The organization has now purchased nearly $32 million of debt. In February, Strike Debt launched a “debt strike.” Former students of the now-defunct Corinthian Colleges are refusing to pay back their loans on moral grounds.
How did the idea for the Rolling Jubilee develop?
During the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in Zuccotti Park in New York, some people recognized that debt is one way that Wall Street occupies our lives; it is a tie that binds the 99 percent. In classic Gandhian-style nonviolent action, you figure out how you are cooperating with injustice, then find creative ways to stop.
