Forgive Us Our Debts: How Debt Collective Helps Abolish Financial Servitude

Debt Collective Branched Off From Occupy Wall Street and Unifies Debtors in Mutual Aid for Collective Liberation.

Photo by Debt Collective via Instagram 

One of the most enduring legacies of Occupy Wall Street is the Debt Collective, formed in response to the staggering levels of personal debt that plague millions of Americans—especially people of color, women, and students. DC was born out of Occupy’s “Strike Debt” initiative, which emerged as activists recognized that financial institutions wield immense power over people's lives. This power is not just through Wall Street speculation but also through the massive accumulation of personal debt because employers systematically steal wages and price gouges.

What kind of society allows a few to hoard vast resources while those who do the work receive only a fraction of their labor's value? Extracting wealth from communities only serves to deepen inequality. These parasitic systems provide just enough for workers to survive, ensuring they return to work, while the elite live in opulence, indifferent to the struggles of the masses. This system keeps us unable to afford necessities, and their so-called solution is offering access to loans. This mechanism can be more accurately described as modern-day indentured servitude rather than assistance.

 

Debt as a Tool of Control

Photo by Sergei Bachlakov via Shutterstock

Occupy Wall Street spotlighted how debt functions as a tool of social control, trapping individuals in poverty cycles while the wealthy reap enormous benefits. Our debts are assets to the pigs up top. A capitalist society like ours often encourages people to blame the poor for their struggles, obscuring the role of those who exploit labor and underpay workers. In response, the Debt Collective organized around the idea that debt could be collectively resisted. Their slogan, "You are not a loan," emphasizes the need for solidarity among debtors to challenge the financial system and refuse to pay unfair, exploitative debts.

Today, personal debt continues to ensnare many people. In the 1960s, the U.S. provided essentials like tuition-free public college education, but this began to erode under neoliberal policies. President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration introduced a federally-backed student loan program, marking the beginning of a shift. This coincided with the integration of women and black people into higher education.

Public institutions were gradually defunded, leading to service decline. This decline was then used to justify privatizing essential services—student loans being a prime example. By the time I was born in the 1990s, the student debt crisis was in full swing, with universities and loan providers exploiting guaranteed income by raising tuition and spending irresponsibly.

Despite the rhetoric of liberty, our leaders resist the changes that younger generations demand. Burdening millennials and future generations with debt hampers our ability to drive societal change. While older generations blame millennials for today’s societal ills, they neglect to mention how they drank Reagan’s Kool-Aid and pulled up the economic ladder behind them. The hippie generation, once a symbol of radical change, has largely sold out, holding onto power while accusing us of destroying a society they built. It’s time for them to retire and allow new leadership to emerge.

 

Mutual Aid through Debt Abolition

Photo by Sergei Bachlakov via Shutterstock

The Debt Collective exemplifies mutual aid by committing to communal resistance against debt rather than leaving individuals to struggle alone. Through organizing "debt strikes" and advocating for debt forgiveness, the group embodies mutual aid principles—standing in solidarity to alleviate the unjust burdens imposed by the financial system. Corporations get more rights than flesh-and-blood people do. Debt Collective has empowered people to see that their struggles are shared and that collective action can challenge powerful institutions.

One of the group's most notable successes came in 2015 with the Corinthian Colleges debt strike. Students scammed by this for-profit institution banded together, refusing to pay their loans. With the Debt Collective's support, they successfully organized and secured $1 billion in loan relief from the Department of Education. This victory demonstrates how mutual aid can spark system-wide change, challenging oppressive structures like the student debt system, not just providing immediate relief.

What we need is mass debt forgiveness. Ironically, many who call the U.S. a Christian nation refuse to practice the biblical concept of Jubilee—debt forgiveness every seven years. While President Biden paid lip service to the idea of student loan forgiveness, we must remember that he played a pivotal role in legislation that prevents student loans from being discharged in bankruptcy. The paltry forgiveness of public servant loans and schools that defrauded students was the expectation anyway.

Meanwhile, billions were forgiven under the Paycheck Protection Program, benefiting large businesses when it was meant to save jobs. Yet, when the idea of relieving student debt arises, it sparks widespread outrage. If we collectively stop paying our student loans, the federal government will be forced to reckon with its commitment to backing these debts. The forgiveness of the PPP loans proves they can discharge debt at any time. 

 

A Future Beyond Debt

Photo by Vitalii Vodolazskyi via Shutterstock 

The Debt Collective continues to advocate for full student loan forgiveness, free public college, and the abolition of medical debt. These initiatives are directly tied to Occupy Wall Street’s broader message of challenging economic inequality and promoting systems of mutual care. By organizing debtors into a collective force, the Debt Collective seeks to build a world where education, healthcare, and basic human needs are not contingent on taking on insurmountable debt.

Our work goes beyond immediate debt abolition. We must push for better wages, rebuild a robust social safety net, and develop systems that meet people's needs rather than ensnaring them in debt traps. A just and equitable society uplifts and supports all people. While we may have left behind monarchy and feudalism centuries ago, the financial systems in place today serve a similarly exploitative function. But these structures were created by people—and people can dismantle them. Now is the time!

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