Demanding Debt Relief


With Dissent and Jacobin’s student debt panel coming up this Saturday, I visited the Occupy Student Debt Campaign’s website. The group headlines four “principles”:

  1. Tuition-Free Public Higher Education

  2. Zero-Interest Student Loans

  3. Private Colleges Must Open Their Books

  4. Student Debt Written Off In The Spirit of Jubilee

The accompanying text notes that the campaign is “translating the precepts and working ideals of the Occupy movement into an initiative for action.” The four action points are inclusive and eminently reasonable in the social democratic sense: they’re achievable within capitalism, but still manage to challenge corporate power, decommodify an important social good, and improve the lives of millions in the process.

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