Uploaded February 2014 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
OR author, NYU professor and Strike Debt activist, Andrew Ross discussed debt refusal with Sarah Jaffe, George Caffentzis, Sarah Ludwig, Pamela Brown and Mike Konczal on Wednesday, February 19 at Brecht Forum.
In his new book, Creditocracy and the Case for Debt Refusal, Ross argues that we are living in the cruel grip of a creditocracy—where the finance industry commandeers our elected governments and where the citizenry have to take out loans to meet their basic needs. The time is ripe for a debtors movement to use moral and legal arguments to bring relief to household debtors, and to create an alternative economy, independent of the debt-money system. What can we learn from the history of debt refusal? What are some of the present challenges in organizing around debt? And how might we imagine a debtors movement for the future?
Creditocracy and the Case for Debt Refusal by Andrew Ross is available now: orbooks.com/catalog/creditocracy
Andrew Ross is Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University, and a social activist. A contributor to The Nation, the Village Voice, New York Times, and Artforum, he is the author of many books, including, most recently, Bird on Fire: Lessons from the World's Least Sustainable City and Nice Work if You Can Get It: Life and Labor in Precarious Times.
Sarah Jaffe is a staff writer at In These Times and the co-host of Dissent magazine's Belabored podcast. Her writings on labor, social movements, gender, media, and student debt have been published in The Atlantic, The Nation, The American Prospect, AlterNet, and many other publications, and she is a regular commentator for radio and television. You can follow her on Twitter @sarahljaffe.
George Caffentzis is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern Maine. He was a founding member of the Midnight Notes Collective and has been working with the Occupy Student Debt Campaign and Strike Debt. He is the author and editor of many books including In Letters of Blood and Fire: Work, Machines, and the Crisis of Capitalism (2013).
Sarah Ludwig is founder and co-director of New Economy Project (formerly known as NEDAP). Since launching the organization in 1995, she has worked with hundreds of grassroots groups to organize and advocate for neighborhood equity and financial justice, and has spoken frequently at community forums and public hearings on a wide range of economic justice matters. In 2000, Sarah co-founded the coalition, New Yorkers for Responsible Lending, which has secured major state-level policy changes and now includes more than 160 organizational members.
Pamela Brown is a columnist for Tidal magazine and an organizer with the People's Investigation of Wall Street. Pam was a founding member of the Occupy Student Debt Campaign and Strike Debt. She has been involved in campaigns and writing projects including the student debt pledge of refusal, the Debt Resistors Operations Manual, the Rolling Jubilee, and Shouldering the Costs. She is currently a doctoral student in Sociology at The New School for Social Research.
Mike Konczal is a fellow with the Roosevelt Institute, where he works on financial reform, unemployment, inequality, and a progressive vision of the economy. His blog, Rortybomb, was named one of the 25 Best Financial Blogs by Time Magazine. His writing has appeared in the Boston Review, The American Prospect, the Washington Monthly, The Nation, Slate and Dissent, and he's appeared on PBS Newshour, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show, CNN, Marketplace and more.
OR author, NYU professor and Strike Debt activist, Andrew Ross discussed debt refusal with Sarah Jaffe, George Caffentzis, Sarah Ludwig, Pamela Brown and Mike Konczal on Wednesday, February 19 at Brecht Forum.
In his new book, Creditocracy and the Case for Debt Refusal, Ross argues that we are living in the cruel grip of a creditocracy—where the finance industry commandeers our elected governments and where the citizenry have to take out loans to meet their basic needs. The time is ripe for a debtors movement to use moral and legal arguments to bring relief to household debtors, and to create an alternative economy, independent of the debt-money system. What can we learn from the history of debt refusal? What are some of the present challenges in organizing around debt? And how might we imagine a debtors movement for the future?
Creditocracy and the Case for Debt Refusal by Andrew Ross is available now: orbooks.com/catalog/creditocracy
Andrew Ross is Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University, and a social activist. A contributor to The Nation, the Village Voice, New York Times, and Artforum, he is the author of many books, including, most recently, Bird on Fire: Lessons from the World's Least Sustainable City and Nice Work if You Can Get It: Life and Labor in Precarious Times.
Sarah Jaffe is a staff writer at In These Times and the co-host of Dissent magazine's Belabored podcast. Her writings on labor, social movements, gender, media, and student debt have been published in The Atlantic, The Nation, The American Prospect, AlterNet, and many other publications, and she is a regular commentator for radio and television. You can follow her on Twitter @sarahljaffe.
George Caffentzis is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern Maine. He was a founding member of the Midnight Notes Collective and has been working with the Occupy Student Debt Campaign and Strike Debt. He is the author and editor of many books including In Letters of Blood and Fire: Work, Machines, and the Crisis of Capitalism (2013).
Sarah Ludwig is founder and co-director of New Economy Project (formerly known as NEDAP). Since launching the organization in 1995, she has worked with hundreds of grassroots groups to organize and advocate for neighborhood equity and financial justice, and has spoken frequently at community forums and public hearings on a wide range of economic justice matters. In 2000, Sarah co-founded the coalition, New Yorkers for Responsible Lending, which has secured major state-level policy changes and now includes more than 160 organizational members.
Pamela Brown is a columnist for Tidal magazine and an organizer with the People's Investigation of Wall Street. Pam was a founding member of the Occupy Student Debt Campaign and Strike Debt. She has been involved in campaigns and writing projects including the student debt pledge of refusal, the Debt Resistors Operations Manual, the Rolling Jubilee, and Shouldering the Costs. She is currently a doctoral student in Sociology at The New School for Social Research.
Mike Konczal is a fellow with the Roosevelt Institute, where he works on financial reform, unemployment, inequality, and a progressive vision of the economy. His blog, Rortybomb, was named one of the 25 Best Financial Blogs by Time Magazine. His writing has appeared in the Boston Review, The American Prospect, the Washington Monthly, The Nation, Slate and Dissent, and he's appeared on PBS Newshour, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show, CNN, Marketplace and more.
