Posted 8 years ago on Sept. 9, 2012, 11:54 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt

Tags: nyc, strike debt

This is a reminder to join us TODAY for Strike Debt's inaugural action!

Come with your bills, debt notices, city budgets, and other symbols of debt to burn.

Life After Debt: A Gathering of Refusal

Sunday, September 9th, 4-6pm

East River State Park. 90 Kent Ave at N.8th Street.

facebook invite

Debt is a way of life; it is the bedrock of a rotten system. From birth, we're told that in order to achieve success, we have to get into debt. This happens to individuals, towns, cities and countries alike. It affects us all, whether we actually have debt or not. Some of us take out huge mortgages and student loans under the assumption that doing so will allow us to achieve the elusive dream of success. We buy things we can't afford and work jobs we don't want, striving towards promises of success that seem to be getting emptier by the day. Despite our best efforts, we struggle to find meaningful work, secure housing, and accessible healthcare. We've been buying into the system, but getting very little in return. Meanwhile, banks and credit card companies get rich off our debts and the debts of our communities. Our labor props up a system based on illusory rewards, and we find that we have less and less time for our lives and each other.

It's time to turn our backs on this system of debt and create something new in its place. In a gesture echoing the draft card burnings of the 1960's, we will be burning symbols of debt to express our refusal to be conscripted into a life of exploitative work and empty consumerism.

Being in debt can make us feel alone, trapped and inadequate, hopeless in the face of endless bills and service cuts. But debt can also bring us together. We believe we can be free if we invest in one another, rather than in a system that seeks only to take from us. Burning our debts is a celebration of that possibility.

Join us on Sunday, September 9th, at 4pm in East River State Park as we burn our debts and share our stories and hopes for the future. Together, we can step out of the shadows and light the way towards something better.

Let's imagine life after debt.

Wear your Sunday best. Refreshments will be served.

About Strike Debt:

Strike Debt is a network of students, artists, academics, and organizers who are sparking conversations about how debt affects us all and what we can do about it. Through militant research, direct action, and mutual support, we are exploring ways that we can break the chains of debt and create new bonds of solidarity.