According to the anti-oppression framework, you determine what anti-oppression requires by looking at what oppressed people say. To apply this framework you have to first know who the oppressed people are. The framework provides no real guidance on that. You cannot just listen to what oppressed people say about who oppressed people are: once again,… Continue reading The anti-oppression paradox
Author: Matt Bruenig
The Rolling Jubilee and the “economically oppressed”
In reading some of the back and forth on the Rolling Jubilee, I have noticed some folks talking past one another, and I think I know why. There is some legitimate disagreement about who should be regarded as the economically oppressed. While often it is not important really to specifically sketch out that category, the… Continue reading The Rolling Jubilee and the “economically oppressed”
Rolling Jubilee round up
A group calling itself Strike Debt has a new initiative called the Rolling Jubilee. The basic idea is to purchase distressed debt for pennies on the dollar — as collection agencies regularly do — and then cancel the debt. Through this strategy they estimate that they can cancel $20 of debt for every $1 that… Continue reading Rolling Jubilee round up
Class and college
I come down hard some time on student issue activism. I find it very uninteresting, generally misguided, and I worry that it consumes way too much activist time and energy. Don’t get me wrong: I like student activism, just not inward-focused student activism. Students are uniquely situated to do a great deal of organizing work… Continue reading Class and college
One of these things still not like the others
From Sarah Jaffe’s new website: And Elizabeth Warren knows a few things about class war too—she knows that it’s bailouts and bankruptcy law, foreclosures and student loans. If student loans are class war, who is losing? The highest-earning 10 percent of households have the highest mean student debt, followed by the next highest-earning 30 percent… Continue reading One of these things still not like the others