This group of posters articulates the way in which debt is a highly politicised issue in contemporary Britain.

Poster: Debt as Social Power Relation

This poster visualizes the many contemporary manifestations of debt in terms of the rich and poor, the Global North and the Global South, debtor prisons, The City versus the regions in Britain, gender dynamics and access to technology.

  • How do people internalise this? – through which lenses, practices, processes?
  • Class based inequality more pronounced when debt thrown in the mix

Poster: Debt as Control

This poster articulates the view that finance is a way of controlling citizens and populations through multiple political, regulatory and legal frameworks.

  • Financial services is an industry of corrupt, thick, greedy people taking what they can while they can
  • How might this be refused?
  • How to make details of exploitation more visible to popular challenge – narrative + memes
  • 2012+2013 bank for international settlements (Cecchetti & Kharroubi) beyond a limited size the financial services sector halters economic development – 2012 emprical evidence, 2013- theoretical analysis
  • Universal citizens income as one policy response
  • New forms of collectivisation required to challenge individualisation
  • They draw on gendered behaviour (e.g. collections agencies target women because they are less mobile due to childcare responsibility)
  • Studies have linked homeownership to (political) conservatism

Poster: Debt and Education

This poster depicts the many facets of which educational debt  influences the wider economy.

  • Do we need to defend education more broadly?
  • Complicity of academics?
  • Grants?
  • Education as highly leveraged investment or “buy now (get) paid later”

Poster: Debtor Publics

This poster explores the idea that new digital and real-life spaces are emerging including; Debt management and debt resistence, spaces and places where people testify about experiences of indebtedness, Community organising campaings (local church groups provide platform to speak to peers/neighbours), Debt forums, you tube, social media, tumblr

  • Burning the Book – Adena Azadeh
  • US Debtors Assemblies- strike debt model
  • Debt Slaves
  • Speak to those in power too
  • LInks to other projects/campaigns

First published May 2014