Brad’s Reviews > Social Movements and the Politics of Debt: Transnational Resistance against Debt on Three Continents > Status Update

"While the Debt Collective states it 'spent hours on the phone and email with them explaining how we did our work and connecting them to other experts and resources,' at the last minute a researcher from Last Week Tonight told them the show 'did not want to associate themselves with the work of the Rolling Jubilee due to its roots in Occupy Wall Street' (Debt Collective 2016)."

Sigh.

"CADTM [Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt] coordinated a 'Call to national and European MPs: For an audit of Tunisia’s debts to the EU,' which was signed by a larger number of members from European left parties, including Alex Tsipras."

Suspension of "odious, illegitimate debt" as a potential point for international solidarity is informatively central to this book, as are risks of unilateral refusal.

"there is an incentive for creditors to engage in risky and often dodgy high-yield activities that offer more profits than responsible lending options – while the potential loss is the same for responsible and irresponsible debtors alike. (Ellmers & Hulova 2013, 23)"

"Institutional advocacy created incentives to perform a politics of respectability and credibility, that is to distance oneself from radical movements and convince polity insiders of a certain level of knowledge and expertise."

"Two main lines of conflict quickly emerged and have remained important to this day, [the] overlapping radical-moderate and South-North cleavages. Whereas part of the movement advocated building popular social movements and debtors’ cartels, others suggested to win successive short-term reforms via campaigning and engaging with ruling actors, a divide correlating with the South-North cleavage."