What was different about the jubilee movement that Graeber helped launch through Occupy in 2011, and in which I have played a role, was that it was aimed at erasing personal, or household, debts. In recognition of the Great Jubilee – the celebration of the year 2000 in the Catholic church – the movement eventually succeeded in abolishing as much as $130bn of debt. In the 1980s, the Jubilee South movement sprang up to pressure rich northern countries and banks to write off the external debts of Global South nations caught in the ‘debt trap’. Previous jubilee campaigns had been aimed at eliminating sovereign debts. Graeber was on hand to supply a rich political and historical framework for activists to issue their counter-call for a people’s jubilee. Shortly after his book’s publication, Occupy Wall Street declared war against the banks that had enjoyed a jubilee of their own when they were bailed out. But, as Graeber pointed out, it was really a way for high elites to wrest power back from the creditor class, and to free the populace from working off their debts so that they could work for the glory of the state.
When a jubilee was observed in near eastern societies, upon the inauguration of a new ruler, the mass act of forgiveness was often presented as an expression of royal magnanimity.
When Frederick Douglas spoke of emancipation as the “trump of jubilee”, he was invoking the custom referred to in the Book of Leviticus once the jubilee trumpet is blown (every 50 years), slaves and prisoners are to be freed, debts are to be forgiven and land is to be returned to its original owners.ĭebt: The First 5,000 Years, David Graeber’s paradigm-shattering 2011 book, alerted a new generation to this ancient tradition. It had long been celebrated in Black communities as Jubilee Day. At the beginning of this summer, Juneteenth was finally designated a US federal holiday to commemorate the liberation of enslaved African Americans.
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