This story struck a particular chord with me considering my mother left Chile for the United States back in the early 70’s after Salvador Allende was elected President. She was able to instinctively see the writing on the wall, and got out ahead of the political chaos, military coup and dictatorship that followed.
Beyond my own person connection, I find this to be a very important story in that it further highlights the fact that the current war/civil unrest cycle is an interconnected global phenomenon. Since the parasitic Central Bank driven financial system is more or less entrenched in every country on earth, every country on earth is experiencing increased concentrations of wealth into the pockets of a handful of oligarchs. Meanwhile, those nations which heretofore had a middle class are finding that this entire socio-economic class is disappearing into the dustbin of history via a variety of methods, not the least of which is criminal quantities of student loans. These loans are pushing an entire generation into inescapable serfdom, while many university administrators are enriching themselves at their expense.
So it appears student loan based debt serfdom is also a major issue in Chile, and one activist, known as “Papas Fritas,” decided to take matters into his own hands. During a takeover at Universidad del Mar, he was able to get his hands on $500 million of student debt, which he subsequently torched.
This is what remains of the debt. A pile of ashes:
The Independent covered the story, here are some excerpts:
An activist in Chile has burnt documents representing $500 million (£300 million) worth of student debt during a protest at Universidad del Mar.
Francisco Tapia, who is also known as “Papas Fritas”, claimed that he had “freed” the students by setting fire to the debt papers or “pagarés”
In the five-minute video the artist and activist, translated by the Chilean news site Santiago Times, he passionately says: “You don’t have to pay another peso [of your student loan debt]. We have to lose our fear, our fear of being thought of as criminals because we’re poor. I am just like you, living a s**tty life, and I live it day by day — this is my act of love for you.”
While his act of defiance will have brought smile to those now debt-free students, it will be difficult for the university to recoup the losses and the higher institution may have to individually sue students to get the get the debt repaid.
There have been protests in Chile since 2011 calling for reform of the university system and for free high-quality education. It was hoped the newly-elected president, Michelle Bachelet, would be bring reform, after a campaign promising drastic change to the education system.
However, two months on, tens of thousands of students have taken again to the street calling again for changes promised.
Last week there were clashes on the street of the Chilean capital, Santiago, as demonstrations turned violent.
Now here’s the video. It has over 70,000 views. Unfortunately, there are no english subtitles, but if you understand even a little Spanish you’ll get the point.
And his passion needs no translation.
The global masses are getting fed up with the bullshit system we are forced to live under, and rightly so. The key is that we must ensure that what comes next is better and not just another reactionary centralized system.
We must evolve and move toward a world characterized by decentralization, freedom and a creative spirit.
Full Independent article here.
In Liberty,
Michael Krieger
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The John Wisdom of another name.
SMOKING GUN FROM THE FEDERAL RESERVE MURDER OF THE MIDDLE CLASS
There you have it – the wisdom of two Ivy League educated economists who are primarily liable for the death of the American middle class. They now receive $250,000 per speaking engagement from the crooked financial parties their monetary policies benefited; write books to try and whitewash their legacies of failure, fraud, and hubris; and bask in the glow of the corporate mainstream media propaganda storyline of them saving the world from financial Armageddon. Never have two men done so much damage to so many people, so quickly, and are not in a prison cell or swinging from a lamppost. Their crimes make Madoff look like a two bit marijuana dealer.
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2014/05/18/smoking-gun-from-the-federal-reserve-murder-of-the-middle-class/
One of the first times I noticed something was wrong was right after the 2008 crisis and schools around the country started erected monstrous buildings.
How awesome!
Because of the secondary mortgage market, ANY debt instrument (even credit-card payments and personal loans) increases the money supply which means this guy just did something effective about the monetary inflation aka currency fraud.
” The key is that we must ensure that what comes next is better and not just another reactionary centralized system.”
Easily said.
Do you have anything specific in mind?
I actually think it’s already happening, and I also think that technology will be the manner it is solidified. P2P Crypto-currencies are one of the most exciting things to happen in my lifetime in this regard. Then the obvious things like social media, meshnets, blogs, kickstarter, uber and lyft, AirBnB and thousands of other things soon to come that I can’t even imagine.
Best,
Michael Krieger
You used the word ‘ensure’ and then you listed a bunch of suggestive things, and the ones currently operating have already failed to “ensure” that outcome.
IOW, the answer to my question was “no, actually, I don’t have anything specific in mind, but I’m hopeful.”
If you’re going to extol Weev, you’re going to have to accept the anarchist moral system he illustrates, and you’re still not really there, Michael, as your attitude toward honest criticism and curiosity prove.
You be sure to let me know when you figure out what freedom is, OK?
mike the occupy wall streeters and ‘progressive’ young folks. they want more loans, they also demand free college ( not loan forgiveness but injunctive command and control )
i’m not saying i’m totally against the idea of public education. but you cannot really put together a cohesive progressive agenda based on give me more mentality.
if you’re going with semantic shenangians—you can demand “moar” freedom.
but more freedom from coercive price structuring can only be achieved by the achievement of LESS debt.
LESS debt can be achieved by discharge of debt through bankruptcy, or by destroying all the records of the debt and hoping for the best in the ensuing chaos afterwards ( the wholesale burning of records usually comes with its own price in the form of subsequent martial law) .
either way ——-the occupiers need to start asking for LESS as a method of achieving liberty. not more. this is a demographic target market of young student occupiers. the time to get them is BEFORE they finish their first year of college, possibly prior to even enrolling in the debt-mill.
by the time those young kids come out at 22 years old , they are so overburdened with debt and expectations of entitlement jobs—-that they can no longer be taught to think straight about the meaning of debt and serfdom. they actually have brainwashed themselves to love it and want more of it. not much different than a crackwhore really, only they think they are smarter than they are because they went to ‘college’. tough crowd.
A couple of points here. First, I think it is a very, very bad idea to paint such a diverse (and yes it was diverse) group of protesters as having one idea of what they want. The “conservative” mainstream media was very interested in painting OWS in the manner you describe. I totally disagree with this assessment based on 1) Personally knowing some of the people who helped spark it. 2) Being there personally for the protests on May Day the following year.
This is merely a “divide and conquer” tactic I think you might be falling for. Just like how the “liberal” media labeled the tea party a bunch of redneck racists.
The key here in my opinion is to recognize that dissent from the heartland and from the coasts is inevitable. OWS and the tea party were just early expressions of this, but there is much more to come. The worst thing we can do is paint these movement under a single brush and dismiss them. We must reach out to them, tell them we get their frustration and then help them understand the real problem. I agree that this is a challenging task, but it is one we can’t walk away from.
Best,
Michael Krieger
His prescription was spot on, Michael.
Maybe you didn’t recognize it because – perhaps you know this one – it was from an anarchist perspective, whereas slaves and people using the slavish moral system often mistake it for something else, as you just did.
You be sure to tell me when you learn what freedom is, OK?
The best monetary system was the one the that the United States started out with before the banksters corrupted it. Read the coinage act of 1792.
Found this gem:
“Section 19 of the Act established a penalty of death for debasing the gold or silver coins authorized by the Act, or embezzlement of the metals for those coins, by officers or employees of the mint; this section of the Act apparently remains in effect and would, in theory, continue to apply in the case of “any of the gold or silver coins which shall be struck or coined at the said mint.””
I wonder how it defines “debasing”…
I found this quite crazy. Here is my take : Getting into debt is a conscious choice made by young adults. NO one is forcing them to do so. Every decision has consequences and this should have been well thought before saying yes.
The bankers sell you a loan, but why take it ?
Are you able to numerate how much debt that your governments, Fed, State and Local, have created on your behalf? Arr you even aware that this is happening to you? You can google the amount. There are plenty of debt clocks available.
Were you forced into this situation by governments using your credit card? You bet you were, or you would be aware of the oxymoronic content in your post.
My take on this is if you didn’t make a conscious decision to allow this, then the corollory of your take on it is that we who didn’t agree to this wierd con shouldn’t be compelled to pay it back, no?
Now, about those loans. Have they received any actual money for these loans or have they just received credits that enslave them into an “indentured servitude” agreement?
I think that’s absurd. This is a total racket like so much else in the system. College administrators are intentionally loading up students with debt as they pay themselves likes kings. It’s theft: http://time.com/104243/salaries-of-public-university-presidents-rocket-despite-spiraling-student-debt/
Theft doesn’t require the signature of the victim.
Rather than changing the meaning of all the words you use, why don’t you learn to name things correctly?
Or are you still stuck in the obsolete moral system of a slave, which is why you keep floundering on the same point again and again and again?
Samir. The problem is that the financialization of higher education has made the cost of the service skyrocket such that almost anyone who wants to use it has to take on debt.
If the federal government had not enacted special rules making this debt nearly impossible to discharge, even through bankruptcy, if normal free market standards of judging the issuance of a loan applied, many student loans would never be made. And then the cost of the service would be forced to go much lower.
So, the artificial availability of the loans is a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy of their necessity.
I feel sorry for today’s students. I was able to leave school with almost no student loan debt. If I were going to college today. I would probably be graduating with thousands or tens of thousands of dollars of debt.
It’s no surprise that subsidies in credit markets produced the same distortions as price-fixing and subsidization produce in any other market.
Some degrees are worth it, of course: chemical engineers can afford the tens of thousands of dollars it takes to train adequately for their remunerative careers.
I’ve had more than one student told by their parents:
I’ll pay for a degree in the hard sciences, engineering, law or medicine.
History, philosophy, humanities, social studies, letters, art…you’re on your own!
the best time to burn the loan documents is before you sign them.