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Consumer debt stands at $17.29 trillion, with the average American household owing over $100 thousand. Medical bills and student debt are weighing us down. The climate crisis, threats to democracy, and global wars add more worry to our already stressful lives. But what if there was another way to use this “existential insecurity" and “ethic of insecurity” to reenvision our society as one that cares for each other and works collectively?

In this episode, we sound the alarm on the links between insecurity and our economic system. In her new book out from House of Anansi Press, “The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart”, writer, filmmaker, organizer, and the 2023 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Massey Lecturer, Astra Taylor uses mythology, psychology and the history of capitalism to break down the different kinds of insecurities we face, and explore how our insecurities help capitalism flourish.

Our right to security is undermined by an economy rooted in control through debt and dispossession. Taylor takes us from the enclosure movements of the UK to today's student debt problem, urging us to see the human rights crisis caused by capitalism. "Insecurity is not just an unfortunate byproduct of our economic system, but actually central to it," Taylor says.

In her years of work as CoFounder of the Debt Collective, which emerged from Occupy Wall Street, Taylor has used debt as a tool for bringing people together and organizing. She is the author of The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart, Democracy May Not Exist But We'll Miss It When It is Gone, and The People's Platform (winner of the American Book Award), and the director of What Is Democracy?, among other books and films.

In this wideranging discussion, Astra Taylor and Laura Flanders discuss the history of capitalism, the rights of debtors, and what we can do to lessen insecurity and expand security both as individuals and as a society. All that, plus a commentary from Laura.

“There is a debate here about motivation and what motivates us, and we are constantly being told that if people are too secure, that society's going to collapse and that we can't afford to invest in other folks. And I really want to challenge that idea.” Astra Taylor

“. . . When you start talking about [debt] with others, you realize you're actually in the same boat and you start coming together to demand change, to demand debt cancellation, to demand the provision of these public goods. Debt actually can become a source of power.” Astra Taylor

Guest:
Astra Taylor: CoFounder of the Debt Collective & Author, The Age of Insecurity

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Credits:
Executive Producer: Laura Flanders
Supervising Producer: Sabrina Artel
Consulting Producer: Rory O’Connor
Development Director: Sarah Miller
Senior Video Editor: David Neumann
Creative Designer & Video Editor: Nat Needham
Audio Director: Jeannie Hopper
Communications Director: Janet Hernandez

Photo by Nye Taylor

00:00 – Intro
02:35 – “The Age of Insecurity”, Era of Enclosure
09:54 – Universal Declaration of Human Rights and John Humphrey
14:14 – Debt Shame, Intergenerational Wealth, “The Debt Collective”
17:58 – BidenHarris debt forgiveness plan
20:53 – “Coming Together as Things Fall Apart”, Debt and Labor Organizing
24:00 – Laura’s Commentary