A young artist in Chile recently took matters into his own hands and stole and burned up $500 million worth of tuition contracts from the for-profit Universidad del Mar. This will make it extremely difficult to prove the students’ debt exists. As explained in this article in the Guardian, this artistic action comes on the heels of a massive student uprising in Chile that has involved massive street demonstrations and occupations of hundreds of college and high school campuses.
The artist, who goes by the name of Papas Fritas (Fried Potatoes), incorporated the ashes into an art project and told students, “It’s over….you don’t owe a penny”.
Total student debt in the U.S. totals 1.2 trillion dollars. Already, about 115,000 senior citizens are having their Social Security payments seized to pay off student loan debt. We have a radical crisis that needs a radical response.