English
What is money and who rules the world? | Yanis Varoufakis on Escaped Sapiens #46
, 18/07/2023
On this episode of the podcast I speak with Yanis Varoufakis about the role of banks and politicians. Yanis is an economist, politician, author and Secretary-General of MeRA25. He is perhaps best known for his role as the Greek Minister of Finance during the Greek credit crisis. In our discussion we cover some fairly big […]
How the EU out-trumped Trump, plus what is killing capitalism: My last week’s Diary in The New Statesman
, 18/07/2023
The week started ominously with a French journalist asking me whether the Greeks have turned cold-hearted, alluding to the apparent apathy to the drowning of hundreds of refugees off the coast of the Peloponnese and to the murky role played in this tragedy by our Coastguard. Yes, I replied without a second thought. A population […]
New AI Germ Busters Can Also Bust Unions – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 18/07/2023
Humanity has now developed AI algorithms capable of fully decoding a killer bug’s proteins and creating an effective antibiotic. Was there ever any doubt that conglomerates like Amazon would seize upon this opportunity to shrink workplaces along their supply chain where AI predicts a higher probability of unionization? ATHENS – Last week brought a rare good-news […]
Austerity Ruined Europe, and Now It’s Back – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 17/07/2023
The United States is experiencing an investment boom, owing to industrial policies that grant enormous subsidies – including to European firms – for investing in America, largely in green tech. Europe, meanwhile, is responding with a return to the austerity policies that caused it to fall behind the US in the first place. ATHENS – […]
Alexis Tsipras resigns: lessons for progressives
, 02/07/2023
Following Greece’s latest election, after which Alexis Tsipras announced his resignation, a journalist asked me: “What conclusion do you draw from this situation?” Here is my answer: The crucial conclusion to be drawn is that radicals are never welcomed for long into the club of the powerful, even if they are willing to betray their […]
Who’s Afraid of Central Bank Digital Currencies? Project Syndicate op-ed
, 01/06/2023
Once upon a time, the greed of tobacco companies was channeled through libertarian outrage over the restriction of smokers’ freedom to choose cancer. Today, the outrage is serving the interests of bankers panicking at the prospect of central bank digital currencies. ATHENS – When First Republic Bank failed, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation organized a […]
The Strange Death of the Liberal Individual – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 01/06/2023
Only a comprehensive reconfiguration of property rights over the increasingly cloud-based instruments of production, distribution, collaboration, and communication can rescue the foundational liberal idea of liberty as self-ownership. Reviving the liberal individual thus requires precisely what liberals detest: a revolution. ATHENS – My father was the epitome of the liberal individual, a splendid irony for […]
La Stampa interview (English version) on Greek gvt refugee policy, Greece’s economy, MeRA25′ electoral setback, the euro, Italy’s PD and… Angela Merkel
, 29/05/2023
In this post you will find my original answers (in English) to La Stampa‘s varied questions (27/5/2023); from the Greek government’s shameful policy on refugees and MeRA25’s electoral setback, to the future of the Eurozone, my friend Elly Schlein’s leadership of Italy’s main opposition party, the PD and, yes, Angela Merkel! Almost all parties, on […]
Our defeat in context: Greece’s Erdogan-isation is almost complete
, 22/05/2023
The people spoke. Unlike in 2019, when MeRA25 won nine seats in Greece’s Parliament, in yesterday’s election we failed to clear the 3% hurdle, thus, electing no MPs. However, this freshly minted Parliament was condemned before it got a chance to convene. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the conservative party leader, who won handsomely, is about to dissolve […]
What to do about the Parthenon Marbles – interviewed by Michael Portillo
, 25/04/2023
Following my article in Unherd about the Parthenon Marbles, Michael Portillo interviewed me on the subject for GB News.
On Al Jazeera, explaining what I mean when proposing that we blow up the banking system
, 09/04/2023
For a related article click here.
Time to Blow Up the Banking System – Project Syndicate, March 2023
, 09/04/2023
The banking system we take for granted is unfixable. The good news is that we no longer need to rely on any private, rent-seeking, socially destabilizing network of banks, at least not the way we have so far. This time the banking crisis is different. It is, in fact, worse than in 2007/8 when we […]
Europe’s latest illiberal democracy: Greece! – New Statesman
, 24/03/2023
“Like lambs to the slaughter” was how an elderly neighbour described the deaths of youngsters travelling on Intercity 62 which, on the night of 28 February, crashed head-on with a freight train in Greece killing 57 people. Many of the dead were students returning after a long weekend from Athens to their universities in Thessaloniki. […]
On the shameful deal Osborne-Mitsotakis are hammering out over the Parthenon antiquities – UNHERD
, 24/03/2023
From the very beginning, Elgin’s removal of the Parthenon’s statues and friezes caused something of a discursive British civil war. On one side were humanists, like Lord Byron; on the other were Empire apologists, who defend Elgin’s actions and support the British Museum’s inalienable property rights to the artefacts it, eventually, purchased from him. Over […]
Britain, Europe, the New Cold War Finance & Technofeudalism – at the Cambridge Union
, 24/03/2023
On 7th February 2023, I returned to the Chamber to discuss a wide variety of issues, beginning with a Europe-at-war, post-Brexit Britain, the New Cold War that marks capitalism’s global transition to (what I call Technofeudalism), the state of the Left in Eastern Europe and more. Thanks Cambridge Union!
AGE OF ECONOMICS interview on economics and capitalism – video
, 26/02/2023
A diverse group of global thinkers answers 8 fundamental questions about economics and capitalism. In this video interview, Yanis Varoufakis has a go: 0:00 – Prologue 01:19 – Intro 01:38 – 1. Why does economics matter? 03:00 – 2. What are the differences between economic science and economic engineering? 09:46 – 3. What role does […]
The New Non-Aligned Movement and New Economic System we have a duty to work towards – Havana Address, 27th January 2023
, 26/02/2023
The War in Ukraine has sped up the division of the world into two technofeudal fiefdoms – one US dollar denominated and one Chinese yuan denominated. As the world bifurcates, class struggles within each technofeudal fiefdom, as well as between them, generate destructive forces that threaten our species survival – from a New Cold War, […]
Exposing the scam that is an electricity ‘market’ – ANY electricity ‘market’
, 26/02/2023
So used are we to the idea of an ‘electricity market’ that the next sentence may jar in your mind: There is no such thing as an electricity market! In this video I explain why those who talk to us about electricity markets as something natural, clever and necessary are either deluded or in the […]
What’s behind the Great Volatility? Audio of SSGA Zurich Address
, 26/02/2023
From the Great Moderation to the Great Crash, the Great Recession, the Great Stagnation, the Great Inflation and, finally, to the Great Volatility. What are the forces driving this 50yr dynamic? Plus an answer to: “What did the euro crisis teach us about the EU’s various debt instruments?” A lecture delivered on 24th January 2023 […]
Will China Dump Its Dark Deal with America? – Project Syndicate
, 20/02/2023
A new cold war is upon us, but only China is in a position to push it beyond the point of no return. That moment will come when China’s policymakers cross the Rubicon and decide to wean Chinese economic growth off the US trade deficit. ATHENS – True hegemons prevail not by force but by […]
Is Europe Deindustrialising? – Project Syndicate
, 23/01/2023
The real problem confronting European manufacturing is not the threat of factory closures. It is that, compared to the United States and China, Europe has fallen far behind in the race to accumulate, and benefit from, the cloud capital that represents the future of profit in industries like electric cars and green energy. ATHENS – […]
My prediction on what 2023 will bring – Project Syndicate
, 01/01/2023
This will be the year that Europeans realize the designed irrelevance of the European Union. The quagmire in Ukraine’s killing fields will bring on the realization of the need for a diplomatic process to end the war, but also the realization that the EU is radically incapable of playing any significant role in it. Who […]
After an eventful 2022, what can we expect from 2023? DiEM25 New Year’s message
, 01/01/2023
On behalf of DiEM25, greetings and Happy New Year. 2022 brought us a hideous War and crippling price hikes. 2022 brought environmental disaster closer to home and varieties of neofascism at our door. 2022 was the year our dire predictions about Europe’s failures and the world’s slide into a New Cold War were confirmed. But, […]
Crisis, Recession, the Left & the state of economics – INDIA & GLOBAL LEFT podcast
, 01/01/2023
00:00 Highlights 01:55 Who is Yanis 05:34 Financial crisis & recession 20:06 Revolutionary changes 22:04 European Right 30:22 European Left 37:15 Academics and economics.