Greece’s Prime Minister recently flew to China, to woo Chinese investors. In his bid to be persuasive, he adopted a radical narrative: Greece is a Success Story. A country that almost perished in 2012 is now on the mend; on the road to stabilisation and growth; a wonderful opportunity, currently, for investors to pick up ultra cheap investments and to benefit from the forthcoming growth. How much of this is true, however? Continue reading
Monetising the… ECB: The latest insult to be added to Greece’s multiplying injuries
20 MayLast week another installment of the cruel theatre of the absurd, also known as the ‘Greek Rescue’ (and more recently re-released as ‘Greece’s success story’), was delivered silently: Not for the first time, the bankrupt Greek state borrowed from one arm of the Eurozone to give to another, with massive interest to boot. To be precise, the Greek government borrowed €4.2 billion from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) in order to repay the… European Central Bank (ECB) €5.6 billion, leaving the ECB with a profit of €2 billion plus from this hideous transaction. Re-pay what exactly?
Confessions of an Erratic Marxist: Keynote speech, Subversive Festival, Zagreb, Croatia – 14th May 2013
14 MayTo listen (as audio only) to my keynote speech at the 6th Subversive Festival (Kino Europa, Zagreb), 14th May 2013, click CONFESSIONS OF AN ERRATIC MARXIST. For the complete program click here. The abstract of my talk follows (a full transcript will be posted later)…
Raising Awareness in 60″ Video Competition
10 MayAnd now for something quite different: Since our words and arguments are failing to have a serious impact, despite their value and reasonableness, perhaps it is time to resort to the artist’s touch. Vital Space invites all artists to participate in the first of a series of open call competitions in the context of our ‘Raising Awareness’ theme. For our first competition we invite short, one-minute video submissions under the broad title EAST | WEST – NORTH | SOUTH: Imperiled Vital Spaces.
For more information, and submission guidelines, click here.
The Utopia of Democracy: May 12th to 18th in Zagreb
8 May
Beginning this coming Sunday 12th May, and lasting all of next week, the 6th Subversive Festival will be held in Zagreb. This year’s general theme is: THE UTOPIA OF DEMOCRACY. Speakers will include Tariq Ali, Oliver Stone, Susan George, Franco Bifo, Alexis Tsipras, Jean Luc Melenchon, Eric O. Wright. Slavoj Zizek and… yours truly. It promises to be an exciting week – during which I shall be involved directly in three events:
- Sunday 12th May, 19.00-21.00: Panel discussion involving Franco Bifo, Susan George and Yanis Varoufakis on the theme of The Utopia of the European Union
- Tuesday 15th May, 19.00-21.00: Keynote by Yanis Varoufakis entitled: Confessions of an Erratic Marxist
- Wednesday 16th May, 18.00-19.00: Book promotion (of the Global Minotaur) by Yanis Varoufakis
For more watch this space…
