DiEM25
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, […]
Greece’s Varoufakis brings his anti-establishment party to Italy – POLITICO
, 06/12/2022
Yanis Varoufakis tried to rescue Greece from the austerity imposed by the liberal establishment. Then he wanted to rescue the whole EU. Now the motorbike-riding, leather jacket-wearing former Greek finance minister has turned his attention to Italy. “If ever there was a moment it is now,” the economist told POLITICO in an interview to mark the […]
Rishi Sunak’s ‘grown-up’ austerity is designed to keep zombie capitalism alive
, 10/11/2022
The demise of Trussonomics was a welcome victory for decency and common sense in a minor battle within a broader class war. Sadly, the class that Liz Truss tried to bolster with copious tax and regulatory gifts will win this war by deploying an even nastier, blunter, dirtier weapon: austerity. Britain’s wealthy owe a debt […]
Should electricity markets be reformed or disbanded? My debate with Michael Liebreich on Cleaning Up
, 01/11/2022
The other day, Michael Liebreich and I had a lively discussion on his CleaningUp podcast provoked by my call “to blow up the electricity markets”. It was fun but, of course, fell short of a comprehensive analysis of the complex issues pertaining to the political economy of electricity generation and distribution. Following our debate, Michael […]
Comradely disagreements between progressives over Ukraine & the New Cold War – Reply to Anthony Barnett
, 12/10/2022
Anthony Burnett, a friend, comrade and collaborator, just published an article in openDemocracy, a splendid and much loved source of progressive ideas and material, to which he alerted me in a mail reading: “Dear Yanis, we disagree but in solidarity!” Since Anthony’s article mentions me, along with Jeremy Corbyn, in its subtitle, here I am, […]
My take on Georgia Melloni and her incoming government – LTIO clip
, 10/10/2022
Italy is about to have a new far-right government under the self-declared Mussolini groupie Ms Georgia Meloni. In this LTIO episode (entitled Fascism: The Radical Centre’s Last Resort), with comrades Roger Waters, Ece Temelcuran and Frank Barrat), I share my thoughts on Meloni and Co.
Trickle-down Truss is carrying on the dirty work of Thatcher, Blair and Osborne – THE GUARDIAN
, 01/10/2022
If Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget survives the storm it triggered, a banker on a million-pound annual salary stands to receive £50,000 of income tax relief – on top of the extra bonuses the bank can throw in, now that the Liz Truss government has removed the cap on them. Meanwhile, a Deliveroo rider gets a pep […]
Zombie capitalism is unravelling – THE NEW STATESMAN
, 29/09/2022
This is no sterling crisis. It is a crisis of British capitalism caused by 40 years of underinvestment and deindustrialisation, exacerbated by chronic reliance on speculative bubbles and triggered by Liz Truss’s extravagant kindness to Britain’s wealthy. While all eyes are on the fall of the pound, the real drama revolves around the Bank of England’s […]
Europe’s electricity market: the scam of the century? – Video
, 21/09/2022
Every fortnight, DiEM25’s coordinating team livestreams our internal discussions of topics central to Europe’s and the world’s current predicament. On 8th September 2022 we discussed the electricity price hikes that, like a wrecking ball, are destroying what is left of Europe’s sustainability as an economic and social entity. Here is a clip of my analysis […]
, 18/09/2022
Greeks and other southern Europeans could now be feeling schadenfreude as Germany faces the collapse of its economic model in the face of the Ukraine war and the new cold war with China. But with a democratic Europe in the balance, this is no time to gloat. ATHENS – It is never easy to wake […]
Tι θα έπρεπε να κάνει η ΕΚΤ, το οποίο αρνείται να κάνει – Σχόλιο της Les Echos σε συνέντευξή μου στην Le Temps
, 20/06/2022
Με άρθρο του στη γαλλική εφημερίδα «Les Echos» ο Pierre Demoux σχολίασε την κριτική που έκανε σε συνέντευξή του στην ελβετική εφημερίδα «Le Temps» ο «αντικομφορμιστής πρώην υπουργός Οικονομικών της Ελλάδος», όπως χαρακτηριστικά αναφέρει, Γραμματέας του ΜέΡΑ25, Γιάνης Βαρουφάκης, αναφορικά με την ανακοίνωση της Ευρωπαϊκής Κεντρικής Τράπεζας για σταδιακή αύξηση των επιτοκίων. Συγκεκριμένα, αναφέρει το άρθρο, […]
Chatting with Owen Jones on Rwanda, Brexit, Keir Starmer, Assange, Melenchon, Ukraine and Paul Mason – video
, 20/06/2022
We had a lot to talk about: Britain’s deporting of refugees to Rwanda, how Boris Johnson’s ‘oven-cooked’ Brexit deal is unravelling, Keir Starmer’s dishonest leadership of the Labour party, the political situation in Spain, the revival of the French left, how the horror of the Ukraine war can end, the extradition of Julian Assange, and […]
Here is what Central Banks could do to stem inflation without crushing the poor or killing off the Green Transition – The Guardian
, 16/04/2022
Inflation is a disease that disproportionately afflicts the poor. Even before Vladimir Putin unleashed his brutal war on Ukraine, whose byproducts include soaring energy and food prices, inflation was already over 7.5% in the US and above 5% in Europe and the UK. Calls for its taming are, therefore, fully justified – and the interest rate rise in the US, […]
My reply to the Charge of Westsplaining Eastern Europeans
, 23/03/2022
The horrific war Putin unleashed against Ukraine has also caused collateral damage within the ranks of the left. No sooner had I, and other DiEM25 comrades (including Noam Chomsky and Naomi Klein), began campaigning for a peaceful resolution of the war based on the principle of an independent but neutral Ukraine than a charge of […]
What we must do in the face of Putin’s criminal invasion of Ukraine – a personal view plus a heartwarming Manifesto by Russian comrades
, 05/03/2022
When a country or region is invaded, I am overcome by one duty: To take the side of the people facing troops with direct orders to violate their homes, to bombard their neighbourhoods, to destroy the circumstances of their lives. Without hesitation. Unconditionally. When I see civilians in Kharkiv or Kiyv preparing Molotov cocktails with […]
Putin’s criminal invasion, Europe’s response, America’s role – AVVENIRE interview (English version)
, 05/03/2022
Avvenire wanted to know my opinion of Putin, of his invasion, of Europe’s and America’s role, of what this war means for Europe and, of course, they wanted me to explain my support for a diplomatic solution based on the idea of an independent, free, neutral Ukraine. Here is the original English text. What is […]
How the euro divided Europe, and why countries like Bulgaria should not join – Project Syndicate, Oxford Union video & Keynote audio
, 26/01/2022
This January marked the 20th anniversary of euro notes and coins circulating. In an op-ed published by Project Syndicate I argue that the euro was an unmitigated failure even by the criteria of its architects. This is an updated analysis of a keynote I delivered a few years ago at the Oxford Union – see […]
The causes of inflation and what to do about it – Keynote at Banking Conference, Sofia 2 DEC 2021
, 26/01/2022
Invited by the Bulgarian Central Bank’s Deputy Governor, here is a keynote I delivered in Sofia, on 2nd December 2021, in which I offer a historical explanation of the nature and causes of our current inflation – as well as a proposed policy response that would help (but which vested interests are impeding).
The State of the Global Economy under the heavy burden of twelve lost years – Keynote (audio + text)
, 21/01/2022
A keynote summing up my view that, since 2009, the world has wasted enormous resources in a bid to re-float finance and at the expense of our capacity to look after each other, and the planet, at a time humanity is facing existential threats – from climate catastrophe to war and toxic politics. My discussants […]
On Brexit and the task of confronting technofeudalism – Interview in The Morning Star
, 03/01/2022
ONE YEAR since the final deal for Brexit was announced, it remains one of the most divisive political subjects for a generation. Perhaps unknown to most, the incendiary B-word had its genesis in the term “Grexit” — coined during tumultuous years after the 2008 credit crunch when a Greek exit from the EU was speculated, […]
MERA25: DiEM25’s new German (!) Party is now a reality
, 27/12/2021
You may have heard of MeRA25, the first political party that DiEM25 created in Greece – and which entered Greek Parliament in July 2019. Well, true to our ambitious transnational agenda, DiEM25 took matters further: We recently established MERA25 as a… German political party that is now legally and organisationally ready and willing to contest […]
Rosemary Bechler (1951-2021) – A wonderful life, a tower of intellect, a beautiful heart and the ideal comrade for all of us at DiEM25 and beyond
, 27/12/2021
“Such a relief to be working on this with you guys … all the best and sleep much better for all this classy political activity! As I will now!” That was the last email I received from her. The campaign that she referred to was DiEM25’s recent, and very successful, crusade to save the NHS […]