English
MANIFESTO of MeRA25 – the new party set up by DiEM25 in Greece to revive the spirit of the Greek Spring
, 02/04/2018
The state of permanent debt bondage, which threatens Greece with desertification, is in the mind of every Greek. Imposing emigration on our young, and indignity to those who stay behind, it hangs over the country like a thick, dark cloud. Unable to discern any light in the long night of our Great Depression, the Greeks’ […]
Brian Eno & Yanis Varoufakis: Restore Julian Assange’s access to visitors and the outside world!
, 28/03/2018
It is with great concern that we heard that Julian Assange has lost access to the internet and the right to receive visitors at the Ecuadorian London Embassy. Only extraordinary pressure from the US and the Spanish governments can explain why Ecuador’s authorities should have taken such appalling steps in isolating Julian. Only recently the […]
Hans Werner Sinn: Varoufakis acted very prudently and wisely to defend Greek interests
, 22/03/2018
Perhaps the best known and respected conservative German economist, Hans-Werner Sinn (Munich University and for many years Chair of Ifo Institute), had this to say in reaction to the claims of various troika officials that I cost Greece billions of euros: “Yanis Varoufakis has acted very prudently and wisely to defend Greek interests… Arguing, […]
Support the Stansted 15: When solidarity becomes a terrorist-related offence liberty and democracy die
, 22/03/2018
Last March, 15 activists chained themselves around an aircraft that was being used by British authorities to deport asylum seekers from Stansted Airport, many of whom had legitimate reasons to fear for their lives if returned to countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan. While at first the Stansted 15 were charged with aggravated trespass, the charges were soon […]
SHAKING THE SUPERFLUX: Shakespeare, economics, and the possibility of justice – 6th Annual Shakespeare Rose Lecture, 19th March 2018, Rose Theatre, Kingston
, 22/03/2018
Full script of my lecture at the Rose Theatre on Shakespeare: Since brevity is, indeed, the soul of wit, let me begin by stating the obvious: I am as qualified to deliver an annual Shakespeare lecture in this splendid theatre as an ant that walks in wonder on an iPhone is able to explain the mystery […]
The Guardian previews my Annual Shakespeare Lecture, tonight (19 March 2018) at the Rose Theatre
, 19/03/2018
Mark Lawson, in today’s Guardian, previews my Annual Shakespeare Rose Lecture, ahead of tonight’s delivery. He begins with its title ‘Shake the Superflux’ and the statement: ‘The beauty of King Lear is that it encourages us to think about inequality’. Is Theresa May Macbeth? Might King Lear agree with Jeremy Corbyn? On Monday night, one of Europe’s leading […]
Trump and trade tariffs: big lies founded on small truths – The Guardian, 18 MAR 2018
, 18/03/2018
Donald Trump is perhaps the US president best equipped to understand that some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall. His personal business plan always involved racking up enormous deficits and debts, before finding a way to unload them on to others – his employees and creditors mostly. Last week the US president imposed tariffs […]
“Greece was strangled by the creditors in 2015. We stand with Yanis Varoufakis and with the truth.” Professors Jeff Sachs (Columbia) and James K. Galbraith (Texas)
, 18/03/2018
Thomas Wieser’s claim that Yanis Varoufakis and the Greek government of 2015 cost their economy 200 billion euros is ludicrous. As Wieser knows – because he was one of the architects of the policy – the Greek economy in 2015 was strangled by its creditors. The creditors inflicted severe damage from the first day: by […]
‘Shake the Superflux’: Yanis Varoufakis to deliver the 6th Annual Rose Shakespeare Lecture, Monday 19th March 2018
, 18/03/2018
Yanis Varoufakis has emerged not only as an embattled finance minister, iconoclastic economist, and co-founder of the Democracy in Europe Movement (DiEM25), but a life-long lover of Shakespeare. He called the Greek debt crisis ‘a Shakespearean tragedy’, reported that observing the European Union is ‘like watching Othello’, and compared the world’s Deep Establishment to Shylock and Macbeth. Those […]
LA STAMPA interview on the Italian election result (the original answers in English) – 9 MAR 2018
, 09/03/2018
In this interview LA STAMPA sought my views on the outcome of the Italian elections. My original answers (in English) appear below. The gist? Italy’s election result is yet another example of the political centre’s implosion as a result of the establishment’s perseverance with failed, austerity-based policies, pretending that they were the solution to our […]
Was defeat inevitable? A review of Adam Tooze’s meta-review of ‘Adults in the Room’ [1]
, 07/03/2018
To read one excellent review of one’s book is a joy. To read an engaging and deeply thoughtful review of different categories of reviews of one’s book is a rare privilege. Normally, I should have left matters there, enjoying the diversity of opinion that Adults in the Room engendered. But this is not an academic book […]
How Europe’s Band-Aid Ensures Greece’s Debt Bondage – Project Syndicate op-ed, 26 FEB 2018
, 04/03/2018
ATHENS – Greece’s never-ending public-debt saga has come to signify the European Union’s inept handling of its inevitable eurozone crisis. Eight years after its bankruptcy, the Greek state’s persistent insolvency remains an embarrassment for Europe’s officialdom. That seems to be why, after having declared the euro crisis over in the rest of Europe, the authorities […]
LE PARISIEN – Varoufakis : «Macron est excellent sur la forme, mais décevant sur le fond»
, 17/02/2018
L’ex-ministre grec des Finances veut lutter contre la pauvreté de façon «concertée» en Europe. L’ancien ministre grec des Finances, Yanis Varoufakis, fait le tour de l’Europe à la recherche d’alliés pour proposer un programme de gauche aux élections européennes de 2019. Vous voulez avoir des listes avec un label commun dans tous les pays pour les élections […]
“La batalla de Varoufakis contra el ‘establishment’ europeo es el libro del año” – Review of Adults in the Room (Spanish edition) in El Confidencial, by RAMÓN GONZÁLEZ FÉRRIZ
, 17/02/2018
El libro de memorias de Yanis Varoufakis sobre sus poco más de cinco meses como ministro de Finanzas griego, ‘Comportarse como adultos. Mi batalla contra el establishment europeo‘, (Deusto) es, probablemente, el libro del año. Y lo es por muchas razones: su narración de las maratonianas reuniones del Eurogrupo sobre la posible reestructuración de la deuda griega y […]
Review of French edition of Adults in the Room – in LE GRAND CONTINENT
, 17/02/2018
« Nous allons, en même temps que le possesseur d’argent et le possesseur de force de travail, quitter cette sphère bruyante où tout se passe à la surface et aux regards de tous, pour les suivre tous deux dans le laboratoire secret de la production, sur le seuil duquel il est écrit : no admittance except […]
Did the judge who refused to withdraw Julian Assange’s arrest warrant labour under a gigantic conflict of interest?
, 15/02/2018
“I find arrest is a proportionate response.” That was the judgement delivered in court last Tuesday by Judge Emma Arbuthnot, presiding over the case brought to court by Julian Assange’s lawyers. Their argument had been that the warrant for his arrest ought to be withdrawn because arresting him (after the extradition request from Sweden had […]
And the name of DiEM25’s Greek political party is…
, 14/02/2018
We have white smoke! DiEM25’s members overwhelmingly approved the name of our new Greek electoral wing – the political party with which DiEM25 will contest elections in Greece, returning the spirit of the Greek Spring to the place of its birth. As with all major DiEM25 decisions, members voted from across Europe, confirming once again […]
Long review of ‘Adults in the Room’, by J.W. Mason, in the Boston Review
, 13/02/2018
Adults In The Room: My Battle With Europe’s Deep Establishment Yanis Varoufakis Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $28.00 (cloth) In the spring of 2015, a series of debt negotiations briefly claimed a share of the world’s attention that normally goes only to events where celebrities give each other prizes. Syriza, a scrappy left-wing party, had stormed into […]
Allein gegen die Troika (Alone with the troika) – review of German edition of ‘Adults in the Room’, by Wilfried Loth in FAZ
, 13/02/2018
Schon als Minister legte er Wert auf große Gesten. Yanis Varoufakis bleibt sich auch in diesem Buch treu. Νein, die ganze Geschichte der Auseinandersetzung um die Griechenland-Hilfe im ersten Halbjahr 2015 ist das nicht, was Yanis Varoufakis, der erste Finanzminister der Regierung von Alexis Tsipras in diesem umfangreichen Memoirenwerk bietet. Es ist eine Abfolge von Gesprächen, […]
Support constructive, responsible, realistic disobedience in Greece. Support DiEM25’s new political party in Greece
, 12/02/2018
For two years now, DiEM25 has been preserving the spirit of the Greek Spring of 2015 across Europe. Now, as we are preparing to present our progressive program to Europeans across the Union, via the ballot box, the time has come to found the Greek DiEM25 affiliate political party that will return the spirit of […]
The good and the ugly interpretations of the recent stock exchange route in less than four minutes (audio)
, 10/02/2018
This is an extract from a speech at the ‘Alternative Investment Forum’ on 9th February 2018.
What was Brexit really about?
, 04/02/2018
Those who try to understand the Brexit vote in terms of bean counting (or cost-benefit analysis) are missing the point. Yes, there was a strong underlying economic reason for the manner in which the majority adopted Brexit. But it had nothing to do with a calculation of what the result of the referendum would […]
Why a second Brexit referendum makes no sense
, 04/02/2018
Besides the gross disrespect to those who voted in favour of Brexit (instructing them to go back to the polling stations to deliver what we think is the ‘right’ verdict), the call for a second referendum is fraught with logical incoherence. Any referendum, courtesy of being a binary Yes or No choice, must be […]