English
Technofeudalism and Cloud Capital – a conversation hosted by Stanford in Government
, 12/07/2022
Is a new economic model toppling capitalism? Yanis Varoufakis, the former Greek Minister for Finance and current leader of the MeRA25 Party, discusses the future of capitalism, his theories of technofeudalism and cloud capital, and the invasion of Ukraine. This event was hosted on April 4, 2022 by Stanford in Government member Ryan Cieslikowski. Stanford […]
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 […]
Should we save capitalism? | Slavoj Žižek, Paul Krugman, Yanis Varoufakis, Shoshana Zuboff, and more – iai video
, 12/06/2022
Leading economists and philosophers discuss in depth the downfall of capitalism and its implications for our social reality. Featuring: Slavoj Žižek, Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz, Shoshana Zuboff, @Yanis Varoufakis, @Mariana Mazzucato , Deirdre McCloskey and Guy Standing. 00:00 | Introduction 00:31 | Paul Krugman 04:07 | Guy Standing 07:01 | Joseph Stiglitz 11:03 | Deirdre […]
“We have a duty to give shelter to Turkish democrats fleeing Erdoğan” – interviewed by Bünyamin Tekin for TURKISH MINUTE
, 06/06/2022
“Democrats have a duty, whenever there is a dictatorial turn in any neighbouring country, to give shelter and asylum to fellow democrats escaping the dictators, the authoritarians. The Greeks have a duty to give shelter to Turkish democrats fleeing Erdoğan or fleeing any regime, for that matter,” MeRA25 MP and party leader Yanis Varoufakis, said […]
The Peace Process Ukraine’s Supporters Should Support – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 06/06/2022
In 1943, progressives had a moral duty to dismiss calls for a negotiated settlement with Hitler. Cutting a deal with the Nazis to end the carnage would have been unforgivable. Civilized people had only one option: to keep fighting until Allied troops stood over Hitler’s Berlin bunker. Today, by contrast, it would be a grave […]
Dangerous fantasy: Gold, Bitcoin won’t help you find freedom outside government – Interviewed on Kitco NEWS
, 06/06/2022
Central banks should issue their own democratically controlled crypto, not bypassed by Bitcoin-like cryptocurrencies” I told David Lin, Anchor and Producer at Kitco News; a service catering largely to the crypto community who (as you will see in the comments) cannot stand my rejection of their collective fantasy that crypto currencies will liberate us from […]
“What was the long-term impact on Greece of its economic crisis?”, asked a 12-yr-old Belgian pupil. Here is my answer
, 06/06/2022
Today I received an email that was impossible to ignore: “My name is HK and I am a 12-year-old Belgian student. We have been asked to formulate a question about a topic that interests us and then give a presentation about it in front of the group. The question I chose is: What was, or […]
“Our Techno-Feudal Hellscape” – On the Real News Network, with Jason Myles & Pascal Robert
, 02/05/2022
From the push to turn more of the workforce into precarious “gig workers” to the ways profit-seeking digital platforms condition how we act and think while extracting free data from us, we can see and feel everyday the creeping evidence that we are living in a new reality. As world-renowned Greek economist, author, and politician […]
“No one can win this war. A negotiated, just peace guaranteed by EU-US-Russia is the only sane strategy” – CGTN interview
, 02/05/2022
“The global South is not sanctioning Russia, not because they support Putin but because they’ve had enough of US government hypocrisy.”
Cloudalists: The New Ruling Class & how can we confront its technofeudal order – iai lecture, 10 APR 2022
, 25/04/2022
Capital triumphed over democracy a long time ago. Today, following the Crash of 2008, the deployment of central bank money to refloat Big Finance, and the rise of Big Tech’s platform corporations, a new type of capital has emerged: Cloud capital (a form of command capital living in the ‘Cloud’). Cloud Capital is crushing the […]
Discussing Crypto, the Left & Technofeudalism with Evgeny Morozov – CRYPTO SYLLABUS long interview
, 23/04/2022
Rare is the person who could expertly comment – in a single interview! – on the rise of NFTs and their origins in the virtual worlds of gaming, the logic of the emerging regime of techno-feudalism, and the folly of El Salvador’s Bitcoin-heavy negotiating tactics with the IMF. Luckily, we have found this person in […]
Our moral duty to Ukraine, and to each other – UNHERD (video + full transcript)
, 23/04/2022
Since war broke out in Ukraine, Greek politician and economist Yanis Varoufakis has been accused of being a Putin apologist, a “Westsplainer”, and a conspiracy theorist. But what does he really think about this conflict? Freddie Sayers spoke to him about liberal warmongering, who’s benefitting from the war, and the West’s moral duty to put […]
Saving Ukraine, dealing with Russia and the global repercussions of failing to do so – On TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin
, 23/04/2022
When economist Yanis Varoufakis last visited The Agenda a decade ago, the world was still reeling from the 2008 economic crash, which decimated the economy of his native Greece. In the years since, he ran for political office, became Greece’s finance minister, and started his own political party. Varoufakis is the focus of a new […]
Unlike feudalism, techno-feudalism is born of the triumph of capital – KU Podcast-Interview
, 16/04/2022
Along the lines on my evolving hypothesis that capitalism in the process of morphing into techno-feudalism, in this podcast I speak to two fine Finnish leftwing journalists who take me to task and interrogate me on this highly controversial idea. For the podcast’s own site, click here.
The Progressive International’s forensic look into the toxic activities of the IMF – video
, 16/04/2022
An inquiry into the activities of the IMF by the Progressive International (@ProgIntl). Worth watching not just by those of us who have suffered its policies directly (Argentinians, Koreans, Greeks and now Sri Lankans, Lebanese etc.) but the Rest of the World whose majorities are suffering indirectly from the IMF’s activities.
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, […]
Cloudalists: Our New Cloud-based Ruling Class – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 12/04/2022
Capital is everywhere, yet capitalism is on the wane. In an era when the owners of a new form of “command capital” have gained exorbitant power over everyone else, including traditional capitalists, this is no contradiction. ATHENS – Once upon a time, capital goods were just the manufactured means of production. Robinson Crusoe’s salvaged fishing […]
Why Stop at the Russian Oligarchs? Project Syndicate op-ed
, 12/04/2022
At a time when Russian bombs are destroying Ukrainian cities, there is good reason to focus on the oligarchs supporting the Kremlin. But do American multi-billionaires and Saudi princes enjoy less political clout, stash less money abroad, and use their influence any better? ATHENS – No sooner had Roman Abramovich, newly targeted by the United […]
In honour of Chris Smalls and the first Amazon Union in the US – an extract from my ANOTHER NOW
, 02/04/2022
It was with immense delight that I heard the news: Led by Chris Smalls, Amazon workers at a New York warehouse overcame their bosses’ scaremongering and voted to form a trades union – the first by Amazon workers on US soil. In my 2020 science fiction novel ANOTHER NOW (Chapter 8), Chris Smalls makes a […]
Putin must be given a golden bridge from which to escape – On Democracy Now!, with Amy Goodman
, 26/03/2022
The only way of ending the killings, the injuries, the destruction of Ukraine and a permanent quagmire in Europe that threatens world peace, is a rational solution that will leave everybody slightly dissatisfied. “What is exactly the alternative? Is it regime change in Russia?” “Well, whenever the United States tried regime change, it didn’t turn […]
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 […]