Politics and Economics
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 […]
‘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 […]
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 […]
The Magnificent Oomph: Aiming for Norway Plus to secure a progressive Brexit – transcript of speech
, 31/01/2018
Courtesy of opendemocracy.net, here is the transcript of my speech of 29th January at the House of Commons. The theme? How should Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party secure a progressive Brexit consistent with a socialist agenda for the UK but also with DiEM25’s campaign to democratise Europe. The main reason I am here, I believe – […]
Bloody Sunday, Brexit & The Democratic Process: Public lecture, followed by ‘In conversation with Bernadette McAliskey’ – Derry, 26th January 2018, 7.30pm
, 15/01/2018
Why ‘Bloody Sunday, Brexit & The Democratic Process’ ? Much like many other parts of the world at that time, the North of Ireland was undergoing a process of profound political change in the early 1970’s. By the time January 1972 came around the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) had already been holding peaceful protests […]
The Economists Who Stole Christmas – Project Syndu
, 30/12/2017
How might opposing schools of economic thought – from neoclassical and Keynesian to Libertarian and Marxist, view Christmas presents? Levity aside, the answer reveals the pompousness and vacuity of each and every economic theory. ATHENS – To welcome the New Year with a cheeky take on the clash of economic ideologies, how might opposing camps’ representatives […]
Bitcoin, Blockchain and the Future of Europe – Interviewed by Tom Upchurch for WIRED
, 25/12/2017
In an exclusive interview with WIRED, Yanis Varoufakis discusses Bitcoin’s bubble, the fantasy of apolitical money and the opportunities for the blockchain to reform Europe. By TOM UPCHURCH Saturday 23 December 2017 When I first met Yanis Varoufakis in the summer of 2014, he was a highly respected but relatively obscure economist. Back then, the price […]
The High Cost of Denying Class War – Project Syndicate op-ed, 8th December 2017
, 12/12/2017
ATHENS – The Anglosphere’s political atmosphere is thick with bourgeois outrage. In the United States, the so-called liberal establishment is convinced it was robbed by an insurgency of “deplorables” weaponized by Vladimir Putin’s hackers and Facebook’s sinister inner workings. In Britain, too, an incensed bourgeoisie are pinching themselves that support for leaving the European Union […]
One Schulz does not a federation make: Comment on Martin Schulz’s belated federalist speech
, 08/12/2017
Isn’t it remarkable how establishment European politicians speak common sense once they have lost power and are about to begin their long slide into oblivion? Martin Schulz just copied that pattern with his passionate federalist speech and his pronouncement that “the EU cannot afford another four years of German European policy à la Wolfgang Schäuble”. Pity that […]
Carry On Brexit: Is the long haul just beginning? – The Spectator podcast (audio)
, 07/12/2017
Yanis Varoufakis on EU negotiations, Sam Leith on Brexit language and Harry Mount andSophia Money-Coutts on the Glamocracy. Click here
A Tale of Two Faltering Unions (UK and EU); and what DiEM25 proposes in response – Address at the Oxford Guild, Oxford University, 28/11/2017 (Audio + Full Transcript)
, 04/12/2017
Yanis Varoufakis, co-founder of DiEM25, former Minister of Finance for Greece and high profile economist, academic and writer, addressed The Oxford Guild on Tuesday 28th November in the Said Business School Amphitheatre. He discussed the state of the European Union, of the United Kingdom, the political landscape globally and the political/economic/social agenda of DiEM25 across the […]
Keynote on ‘Europe and its Neighbours’, Chatham House event at the Royal Society of the Arts, London – 20th November 2017 (audio), followed by conversation with Quentin Peele
, 02/12/2017
“Britain is a great democracy imperilled by the delusion that it is a great power. The EU is a great power imperilled by the delusion that it is a great democracy. To stabilise our common neighbourhood, in the East, the Middle-East and Africa, both Europe and the UK must overcome their delusions and work toward simulating […]
Discussing ‘Adults in the Room’, Europe & Trump on SALON TALKS
, 25/11/2017
CLICK HERE (or on the photo above) FOR THE VIDEO
Europe, Greece, Trump & the need for American and European progressives to unite – in conversation with Nomi Konst on TYT
, 24/11/2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EUb0XDVg_wDiscussing ‘Adults in the Room’ on ‘This is Hell!’ – Radio/Audio
, 18/11/2017
The disintegration has already begun: Austerity politics at the end of Europe. Episode 978: Debtor’s Prism After 2008, all you ended up with is functionaries of the deep establishment, minding their own interests, propagating their own careers, looking after their mates in the financial sector, and practicing the fine art of the revolving door – with […]
On the neo-Nazi Resurgence in Europe and why “ISIS Loves Donald Trump” – in conversation with Amy Goodman
, 18/11/2017
AMY GOODMAN: You heard in this introduction the tax plan that has been put forward. And you’re here in this country, and this is your specialty. You’re an economist. You taught at what? University of Texas, Austin? YANIS VAROUFAKIS: That is right. AMY GOODMAN: And you’re at University of Athens now in Greece. You’re the finance minister, former finance minister in […]
DiEM25 tritt als Bewegung bei Wahlen an – der Freitag
, 14/11/2017
Europa zurückholen Mit Europa steht es nicht zum Besten. Die Bewegung DiEM25 will via Demokratisierung zu einem Europa der Menschen anregen. Statt zuzusehen, wie es “über die Klippen geht” Als die GriechInnen „Oxi“, nein, zu den europäischen „Reformen“ gesagt hatten und darob von den „Institutionen“ noch schlimmer gedemütigt worden waren, schrieb ich: Europa ist gestorben (dazu […]
“BREXIT: What must be avoided and what must be done, now!” – Speech at the Royal Society, London, 7 NOV 2017
, 08/11/2017
No venue is better suited for a detoxifying discussion on Brexit than The Royal Society, whose motto (Nullius In Verba – On No One’s Word) ought to be the foundation of all rational debate. I was, thus, moved and deeply honoured by the EEF’s (*) invitation to deliver their annual lecture on Brexit in The Royal Society. […]
On Nazi Resurgence in Europe & Why ISIS Loves Donald Trump – On Democracy Now tv
, 03/11/2017
We speak with former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis about the rise of the far-right Golden Dawn party in his country and how their policies “have infiltrated the mainstream” in European politics, including anti-immigrant measures similar to those proposed by Trump. Varoufakis says Trump’s vow to crack down on immigration after the attack in New […]
On Global Capitalism & How Trump’s Tax Plan is Class War Against the Poor – On Democracy Now tv
, 03/11/2017
President Trump and House Republicans have unveiled their long-promised proposal to reform America’s tax code, with Trump calling it a “big, beautiful Christmas present” for the American people. Critics say the gift is a tax cut for the richest Americans. We discuss the proposal with economist and former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, who argues, […]
Long, personal interview with William Leith in The Guardian on ‘Talking to my Daughter About the Economy’
, 03/11/2017
Yanis Varoufakis is telling me about the birth of his daughter, Xenia. “What I felt was an immense weight of responsibility,” he says. “Absolutely blind love and the sense of focusing on one individual.” But the experience didn’t make him feel like a different person. “It didn’t change my internal constitution or the way I looked […]