Yanis Varoufakis: Thoughts for the Post-2008 World

[embedded content] Paul Krugman, Ross LaJeunesse (Google), Yanis Varoufakis (DiEM25) and Yasheng Huang, economist, M.I.T.

In a letter addressed to supporters of Another Europe Is Possible, Yanis Varoufakis makes the case for the organisation to unite with the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 Dear friends, Before the referendum we worked together to convince the people of Britain that another Europe is possible. We traversed the country arguing the IN and AGAINST line. In town hall meetings, on the streets, on television and radio, in newspaper interviews, op-eds, etc. we proclaimed that, as long as we...

Stefano Fassina points out that in my article ‘Europe’s Left After Brexit’ I did not discuss his preferred option for Eurozone member-states: Stay in the EU but leave the euro. Of course the reason my article did not discuss that position is that it was focusing on Brexit and addressing Lexiteers like Tariq Ali and Stathis Kouvelakis who are arguing, from a left-wing position, for leaving the EU altogether – i.e. Brexit-like moves. But I am more than happy to comment on Stefano’s...

“It is time for Europe’s humanists to reclaim Europe” Last year, I came to La Fete with a message from Greece. The Athens Spring had just been crushed by the Troika because Europe’s Establishment was planning to bring the Troika to Paris. Since then, the Troika has come to Paris. Labour Laws have been passed by Presidential decree. Civil liberties have been diminished. And the magnificent people of Paris responded with Nuit Debout. Yes, it’s true, Greece was the laboratory of...

Stefano Fassina was kind enough to respond to my article entitled Europe’s Left After Brexit. His reply follows. On Sept 6, Yanis Varoufakis offered an interesting review here of the progressive positions addressing EU problems. The first one, he underlines with a clear cultural break, a “standard variety euro-reformism” — practised typically by social democrats — calls for “more democracy”, “more Europe”, and “reformed institutions”. But this option is founded on a fallacy: the European...

YANIS VAROUFAKIS, ROSEMARY BECHLER, ALEX SAKALIS, and ANTHONY BARNETT 13 September 2016 (Click here for the openDemocracy site) What role does national self-determination and ‘self-government’ play in European and human emancipation today? Yanis Varoufakis replies for DiEM25. Yanis Varoufakis has recently been engaged in debating this key question for our times with the left. (See more.) Here, we try to open out the argument further. In his confrontation with the...

Interviewé par Mourad Guichard (Journaliste indépendant) Présentation : Cristina Soler-Savini (DIEM25) [EN] Due to technical problems, the first minutes of Yanis Varoufakis’s speech were not recorded. Here is a transcript of these lost minutes: Last year, I came to La Fete with a message from Greece. The Athens Spring had just been crushed by the Troika because Europe’s Deep Establishment was planning to bring the Troika to Paris. Since then, the Troika has come to Paris. Labour laws have...

You left office about a year ago – any regrets?  None whatsoever. Once it was no longer possible to do good for Greece as minister, there was no reason to stay in office. Your proudest moment as #Greece’s Minister of Finance? When a poorly dressed boy pointed me out to another boy & said: “This is the guy that gave our mum a card to buy groceries!” Since you left, #Greek #euro crisis no longer dominating Europe’s headlines ? My departure ended a rebellion against debt bondage slavery....

In reply to Tariq Ali, Stathis Kouvelakis, Vicente Navarro and Stefano Fassina on DiEM25’s plan for resisting within the European Union Preface: This article (published in edited form in Jacobin, Neues Deutschland, Il Manifesto,  Mediapart and elsewhere) addresses left-wing critics of DiEM25 claiming that DiEM25 is pursuing the wrong objective (to democratise the EU) by means of a faulty strategy (focusing at the European rather than at the national level). This response, while addressed...