For Yanis Varoufakis, lockdown has not been a time of contemplation. “I have more work now than I ever did. As you know, everything has shifted to Zoom meetings, which means zero separation between the private and the public,” he explained when we spoke recently, during one such video call. The 59-year-old economist, former Greek finance minister, game theorist and “erratic Marxist” has divided his time since...
Read More »How deep will the Depression occasioned by Covid-19 be? Debate on BBC World Service’s THE REAL STORY
[embedded content] Coronavirus: The economic crisis – Just how bad will the downturn be and can anything be done to soften the blow? Contributors Stephanie Flanders – head of Bloomberg Economics Yanis Varoufakis – Greek economist, politician, secretary-general of DiEM25 who also served as Greek finance minister during 2015Linda Yueh – economist and author of the book: ‘The Great...
Read More »Brexit: A rational choice for the wrong reasons? – Financial News & Project Syndicate
The motives and thinking behind Brexit were even less worthy than those behind US President Richard Nixon’s move in 1971 to ditch the Bretton Woods system. But, as with the “Nixon shock,” there is a singular underlying historical factor that explains Brexit. ATHENS – At pivotal historical moments, rational political ruptures often are brought about for all the wrong reasons. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s...
Read More »“We are here so that unarmed truth has the final word” – speech at Julian Assange London rally 22-2-2020
Leaking the Guilty Secrets of Power is not a Phrase, it is a Sentence. And no one is facing a longer one today than JA. Julian has GAINED the right to quote another past prisoner, another enemy of Empire, Mahatma Ghandi. Like Ghandi Julian could say: “You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.” He may very well say that. But WE don’t have the right...
Read More »This Saturday we demonstrate in London against Julian’s deportation and in support of your right to know
Where: Australia House, London | When: This Saturday at 11.30 | Why: Marching to Parliament Square to defend your right to know by protesting Julian Assange’s extradition to the United States Parliament Square Speakers (13:30 15:30) Roger Waters Yanis Varoufakis Chrissie Hynde Brian Eno M.I.A. Lowkey Kristinn Hrafnsson – editor in chief of WikiLeaks Vivienne Westwood John Shipton – Julian...
Read More »Brian Eno’s message on Brexit day – and a reply
To my European Friends: I just wanted to tell you that, although my country has made the insane, childish and probably suicidal decision to leave Europe, I remain proud to be a European, and proud of the great social experiment that the EU represents. In my mind, I’m still in Europe, and that is where I will stay. For England it’s all over now, and the next generations will judge the results. But I’m writing...
Read More »Dear Britons – my message on Brexit day
By leaving us, you are making us sadder, poorer and more prone to the errors that made so many of you vote for Brexit. The only solace I take from your departure is the thought that Brexit will convince you that a European Union should be invented even if it did not exist. And that it will convince us, on the Continent, to democratise properly the one we have so as to serve our people’s needs and, yes, to lure...
Read More »Paul Laverty’s & Ken Loach’s haunting & elegiac film: Why Labour must win this Thursday
[embedded content] There is a fork in the road. A mighty choice is coming. We can have a plan. An imperfect plan maybe. But one for the planet, not the corporations. For the many, not the few. A plan for the ‘we’, not the ‘I’.
Read More »EVERYTHING’S ON THE UP WITH THE TORIES – Brian Eno’s new song for this Thursday’s general election
[embedded content] Everything’s on the UP with the Tories the gap between the richies and the poories the porky pies and fabricated storiesYes – everything’s on the up with the Tories Everything’s up the creek with the Blue Boys They’re selling off the NHS to cowboys They’re cutting back on nurses (but investing it in hearses) the nitwits and the we-don’t-have-a-clue boys Everything’s on the...
Read More »Labour’s Manifesto is fit for purpose. So, why are the middle classes so hostile to it? THE NEW STATESMAN
What are we to make of a political class that proclaims its ethical commitments but that cannot bring itself to endorse the only concrete actions that would honour them? This general election is unique in ways that transcend Brexit. Over the decades that I have been observing British politics, never before have I witnessed a consensus so widespread and powerful regarding the country’s urgent needs and...
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