yanis varoufakis
[athens, greece]
intro’d to Yanis here – april 2015 on democracy now – The Medicine of Austerity Is Not Working, We Need a New Treatment:
http://www.democracynow.org/2015/4/21/greeces_yanis_varoufakis_the_medicine_of
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april 2015 – A conversation with Yanis Varoufakis – at brookings institute
11 min – something we’d likely all agree upon if we’d all started afresh
on being subject to inertia (of institutions et al)
22 min – to exist anywhere it must exist everywhere
what u.s. has done well
?
24 min – his talk ends
32 min – we have the most regulated market in the world – 91% of unemployed have never received one penny of unemployment benefits..
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2012 – special report on Greece: “Welcome to the eye of the storm”
3 min – i work at a uni with brains like you. ..find a solution. do something. this goes beyond your books.
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find/follow Yanis:
Economics professor, quietly writing obscure academic texts for years, until thrust onto the public scene by Europe’s inane handling of an inevitable crisis
his site:
Yanis Varoufakis (Greek: Γιάνης Βαρουφάκης; born 24 March 1961) is a Greek economist. He is the current finance minister of Greece. In the January 2015 general election, he was elected to the Greek parliament, representing SYRIZA, and took office in the new government of Alexis Tsipras two days later, on 27 January 2015. He is a political economist, professor, and author, and has dual Greek-Australian nationality.
Varoufakis is a participant in the current debates on the global and European crisis, the author of The Global Minotaur and several academic texts on economics and game theory, Professor of Economic Theory at the University of Athens and a private consultant for Valve Corporation.
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july 2015 – We’ve made hope return to Europe
craziness.
debt.
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no wins.
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Yanis resigns
Varoufakis said he was stepping down to allow Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to reach a new deal with European creditors.
“I consider it my duty to help Alexis Tsipras exploit, as he sees fit, the capital that the Greek people granted us through yesterday’s referendum. And I shall wear the creditors’ loathing with pride.”
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july 2015
Yanis, if you keep talking about the debt, a deal will be impossible,
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from paul mason – yanis – the economist who wouldn’t play politics
Varoufakis is an economist, not a politician. His entire career, and his academic qualifications are built on the conviction that a) austerity does not work; b) the Eurozone will collapse unless it becomes a union for recycling tax from rich countries to poor countries; c) Greece is insolvent and its debts need to be cancelled.
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politicians are built for compromise. Tsipras has to work the party machine, the government machine, the machine of parliament. Varoufakis’ machine is his own brain.
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The lenders detested Varoufakis because he looked and sounded like one of them. He spoke the language of the IMF and ECB, and turned their own logic against them. But he achieved his objective: he convinced the lenders Greece was serious.
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In the process he has templated a style of politics that may be equally adaptable for the right as on the left, for those with the will to try it: operating from principles, being as open as possible with information, engaging the public in language they can understand, and putting his entire persona on the line.
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first interview after resignation with newstatesman
My interpretation is that when you want to talk about everything, you don’t want to talk about anything.”
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Varoufakis said that Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister and the architect of the deals Greece signed in 2010 and 2012, was “consistent throughout”. “His view was ‘I’m not discussing the programme – this was accepted by the previous [Greek] government and we can’t possibly allow an election to change anything.
“So at that point I said ‘Well perhaps we should simply not hold elections anymore for indebted countries’, and there was no answer. The only interpretation I can give [of their view] is, ‘Yes, that would be a good idea, but it would be difficult. So you either sign on the dotted line or you are out.’”
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It is well known that Varoufakis was taken off Greece’s negotiating team shortly after Syriza took office; he was still in charge of the country’s finances but no longer in the room. It’s long been unclear why.
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“There were people who were sympathetic at a personal level, behind closed doors, especially from the IMF.” He confirmed that he was referring to Christine Lagarde, the IMF director. “But then inside the Eurogroup [there were] a few kind words and that was it: back behind the parapet of the official version. … Very powerful figures look at you in the eye and say ‘You’re right in what you’re saying, but we’re going to crunch you anyway’.
so resonating.. behind closed doors ness.
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Varoufakis was reluctant to name individuals, but added that the governments that might have been expected to be the most sympathetic towards Greece were actually their “most energetic enemies”. He said that the “greatest nightmare” of those with large debts – the governments of countries like Portugal, Spain, Italy and Ireland – “was our success”. “Were we to succeed in negotiating a better deal, that would obliterate them politically: they would have to answer to their own people why they didn’t negotiate like we were doing
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He suggested that Greece’s creditors had a strategy to keep his government busy and hopeful of a compromise, but in reality they were slowly suffering and eventually desperate.
[..]When Donald Tusk, the European Council President, tried to issue the communiqué without him, Varoufakis consulted Eurogroup clerks – could Tusk exclude a member state? The meeting was briefly halted. After a handful of calls, a lawyer turned to him and said, “Well, the Eurogroup does not exist in law, there is no treaty which has convened this group.”
“So,” Varoufakis said, “What we have is a non-existent group that has the greatest power to determine the lives of Europeans. It’s not answerable to anyone, given it doesn’t exist in law; no minutes are kept; and it’s confidential. No citizen ever knows what is said within . . . These are decisions of almost life and death, and no member has to answer to anybody.”
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Greece must subject itself to fiscal waterboarding, even before any financing is offered.
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Once more, demanding that the victim takes all the blame in behalf of the villain.
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fitting with last quote.. no? … Once more, demanding that the victim takes all the blame in behalf of the villain.
Treason charges: What lurks behind the bizarre allegations
http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2015/07/29/treason-charges-what-lurks-behind-the-bizarre-allegations/
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aug 2015
Why do all the interviews of you I have read begin with a question about how are you if it is clear, as I see, that you are really ok?
I suspect journalists assume that I am somehow downhearted now that I am not in the ministry. But I didn’t enter politics as a career. I entered politics to try to change things. There is a price to pay if one tries to change things.
What is the price?
The disdain of the establishment. The deep feelings of loathing by the vested interests one must dislodge to make a difference. They felt threatened. If you enter politics with an uncompromising position, you cop it.
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Grexit is used to create the fear necessary to force Paris, Rome and Madrid to acquiesce.
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By imposing the liquidity squeeze, they forced the economy to shrink so as to blame it on us… We had constantly to make payments to the IMF which where scheduled along with disbursements which never came through. So they kept doing this, delaying any agreement, until we run out of liquidity. Then they gave us an ultimatum under the further threat of bank closure. This was nothing but a coup. In 1967 there were the tanks and in 2015 there were the banks. But the result is the same in the sense of having overthrown the Government or having forced it to overthrow itself
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Nobody can be free even if one person is a slave. That is Hegel’s well known master-slave paradox
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punishing one proud nation in order to put fear in another is not what europe should be about.
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Rajoy has said that if Spaniards vote for parties like Podemos, we will be like Greece in the coming months.
I remind you that Mitt Romney’s Presidential campaign in 2012 was run also on the basis of that ‘if Obama wins, the US will become like Greece’. So Greece has become a football on the feet of politicians of the right who try to scare their population. This is the great utility of Greece for the Grexit policy of Dr Schauble.
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Do you think that Podemos could have damaged Greece because the fear of the political contagion?
I would never say that Podemos is a problem for us. Even if Podemos didn’t exist, the forces of regression in Europe would have used fear because, let’s face it: whenever a province of an empire rebels, the emperor and his minions feel obliged to make an example of those who make a dash for liberty….
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The debate is the result?
Certainly! I cannot quantify this result for you. I cannot tell you how many billons it is worth. But some things are not measured in terms of prices but in terms of their value.
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there was a quite separate design for a new payments system using the tax office’s interface. This system, as I explained in a recent article in the Financial Times, is something that should have been implemented anyway. I think Spain might benefit from implementing it to, or Italy for example. Countries lacking a central bank can potentially benefit from this efficient way of creating more liquidity, and more effectively dealing with multilateral extinguishment of arrears between the state and its citizens, but also among citizens.
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But the proposition that there exists no alternative is constitutionally alien to every fibre of my body and mind
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At that moment, the troika would provide enough liquidity, like they did now with the 7 billion the Greek government received in order to repay the… ECB and the IMF. Just like waterboarding, this liquidity, or ‘oxygen’, is calculated to be barely enough to keep the ‘subject’ going, without defaulting formally, but never more than that. And so the torture continues with the effect that the government remains completely under the troika’s control. This is how fiscal waterboarding functions and I cannot imagine a better and more accurate term to describe what has been going on
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Closing down the banks of a monetized economy is the worst form of monetary terrorism. It instills fear in people
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At some point the truth needs to be told.
[..]The worst enemy of democracy is citizens who say this is a terrible system but I’m not prepared to do anything to change it.
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interview sept 2015 – starts at 3 min
http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2015/09/16/on-corbyn-greece-and-the-un-interviewed-for-rt-tvs-underground/
do not get scared off by character assassination of systemic media – shower them with compassion, rational arguments..
8 min – the question is – why did they want to walk all over us.. they needed a demonstration effect for other nations.. to not push against them
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oct 2015 – paul and yanis
https://keithpp.wordpress.com/2015/10/23/yanis-varoufakis-in-conversation-with-paul-mason/
Varoufakis: Greece is a cruel laboratory in which policies are being tested before they are passed on to Portugal, Spain, etc #GuardianLive
so let’s go for a humane lab… to model a nother way..
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sept 2015
found in Nadia‘s page nov 2015 – w/open care video
https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/our-first-public-talk-video-is-now-online
2nd video on page:
Varoufakis dismantles austerity, Osborneomics and UKIP
David Dimbleby presents debate from Cambridge
1 min – q 1 on refugees – allowing more in than we can cope with
answer (lady on far right of panel) – we need to distinguish migrant from refugee.. refugees are 1 in 5
3 min – yanis: exactly the opposite.. we are all migrants.. the notion that at the time 10000 of thousands being washed up.. 3.1 million refugees from particular … and poor countries take them in… to have this discussion on cambridge today.. to let them in.. this is not putting in good stead this country…
5 min – yanis: borders are an absurdity looked at from space
6 min – if it’s an irrelevance.. leave it
perpetuate ness
9 min – (panel guy – chris) – of course we shouldn’t take more than we can cope with but i think we can cope with more than we are saying.. we’re one of richest countries in the world and we should be ashamed of ourselves that we aren’t opening our arms..
11 min – (panel next to yanis) – oh my – we can’t be the solution.. we can’t take them in.. we are talking about 10s of millions… the reason they are getting on boats is because germany is saying come on in
13 min – Yanis saying – how to distinguish who’s deserving and who’s not – as refugee.. because of hunger/war/etc..?
audience saying.. i agree but better to calm the war in syria than keep taking people in.. get at root.. panel asks him how.. and he says democracy
perhaps – deep enough; perhaps we take this awful opportunity to model a means for 7 bill people to leapfrog to global do-over ness; ie: a nother way
16 min – yanis: you’re assuming migrants are coming in to steal jobs.. u.s. would not have been a force today if they’d built borders in 19th cent – yanis
if you see a migrant in the nhs today.. it’s likely to be someone who’s treating you not being treated – chris.
17 min – audience – i work for the nhs and migrants have nothing to do w/the waiting list
19 min – 2nd question – does britain need an alternative to austerity
yanis: i don’t believe we need an alt because austerity is not an option..
20 min – yanis: problem is that austerity is being used as a narrative to contact a class war
26 min – waiting list for mental health services – 3-6 mos (panel member)
30 min – yanis: there’s a lot of rhetoric about deficit reduction.. the reality is there is not deficit reduction
34 min – audience – politicians spend too much time arguing.. it’s simple.. gives his own life as example
35 min – yanis: your life is not a good model.. ie: if you cut back on spending.. doesn’t change your income.. if country cuts back on spending it affects income..
whoa. can we imagine not thinking this way. ie: money as irrelevant. is yanis really saying – need to spend to keep circulation?
39 min – question 3 on meat and cigarettes..?
46 min – question 4 on hospitals
56 min – yanis: on starting to introduce markets in ie: hospitals/unis.. measuring things that can’t be measured… w/o having to top/down management.. w/top players taking top cut
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nov 2015
Democracy Under Siege, Carnegie Conversations
on elements of democracy… having own opinion.. and being able to make decisions with equal weight.. no matter who you are
24 min – on how we’ve emptied the word democracy.. so that when we have a crisis.. we don’t have a common way to solve it
25 min – q: about the challenge of achieving transformation in a democracy
27 min – a: in greece we lack the capacity to set our own monetary policy… money is very important..reflection of econ power… a govt that doesn’t control its money is a govt w/o sovereignty. australia has control over its own money.
i’m not against unification..
29 min – q: biggest deficit in europe – democracy – so how would you make it demo a: real power in europe group is not the financials.. ideally we should return to basic principles of accountability… 1\ what powers do you have 2\ who gave them to use 3\ how do you use them 4\ how do we get rid of you..
31 min – small steps 1\ all meetings livestreamed 2\ council reconfigure w/ 4 sub crises… debt, poverty, …could be dealt with.. but political will is not there
34 min – the problem with financialization is it’s enemical to the interest of capital
35 min – in 91 socialism died, in 2008 capitalism died
37 min – bankruptocracy – the more bankrupt you are the more powerful
39 min – nothing individual govt can do
40 min – end of book you say – only u.s. can lead a recovery..
42 min – u.s. was being recycler of global deficits..
42 min – reason we’ve been in crisis since 2008 – no one has replaced it –
43 min – it was never about altruism (w/u.s.) .. but about being smart … it was enlightened selfishness..
44 min – unfortunately constitution seems to create an ungovernable country.. and americans worship it
wondering if Yanis can imagine a world w/o money
57 min – q: my parents moved us to australia.. i really want to go back to greece. should i?
a: yes…. it’s absolutely essential to retain faith in the goodness of humanity...
1:00 – plan b was not about leaving the euro and creating anew currency.. but a parallel payment system that would give us freedom.. so that if banks close down we could survive for a few weeks w/this parallel/digital payment system
1:03 – takes 12 months to create currency
1:09 – it make sound utopian.. a european movement.. but the alternative is a terrible dystopia
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#thisisacoup (doc) – produced/narrated by Paul Mason
Yanis’ comments on Paul’s doc:
http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2015/12/19/this-is-a-coup-my-comments-on-paul-masons-documentary/
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Yanis interview: #ThisIsACoup – Testimonies
people were mobilizing themselves.. they didn’t need us..
april 27 – i witness a major turn around in spirit/attitude – few days later found out.. w/o my knowing .. we had already accepted a large dosage of austerity
on tsipras – an honorable man, good leader, someone who could have turned greece around, a major threat to the troika… – who clinically planned step by step to run us to the ground – he was so weakened he was fished out of the water
9 min – it was clear that the magestic no had not carried through.. the seemingly happiness was incredible sadness…
10 min – is that it for the left… of course not.. we’ve suffered much more and always bounced back
11 min – still maintain a very close link with the people dreaming.. they’re already revolting.. w/in minds… i’m sure we’ll see these on the streets again
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Varoufakis annonce son retour en politique
https://t.co/YejBNzJUGZ https://t.co/LdSpUqBo6XOriginal Tweet: https://twitter.com/lesoir/status/683710681355567106
to launch on February 9, in Berlin, a European left movement, called “Democracy in Europe Movement 2025”, the German media reported.
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ROAR Magazine @ROAR_Magazine
On the #ROARblog via @commondreams: ‘Varoufakis launches Democracy in Europe Movement 2025’ buff.ly/1RuBwKg pic.twitter.com/CvGF4xhEEk
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tedglobal geneva 2015 – Capitalism will eat democracy — unless we speak up
on taking democracy for granted…..
i was told – our elections could not interfere w/econ policies.. that democracy would be declined if it ever threatened to change anything
2 min – twin of mtn of debts… mtn of idle cash.. form tweaks.. failing to cancel each other out.. 3 trill debt 5 trill idle
5 min – constitution in which the free/poor being in majority control govt – aristotle
7 min – why politicians not what used to be – because – one can be in govt today and not in power.. power has migrated from political to economic sphere
8 min – the more capitalism succeeds in taking the demos out of democracy… the greater the waste of human resources.. and humanities wealth..
9 min – on the bad of automation…
10 min – future.. matrix – machines run us.. or star trek – we run machines..
15 min – on leaving econ – the place where all the action is.. completely democracy free
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feb 2016
#Yaracuy Varoufakis lanza movimiento #DIEM25 para refundar la Unión Europea bit.ly/1SG0R6r pic.twitter.com/zKgSS7UlRN #ArcangelAlva…
I enjoyed the discussions today at the launch of #DiEM25. Exciting times.
http://neurope.eu/article/varoufakis-launches-diem-25-in-good-company/
Yiannis Varoufakis is launching on Tuesday DiEM25 (Democracy in Europe Movement 2025) a pan-European Party in Berlin . The kick off was a press conference in Berlin and the official presentation will be on Tuesday evening, from the Volksbühne Theatre. The objective is to democratize Europe.
The party also referred to as “a collective” already boasts the endorsement of numerous celebrities, including Julian Assange, of Wikileaks, the philosophers Boris Groys, Brardi Bifo, and Srecko Horvat, the Economist James K. Galbraith, the musician Brian Eno, Walter Baier of the Transform Network and Eduard Chmelar of the SEN ecological movement.
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Report: Varoufakis & Horvat launch Democracy in Europe Movement 2025
jacob – to design to resist violations of rights
having eclectic gathering..
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@owenjones84
On the left and tempted by Brexit? Here’s Yanis Varoufakis telling me why we should unite to change Europe instead youtube.com/watch?v=mIjfyG…
consistency is perhaps what undid the beauty…getting too lured into the mathematics.. –
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@democracynow
TODAY: We speak with former finance minister of Greece @yanisvaroufakis. Stream live 8-9AM ET @democracynow.org19 min ish in – most interesting man in the world…. latest book – and the weak suffer what they must?elephant in the room are tassling and little mouse – greece – is being squished…24 min – this illusion.. soothing myth for the people.. of debt ness… more debt to pretend to repay previous debt29 min – the reason i was extremely inconvenient – because i didn’t want any money.. (in germany) – impossible to repay money…31 min – 91% of 1st bailout went to german/french banks.. 2nd 100% went32 min – like macbeth..once you have committed one crime you have to commit another crime to hide fact you committed first one… 2nd predatory loan enforced to pretend it’s making payments on first loan….33 min – no chance of new deal like 1930s34 min – i shall wear the creditors loathing with pride….we were elected to say no to the creditors.. to the continuation of the pretending… we would compromise.. but not be compromised on this.. we would not sign on line of yet another… so we asked the people… and i didn’t expect them to say no.. they were being terrorized daily.. yet… the magnificent greek people gave us a resounding 62% no.. the greek people had energized us… my pm saw it differently – said it was time to surrender… so i decided to resign.. hardest text i had to script40 min – coercive relationship – in order to keep pretending that original program works.. creditors lend huge amt of money… greeks have to make payments.. but can’t/bankrupt.. so has to keep borrowing.. to pretend it’s ahead of payment schedule.. but creditors every third month.. bring greeks to state of asphyxiation.. by refusing loans… bring greek to verge of not being able to pay… ie: electricity in schools… or to have to default.. then at last moment.. this is water boarding isn’t it…subject to asphyxiation.. just before death comes.. give gulp of oxygen .. then repeat.. just liquidity rather than oxygen.. that’s fiscal waterboarding..42 min – on new deal – dollar is currency of capitalism… trade deficit of u.s. operated as a huge vacuum..45 min – clip w noam51 min – refugee crisis in greece – orwell would be very proud of europe ..& our capacity for doublespeak.. creating new terms to hide awful reality.. ie: hotspots = concentration camps.. instead of humans in need of help.. illegals/aliens enclosed in hotspots.. only get money of interm (?) them.. can’t set them free…….this should not be a problem.. when iron curtain came down in 1991 – we accepted 1 mill in a few months…
The Future of Work w @yanisvaroufakis @albertwenger @anthonypainter tomorrow, Switzerland-watch it livehttps://t.co/QQw6X0U1uM #basicincome
Original Tweet: https://twitter.com/itsbasicincome/status/727394398099640320
Yanis at 8 min – on bi as foundationYanis at 9 min – via q&a = on transition – and not knowing it..
9:24i have a very deep belief in the capacity of human minds to work things out for themselves if they don’t have to live in terror.. that is the main thing..
indeed –let’s do this first: free art-ists.
via hosting life bits…
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@yanisvaroufakis
GREECE’S ENDLESS LOOP OF DOOM – full version of New York Times op-ed, including facts and figures yanisvaroufakis.eu/2016/06/03/gre
‘All Greece needs is a realistic restructuring of its debt..’
or a chance to try full on commoning ie: sans money
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june 2016
@yanisvaroufakis
A discussion with Noam Chomsky worth revisiting at this post-Brexit juncture @nypl@holdengraberyanisvaroufakis.eu/2016/06/24/a-d…
from april 26 convo with Noam
11 min – noam: neoliberalism is not new and it’s not liberal
14 min – noam: cutting edge of econ has shifted from tech to bio.. at unis.. and that’s called free market.. quite ironic
16 min – yanis: theft of land from native americans.. would have never happened without the brutal intervention of the state which created the process of privatization of land.. and so commodification
20 min – noam: there have been places where sound econ was applied… liberal policies.. it’s called the third world.. and it’s not an accident.. ie: global south.. developed by japan.. the one country not colonized…et al..pattern is just uniform.. but hasn’t entered econ theory.. i wonder why
21 min – yanis: why.. econ in uni’s was began to evolve from 1950s on as queen of social sciences… what gave power.. monopoly power….was claim that it was the only social theory that was peddling universal truths to be proven by math means… and it succeeded.. so ie: economist always got the grant.. in order to close model mathematically.. only way to solve is by making assumptions .. ie: have to assume no time, no space.. because if allow time/space to interfere with model.. end up with indeterminism. a system of equation that can’t be solved… because infinity of possible solutions.. no predictive power..so more successful econ’s were of creating models that said precisely nothing about capitalism.. the greater success in academy.. so opposite of intellectuals you’ve been writing about they create wonderful abstract models.. but don’t expect to find truth of capitalism in its form..
25 min – yanis: i blame them for creating the math models.. the sermons.. proving that it was riskless.. to allow them the strength to do more damage than would have done otherwise
26 min – yanis: he’s story of driving speed limit.. sees police.. slows.. then go back to speed…
27 min – yanis: not that econ’s went head long in this mathematical religion.. w a bit of bad stats.. 1/ there was a kind of ethnic cleansing.. but never got grants et al 2\ the ones that created.. ie: the popes.. were not the believers.. ie: one interrupting speaker of .. and his response..my dear boy.. you are confusing that which is interesting with that which is useful.. this is interesting.. if you apply to anything real..
30 min – yanis: imagine a world in which econ policy is predicated on models that assume no time/space/et al… it’s time to get really scared..
30 min – yanis: wikileaks leak convo between paul thompson..and.. they are admitting (imf ness).. money not really for them.. not really expecting to get it back.. et al..
33 min – yanis: i was trying to find a formula .. i go to paul thompson.. i wanted to make things work.. rather than clash.. and he said.. no this is too mild.. we need to take large chunk of your debt and write it off.. so at this level.. even w leadership of imf.. you got the understanding they knew what they had done.. a nasty deed.. and they were trying to do something about it.. but when came to final settlement.. as creditors remained loyal to one another.. high up in imf..after 10 hrs of negotiations.. in end..’yanis you are right.. policies were trying to impose upon you cannot work… deep down.. i really want to think that the adults know what they are doing.. but people at top have no idea what they are doing.. maybe they know more than i think they do.. they said to me.. but yanis.. you must understand..we have invested so much political capital.. we can’t go back.. and your credibility depends on accepting it…
aside – twitter convo going on while i’m listening to this..
@nathanjurgenson
“academics urgently need to ponder why such a significant chunk of the population has come to distrust them” timeshighereducation.com/blog/brexit-wo…
@zeynep
@nathanjurgenson@csoghoian Our fault=~20%? Rest is relentless propaganda. Big chunks mistrusts climate change, evolution, Obama US citizen.
@nathanjurgenson@csoghoian We’ve faced a calculated assault on science, facts & critical thought. This isn’t merely because of jargon etc.
36 min – noam: imf own econ’s saying these policies are destructive..
37 min – yanis: i quoted chapter and verse.. counter to productivity.. concluded labor market reforms.. been pushed down throat when don’t work.. meetings are quite brutal.. have head of euro group.. then next.. real ruler of european union.. real power..
39 min – yanis: when we created a common currency/central bank but w/o state to correspond.. they decided.. every now and then finance ministers.. should get together and coordinate..
43 min – at some point troika inside euro group.. set the scene..
47 min – yanis quoting imf guy: i don’t need to theorize.. we have discipline to look after..
50 min – yanis: when do currency first and political after.. huge error
52 min – noam quoting greenspan – success based on growing worker insecurity
53 min – yanis: 1953 story – cold war and increasing authoritarianism – athens.. attempt to prevent another great depression… called 1949 moment…20 yrs after last depression.. and sat down to prevent it from happening.. plan entailed.. europe would be dolarized.. allowed to create own currencies.. dollar in diff form..
57 min – yanis: on surplus recycling.. to maintain the global plan.. an extension of the new deal..
1:01 – yanis: end of book – optimism.. my mother would have slaughtered anyone who said.. the weak suffer what they must
1:04 – noam – optimism in book – – power goes back to mind of the masses if they take it.. if we inquire into the means.. it is by consent alone that the powerful are able to govern..
1:10 – yanis – now prospect.. we had a window of opp for a reboot.. we missed that.. this is why and some other utopians… throughout europe created diem.. that noam signed… i think we are in a 1930 moment..
1:13 – q&a
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on diem25
@yanisvaroufakis
Proud to reveal the list of those elected as #DiEM25 Coordinators & Advisors yanisvaroufakis.eu/2016/10/05/imp
Linguist Noam Chomsky, novelist Elif Shafak, artist/musician Brian Eno, activist Zoe Gardner and fashion designer/environmental activist Vivienne Westwood are amongst those elected by DiEM25’s members to coordinate the movement’s activities.
[..]
DiEM25 Advisory Panel
Julian Assange, Renata Ávila, Walter Baier, Anthony Barnett, Franco Berardi, Boris Buden,Berardo Carboni, Nessa Childers, Cécile Duflot, Marcelo Expósito, Susan George, James K. Galbraith,Ken Loach, Jean-Michel Jarre, Katja Kipping, Caroline Lucas, John McDonnell, David McWilliams, Sandro Mezzadra, Gerardo Pisarello, Rasmus Nordqvist,Saskia Sassen, Barbara Spinelli, Danae Stratou, Marie Christine Vergiat, Slavoj Žižek.
DiEM25 Coordinating Collective
Noam Chomsky, Brian Eno, Zoe Gardner, Srećko Horvat, Lorenzo Marsili, Cristina Soler-Savini, Thomas Seibert , Elif Shafak, Igor Stokfiszewski, Yanis Varoufakis, Vivienne Westwood, Agnieszka Wiśniewska.
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.@yanisvaroufakis outlines what we can learn from Remain’s failure, + proposes a roadmap for Brexit:https://t.co/RLzxrvt800 (video, 8m35s)
Original Tweet: https://twitter.com/DiEM_25/status/789093754418364416oct 2016 – How to revitalise progressive politics in Brexit Britain
to a people craving instant/immediate change.. we offered a worthy policy.. but a policy we needed to be in govt to implement..
it was not foolish of voters to vote for brexit.. they had reason.. lesson: unless we back up our views w/surge throughout country.. the people will turn to those who offer them realistic change now.. even if it is the wrong kind of change..
80% of people are taking to cleaners 95% of time by 20%
we can check out anytime.. but leaving is an utter mess
we must not turn against those who turned their back on us..
we should accept our responsibility for failure.. and convince them we can change..
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fb share by Michel – written by Yanis:
@ProSyn
A universal basic income should be funded not from taxation, but from returns on capital | @yanisvaroufakisbit.ly/2eLNhzW
wealth was always produced collectively and privatized by those with the power to do it: the propertied class.
perhaps we call bunk on the i of ubi…
making funding ness irrelevant
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trump victory as silver lining:
Now, eight years after 2008, these people are angry and are getting even.
[..]
the new era that Trump’s presidency is inaugurating, foreshadowed by Brexit, is not at all new. It is, indeed, a post-modern variant of the 1930s, complete with deflation, xenophobia, and divide-and-rule politics. Trump’s victory is not isolated. It will no doubt reinforce the toxic politics unleashed by Brexit, the undisguised bigotry of Nicolas Sarkozy and Marine Le Pen in France, the rise of the Alternative für Deutschland, the “illiberal democracies” emerging in Eastern Europe, Golden Dawn in Greece.
Thankfully Trump is not Hitler and history never repeats itself faithfully. Mercifully, big business is not funding Trump and his European mates like it was funding Hitler and Mussolini. But Trump and his European counterparts are reflections of an emergent Nationalist International that the world has not seen since the 1930s.
[..]
Is there an alternative? I think so: …………..In Europe this movement already exists. Founded in Berlin last February, the Democracy in Europe Movement (DiEM25) is attempting to achieve that which an earlier generation of Europeans failed to do in 1930.
[..]
But Europe is clearly not enough. ……..
Trump’s triumph comes with a silver lining. It demonstrates that we are at a crossroads when change is inevitable, not just possible. But to ensure that it is not the type of change that humanity suffered from in the 1930s, we need movements to spring out and to forge a Progressive International to press passion and reason back into the service of humanism.
& a mech deep/simple/open enough to facil that chaos
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@DiEM_25
Yanis Varoufakis: a Greek Warrior Sets Sights on a New Battle.
#DiEM25https://diem25.org/yanis-varoufakis-a-greek-warrior-sets-sights-on-a-new-battle/…The one who has the money – the Troika in this case – makes the rules.
so no strings $ as temp placebo.. new 2 rules (deep enough)
model a nother way
[..]
the great problems we face cannot be resolved unless we are unified as Europeans,” he says. “Climate change, it cannot be dealt with by individual countries, defence, especially in the post-Trumpian world, the refugee crisis and refugee flows. They all require a united response.”
begs we leap.. all 7 bn.. for (blank)’s sake…
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@DiEM_25
“We need a New Deal on both sides of the Atlantic” bbc.com/news/video_and… .@yanisvaroufakis in @BBCNewsnight
the cure is decent jobs ..with living wage.. health care.. ed.. social housing.. property rights.. ubi funded by returns of capital not tax
let’s go deeper.. we need a non-partial deal.. for (blank)’s sake… a human\e constitution
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adults in the room review by Paul:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/may/03/yanis-varoufakis-greece-greatest-political-memoir
Varoufakis is ” in Washington for a meeting with Larry Summers, the former US treasury secretary and Obama confidant. Summers asks him point blank: do you want to be on the inside or the outside? “Outsiders prioritise their freedom to speak their version of the truth. The price is that they are ignored by the insiders, who make the important decisions,” Summers warns.”
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@yanisvaroufakis
ADULTS IN THE ROOM reviewed by @adam_tooze – History Professor & Director of European Institute, Columbia University yanisvaroufakis.eu/2017/07/02/adu
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Yanis Varoufakis (@yanisvaroufakis) tweeted at 5:40 AM on Sat, Oct 07, 2017:
Why Europe Needs a New Deal, Not Breakup. Varoufakis&Galbraith on DiEM25’s Economic Policy Agenda via @thenation https://t.co/A7O14kcc4g
(https://twitter.com/yanisvaroufakis/status/916629200475475969?s=03)The American New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt’s first two terms combined the goals of financial stabilization, reconstruction, conservation, and employment—jobs for the jobless; public works; power systems and new industries, especially in the South; soil conservation and reforestation to battle the Dust Bowl; and a potent mix of regulations and insurance to assert public power over high finance.
Europe today needs all of these.
all of these..? or something else.. an alternative.. that would make all of those irrlevant
let’s go deeper.. via 2 convos .. as the day
Societies in Europe are facing four major socioeconomic challenges with the hallmarks of climate change. Just as global warming can never be addressed at the national level, even though local and national action is imperative, the same applies to the crises of (a) public debt, (b) banking, (c) exceptionally low investment (relative to savings), and (d) rising poverty. These will either be dealt with effectively at a European level or not at all, thus ensuring that any retreat to the nation-state will only benefit the xenophobic, militantly parochial forces of the ugly right.
again.. perhaps those are irrlevant to what humanity craves.. let’s try a global do over..
DiEM25’s alternative approach is to issue a call to arms to all Europeans to join in what we term “constructive disobedience.”
Europe now needs an antidote to Euro-TINA: the toxic doctrine that “there is no alternative”
ie: hlb via 2 convos that io dance.. as the day..[aka: not part\ial.. for (blank)’s sake…].. a nother way
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2 min video
Martin Cooper (@mpc_1968) tweeted at 5:04 AM – 19 Oct 2017 :
Here’s @yanisvaroufakis interview from yesterday on #skynews.
https://t.co/pBHEqBeCPr
@anandMenon1 @jdportes @alanbeattie @odtorson (http://twitter.com/mpc_1968/status/920968929090179072?s=17)to understand my own ideas.. and to dissolve my own prejudices about how an economy works..
the more scientific our economic models.. the more useless they are..t
unlike physics/engineering/chemistry.. where the more scientific the nearer they get you to understanding reality and manipulating nature on behalf of humanity
but in econ.. the only way of solving the math is by obstructing so much that there’s no capitalism left in those models..
at some point you realize.. what you’re testing has nothing to do with the theory that you’re supposed to be testing and also.. w a sufficient skill you can prove anything .. in which case you can prove nothing..t
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Talking to My Daughter About the Economy
Yanis Varoufakis (@yanisvaroufakis) tweeted at 5:12 AM – 25 Nov 2017 :
Ireland’s finance minister reviews my book “Talking to My Daughter About the Economy”, with kind words about the book and a fascinating insight into this Irish government’s take on what it means to be a responsible finance minister… https://t.co/i1YVFuplGD (http://twitter.com/yanisvaroufakis/status/934394252293001217?s=17)
thanks library – to daughter about econ
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Yanis Varoufakis (@yanisvaroufakis) tweeted at 5:42 AM on Sat, Nov 25, 2017:
Insightful hour-long discussion on democracy’s discontents featuring Varoufakis & Galbraith who worked together to restore democracy in a small European country and now work to take the fight for democracy to every corner of Europe via @DiEM_25 https://t.co/aENu12l01t
(https://twitter.com/yanisvaroufakis/status/934401992058957825?s=03)5 min – when it comes to econ policy.. there are no experts…
26 mi – first thing we need to do is offer an agenda for tomorrow morning..t.. is says.. diff is possible if all different people.. how you would use existing institutions w/in existing rules to make substantial diff w/in week.. 2 months
2nd phase.. institutional reforms
3rd phase.. democratic federation in europe..draft a 20 page constitution together..
28 min – idea is not to copy the us
32 min – on getting grief for things doing for people.. (ie: set aside 600 mn .. paid food stamps and housing and energy and visa with money.. made a huge diff for 600 000).. when bankers.. 54 bn
38 min – greece should be thought of as a lab..
45 min – now what we want .. is to get people sitting on couches watching tv because they’re exhausted thinking there’s nothing they can do.. mobilized.. our enemy is apathy
48 min – i have a great trust in people..if we offer honest/realistic proposal..t
51 min – the people on the couch we need to re energize.. these are not politically apathetic people.. they are politicized people who have turned against the political process..t
56 min – if we are going to preserve civilization.. we need to challenge everything.. reconfigure institutions of power.. but at same time.. not go to extent that believing the goodness of humanity and social conventions of decency will do the job of org ing civilization in a way that doesn’t leave 1/2 of us starving or in fear of gangs..t
we have to believe in goodness of humanity.. won’t work any other way.. just need a means to org that.. a way to org 7 bn free (truly free – we haven’t seen this yet) people..
ie: cure ios city
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Roger Domingo (@RogerDomingo) tweeted at 4:01 AM – 28 Nov 2017 :
Varoufakis unchained. https://t.co/0V8AhkJYL8 (http://twitter.com/RogerDomingo/status/935463613875326976?s=17)
she said, ‘to restore a dialogue w adults in the room’ of course this reflects the arrogance of the deep establishment.. they believe they are the adults and everybody else.. you ..are the children.. and the children must be managed
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Lorenzo Marsili (@l_marsili) tweeted at 4:48 AM – 24 Dec 2017 :
Finally a seriously political take on #Bitcoin. Algorithms can’t replace democracy.
By @yanisvaroufakis @DiEM_25 https://t.co/Sr3EuhpxVO (http://twitter.com/l_marsili/status/944897555820883968?s=17)he wants to make one point very clear: “I was never impressed by bitcoin itself; but from the beginning I was saying that *blockchain is a remarkable solution to problems that we have not even imagined yet.”..t
yeah.. a problem deep enough for 7bn.. let’s use blockchain for that..
Even if such an algorithm could be designed, Varoufakis insists that “democracy and the democratic process, in my mind, is irreplaceable.” This is because *humans can never settle upon a precise and defined notion of justice, fairness or equality.
*so why define it..? why not just live it.. everyday.. via 2 convos that address that deep enough problem.. everyday
ie: hlb via 2 convos that io dance.. as the day..[aka: not part\ial.. for (blank)’s sake…].. a nother way
Even in the case of the redistribution of wealth there are various competing theories of how wealth should best be redistributed. Consequently, human societies *will never perfectly agree upon an apolitical, algorithmic and technical process by which to redistribute wealth.
*perhaps we don’t have to agree.. just begs a mech to listen-to/detox/facil all of us.. then use ie: have/need ness (w no detox.. have/need won’t be us and we’ll never have enough)
As Varoufakis warned, “we can not subcontract the discussions about what is proper, what is just, what is fair, what is right, to some algorithm, to any algorithm – even to the most fascinatingly brilliant algorithm. These are always going to be the result of debate, of dialogue, of ‘agora’ in the ancient Greek tradition. Of sitting around and discussing until the cows come home – *there is no escape from that.”..t
*well.. actually there might be.. something we haven’t yet tried.. ie: 2 convos (because we’ve never had the means to facil the chaos of listening to 7bn curiosities.. everyday)
‘Let’s not forget that *our market economies require a degree of political consensus and legitimacy in order to function. And without that there’s no technical solution that you can bring to bear upon a crisis like that in Venezuela’s.
*why base our days on something man-made that requires something we don’t want
let’s try money less (market less) ness
While acknowledging the limitations of bitcoin and other technical solutions to political problems, Varoufakis does see potential in blockchain technologies. For him, “the algorithm that operates behind bitcoin, caught my attention right from the beginning. I consider this to be a *remarkable technology.”
perhaps.. so let’s try using it to hlb.. tech as it could be
Effectively Varoufakis proposed creating an alternative, peer-to-peer payments system based on the blockchain. This would *disintermediate the financing they were receiving from the Troika and from the money markets.
why not disintermediate (cut out) the measuring of transactions..
one of the most disruptive aspects of this unrealised plan, was to enable the state to borrow directly from citizens and vice versa. In effect, Varoufakis was attempting to use new digital technologies, such as blockchain, to cut out the European lending authorities and *build new lending relationshipsbetween citizens, companies and the state.
*why..? we need to disengage from exchange ness
This is where Varoufakis saw blockchain’s potential. “If the payments system was based on the blockchain, this would allow the combination of anonymity but perfect transparency, regarding the total aggregate size of the transactions of the currency….*blockchain would overcome the trust problem as we know it.”
*the trust problem as we know it is that we don’t trust.. trust begs 100% ness.. all of us.. and you’re right.. algo won’t get that.. but listening to all of us.. non judgmentally might get us back to that 5 yr old mindset of curiosity and trust.. tech as it could be
“every financial system is abused and used for purposes of propagating corruption. The 500 Euro note is jokingly referred to as the ‘al-Qaeda’ – it is a remarkable tool for the mafia and for terrorism.” However what Varoufakis believes we must do is to try and *embrace technologies that allow us to limit corruption. In his opinion, “the blockchain has many qualities and capacities that could help us limit this abuse.”
*tech as it could be via gershenfeld sel
Blockchain can play a role in delivering this vision but as Varoufakis confesses, “I have to say that I’m not very optimistic about the capacity of technological innovation, on its own, to change the course of history.” For Varoufakis, politics and *people come first.
*so.. let’s free/trust them first
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Challenges NI (@ChallengesNI) tweeted at 8:57 AM – 28 Jan 2018 :
“You are not alone” was @yanisvaroufakis’ message to the young people of Northern Ireland when @JackODwyerHenry sat down to speak with him yesterday. https://t.co/oxrsmCiEmdhttps://t.co/owP6apGlrM(http://twitter.com/ChallengesNI/status/957643875711176704?s=17)
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Harold Jarche (@hjarche) tweeted at 5:38 AM – 6 May 2018 :
“Would it not be a splendid paradox if, 200 years after the birth of Karl Marx, we decided that, in order to save liberalism, we must return to the idea that freedom demands the end of unfettered commodification and the socialization of property rights over capital goods?” https://t.co/5SypcAOERE (http://twitter.com/hjarche/status/993092573219696641?s=17)To exercise freedom, individuals needed a safe haven within which to develop as genuine persons before relating – and transacting – with others. t
hugely missing/needed today.. self-talk as data.. w/in gershenfeld sel could get us back to the true freedom of an undisturbed ecosystem..
The first breach appeared as industrial products became passé and were replaced by brands that captured the public’s attention, admiration, and desire..t ..Before long, branding took a radical new turn, imparting “personality” to objects.
this was a huge symptom.. but first breach had more to do w assuming/measuring properties/monies
That habitat’s clear demarcation of private and public spheres also divided leisure from work. One need not be a radical critic of capitalism to see that the right to a time when one is not for sale is all but gone, too.
refusal of work .. leisure.. et al..
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on democracy now may 14 2018 – on nuclear deal.. but at 25 min – this on his daughter:
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/5/14/yanis_varoufakis_on_iran_nuclear_deal
she doesn’t want to talk about any of these things w me (esp anything ending in ism).. but .. the one thing form a young age.. 8-9.. that seemed to energize her was .. inequality..
equity.. everyone getting a go everyday
inequality really doesn’t make sense to an 8 yr old.. and that was my gateway..
happened thru process of commodification/marketization..
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documentary in june
EuropeanAlternatives (@EuroAlter) tweeted at 6:05 AM – 22 May 2018 :
While we prepare the release of our documentary, take a look to some of the interviews we are publishing in #politicalcritique! Now available two conversations with @ZoeJardiniere and @BaobabExp about migration, borders and human rights
https://t.co/RgdtJcK9vn
#Demos https://t.co/00NjQITTrV (http://twitter.com/EuroAlter/status/998897645446991873?s=17)
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on refugees.. from 2016
DiEM25 (@DiEM_25) tweeted at 5:11 AM on Wed, Jun 20, 2018:
“The simple proposition I’m going to put to you is this: treat these people with respect as they are coming into your country. Treat their trauma. Treat them as human beings and they will love you forever.” #DiEM25 co-founder, @yanisvaroufakis | #WorldRefugeeDay #RefugeeDay https://t.co/aPxxH1voSL
(https://twitter.com/DiEM_25/status/1009393402046279681?s=03)
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Jerzy Przystajko (@JPrzystajko) tweeted at 5:19 AM – 23 Jun 2018 :
.@yanisvaroufakis “No one in europe can flourish if others in the european community are subject to opression” #EuropejskaWiosna #HopeIsBack #EuropeanSpring https://t.co/Vq48V2mZR5 (http://twitter.com/JPrzystajko/status/1010482420771061761?s=17)
no one on earth can flourish if others on earth are subject to oppression
has to be all of us for the dance to dance
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DiEM25 (@DiEM_25) tweeted at 6:07 AM – 19 Nov 2018 :
“We are facing a systemic crisis in #Europe” – Part I – @yanisvaroufakis https://t.co/vWftZ9Gbf6 via @YouTube #DiEM25 #HopeIsBack (http://twitter.com/DiEM_25/status/1064505419677278208?s=17)
3 min video
facing a systemic crisis and one thing haven’t done is deal w it systematically..t
Systemic describes something that happens or exists throughout a whole system. … The new police chief had to address systemic corruption. Systematic describes something that was thorough and intentional, methodical, or implemented according to a plan.. according to a fixed plan or system; methodically.
perhaps what we need more is to deal w it systemically – go deeper first
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DiEM25 (@DiEM_25) tweeted at 5:48 AM – 16 Dec 2019 :
“As humanists we should care about only one thing: the minimisation of human suffering. However bad the #EU is, we must not exit it. We must take it over, transform it and make it work for the many, not the few.” – @yanisvaroufakis, @mera25_gr MP and @DiEM_25 co-founder https://t.co/Qv4mxBGOSd (http://twitter.com/DiEM_25/status/1206556685155864576?s=17)
big problem w many vs few.. has to be all .. or it won’t work
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Here’s @yanisvaroufakis on why #Bitcoin is not a socialist’s ally.
A must read!
https://t.co/BwXK4AnT34
Original Tweet: https://twitter.com/DiEM_25/status/1289136295244107776a monetary commons (that may very well rely on something like the blockchain underpinning Bitcoin) will, I have no doubt, be an essential aspect of a democratised economy; of socialism
a monetary commons would be tragedy of the non common
we’re just perpetuating lord of the flies myth until we let go of money (any form of measuring/accounting)..
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another now
Book of the Day: What would a fair and equal society actually look like? The world-renowned economist and bestselling author Yanis Varoufakis presents his radical and subversive answer in ‘Another Now’. H/B £16.99 https://t.co/3JwPVX6dVg
Original Tweet: https://twitter.com/FiveLeavesBooks/status/1303631406455754753
from amazon page [https://www.amazon.com/Another-Now-Dispatches-Alternative-Present-ebook/dp/B0829Q9HFY]:
the genesis of a world without commercial banks or stock markets, where companies are owned equally by all staff, basic income is guaranteed, global imbalances and climate change cancel each other out, and housing is socialised.
not radical/subversive enough
let go
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The Seven Secrets of 2020https://t.co/zJVASSbiq5
Original Tweet: https://twitter.com/yanisvaroufakis/status/13435281020818104347: it is now abundantly clear that everything could be different. There is no longer any reason why we should accept things as they are.
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be you. 