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Imagine it is 2025 and that years earlier, in the wake of the world financial crisis of 2008, a new post-capitalist society had been born. In his new book Another Now, published this September, the world-renowned economist and former Greek Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis invites us into a world that is not merely science-fiction. In this conversation with philosopher Srećko Horvat, with whom he founded DiEM25 (Democracy in Europe Movement 2025), Varoufakis will share his thoughts on an alternative present that is worth fighting for.

Bios

Racial injustice. Climate change. Gender inequality. A global pandemic. #DearWorld, Can our global institutions meet the challenges we’re all facing — or is it time for a new system? Nobel Laureate Leymah Gbowee, author Ece Temelkuran and economist Yanis Varoufakis debate the future of global cooperation:

Our era will be remembered for the triumphant march of a Twin Authoritarianism in whose wake the vast majority of humanity experience unnecessary hardship and the planet’s ecosystem suffers avoidable climate destruction.

When Margaret Thatcher coined “Tina” – her 1980s dictum that “There is no alternative” – I was incensed because, deep down, I felt she had a point: the left had neither a credible nor a desirable alternative to capitalism.

OPR Editor-in-Chief Brian Wong and Managing Editor Nicholas Leah speak with Professor Yanis Varoufakis – a former Minister of Finance in the Greek Government, a leading economist and philosopher, Member of Parliament in Greece, and the author of several high-acclaimed books. They discuss COVID-19, Brexit, the Eurozone, Austerity, Greek/European politics and Professor Varoufakis’s new book. The interview was originally live streamed on the OPR’s Facebook page. About OPR: The Oxford Political Review is an Oxford-based publication with a global reach.

Two days ago, something extraordinary happened. Something that has never happened before in the history of capitalism. In Britain, the news came out that the economy had suffered its greatest slump ever – more than 22% down during the first 7 months of 2020. Remarkably, on the same day, the London Stock Exchange, the FTSE100 index, rose by more than 2%. On the same day, during a time America has ground to a halt and is beginning to look like not just as an economy in deep trouble but also, ominously, as a failed state, Wall Street’s SP500 index hit an all-time record.

Deeply proud of DiEM25’s intervention to avert tensions in the E. Mediterranean. Proving there is no clash between nations, DiEM25’s organisations in Germany, Greece & Turkey issued a manifesto for splendid Peace & Shared Green Prosperity in our region:

The perpetrators of war, the profiteers of the fossil fuel industry and political leaders wedded to an unsustainable economic system are, today, escalating tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean — especially between Greece and Turkey.

On 15th July, Ben Arc published in Bitcoin Magazine an open letter addressed to me in a bid to convince me that I should re-assess my rejection of Bitcoin as a force for good; as a bulwark for democratising capitalism and paving the ground for socialism. Here is my reply:

Dear Ben Arc,

Thank you for your open letter and your efforts to bring a socialist perspective to bear upon my assessment of Bitcoin.

During the early years of the eurozone crisis, I remember gauging its depths by the rapidly diminishing half-life of the celebrations that followed every European Union summit. Premature proclamations that the crisis was over inspired hope, which caused the money markets to rebound. But then, at some point, gloom would unfailingly return. As the years of austerity for the many and socialism for the few ground on, that point arrived sooner after each EU summit.