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Honoured that Valeria Golino was my guest in the latest episode of DiEM-TV’s ‘Another Now’. With the extraordinary actor we talked films, films, films, plus a little on some common biographical details involving Greece, Egypt, scoliosis, not to mention that she played my… wife in ADULTS IN THE ROOM

For previous episodes with Johann Hari, Roger Waters, Stephanie Kelton and Caroline Lucas click here.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) in a Wednesday letter addressed to Georgieva and David Malpass, president of the World Bank, called on international financial organizations to consider “extensive debt forgiveness” for more than 70 of the world’s poorest countries. The letter, which also called for significant fiscal stimulus to help stabilize the global economy, was signed by more than 300 lawmakers from over two dozen countries, including former Argentine president Carlos Menem, former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis and Sen. Richard J.

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.

David McWilliams and I have had many conversations, often in front of large audiences in Ireland, on the economics and politics of Europe, Brexit, Ireland, Greece, the world. In this latest conversation we are discussing the impact of Covid-19 on capitalism.

A week or so ago, Arundhati Roy wrote in, of all places the Financial Times, the following beautiful lines. I can think of no better way to explain why envisioning ANOTHER NOW is ever so important:  “Our minds are still racing back and forth, longing for a return to “normality”, trying to stitch our future to our past and refusing to acknowledge the rupture. But the rupture exists. And in the midst of this terrible despair, it offers us a chance to rethink the doomsday machine we have built for ourselves. Nothing could be worse than a return to normality.

DiEM25 was created in February 2016 because Europe was disintegrating as a result of a pseudo-technocratic takeover of the EU that was imposing austerity everywhere in response to the financial crisis caused by the EU pseudo-technocracy’s controllers. Today, now that a mindless virus has placed European capitalism in suspended animation, it is time to re-assess our analysis and to re-purpose our policies.

Later today, Thursday 23rd April, the EU Council will meet to discuss the common European response to the Great New Recession caused by the pandemic. Their agenda should comprise one, and only one, item: How to ensure that the necessary increase in public deficits will not show up in the fiscally stressed member-states’ national budgets, so as not to boost already non-viable public debt levels. If the EU Council fails in this task, the result will be massive, cruel austerity (e.g. pension and wage cuts, new taxes etc.) for the Europeans worst hit by the pandemic.