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Support the Stansted 15: When solidarity becomes a terrorist-related offence liberty and democracy die

Yanis Varoufakis - 2018-03-22 - Original post - Cached copy

Last March, 15 activists chained themselves around an aircraft that was being used by British authorities to deport asylum seekers from Stansted Airport, many of whom had legitimate reasons to fear for their lives if returned to countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan. While at first the Stansted 15 were charged with aggravated trespass, the charges were soon upgraded to terrorism-related offences. This is OUTRAGEOUS.

SHAKING THE SUPERFLUX: Shakespeare, economics, and the possibility of justice – 6th Annual Shakespeare Rose Lecture, 19th March 2018, Rose Theatre, Kingston

Yanis Varoufakis - 2018-03-22 - Original post - Cached copy

Full script of my lecture at the Rose Theatre on Shakespeare: Since brevity is, indeed, the soul of wit, let me begin by stating the obvious: I am as qualified to deliver an annual Shakespeare lecture in this splendid theatre as an ant that walks in wonder on an iPhone is able to explain the mystery that goes on under its feet. When Professor Richard Wilson approached me out of the blue, during some political event in London, with the bewildering proposal that I appear before you tonight to talk about Shakespeare I was simultaneously flattered and incredulous.

Trump and trade tariffs: big lies founded on small truths – The Guardian, 18 MAR 2018

Yanis Varoufakis - 2018-03-18 - Original post - Cached copy

Donald Trump is perhaps the US president best equipped to understand that some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall. His personal business plan always involved racking up enormous deficits and debts, before finding a way to unload them on to others – his employees and creditors mostly. Last week the US president imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.

“Greece was strangled by the creditors in 2015. We stand with Yanis Varoufakis and with the truth.” Professors Jeff Sachs (Columbia) and James K. Galbraith (Texas)

Yanis Varoufakis - 2018-03-18 - Original post - Cached copy

Thomas Wieser’s claim that Yanis Varoufakis and the Greek government of 2015 cost their economy 200 billion euros is ludicrous. As Wieser knows – because he was one of the architects of the policy – the Greek economy in 2015 was strangled by its creditors. The creditors inflicted severe damage from the first day: by undermining liquidity of the bank system, refusing to restructure the debt, insisting on harsh austerity, and most importantly and blatantly, refusing to negotiate or even brainstorm in good faith.

‘Shake the Superflux’: Yanis Varoufakis to deliver the 6th Annual Rose Shakespeare Lecture, Monday 19th March 2018

Yanis Varoufakis - 2018-03-18 - Original post - Cached copy

Yanis Varoufakis has emerged not only as an embattled finance minister, iconoclastic economist, and co-founder of the Democracy in Europe Movement (DiEM25), but a life-long lover of Shakespeare. He called the Greek debt crisis ‘a Shakespearean tragedy’, reported that observing the European Union is ‘like watching Othello’, and compared the world’s Deep Establishment to Shylock and Macbeth. Those who sold out were ‘like Richard III’, or Lady Macbeth saying ‘What’s done cannot be undone’.

LA STAMPA interview on the Italian election result (the original answers in English) – 9 MAR 2018

Yanis Varoufakis - 2018-03-09 - Original post - Cached copy

In this interview LA STAMPA sought my views on the outcome of the Italian elections. My original answers (in English) appear below. The gist? Italy’s election result is yet another example of the political centre’s implosion as a result of the establishment’s perseverance with failed, austerity-based policies, pretending that they were the solution to our continent’s systemic crisis.

How Europe’s Band-Aid Ensures Greece’s Debt Bondage – Project Syndicate op-ed, 26 FEB 2018

Yanis Varoufakis - 2018-03-04 - Original post - Cached copy

ATHENS – Greece’s never-ending public-debt saga has come to signify the European Union’s inept handling of its inevitable eurozone crisis. Eight years after its bankruptcy, the Greek state’s persistent insolvency remains an embarrassment for Europe’s officialdom. That seems to be why, after having declared the euro crisis over in the rest of Europe, the authorities seem determined to declare final victory on the Greek front, too.

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