Yanis Varoufakis's Blog, page 32

DiEM25 is radicalising, seizing the moment, upping our game. Join us?

A message for DiEM25 members: We are on the cusp for our paneuropean movement’s second, more radical, terribly necessary phase. Are you in?DiEM25 is your movement. Existing members, please go to https://diem25.org/YESlets to let us know that you’re in. Everyone else, you can get a full membership at https://internal.diem25.org/users/sig…

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Visionary realism : Chatting with Noam Chomsky & Ann Pettifor on a green future beyond capitalism

The context is the fraud and fiasco also known as Cop26. The frame is DiEM25’s COP-OFF video chats. And the purpose is to discuss whether there was ever a possibility of Cop26 yielding a significant prospect for a timely green transition. In this discussion Noam, Ann and I agree: Yes, the Green New Deal is a necessary move forward. But, only as a first step toward transcending capitalism – and doing so not in the direction of some new variety of feudalism but in the direction of a technologically advanced participatory, cooperative, democratised economic system.IF YOU LIKE WHAT DiEM25 IS DOING, PLEASE CONSIDER JOINING AND SUPPORTING THE MOVEMENT FINANCIALLY – click here.

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Απαντώντας μία-μία τις ύβρεις του Α. Δρυμιώτη εναντίον του ΜέΡΑ25 στην “Καθημερινή”

H “Καθημερινή της Κυριακής” (7/11/2021) δημοσίευσε άρθρο του Ανδρέα Δρυμιώτη με τίτλο «Μας έχουν περάσει για ηλίθιους» στο οποίο ο αρθρογράφος επιδίδεται σε υβριστικές αναφορές τόσο σε μένα όσο και στο ΜέΡΑ25. Επειδή όμως το άρθρο αναφέρεται σε σημαντικά για το μέλλον του τόπου ζητήματα, και επειδή δημοσιεύτηκε από τον συγκεκριμένο αρθρογράφο στη συγκεκριμένη εφημερίδα σηματοδοτεί την στάση της καθεστηκυίας τάξης απέναντι στο ΜέΡΑ25, αποφάσισα να απαντήσω επί της ουσίας. Με σκοπό τον εμπλουτισμό του δημόσιου διαλόγου αντιγράφω τα ενδιαφέροντα σημεία του αρθρογράφου πριν τα απαντήσω.

Αγαπητή «Καθημερινή»,

Στο φύλλο σου της περασμένης Κυριακής (7/11/2021) δημοσίευσες άρθρο του κ. Ανδρέα Δρυμιώτη με τίτλο «Μας έχουν περάσει για ηλίθιους» το οποίο αναφέρεται εκτενώς σε τοποθετήσεις τόσο δικές μου όσο και του ΜέΡΑ25. Το γεγονός ότι το άρθρο αναφέρεται σε σημαντικά για το μέλλον του τόπου ζητήματα με κάνει να αγνοήσω τις υβριστικές στο πρόσωπό μου αναφορές και να απαντήσω επί της ουσίας. Με σκοπό τον εμπλουτισμό του δημόσιου διαλόγου αντιγράφω τα ενδιαφέροντα σημεία του αρθρογράφου πριν τα απαντήσω.

Απορρίπτοντας τον παραλληλισμό που κάνει το ΜέΡΑ25 μεταξύ των μαυραγοριτών «που έβλεπαν την Κατοχή ως ευκαιρία» και των σημερινών προσοδο-κυνηγών, ο κ. Δρυμιώτης γράφει: «Οι μαυραγορίτες εμφανίζονται και κυριαρχούν όταν υπάρχουν ελλείψεις βασικών αγαθών στην αγορά, όπως συνέβη στην Κατοχή. Οι σημερινές συνθήκες ελεύθερης αγοράς αποκλείουν παντελώς τους μαυραγορίτες».

Κατ’ αρχάς, μην ξεχνάμε ότι και η μαύρη αγορά της Κατοχής ελεύθερη αγορά ήταν, στο πλαίσιο της οποίας οι επιτήδειοι πλούτισαν εκμεταλλευόμενοι την πλειοψηφία με τις πλάτες του κράτους των δωσίλογων. Σήμερα, έχουμε νέες κατασκευασμένες ψευτο-αγορές στις οποίες φύονται σύγχρονοι μαυραγορίτες, π.χ. τα ταμεία που πλουτίζουν από τη χρεοκοπία της πλειοψηφίας αγοράζοντας βουνά κόκκινων δανείων ώστε, με την εγγύηση του Δημοσίου και της ΕΚΤ, να εξάγουν αυτές τις προσόδους σε φορολογικούς παραδείσους.

Σχετικά με την άποψη του ΜέΡΑ25 ότι πίσω από την κυβερνητική εξαγγελία αναδάσωσης με «πιστοποιημένα δενδρύλλια» κρύβονται εταιρείες όπως η Bayer-Monstanto, γράφει: «Ο τζίρος της Bayer για το 2020 ήταν 42,5 δισεκατομμύρια ευρώ, εκ των οποίων τα αγροτικά προϊόντα 18,8 δισεκατομμύρια ευρώ. Είμαι βέβαιος ότι η αξία των σπόρων και των “υβριδικών δενδρυλλίων” που υποτίθεται ότι οι “ολιγάρχες” θα πούλαγαν στην Ελλάδα για την αναδάσωση δεν φτάνει ούτε για την ετήσια προμήθεια του χαρτιού τουαλέτας στα γραφεία της Bayern στην Αθήνα! Με άλλα λόγια κανένας από την Bayern δεν θα ασχοληθεί με τέτοια μικροποσά».

Ρωτήστε τους αγρότες μας, τους αγρότες της Ισπανίας, της Ινδίας κλπ. πώς κερδίζει τα δισεκατομμύριά της η Bayer-Monsanto: σπόρο σπόρο, φασούλι το φασούλι.

Αλλά η παραπλάνηση είναι ακόμα χειρότερη. Τα δάση από πεύκα αναγεννώνται μόνα τους με φυσικό τρόπο. Τα κουκουνάρια μετά την πυρκαγιά ανοίγουν και σκορπίζουν τους σπόρους παντού. Αρα δεν υπάρχουν λεφτά για την Bayer και τους ολιγάρχες.

Ρωτήστε και πάλι τους αγρότες μας πώς κερδίζει τα δισεκατομμύριά της η Bayer-Monsanto: με σπόρους στείρους που δεν αναπαράγονται ώστε οι αγρότες να πρέπει να αγοράζουν σπόρους από την καλή εταιρεία ετησίως. Οταν λοιπόν η ίδια η κυβέρνηση μιλά για αναδάσωση με υβριδικά δενδρύλλια μόνη της το παραδέχεται: Οταν αυτά είτε πεθάνουν είτε καούν, τότε πάλι στην καλή εταιρεία θα πρέπει να σπεύσουμε για νέα δενδρύλλια.

Αυτό όμως το «στείρα δάση εξαρτημένα από εταιρείες για την επιβίωση» σπάει κόκαλα.

Προφανώς και σπάει. Επειδή αποκαλύπτει τη δασική δυστοπία που κρύβεται πίσω από την κυβερνητική εξαγγελία της αναδάσωσης με «πιστοποιημένα δενδρύλλια».

Αν θέλουμε να πάει μπροστά ο τόπος πρέπει να διώξουμε τους ψεκασμένους από τη Βουλή.

Μακάρι! Το ΜέΡΑ25 θα γιορτάσουμε πρώτοι, μαζί με την πλειοψηφία των πολιτών, την ώρα που θα μείνουν εκτός Βουλής, όπως η Χρυσή Αυγή, όσοι και όσες διαστρεβλώνουν την επιστήμη και νομιμοποιούν τον ανορθολογισμό για να εξυπηρετήσουν τους νεο-μαυραγορίτες.

Αναφερόμενος στη θέση του ΜέΡΑ25 «καμία ανεμογεννήτρια στη στεριά – πλωτές ανεμογεννήτριες στα ανοικτά μακριά από ιχθυότοπους και ανθρώπους», ο κ. Δρυμιώτης συνεχίζει: «Αλλη μια μπαρούφα βαρουφακικών διαστάσεων. Ξέρετε εσείς κανένα μέρος στη θάλασσα που να μην έχει ψάρια ή νησιά; Δηλαδή και πάλι απευθύνονται σε αστοιχείωτους ή ψεκασμένους».

Και βέβαια ψάρια υπάρχουν όπου υπάρχει θάλασσα. Ομως οι ψαρότοποι είναι συγκεκριμένοι. Και, ναι, υπάρχουν μεγάλοι όγκοι θάλασσας μακριά από τα κατοικημένα νησιά!

Ακόμα και η Δανία που διαθέτει τα μεγαλύτερα υπεράκτια πάρκα από ανεμογεννήτριες, θα χρησιμοποιήσει δύο νησιά (ένα φυσικό και ένα τεχνητό) για να εγκαταστήσει ανεμογεννήτριες συνολικής ισχύος 4 gigawatt, ενώ τα υπεράκτια αιολικά πάρκα παράγουν μόνο 1,7 gigawatt.

Το ΜέΡΑ25 δεν θέλουμε τίποτα παραπάνω από το να μιμηθούμε την πρωτοπόρα Δανία. Πόσο δύσκολο είναι να καταλάβει κανείς τη διαφορά του να στήσεις ανεμογεννήτριες σε μια απομακρυσμένη βραχονησίδα ή σε τεχνητό (κατασκευασμένο για αυτόν τον λόγο) νησί από το να καταστρέψεις με δρόμους πρόσβασης πανέμορφες βουνοκορφές για να φυτέψεις εκεί ανεμογεννήτριες, για να μην αναφερθώ στους λόφους της Σύρου ή της Τήνου;

Το να αποκλείουμε τις ανεμογεννήτριες από την ξηρά είναι ουτοπία που μόνο ο Βαρουφάκης με τον μακρυμάλλη Κρίτωνα θα μπορούσαν να προτείνουν.

Πείτε το αυτό στη Βρετανία, όπου το 50% της καθημερινής συνολικής ενέργειας της χώρας παράγεται από θαλάσσιες ανεμογεννήτριες σχεδόν χωρίς καμία ανεμογεννήτρια στη στεριά!

Φαίνεται όμως ότι στο κόμμα αυτό γίνεται ένας ιδιότυπος διαγωνισμός για το ποιος θα πει τη μεγαλύτερη κοτσάνα. Ετσι ο επικεφαλής του ΜέΡΑ25, αναφερόμενος στην αποχώρηση των Αμερικανών από το Αφγανιστάν, έγραψε πως «σήμερα ο φιλελεύθερος-νεοαποικιακός ιμπεριαλισμός νικήθηκε για τα καλά»…

Υπάρχει αμφιβολία ότι φέτος στο Αφγανιστάν ηττήθηκε ολοκληρωτικά το όνειρο των λεγόμενων «φιλελεύθερων ιμπεριαλιστών» να εγκαθιδρύσουν φιλελεύθερες φιλοδυτικές δημοκρατίες με εισβολές αμερικανικών στρατευμάτων στο Ιράκ και στο Αφγανιστάν;

…και πρόσθεσε ότι «τα μεγαλύτερα θύματα είναι οι γυναίκες και ότι προς το παρόν αυτό που μπορούμε να προσφέρουμε είναι η αλληλεγγύη μας. Κρατάτε αδελφές!».

Διαφωνεί κανείς ότι τα μεγαλύτερα θύματα αυτού του φιάσκου ήταν οι γυναίκες; Κι ότι έχουμε υποχρέωση την αλληλεγγύη μας προς αυτές; Οσο για το «κρατάτε αδελφές», η έκφρασή μου ήταν «Hang in there sisters» που μεταφράζεται σε «κουράγιο αδερφές». Ναι, αυτό ήταν το μήνυμά μου εκείνη τη μέρα στις γυναίκες του Αφγανιστάν.

Φυσικά ο νάρκισσος δεν ήταν δυνατόν να παραδεχθεί το λάθος του και προσπάθησε να κάνει «διορθωτικές» αναρτήσεις. Δεν θα σας κουράσω με ολόκληρη την ανακοίνωση… αλλά θα σας αναφέρω την κατάληξη:… «Παρεμπιπτόντως, ποιος υποστηρίζει να επιτραπεί σε όλες τις γυναίκες πρόσφυγες του Αφγανιστάν, να εγκατασταθούν στην Ευρωπαϊκή Ενωση; Το ΜέΡΑ25 το υποστηρίζει!». Ομολογώ ότι δεν γνωρίζω πόσες γυναίκες από το Αφγανιστάν θα καταφύγουν στην προσφυγιά. Ο πληθυσμός του Αφγανιστάν είναι 38,04 εκατομμύρια, εκ των οποίων οι γυναίκες είναι 18,5 εκατομμύρια. Για φανταστείτε τι επιθυμεί το ΜέΡΑ25 και κρίνετε ποιους ανθρώπους στείλαμε στη Βουλή. Για να έχετε μια σύγκριση, ο πληθυσμός της Συρίας είναι μόλις 17,07 εκατομμύρια!

Ετσι είναι. Υποστηρικτές της αμερικανικής εισβολής στο Αφγανιστάν, όπως ο αρθρογράφος, μας διακωμωδούσαν όταν την καταδικάζαμε προβλέποντας μεγάλα δεινά για τον αφγανικό λαό, ιδίως τις γυναίκες, και επερχόμενη προσφυγιά. Την ώρα που η πρόβλεψή μας επιβεβαιωνόταν, πασχίζουν να αλλάξουν τη συζήτηση χύνοντας κροκοδείλια δάκρυα για τις Αφγανές και διακωμωδώντας το μήνυμα αλληλεγγύης μας σε αυτές. Την ίδια ώρα, οι ίδιοι υποστηρικτές της αμερικανικής εισβολής που οδήγησε τις Αφγανές στην απελπισία, έρχονται τώρα να πουν: «Σιγά μην τους δώσουμε άσυλο. Να ‘ναι καλά το τείχος του Εβρου».

Τέλος, αναφερόμενος στη μετονομασία της Facebook, στο υστερόγραφο διαβάζουμε: «Τι άλλο θα ακούσουμε από κάποιον ο οποίος νομίζει ότι του “κλέψανε” δύο λέξεις: Meta και Diem που ο κόσμος τις χρησιμοποιεί πολύ πριν γεννηθεί ο Γιάνης με ένα «ν». Illusions of grandeur!»

Μέσα σε έξι μήνες, ο Mark Zuckerberg, ιδρυτής και ιδιοκτήτης της Facebook, άλλαξε δύο ονόματα: το όνομα του κρυπτονομίσματός του από Libra σε Diem και της εταιρείας του από Facebook σε Meta. Αυτές οι λέξεις, πράγματι, δεν ανήκουν σε κανέναν. Ομως, ακόμα και τυχαίο να είναι, το γεγονός ότι ο Zuckerberg επέλεξε, απ’ όλες τις λέξεις του κόσμου, το όνομα του πανευρωπαϊκού μας κινήματος (DiEM) και του πολιτιστικού-ερευνητικού μας κέντρου αν μη τι άλλο δείχνει ότι έχουμε καλό γούστο στην επιλογή των ονομάτων!

Με ευχαριστίες για τη φιλοξενία.

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LA STAMPA interview on the Italian edition of ANOTHER NOW: From Marinnetti & the Sex Pistols to Hephaestus & favourite books

On the occasion of the publication of my ANOTHER NOW in Italian (Un Altro Presente), La Stampa put to me some quirky and irreverent questions. Just in case you wanted to read them, and my answers, in the English original, here they are. Have fun!

Marinetti and the Sex Pistols are milestones for Costa: is that true for you as well?

Marinetti’s Manifesto for the future made more sense to me when the Sex Pistols sang “there is no future” than before. It was this negation of Marinetti that proved more of a milestone for me.

Why are Italians and Greeks traditionally considered prone to “wheelin and dealin”?

Because “wheelin and dealin” was always the modus vivendi of pre-industrial, Mediterranean commerce. From the Phoenicians to the Greeks and the Romans, our common civilisation was built on bartering, trading, wheelin and dealin – while Northern Europeans specialised on conquest (from the Vikings to the Goths). It was only with the industrial revolution and capitalism that “wheelin and dealin” was contrasted against large-scale, technologically advanced manufacturing whose commodities dominated markets. Even the North-South divide within Italy is due to this transformation.

The Eurovision Song Contest is a model for assigning bonuses in the Other Present: how did this idea cross you mind? (Are you keen on kitsch musical events?)

I did not invent the idea. I saw it being practised in a flat-managed US corporation. They told me they borrowed the idea of each employ getting a number of ‘points’ that they could only award other employees (but not themselves) from Eurovision. Am I keen on Eurovision? Not in the slightest. But I do confess that, in the past, I have enjoyed skipping the dreadful songs and watching the scoring process!

The soviet model has been a failure. Does catalonian anarchosyndacalism offer the right path?  

Yes, the soviet model failed. But it did succeed in certain ways and there are important lessons we can learn from it. Indeed, the Japanese postwar growth model borrowed heavily from soviet central planning (Gosplan) and owes much of its success (and several of its failures) to those ideas and practices it borrowed from Gosplan. Similarly with the Chinese model. However, the soviet, Japanese and Chinese experiences confirm – in different ways – that the Catalan anarchosyndicalists were absolutely right to fear at once (and equally) the power of the state’s bureaucracy, on the one hand, and the power of privately owned corporations, on the other hand. In ‘Another Now’, I tried to come up with a sketch of how firms could operate today, using today’s technological means, so as to allow production to combine freedom both from state power and from oligarchic corporate power.

In the best world capitalism is dead: do you think it’s really possible?

At the risk of raising too many eyebrows, I am of the firm view that capitalism is dying anyway – not in ‘another now’, but in this now. Let me explain: Capitalism, in all its forms (19th century competitive capitalism, early 20th century oligopoly capitalism, post-Bretton Woods financialised capitalism etc.), has two characteristics: it is driven by profits and it extracts value through markets. But, after 2008, and especially in the post-pandemic era, the economy is driven, not by profits but, by central bank money. Moreover, markets are steadily displaced by platforms (e.g., Amazon, Facebook etc.) that are digital fiefdoms. In short, a type of technofeudalism is already taking us over. If I am right, the question is not whether capitalism will die but what system will replace it: One that democratises work and play? Or one that allows a new cast of technofeudal lords to rule over everyone? In ‘Another Now’ I attempt to sketch a blueprint for the former.

Economic depression can be a breeding ground for political monsters: what is coming out of the pandemic? (Are you vaccinated?)

(Of course I am vaccinated – a fanatical supporter of vaccines as a public good) I have been warning since 2007 that deflation breeds political monsters, a prediction that was sadly realised as the post-2008 policies of ‘socialism for bankers and austerity for everyone else’ begat the Nationalist International (from Trump and Salvini to Modi and Bolsonaro) which, in turn, begat our post-democratic, post-capitalist present – a process that was accelerated by the pandemic. This is how the new regime, which I call technofeudalism, was born. It is the reality that we must now either submit to or, as I suggest, try to overthrow.

In your novel, poetry is “all we have to prevent our dreams turning into nightmares”: which are your favorite poets?

This is an impossible question. It is like being asked to mention my favourite piece of music or my favourite film. But since you are asking me, I will fall back on some ‘golden oldies’: Homer, Ovid, Shakespeare, Kavafi and T.S. Eliot.

The guide for a better society isn’t Marx anymore, but Star Trek’s Captain Picard?

Marx would have loved Picard! Consider Star Trek: The Next Generation episode 25 of Season 1 (The Neutral Zone) where Picard is chatting with a 20th century businessman (just unfrozen) who cannot wrap his mind around the news that, in the 24th century, technology has allowed humans to do without money, private property, poverty etc. Picard explains further that, with needs and wants satisfied by replicator technology, private profit became meaningless and people’s motivation has become not to accumulate but to improve themselves. To which the smart businessman replies: “You got it all wrong Captain. It was never about possessions or money. It was always about power.” To which Picard replies: “Power was always an illusion”. Had he been able to watch this, Karl Marx would have stood up to salute and applaud Picard!

A character of your novel explains that happiness is in ourselves, and never lies “elsewhere.” It looks like an almost spiritual, mystical, religious call to an inner search. Are you interested in spirituality, besides politics?

Of course. I am a libertarian Marxist because of my spiritual materialism. Where others see contradiction, I see a dialectical blending of opposites into something splendid that makes life worth living.

What is happiness for you?

A state of bliss that can only be attained if you are not trying to attain it. A state that you may, if lucky, find yourself in as a byproduct of leading a life of creativity and virtue. Not dissimilar to doing good – which you can only genuinely do if you are doing it for no reason, for the hell of it.

Better being always in disagreement (as Iris) rather than building the perfect society?

Since no society can be perfect (thankfully!), constantly disagreeing with our circumstances is a prerequisite for both the good life and the good society.

In the epilogue, one of the main characters leaves on a motorbike. Judging from some photos, it seems like you also use the motorbike. What does it mean for you?

Joy! Seriously, I am now 60. But to this day, every time I get on my motorcycle to drive away, which is all the time, I feel the same thrill, the same smile forming on my face, as I did when I was 16.

Hephaestus’s myth warns us: will technology be humanity’s downfall? Are Luddites right?

Technology is, as we all know, both a blessing and a curse. And here is its beauty: It forces us to be responsible for the great powers we unleash by inventing them. As for the Luddites, they are the most misunderstood movement. They were never against technology. They were against the use of technology by the owners of the machines against the majority of the workers. We need to recover their agenda: to turn machines into our slaves, not vice versa.

When you were a minister, the infamous markets trembled at every move you made. Did you feel guilt, satisfaction or indifference for the ensuing instability? 

This is not true. International markets were rather calm during my tenure. By the time I became minister, the troika had already cynically transferred Greece’s debt from the silly private bankers (who had stupidly lent mountains of money to our corrupt state) onto the shoulders of European taxpayers. That why the international markets were mostly calm in 2015. What happened in 2015 is that Berlin, the ECB and the troika engineered a bank run in Greece, paving the ground for bank closures, so as to crush a government which said no to yet another credit card. When they succeeded, following my resignation, another credit card was given. And then another. And now, during the pandemic, another via the ECB. The result? Greece and the Greeks are more bankrupt today than ever, our bankruptcy costs Europeans more than ever, but no one talks about it. Omertà!

Have you ever bought shares (maybe feeling guilty like Costa)?

No, I have not. But my Australian pension fund has been buying shares, with my pension contributions, whether I consented or not!

What is the most important book you’ve ever read?

Homer’s Odyssey

Which book made you dream as a child?

Jules Vernes’ The Mysterious Island

Which books are on your bedside?

Iris Murdoch’s The Prince

And which works had the deepest influence on your political thinking? 

Marx’s Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts

Is there a mistake you made as a minister that you wouldn’t make again?

Working hard in favour of a four month ‘cooling down’ period to give our negotiations with the troika a chance to reach a viable agreement. I should have, instead, pulled the plug from Day 1.

Do you think that Greece has recovered from its crisis?

Are you serious? In 2010 we were declared (correctly) bankrupt because our national income had fallen from €220 to €200 billion, while the state’s debt had risen to €295 billion. Today our national income is less than €170 and the national debt €360!

Debt is one of capitalism cardinal sin. Did you ever get into debt? (credit card, loans, etc.)

Of course. I lived most of my life, as a student and later a lecturer, immersed in debt. I have first-hand experience of its burden.

What do you do in order to relax and empty your mind?

I play the piano. I find it wondrous how doing so very quickly makes me forget who I am, where I am, everything. I am forever grateful to it for allowing me to exit my ‘ego’, my circumstances.

Will you ever give up your engagement in politics?

No, never. I breathe as, what Aristotle called, a political animal.

Democracy was born in your Greece, where it showed its greatness and its limits. The tragic destiny of the righteous, wise Phōkíōn shows that the people aren’t always able to act with fairness and choose what’s best for them… What do you think about it?

This is correct. And that’s what why we need democracy. Democrats are people who have the decency to know that none of us have the answers and, therefore, that we must crowdsource the answers – even the questions!

Why did you opt for an almost sci-fi form in writing a political novel?

Because sci-fi is the archaeology of our present.

For the La Stampa site, please click here.

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Talking to the Bunker about ANOTHER NOW

Renowned economist, politician, and author Yanis Varoufakis stopped by the Bunker to talk about his latest book, Another Now, which is an alternate history in which our world developed into a post-capitalist world after the economic crash in 2008.Yanis shared the story of how he was politicized early after the Greek civil war and his father’s imprisonment, and how that helped shape his economic vision that led him to become an accidental politician (he led the bailout talks between Greece and the European Union) and a best selling author.

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What’s behind the Cop26 fraud? – The Guardian

There are three reasons Cop26 proved such a spectacular debacle: A planet-wide collective action problem over “free-riding”. A global coordination failure. And… capitalism!“Make no mistake, the money is here, if the world wants to use it,” said Mark Carney, the former Bank of England Governor who today serves as UN climate envoy while also representing an alliance of financiers sitting on a pile of $130 trillion worth of assets. So, what does the world want? If only humanity had the power to organise a global poll based on one-human-one-vote, such a species-wide referendum would undoubtedly deliver a clear answer: “Do whatever it takes to stop emitting carbon now!” Instead, we have COP26 and a decision-making process culminating into the colossal fiasco currently unfolding in the fine city of Glasgow.The failure of COP26 reflects our failed democracies on both sides of the Atlantic. President Biden arrived in Glasgow as his people back in Washington were pushing through Congress his infrastructure bill – an exercise in corrupt politics that decoupled the bill from any serious investment in renewables, dropped polluter taxes, maintained oil subsidies, and funded an array of carbon emitting infrastructure such as new roads, airports etc. Meanwhile in the European Union, the rhetoric may be a bright green but the reality is a dark brown – with even cash-rich Germany commissioning new lignite-fired power stations and looking forward to copious amounts of natural gas promised by Mr Putin in exchange of green-lighting his Nordstream2 gas pipeline.Europe’s failure is doubly sad because if the EU is capable of one thing that’s the creation of a paneuropean Renewable Energy Union which, alas, our leaders are not even debating. And as if it were not enough that the US and the EU are betraying the green transition within their jurisdictions, they are fermenting a New Cold War against China. Yes, China is a heavy polluter. But, setting aside the inconvenient fact that China is already investing in climate change amelioration more than the US and the EU combined ($3.4 trillion over this decade), the West’s choice to target China now is inconsistent with the vital US-EU-China common front against climate disaster.Three are the reasons COP26 is proving a spectacular debacle. The first reason is a planet-wide free-riding trap. Large businesses, as well as states, take a leaf out of St Augustine’s prayer “Lord please make me chaste but not just yet”. Everyone prefers a planet on which no one emits carbon to a planet that sizzles. But, everyone also prefers to delay paying the cost of transition to non-polluting practices whatever everyone else does: If the rest of the planet do the right thing, the planet is saved even if you selfishly delay your costly conversion to environmental probity. And if the rest of the planet do not do the right thing, why be the sucker who does?The second reason is a global coordination failure. Mark Carney is, in this sense, correct: Yes, mountain ranges of cash are lying idly in the global financial system, its ultra-wealthy owners keen to invest it in low-carbon activities. But, a private investment in, say, green hydrogen, will only return profits if many other investors invest in it too. But they will only do so if they think that others like them believe that most investors like them will think that everyone else of their ilk will… invest in green hydrogen. And so they sit around waiting! Meanwhile, corporations, communities and states join this waiting game, unwilling to take the risk of committing to green hydrogen until Big Business does. Tragically, there is no global coordinator to match the available money, technologies and needs.The third reason is… capitalism. From its outset, it gained pace through the incessant commodification of everything, beginning with land, labour and technology before spreading to genetically modified organisms, even a woman’s womb or an asteroid. As capitalism’s realm spread, priceless goods turned into pricey commodities. The owners of the machinery and the land necessary for the commodification of goods profited while the rest progressed from the wretchedness of the 19th century’s working class to the soothing fantasies of mindless petit-bourgeois consumerism.Everything that was good was commodified – including much of our humanity. And all the bads that the same production process generated, were simply released into the atmosphere. To power the capitalist juggernaut, carbon stored for millennia in trees and under the surface was plundered with only the private costs of mine, land and factory owners to slow down its use. For two centuries immense wealth, and corresponding oodles of human misery, was produced by exploitative processes depleting ‘free’natural capital, carbon in particular. Workers around the world are now paying the cost to Nature that the capitalist market never bore.Free-marketeers would like us to believe that business has yielded to science and is, thus, ready and willing to step into the void of government inaction. We must not believe this for a moment. Yes, Mark Carney is right: The money for the belated green transition is here and it is ample. Those who possess it will, undoubtedly, invest it to supply, say, green hydrogen if we, society, pay them to do so. But, at the same time, they shall not cease voluntarily from producing other stuff whose production entails releasing into the air the next stored carbon ton.This is why polluters adore NET ZERO targets. Because they are a brilliant cover-up for not restricting emissions. In exchange for quicksilver, non-verifiable offsets, it gives them licence to continue to plunder the planet’s remaining stored carbon until the point comes when their marginal private cost surpasses their unit revenue. By cynically placing NET ZERO at its centre, COP26 became nothing more than an expensive cover-up for continued emissions. And so, hiding behind COP26, the great and the good lie to the young, lie to the vulnerable and even lie to themselves that the “money is there” to be invested in the planet’s salvation.What needs to be done? Two things at the very least. First, a complete shutdown of coalmines and new oil and gas rigs. If governments can lock us down to save lives during a pandemic, they can shut down the fossil fuel industry to save humanity. Second, we need a global carbon tax, to increase the relative price of everything that releases more carbon, and from which all proceeds should be returned to the poorer members of our species.To earn a shot at rising to the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced, we must first confront both the funders and the owners of the fossil fuel industries. Though this clash will not guarantee our future, it is a necessary condition for us to have one.

For The Guardian site please click here.

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Assessing the Biden Presidency one year after his election – Rick Wolf & Yanis Varoufakis

In this edition of THE INTERNATIONALIST, following news from the global struggle against reactionaries, Rick Wolf and I discuss the US situation (from the 8th minute onwards). Yes, it has been one year since Joe Biden came into office. While he is at COP26 making weak and unconvincing commitments on the climate, the global crisis of society and environment is unfolding. So, Rick and I share perspectives on the current political and economic order and its future, from techno-feudalism to the new Cold War on China. We also speak about the ongoing pandemic and the profound transformations taking place in our time.

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Explaining to friend & comrade Slavoj Zizek that which why I didn’t get a chance to tell my father: why I think capitalism has evolved into technofeudalism

I must have been no older than five or six when my dad introduced me to the idea that technological progress forces the pace of history. I remember him explaining how written records coincided with humanity’s ability to smelt copper tools. Of how history accelerated when ancient smiths progressed from copper to forging iron tools and, later, weapons made of steel. Of how the invention of iron engines that could harness the power of steam begat capitalism.Dad was a chemical engineer by profession, who spent countless hours in his spare time studying ancient technologies, and an accidental young communist. By the late 1980s, when History supposedly ended, he had lost most hope that we would manage in our time to replace capitalism with something better. He assumed capitalism would survive for a long time even though he knew it would not last forever. Like many of his generation, dad had settled for the ambition that, since we are doomed to live under capitalism for a long while, we might as well to civilise it.Still, every now and then, he would speculate on how capitalism might end. His wish was, I remember him telling me, that it would not die with a bang, because bangs had a tendency to fell good people in awful numbers. At around the same time, dad sought my help in making his first desktop computer work. At first, he marvelled at it as a cross between glorified typewriter and impressive calculator. But then, one day, when I helped him connect to the fledgling internet, he asked: “Will this network make capitalism impossible to overthrow? Or might it finally reveal its Achilles’ heel?”Only now do I have an answer for him: “Dad, it was capitalism’s Achilles’ heel, after all. The digital technologies it spawned proved capitalism’s comeuppance. The result? Humanity is now being taken over by something that I can only describe to you as a technologically advanced form of feudalism – a technofeudalism that is not what we had hoped would replace capitalism.”Alas, caught up in my own projects and dramas, by the time I was ready to have this chat with him, dad was already ninety-five and finding it hard to follow my musings. And so, here I am, a few weeks after he passed, doing the next best thing: Explaining my weird theory to my great friend and comrade Slavoj Zizek.

For our complete, two hour hour-long conversation, which took place as part of the Indigo Festival on 21st October 2021, click below

 

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Can capitalism be fixed? An Intelligence Squared debate between Gillian Tett (Yes!) and Yanis Varoufakis (No!)

Gillian Tett, the Financial Times Chair of the Editorial Board & Editor-at-large, believes that capitalism can be fixed, through copious regulation and institutional interventions. I, on the other hand, not only think that capitalism cannot be fixed but, additionally, that capitalism has made itself irrelevant through a surreptitious transformation into a new version of the system it replaced: technofeudalism. Gillian think that I am a utopian dreaming of a socialist postcapitalism. I think that Gillian is a utopian hanging on to the idea that capitalism can be both saved and civilised. ENJOY THE DEBATE that Intellience Squared were kind enough to organise.

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Star Trek vs The Matrix: Chatting with Briahna Joy Gray about my ANOTHER NOW on BAD FAITH

Truly enjoyed this chat with Briahna Joy Gray which began with a discussion of my novel ANOTHER NOW, and the question of what a non-capitalist world could look like in the here and now, and drifted nicely to our favourite show, Star Trek – the ultimate depiction of a liberal communism worth working towards; which I juxtapose against The Matrix which, to me, represents the alternative natural limit of today’s Technofeudalism – that we shall end up with if we let the powers-that-be do as they are currently doing.

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