Chomsky & Varoufakis
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szIGZVrSAyc
Quote:Yanis Varoufakis considers himself a politician by necessity, not by choice. An economist and academic by training, he became Greece’s finance minister amidst the country's financial crisis, creating an image for himself both beloved and reviled. He discusses his complicated role in his new book, And the Weak Suffer What They Must?: Europe's Crisis and America's Economic Future, and on the LIVE stage alongside renowned academic and theorist Noam Chomsky. YANIS VAROUFAKIS is the former finance minister of Greece. A professor of economic theory at the University of Athens and former member of parliament for Athens’ largest constituency, he is the author of The Global Minotaur, among other books. He lives in Athens. NOAM CHOMSKY is widely credited with having revolutionized the field of modern linguistics. Chomsky is the author of numerous best-selling political works, which have been translated into scores of countries worldwide. Among his most recent books are Hegemony or Survival, Failed States, Hopes and Prospects, and Masters of Mankind. Haymarket Books recently released twelve of his classic works in new editions. His latest books are What Kind of Creatures Are We? And Who Rules the World?Interesting talk by two knowledgable speakers, esecially on the essential role of the state in producing wealth and profit.
Interestingly, Varoufakis talks about his time in office and how top people in the IMF etc. were admitting they knew their poliocies couldn't and wouldn't work, but they had no choice, they were too committed. Also, he notes the big mistake, the idea that political union coiuld follow currency union, rather than vice versa. He also suggests that the ultimate target of the austerity is France, and brining it to heel, it's a fascinating account. he also mentions his movemnt to Democratise the EU:https://diem25.org/Which looks interesting. It seems he hasn't given up.
Oh, and they're both good on the entrepreneurial state and the ridiculour assumptions of mainstream economics (perfect information, etc.)
Actually, as I dig, theiur stuff about how to organise gets a little more intersting: https://diem25.org/volunteer-guidelines/
Quote:So DiEM25 will do something radical: having seen the CVs some of you sent in, it’s obvious most volunteers are very smart and skilled people. Use these skills and self-organise to promote DiEM25. We trust you. Don’t wait for tasks but get together with a few other members, use your own intelligence to figure out how you can make DiEM25 a success, and then don’t wait for approval, just do it!For DiEM25 volunteers are much more than volunteers, help us develop DiEM25 together.DiEM25 Spontaneous Collectives (DSCs)Our idea is not new. It harks back, among others, to the Scottish Enlightenment’s idea of ‘spontaneous order’, certain ideas or practices of self-management and cooperatives, and to Rick Falkvinge’s ‘swarms’. At DiEM25 we are giving these notions of self-organising participants a new twist, combining physical meetings at Town Halls (where Coordinating Committees eventually emerge) with digital ‘platoons’ of DiEM25 members doing their bit to promote our Manifesto’s goals. Hope you like our neologism: DiEM25 Spontaneous Collectives (DSCs)The whole thing is held together by the manifesto, not by organisation (though there will be national co-orainating committees). Also, I like this touch
Quote:There is one danger in all this that, together, we should avert: Attention-seeking activists should not be allowed to subvert DiEM25’s purpose or to ‘crowd out’ members who care more about the substance than their own image. Attention-seekers will maximise whatever behaviour can get them attention. Therefore, if you see people who are being provocative for the sake of it, just to draw attention to themselves, do not give them the gift of your attention. Instead, immediately turn to other people who are quietly doing something good and encourage them. This way, we shall build a culture that selects against self-seeking behaviour and in favour of activities that promote our common, Manifesto, goals.Varoufakis wrote:However, in order to close the model mathematically, the only way to solve the equations is by making assumptions that distance the model from really existing capitalism. So for instance you have to assume that there’s no time and there’s no space, because if you allow time to interfere with your model, or space to enter, you end up with indeterminism. In other words, you end up with a system of equations that cannot be solved or that have an infinity of possible solutions and then you have no predictive power. You can’t say, “well, this is what’s going to happen.”[…]So the gurus, the popes, understood that this theory was examining a postcapitalist world, a world without labor markets, a world without the, you know, labor exploitation, without monopolies, without even the slightest of capacities to alter prices on the behalf of employers, of entrepreneurs, of conglomerates, a world without firms. Because what is a company? A company is a market-free zone, it’s a hierarchy, it’s a small Soviet Union with Gosplan and central planning. If you look at Google, if you look at Microsoft, that’s what it is.Paul Mason on Varoufakis new bookhttps://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/may/03/yanis-varoufakis-greece-greatest-political-memoir
Quote:Elected politicians have little power; Wall Street and a network of hedge funds, billionaires and media owners have the real power, and the art of being in politics is to recognise this as a fact of life and achieve what you can without disrupting the system.
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