Jeremy
Corbyn and Yanis Varoufakis had an interesting conversation in August
20, at the Edinburgh Book Festival. Varoufakis challenged Corbyn to
lead an international progressive movement that will end the brutal
policies of the dominant neoliberalism.
Interesting
parts of the dialogue:
JC: We
saw the way in which the European Central Bank treated yourselves and
also the austerity that was imposed on Ireland on Portugal and Spain.
YV: It's
not just a state. They committed a crime against the Irish people.
The head of the Central Bank of Europe put a gun on the Irish Prime
Minister's head and demanded that overnight the losses of private
investors, mostly from Germany, should be transferred on to the books
of the Irish state and the Irish Prime Minister's account. Now,
that's, you know, robbery, just daylight robbery. That's what they
did.
JC: I
actually challenged the whole Maastricht idea, which established the
European Central Bank, because it was a central bank based on price
stability. Not on living standards, not on rights and sharing. It was
entirely on price stability.
YV: It
was a purely ideological construction, which, nevertheless, besides
being ideologically quite putrid it was - technically and financially
- ridiculously stupid. We created a central bank without a state, to
be the central bank of 19 governments without a central bank.
YV:
Could I invite you to be a bit more ambitious?
JC: OK,
in what respect?
YV: You
have a great burden on you to be the leader, not just of a
progressive democratic socialist movement in the United Kingdom, but
also beyond the limits of the United Kingdom.
People
out there - and you know that - in Europe, in America, in Latin
America, are looking at you for inspiration and leadership beyond the
shores of these islands. Would it not be important, and quite
marvelous actually, to create that progressive international with
Bernie Sanders, with the new president-elect in Mexico, with us in
Europe, in order to put forward a hopeful message to the people of
Britain, to the people of Europe and so on, people of India in South
Africa, that we need an international New Deal?
Because
all the problems that you described regarding Britain of poverty, low
investment in the things, in the good quality jobs ...
You
know, I was looking at data about private debt in this country. You
have a massive private debt crisis. You don't have a public debt
crisis, you have a private debt crisis. When more than half of the
families in this country, especially working-class families, need
credit cards in order to put food on the table ...
All
these are problems that we have in Greece, they have in Mexico, we
have in Italy, and it's a bit like climate change, you need to act
upon them in this country, but it's not enough. To lift these boats,
to empower the working class in Britain, to have investment good
quality jobs, it would help to do the same thing in Europe, in the
United States. This is why we need to coordinate and this is why we
need people like Jeremy Corbyn to show leadership beyond the shores
of this country.
JC:
Don't frame it around the individual ... but it is important, and
you're right, that we build that sense of international connection
because you're quite right, others are very internationally connected
in a better way than many of us are.
I
have spent a lot of time talking to a lot of people across Europe
over the past three years. We are in touch with Bernie Sanders and
his campaign. And I'm delighted to say the new president of Mexico,
who I know, I consider him a friend, has invited me to his
inauguration. And he has this massive opportunity - having won
historically a big majority in the presidential election - to
actually challenge the levels of inequality in his country, which are
probably the most unequal society in the world.
We wrote
that, a whole new generation in the West now sees the neoliberal
fairy tale fully exposed. What this 'model' is offering now is more
inequality, more unemployment, more ridiculously low-paid jobs,
destruction of social state, plus, more authoritarianism under the
pretext of terrorism. So, most importantly, what is not offering,
especially to the young people, is hope for a better future. As a
natural consequence, the younger generations turned massively to
political figures that could make the difference, like Jeremy Corbyn
and Bernie Sanders.
The
establishment paints these two politicians as 'radicals' just because
they want to bring back some socialist policies that were taken for
granted a few decades ago, even in the capitalist West. The
establishment was terrified with the thought that someone like Bernie
Sanders could become the next US president, so it did everything to
throw him out of the path to power. And the elites were shocked to
see that, despite the disgusting propaganda by their media, the
Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn regained significant power against
Theresa May who gambled and lost.
Neoliberal
tricks don't work anymore. Mainstream media propaganda is not
effective. We're probably one step before the final demolition of
this ruthless system. Could a Sanders/Corbyn synchronization in power
give the final decisive blow against Reagan/Thatcher awful legacy?
American and British politics are usually synchronized, Reagan & Thatcher, Clinton & Blair and next Sanders & Corbyn. But in this day and age a wider coalition may indeed be necessary, we know the opposition will be operating in partnership across borders so we must as well.
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