Yanis Varoufakis: Capitalism will eat democracy -- unless we speak up
Yanis Varoufakis: Kapitalisme vil æde demokratiet -- medmindre vi siger fra
Yanis Varoufakis thinks we need a radically new way of thinking about the economy, finance and capitalism. Full bio
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taking it for granted.
of flowers that it really is,
som det virkelig er,
of our society's furniture.
af vores samfunds møblement.
as an intransigent given.
det som et kompromisløst givet.
begets inevitably democracy.
nødvendigvis medfører demokrati.
and his great imitators in Beijing
og hans store efterlignere i Beijing,
to have a flourishing capitalism,
at have en blomstrende kapitalisme,
fri for demokrati.
in our neck of the woods,
her i vores område,
while I was representing Greece --
mens jeg repræsenterede Grækenland --
that our nation's democratic process --
at vores nations demokratiske proces --
that were being implemented in Greece.
som blev implementeret i Grækenland.
vindication of Lee Kuan Yew,
større forsvar af Lee Kuan Yew,
friends of mine who kept telling me
som blev ved med at fortælle mig,
if it ever threatened to change anything.
hvis det nogensinde truede med at ændre noget.
for an authentic democracy.
for et ægte demokrati.
to join me in believing again
at starte med tro igen,
that we can dispense with democracy --
at vi kan undvære demokrati --
boisterous democracy.
højrøstet demokrati.
an interesting paradox
et interessant paradoks
our economies as we speak.
økonomier i dette øjeblik.
paradokset.
that has been casting a long shadow
som har kastet en lang skygge
Europe, the whole world.
and to corporations,
og til virksomheder,
that can generate the incomes
som kan generere indkomsten
the mountain of debts
bjerget af gæld,
that humanity desperately needs,
som menneskeheden desperat har brug for,
in Britain and in the Eurozone,
og i Eurozonen,
3.4 trillion dollars
3,4 billioner dollars.
and so on and so forth.
og så videre og så videre.
$5,1 billioner,
in the same countries,
i de samme lande,
during the same period
i den samme periode
and bidding up house prices.
og få huspriserne til at stige.
and a mountain of idle cash
og et bjerg af rede penge
failing to cancel each other out
som ikke formår at ophæve hinanden
operation of the markets.
in America, in Japan and in Europe
i America, i Japan og i USA
lavere samlet efterspørgsel,
reproduce it by not investing --
frembringer det ved ikke at investere --
by the prophecy of the oracle
af profetien fra oraklet,
og slå ham ihjel,
his son, would kill him.
hans søn, ville slå ham ihjel.
med at forbedre liv,
talenter,
all these technologies,
alle disse teknologier,
for saving planet Earth.
for at redde planeten Jorden.
that democracy might be the answer?
at demokrati måske er svaret?
in which the free and the poor,
i hvilken de frie og de fattige
excluded too many.
demokrati for mange.
of course, the slaves.
og selvfølgelig slaverne.
of ancient Athenian democracy
af oldtidens Athenske demokrati
about ancient Athenian democracy,
om oldtidens Athenske demokrati
the right to free speech,
ytringsfrihed,
to political judgments
politiske vurderinger
concerning matters of state.
vedrørende statsanliggende.
democracy didn't last long.
varede ikke særlig længe.
it burned out quickly.
brændte det ud hurtigt.
do not have their roots in ancient Athens.
har ikke deres rødder i oldtidens Athen.
was focusing on the masterless citizen
var fokuseret på den mesterløse borger
on the Magna Carta tradition,
på Magna Carta traditionen,
a charter for masters.
for herremændene.
only surfaced when it was possible
dukkede kun op, når det var muligt
from the economic sphere,
fra den økonomiske sfære fuldkommen,
fully in the political sphere,
proces i den politiske sfære,
from the political sphere,
fra den politiske sfære,
epic struggle between the two,
episk kamp mellem de to,
colonizing the political sphere,
koloniserende den politiske sfære,
are not what they used to be?
ikke er, hvad de engang var?
has degenerated.
har degenereret.
in government today and not in power,
i regeringen i dag uden at have magt,
from the political to the economic sphere,
fra den politiske til økonomiske sfære,
with capitalism.
med kapitalisme.
a population of predators,
befolkning af rovdyr,
the prey that they must feed on,
det byttedyr, som de lever af,
and cannibalizing the political sphere
og kannibaliseret den politiske sfære
that it is undermining itself,
at den underminere sig selv,
to invest the cash of their corporations.
skræmte til at investere deres penge.
in taking the demos out of democracy,
i at tage folket ud af folkestyret,
of human resources
af menneskelige ressourcer
and economic spheres
og økonomiske sfære
with a demos being in control,
med et fok i kontrol,
except without the slaves
bare uden slaverne
had that idea 100 years ago
havde denne ide 100 år siden,
from the Soviet debacle
fra Sovjet sammenbruddet,
will the working poor be reempowered,
vil de arbejdende fattige blive bemyndigede,
of brutality and waste.
af brutalitet og spild.
with automata, androids, robots.
med automatisering, androider, robotter.
and the political spheres are separate,
og politiske sfære er adskilt,
tvillingetinderne endnu højere,
and the political spheres,
og den politiske sfære,
by democratizing the reunified sphere,
ved at demokratisere den forenede sfære,
a surveillance-mad hyperautocracy
overvågnings skørt hyperautokrati,
look like a documentary.
til at ligne en dokumentar.
whether capitalism will survive
om kapitalisme vil overleve
it is spawning.
den giver liv til.
by something resembling a Matrix dystopia
af noget lignende et Matrix dystopi
to a Star Trek-like society,
på et Star Trek-lignende samfund,
exploring the universe
på at udforske universet
about the meaning of life
om meningen med livet
high tech agora.
højteknologisk forsamling.
at være optimistiske.
instead of the Matrix-like dystopia?
i stedet for den Matrix lignende dystopi?
from one job to another,
fra et job til et andet,
to work at at that time --
i på det givne tidspunkt --
to work in it at that moment.
i den på det givne tidspunkt.
from capital, from profits,
fra kapitalen, fra profitten,
of wage labor becomes obsolete.
af arbejdsløn bliver forældet.
who own but do not work in the company
som ejer men ikke arbejder i virksomheden
but do not own the company;
men ikke ejer virksomheden;
between capital and labor;
mellem kapital or arbejder;
investment and saving;
investering og opsparing;
political economy,
politiske økonomi niveau,
have a free-floating exchange rate,
har et frit flydende valutakurs,
global, digital currency,
global, digital valuta,
by the International Monetary Fund,
af Den Internationale Valutafond,
is denominated in this currency --
er opgjort i denne valuta --
to be paying into a common fund
om at betale til en fælles fond
to the country's trade deficit,
med landets handelsunderskud,
to invest in green technologies,
at investere i grønne energiteknologier,
where investment funding is scarce.
hvor investeringsmidler er knappe.
John Maynard Keynes proposed
John Maynard Keynes foreslog
the technology to implement it.
teknologien til at implementere det.
of a reunified political-economic sphere.
af en genforenet politisk-økonomisk sfære.
empowered individuals,
bemyndigelsen af individet,
to the dustbin of history
i historiens skraldebøtte,
to imagine an authentic democracy.
til at forestille et ægte demokrati.
into a Matrix-like dystopia?
ind i et Matrix lignende dystopi?
that we shall be making collectively.
som vi skal foretage kollektivt.
in your bios as a libertarian Marxist.
i din biografi som en libertariansk marxist.
of Marx's analysis today?
af Marx' analyse i dag?
any relevance in what I just said,
relevant, i hvad jeg lige sagde,
the political and economic is --
det politiske og økonomiske er --
is going to create
refers to as secular stagnation.
refererer til som sekulær stagnation.
from one part of the world,
fra en del af verden,
not only our democracies,
ikke blot vores demokratier,
that keen on liberal democracy.
er så ivrig efter liberal demokrati.
then Marx is absolutely relevant.
så er Marx absolut relevant.
jeg er en libertariansk marxist,
you are not thinking, OK?
tænker du ikke, ok?
philosopher kind of thing to say --
filosofisk ting at sige --
you mentioned Singapore and China,
nævnte du Singapore og Kina,
about how the West looks at China.
om hvordan vesten ser på Kina.
degree of hypocrisy.
grad af hykleri.
we have a semblance of democracy.
har vi et udseende af demokrati.
as I was saying in my talk,
som jeg sagde i min tale,
where all the action is --
hvor det hele sker --
in the 19th century.
i det 19. århundrede.
liberalism with democracy --
liberalisme med demokrati --
it's like John Stuart Mill.
det er som John Stuart Mill.
skeptical about the democratic process.
om den demokratiske proces.
is a very similar process
er en meget lignende proces
during the Industrial Revolution,
under den industrielle revolution,
from the first to the second.
fra den første til den anden.
in the 19th century,
i det 19. århundrede
are wondering about your experience
undrer sig over sig over din erfaring
earlier this year.
tidligere dette år.
at the first half of the year?
på den første halvdel af året?
from a personal point of view,
fra et personligt synspunkt,
to reboot the Eurozone.
for at genstarte Eurozonen.
that there was a massive --
at der var en massiv --
architectural fault line
arkitektonisk brudlinje
the whole of the European Union process.
hele den Europæiske Unions proces.
on the basis of the Greek program --
på basis af det græske program --
to manifest that denial --
til at manifestere den benægtelse --
of the Soviet Union.
af Sovjetunionen.
that architecturally cannot survive,
som arkitektonisk ikke kan overleve,
and through authoritarianism,
og igennem autoritarisme,
and catastrophically.
og katastrofalt.
are you foreseeing?
forudser du?
the architecture of the Eurozone,
arkitekturen af Eurozonen,
when you were Finance Minister?
mens du var finansminister?
YV: Anybody who looks back --
YV: Enhver som ser tilbage --
or of anything else for that matter,
eller minister af noget for den skyld,
efter seks måneder i jobbet,
they're dangerous people.
er de meget farlige mennesker.
was to sign the application
var at underskrive en ansøgning
on the side of the creditors
fra kreditorerne
in crushing our government,
i at knuse vores regering,
the architectural fault lines
de arkitektoniske brudlinjer,
a catastrophic program in Greece.
et katastrofalt program i Grækenland
af vores nominelle BNP.
that have been imposing this policy
som har implementeret denne politik,
of the discussion,
af diskussionen,
quite pro-European.
ret pro-Europæisk.
of the European Union and the Eurozone
den Europæiske Union og Eurozonen
who lives and breathes Europe.
som lever og ånder Europa.
the Eurozone will not survive.
at Eurozonen ikke overlever.
that will be unleashed
som vil blive sluppet fri,
not just for Europe
ikke bare for Europa,
economy in the world.
økonomi i verden.
of the postmodern 1930's,
af de postmoderne 1930'ere,
and non-Europeans alike.
og ikke europæere.
you are wrong on that point.
at du tager fejl med det.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Yanis Varoufakis - Economist and professorYanis Varoufakis thinks we need a radically new way of thinking about the economy, finance and capitalism.
Why you should listen
Yanis Varoufakis describes himself as a "libertarian Marxist," although, he says, "It is not something that I volunteer to talk about much, because the very mention of Marx switches audiences off." He teaches economic theory at the University of Athens, where he challenges mainstream notions -- arguing that after the financial crash of 2008 we need a radically new way of thinking about the economy, finance and capitalism.
He became widely known in the first half of 2015 when, as Minister of Finance of the newly formed Greek government, he was a leading, outspoken and much-discussed figure in the renegotiations of Greece's debt.
In May 2017, Varoufakis released Adults in The Room: My Battle With Europe’s Deep Establishment, a personal account of Europe's hidden agenda and an urgent wake-up call to renew European democracy.
Yanis Varoufakis | Speaker | TED.com