Yanis Varoufakis: Capitalism will eat democracy -- unless we speak up
雅尼斯·瓦魯法克斯: 資本主義會吞噬民主──除非我們揚聲
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.
視其為理所當然。
最易凋零的花朵,
of flowers that it really is,
of our society's furniture.
as an intransigent given.
begets inevitably democracy.
必會孕育出民主。
and his great imitators in Beijing
和他在北京的眾偉大模仿者,
to have a flourishing capitalism,
沒有民主的政治情況下,
in our neck of the woods,
民主正在退步,
while I was representing Greece --
that our nation's democratic process --
我們國家的民主進程──
that were being implemented in Greece.
vindication of Lee Kuan Yew,
一份無上的認證,
friends of mine who kept telling me
不斷地告訴我,
if it ever threatened to change anything.
當它一旦威脅到要改變現狀。
for an authentic democracy.
to join me in believing again
that we can dispense with democracy --
錯在相信我們可以去掉民主──
boisterous democracy.
和生機勃勃的民主。
創新的科技會被浪費掉。
an interesting paradox
滿有意思的吊詭之處,
our economies as we speak.
我們的經濟。
that has been casting a long shadow
投射出一道巨大的陰影,
Europe, the whole world.
它有一個雙胞胎。
and to corporations,
that can generate the incomes
the mountain of debts
堆積如山的債務,
that humanity desperately needs,
in Britain and in the Eurozone,
3.4 trillion dollars
and so on and so forth.
in the same countries,
during the same period
白白的擺放著在那裡,
and bidding up house prices.
and a mountain of idle cash
和一座堆積如山的閒置現金,
failing to cancel each other out
不能透過正常的市場運營
operation of the markets.
in America, in Japan and in Europe
美國人、日本人、和歐洲人
reproduce it by not investing --
而不再投資──
by the prophecy of the oracle
his son, would kill him.
伊底帕斯,殺了。
all these technologies,
for saving planet Earth.
絕對是很重要的。
that democracy might be the answer?
這信念對嗎?
in which the free and the poor,
政府是由佔大比數的
excluded too many.
把很多人排除在外。
of course, the slaves.
都排除在外。
有多少人被排除在外,
of ancient Athenian democracy
其重要性的話,
about ancient Athenian democracy,
the right to free speech,
to political judgments
制定過程中,
concerning matters of state.
democracy didn't last long.
it burned out quickly.
很快就燃燒殆盡。
do not have their roots in ancient Athens.
並不是源起於古代雅典。
was focusing on the masterless citizen
沒有所謂的主人,
on the Magna Carta tradition,
建基於大憲章的傳統上,
a charter for masters.
為主人所建立的憲章。
only surfaced when it was possible
from the economic sphere,
經濟領域分離時浮現,
fully in the political sphere,
from the political sphere,
epic struggle between the two,
無情、史詩般的較量,
colonizing the political sphere,
are not what they used to be?
為什麼政治人物不再是原來的樣子?
has degenerated.
in government today and not in power,
人雖說是在政府裡面,
from the political to the economic sphere,
with capitalism.
a population of predators,
the prey that they must feed on,
牠們賴以生存的獵物,
and cannibalizing the political sphere
並噬食了政治領域,
that it is undermining itself,
to invest the cash of their corporations.
用他們公司的現金進行投資。
in taking the demos out of democracy,
把「民」從「民主」中剔除,
of human resources
and economic spheres
政治和經濟領域團聚起來,
with a demos being in control,
except without the slaves
當然要在沒有奴隸,
在外的前提下。
had that idea 100 years ago
就已經有這樣的想法,
from the Soviet debacle
will the working poor be reempowered,
貧窮的勞工才能被重新賦權,
of brutality and waste.
with automata, androids, robots.
來取代低薪的勞工。
and the political spheres are separate,
and the political spheres,
重新統一起來,
by democratizing the reunified sphere,
重新統一起來的領域民主化,
a surveillance-mad hyperautocracy
監視狂一樣的超級獨裁政權,
look like a documentary.
看起來像是紀錄片。
whether capitalism will survive
it is spawning.
by something resembling a Matrix dystopia
這樣的反烏托邦所取代,
to a Star Trek-like society,
星際迷航的社會取代,
exploring the universe
about the meaning of life
雅典時代般的高科技廣場,
high tech agora.
instead of the Matrix-like dystopia?
誕生後又會是怎麼樣呢?
from one job to another,
從一個工作到下一個工作,
to work at at that time --
to work in it at that moment.
正巧在那裡工作的人。
from capital, from profits,
of wage labor becomes obsolete.
支薪勞工的概念都被廢棄。
who own but do not work in the company
but do not own the company;
這兩方的人不再有區分,
between capital and labor;
investment and saving;
沒有了巨大的缺口;
兩座高聳的山峰。
political economy,
have a free-floating exchange rate,
有一個自由浮動的兌換匯率,
global, digital currency,
by the International Monetary Fund,
is denominated in this currency --
都以這種貨幣計價──
to be paying into a common fund
根據他們國家的貿易逆差,
to the country's trade deficit,
按比例的宇宙幣。
to invest in green technologies,
投資在環保科技,
where investment funding is scarce.
某些缺乏投資基金的地方。
John Maynard Keynes proposed
布萊頓森林會議上所提出來的。
the technology to implement it.
他們沒有科技去實現它。
of a reunified political-economic sphere.
政治和經濟領域背景下。
empowered individuals,
屬於最優先,
to the dustbin of history
to imagine an authentic democracy.
有真正民主的世界。
into a Matrix-like dystopia?
一個駭客帝國般的反烏托邦?
that we shall be making collectively.
要集體做出的政治選擇中。
in your bios as a libertarian Marxist.
自由派馬克思主義者。
of Marx's analysis today?
今天的演講有怎樣的相關性呢?
any relevance in what I just said,
如果我剛剛講的還算中肯,
最歸根究底在於──
the political and economic is --
is going to create
refers to as secular stagnation.
長期性經濟停滯。
from one part of the world,
從世界某個區域向外擴移,
not only our democracies,
that keen on liberal democracy.
自由民主的新興國家。
then Marx is absolutely relevant.
那麼馬克思主義絕對是相關的。
我是自由派馬克思主義者,
我連自己都感到糊塗了。
同樣也很糊塗了。
you are not thinking, OK?
那你就沒有思考,對吧?
philosopher kind of thing to say --
非常希臘哲學家的說法──
you mentioned Singapore and China,
你提到了新加坡和中國,
about how the West looks at China.
表達了相當強烈的觀點。
degree of hypocrisy.
其實是有很大程度的虛偽。
we have a semblance of democracy.
有一種民主的假象。
as I was saying in my talk,
where all the action is --
in the 19th century.
liberalism with democracy --
it's like John Stuart Mill.
就像是約翰·史都華·彌爾。
skeptical about the democratic process.
尤其抱著懷疑。
is a very similar process
during the Industrial Revolution,
from the first to the second.
第二次的那段時期。
in the 19th century,
are wondering about your experience
earlier this year.
at the first half of the year?
from a personal point of view,
to reboot the Eurozone.
that there was a massive --
在過去有嚴峻的──
architectural fault line
the whole of the European Union process.
我們曾經有機會──
on the basis of the Greek program --
to manifest that denial --
能呈現出建構性失誤,
of the Soviet Union.
已經無法存活的經濟系統
that architecturally cannot survive,
和獨裁主義這樣的手段,
and through authoritarianism,
and catastrophically.
are you foreseeing?
the architecture of the Eurozone,
有失誤嗎?
when you were Finance Minister?
YV: Anybody who looks back --
雅:任何人回望的時候──
or of anything else for that matter,
或是任何與此有相關的人,
they're dangerous people.
那他們是危險人物。
was to sign the application
申請書。
on the side of the creditors
in crushing our government,
the architectural fault lines
建構性失誤。
a catastrophic program in Greece.
他們在希臘實施了災難性的計畫。
that have been imposing this policy
坦白承認實施這樣的政策
of the discussion,
quite pro-European.
of the European Union and the Eurozone
who lives and breathes Europe.
歐洲的個人經驗。
the Eurozone will not survive.
是歐元區無法存活下去。
that will be unleashed
not just for Europe
economy in the world.
of the postmodern 1930's,
1930 年代的那條路,
我們現在就已在那條路上,
和非歐洲國家的未來,
and non-Europeans alike.
我們肯定希望你是錯的。
you are wrong on that point.
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