YANIS VAROUFAKIS: ''THERE IS NO DEMOCRACY ANY MORE IN EUROPE. WE ARE THE WAR UNION''
What follows is my English translation of an article that appeared today on AntiMafiaDuemila.com [all formatting original].
There is no longer freedom of speech in Europe. “There is no more democracy and especially in Germany, it is a sad state of affairs: Germany, whose economic influence is apparently on the wane, is fuelling growing authoritarianism.”
Thus on “Il Fatto Quotidiano” [an Italian newspaper] Yanis Varoufakis - the Greek economist, former minister in the Tsipras government, from which he later split and founded Diem25 after the break-up of Syriza - commenting on the interruption of the Congress for Palestine in Berlin by the German police [on Friday 12th April 2024 - see here, for instance]: “I should have connected by video-conference from Athens. The police intervened with two and a half thousand agents. They abruptly interrupted and confiscated the microphones. Even our Jewish comrades present were arrested. A demonstration was then called and the police blocked the transmission of my voice from the loudspeakers, citing an order prohibiting my political activities in Germany”.
The German political class, said the economist, “is doing a great disservice to Germany's reputation. The majority of Germans are not racist. They do not want to be accomplices in another genocide. A lot of Palestinian blood will not cleanse Germany of its guilt for the Holocaust”.
Varoufakis emphatically stated that “a genocide is taking place in Gaza. This is supported by the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese, and all experts in international law. Germany should protect the lives of Jews, this is one of its national interests. Instead it only protects the Israeli government, which is committing war crimes”. Crimes supported and accepted by the international community and especially by the West, which, he said, “has become a vassal of Israel. The rest of the world is shocked by the double standards and not only in Gaza. For example, Ecuador invades the Mexican embassy in Quito to arrest the former vice-president, Jorge Glas: not a word comes from Berlin, Italy, France, the USA. Not a word when Israel bombs the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria's sovereign territory”.
Of course, there are those who protest against the war, but they are a minority because the “majority of Europeans have been cornered and exploited for two decades, especially since the 2008 financial crisis. The EU has been turned into a war union. The European Commission claims that, by investing in weapons, we will have the growth and technological progress that we have not had in the last thirty years. We say we do, we issue Eurobonds to produce rockets and munitions. What happens when the warehouses are full? Then we will have to have a small or big war to clear the stockpiles and keep producing”.
The Greek economist also shared some thoughts about the war in Ukraine on “Il Fatto Quotidiano”: “we need an immediate ceasefire and, therefore, a UN-led peace process. This endless war will have no winners, only losers. President Zelensky by condoning Israel's atrocities, by supporting the destruction of Gaza hospitals, has destroyed his own narrative against Putin. With respect to the Middle East, an immediate ban on arms deliveries to Israel should be pursued. Boycotts and divestment from the economy must start until Israel agrees to dismantle the apartheid state, not only in Gaza, but also in the West Bank”.
Source: ilfattoquotidiano.it
I agree with Yanis Varoufakis’s last statement in the last paragraph above, except for the point where he states that “this endless war will have no winners, only losers”. If you are paying close attention to the war in Ukraine, you know very well who is winning (Russia) and who is losing (Ukraine). I am not going to argue about it here, but I will just point you to the latest SitRep by Simplicius The Thinker:
Finally, if you are interested in the ~15'-minute address that Yanis Varoufakis should have delivered to the Palestinian Congress in Berlin on Friday 12th April 2024, you can watch it here.