Talking Brexit, Bernie and Left Internationalism with Yanis Varoufakis

[Donkees]

By Casper Hughes - Dec 21 2018

Excerpt:

He’s the former Greek finance minister who was tasked with renegotiating Greece’s bailout terms with the troika. And since his resignation from Syriza’s government and the subsequent acquiescence of Alexis Tsipras to the eurozone’s demands, Yanis Varoufakis has set up Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), an organisation whose aim is to unite progressives across the continent to reform the European Union. Now he is turning his attention to America, and specifically to a presidential candidate who he thinks can help spark a global progressive movement: Bernie Sanders.

Do you think it’s important that Bernie runs for president again?
No one person matters – I don't believe history is personality-driven – so I’m not going to say that Bernie is the one and only. But it is true that Bernie Sanders introduced a new kind of politics in the US, introduced a discussion in the US that was forbidden until then. No one was allowed to talk about poverty, at least since the time of LBJ. Bernie Sanders has pointed out the magnificent paradox that the richest country in the world produces the greatest and most hideous aspects of poverty in the world: if you’re a poor American, you’re far worse off than being a poor Indian in Kerala. He’s brought that discussion back to the fore.

Okay, so people say what about his age – it is true. But on the other hand, none of the other people that have risen up in the wake of Bernie Sanders’ revolution are up to the task yet of running for president. This is why it is important that he throws caution to the wind, defers his retirement and runs one more time, to sustain the burgeoning progressive movement in the US.

https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/8xp7b5/talking-brexit-bernie-and-left-internationalism-with-yanis-varoufakis

[Jim Lane]

1. Internationalism versus globalism

Varoufakis says that "we must juxtapose internationalism against globalism." The interview doesn't elaborate on this distinction.

In a world of sovereign nation-states -- which is what we'll have for the foreseeable future, with even the EU being only a limited exception -- I don't see how any form of globalism can succeed except through internationalism. Does anyone have an idea as to what Varoufakis means by this remark?

[Donkees]

2. ''Globalization Versus Internationalization''

Excerpts:

Globalization Versus Internationalization:
By Herman E. Daly
1999
Introduction


Globalization, considered by many to be the inevitable wave of the future, is frequently confused with internationalization, but is in fact something totally different.

Internationalization refers to the increasing importance of international trade, international relations, treaties, alliances, etc. Inter-national, of course, means between or among nations. The basic unit remains the nation, even as relations among nations become increasingly necessary and important.

Globalization refers to global economic integration of many formerly national economies into one global economy, mainly by free trade and free capital mobility, but also by easy or uncontrolled migration. It is the effective erasure of national boundaries for economic purposes.

https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/162/27995.html

Conclusions

For all the sins historically committed by the nation, it is still our basic locus of community and unit of policy. The nation, along with international federations of nations, must not be sacrificed to the unexamined ideal of "globalization" which, when examined, turns out to be unfettered individualism for corporations on a global scale.

Globalization creates new markets and wealth, even as it causes widespread suffering, disorder, and unrest. It is both a source of repression and a catalyst for global movements of social justice and emancipation. The great financial crisis of 2008-09 has revealed the dangers of an unstable, deregulated, global economy but it has also given rise to important global initiatives for change.

https://www.globalpolicy.org/globalization.html