What this covers
In lieu of the release of the documentary In The Eye of the Storm: The Political Odyssey of Yanis Varoufakis, Oli was joined by economist and former finance minister of Greece Yanis Varoufakis for a wide ranging interview.
Yanis sat down to discuss the downfall of capitalism and Western hegemony, the Labour Party's shunt to the right, and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
You can find out more about In The Eye of the Storm: The Political Odyssey of Yanis Varoufakis at http://www.eyeofthestorm.info/
Subscribe to our new podcast now, or you're a silly goose: https://linktr.ee/pubcast
Source description (no synthesized summary yet).
Varoufakis argues that political power has systematically migrated from elected governments to financial capital, rendering contemporary political leaders functionally powerless servants of capitalist interests, while the left's repeated betrayals of popular mandates have created a vacuum exploited by the far-right.
- Power has split into three realms (political, economic, financial) with financial capital now dominant, making prime ministers less powerful than predecessors despite retaining theoretical capacity to act
- Social democratic parties systematize oligarchic policies inherited from conservatives, destroying public faith in alternatives and driving voters toward fascism or apathy
- The Syriza surrender to creditors in 2015 despite a 62% referendum mandate against capitulation destroyed the European left for a generation and exemplifies why alternatives must be real
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Before the 18th century, power was unified under feudalism—the king held political power, military power, and economic power simultaneously in a single realm, but with the emergence of capitalism, power split into two separate spheres: the political realm and the economic realm, with merchants gaining wealth without political influence.
“before the 18th century before capitalism emerged to replace feudalism under feudalism power was uh homogeneous it was one thing there was a Unity so if you were the king you were rich and you had military power and you had political power you had all the power you wanted right... with the beginnings of the great transformation from feudalism to capitalism suddenly you have a Schism that you have a split of that unitary power into two Realms the political Realm and the economic realm”
Electricity markets are a logical impossibility because electricity distribution requires a single monopoly network (one wire per building), making genuine competition impossible; governments simulate markets through auctions that function as cartels where private producers cooperate to extract maximum price from consumers.
“electricity markets where they we should never have an electricity Market the notion of an electricity Market is a crime against logic because it can never be competitive never why because you know in the studio in your home there's one electric wire that comes out okay and you take that electricity if you had the possibility of having 50 electric wires imagine 50 different networks of wiring through the city of London right uh and you could say oh this is cheaper today I'll take that one then you maybe you would have a market but with electricity you can't so there's one wire coming out and the government has to simulate the market which takes the form of some kind of auction house when different private companies that prod use or carry electricity or sell electricity supposedly compete with they don't compete it's a cartel it's like opic you know they they cooperate fully in order to skin you”
Financialization is fundamentally distinct from historical share-trading and refers to the creation and proliferation of leveraged derivatives (options to buy/sell) that decouple financial bets from productive assets, enabling banks to turbocharge both prospective gains and catastrophic losses.
“financialization is not just buying shares that has been happening now for 500 years this is nothing new you know buying and selling shares it's a kind of Gumble to buy and sell shares but that's not financialization...sometime decades ago finances developed um contracts that actually made some sense so if you're a farmer and you face uncertainty you may have a very bad crop um it's good to have an insurance company that provides you with a insurance contract that essentially uh allows you to cut your losses if things are not good so this is a Futures Contract essentially you buy the right to sell your produce at a certain minimum price...but then they thought okay well if we are selling people finances an option to sell why don't we sell them an option to buy ahuh that becomes more interesting and more lethal because suddenly you you can pay money that allows you not to sell but to buy in the future shares that you have not not purchased today right at a given price so effectively you are betting that the price will go up”
The 2008 financial crisis resulted from banks repeatedly borrowing from American lenders to buy leveraged options, creating a system where bank profits appeared massive during asset price appreciation but evaporated catastrophically when asset prices fell, leaving the public responsible for bailout costs while bankers retained private gains.
“it's a massive gambling Extravaganza where all the profits go to the financiers and all the losses go to you and to your generation and to your children's generation and so on the rewards are privatized the risk is socialized”
The City of London was established in the 1960s-1970s as a mechanism to bypass Bretton Woods financial regulations, allowing bankers to violate domestic government rules through offshore jurisdictions (Cayman Islands, etc.), creating a 'little Mafia' that grew before Thatcher amplified it.
“before thater it was because the city had created a way of bypassing all the rules and regulations of the Bon wood system essentially it was a little Mafia in the making that allowed Bankers to violate the rules of their own governments uh not just in Britain in the United States in Germany in France through various jurisdictions in the Cayman Islands and so on so forth but then thater comes in and boosts the city of L”
FDR in 1933 'liquidated the bankers, not the banks' during the Great Depression, meaning he prosecuted and removed bankers from power while preserving banking institutions, which is why bankers hated him.
“that was the the the cry call which is what FDR you know Rosevelt had actually done in 1933 Rosevelt had liquidated the bankers not the banks the bankers and that's why the bankers really hated him”
Prime ministers have less power today than predecessors like Winston Churchill or Lloyd George, because power has migrated from the political sphere through the economic sphere and into the financial sphere, with each migration draining political capacity.
“if you think about it before the 18th century before capitalism emerged to replace feudalism under feudalism power was uh homogeneous it was one thing there was a Unity so if you were the king you were rich and you had military power and you had political power you had all the power you wanted...then after 1971 and the breakdown of what was the first post-war uh Financial system called the Breton Woods if you recall you have the emancipation of the bankers from politics so Finance Financial power splits from economic power so now you have three Realms you have the political realm you have the economic realm industry manufacturing and then you have the Bankers the financial realm and power goes from the political sphere to the economic sphere finally to the financial sphere every time it migrates the political sphere becomes less powerful”
Margaret Thatcher's privatization of British public assets (council housing, British Gas, British Airways) to working-class voters was a deliberate strategy to co-opt the working class into financial markets through undervalued offerings, create debt dependency on banks, and boost asset prices while hollowing out productive industry.
“First thing she did was to sell off Council houses now why was this this significant for the city of London well because to begin with it essentially told you Working Class People here's a house the one you're living in which you do not own it belongs to the local Council um in the market If This Were to be sold off as a private home it would fetch 30,000 quid right we'll sell it to you for 10 essentially we are gifting you 20,000 now of course you don't have 10 so go to the bankers to get it right that's first number one that's financialization commencement in this country you appropriate the working class because suddenly they love you because you give them 20,000 they don't understand that you know your kids will not have anywhere to live because once that house gets sold and all house prices go up the Next Generation working class Britains will have nowhere to live as is the case today”
When social democratic parties come to power after promising change, they instead 'turbocharge every oligarchic policy inherited from conservatives,' creating two outcomes: working-class voters become apathetic and disengage from politics, or they become xenophobic and support far-right movements believing false alternatives like Brexit offer agency.
“when you have a Social Democratic party whether it's the esped in Germany or the labor party here which um trades in a vision of a just society and when they come to power they turbocharge every oligarchic policy that they've inherited from the Tories this causes two social phenomena one is people become athetic and stay at home and they don't want to know about politics or they become fascists not fascist in the sense of you know musolini is uniforms and so on but become xenophobic they they become cynical um you know they they start believing that brexit is going to allow them to take back on control when all they allowed was you know for um Mr Johnson to become Prime Minister”
Railway privatization (splitting track ownership from rolling stock operators) increases accident risk because coordination between two entities incentivizes neither to bear safety costs, analogous to two drivers of one car where one steers and one controls throttle and brakes.
“what was the modernization you break up the network you create one company that owns the tracks and another and then other companies that owned the uh the Rolling Stock and so on I remember what happened immediately after that kicks cross you had the massive uh Railway accident because it's you if you have an one company owning the tracks and another owning the Rolling Stock it's a little bit like you and me driving a car together you steering and me using you know uh having the throttle controls and The Brak controls we are going to crash”
In Greece in 2015, the Syriza party went from 4% to 36% in the polls and formed a government by offering a meaningful alternative to austerity; after five months maintaining this platform, they crashed against international power centers (IMF, ECB, City of London) and held a referendum asking voters whether to continue fighting—62% said yes—yet PM Tsipras surrendered anyway, betraying the popular mandate and destroying the Greek left for a decade.
“in my country when we presented when I say we I mean Sera the Coalition of the radical left party um to which I belonged and you know with which I was elected to Parliament in 2015 and became Finance Minister we offered the people after I had tried all different Alternatives we offered as you put it um a meaningful coherent alternative plan of what needed to be done and our party went from 4% to 36% and we formed the government and in the first five months we stuck to our guns we were true to the spirit of the manifesto that had gotten the Mandate from the people and when we crashed with the most powerful forces in the universe like the international Mony F the European Central Bank the you know Wall Street the city of London Frankfurt the whole cabal of powerful people and finances in particular we held the referendum and the question was do you want us to keep fighting or not should we give in yes or no and the answer was no 62%”
States and governments retain enormous coercive power (demonstrated by pandemic lockdowns) but political leaders are instructed by capitalists to not use this power except to implement policies (tax cuts, asset transfers) that enhance capitalist extraction capacity.
“remember the lockdown remember the pandemic suddenly we realize that states governments parliaments have enormous power they can actually lock us down and into our homes so Mr sunk I understand that generally yeah it is true that you have less power than Winston Churchill had who had less power than Lloyd George had but mate you have power to do incredible things but you are not using it because the reason you are there is because you are representing the interest of capitalists who have put you there so as not to do anything except what they instruct you to do in terms of tax cuts in terms of all the the props that they need uh from parliament in order to enhance their capacity to extract value from others it's actually the exact purpose the purpose is to be powerless it is to do nothing”
Barack Obama was elected with a mandate to prosecute Wall Street bankers but instead appointed Tim Geithner and Larry Summers (who had deregulated finance under Clinton) to orchestrate a $12 trillion bailout that saved bankers while impoverishing working-class Americans, directly creating conditions for Trump's election.
“think of the United States in 2008 you know Barack Obama was elected with a mandate to get rid of the Wall Street bankers and you bail out the banks because you can't let them fail people's savings are in there but we will get rid of the bankers that was the the the cry call which is what FDR you know Rosevelt had actually done in 1933 Rosevelt had liquidated the bankers not the banks the bankers and that's why the bankers really hated him what does Obama do he takes two gentlemen Tim gner and Larry Summers who were a Clinton's duo in the fin in the finance ministry in the US Treasury Department the two men who had worked for Wall Street to unshackle the bankers and to let them go crazy to the extent that it brought about the 2008 financial collapse he takes these two men and gives them a mandate save the bankers and they print to gaed 12 trillion American dollars to save the bankers do you know what the result of this is this is a rhetorical question Donald Trump”
The 1981-1982 'Big Bang' in London's financial markets (deregulation of the City) occurred alongside Thatcher's privatization policies, allowing bankers to lend money to retail investors to buy shares, creating a system guaranteeing stock exchange appreciation.
“and they allow the bankers to lend money to people to buy more shares and so on yeah that's a guarant that's what happened with Hatcher after 1981 1982 the Big Bang in the city of London essentially you are guaranteeing that the stock exchange will go up and then you're giving people the a reason to keep buying options to buy”
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are attempting to appear 'more royalist than the king' in order to prove to the Establishment that they are not a threat, which requires them to be more right-wing than the Conservatives—a dynamic where centrist Labour cannot afford ideological flexibility because they must continually prove their loyalty to capital.
“you have people like Rachel Brees and Karma that are struggling to present themselves as most more royalists than the king because they need to go the extra mile in order to prove to The Establishment that they're not a threat to them so in a sense they're going to be more right-wing than the torist because the torist don't need to prove to The Establishment that they are Tories so they can yeah give a little bit of money to the NHS and without being taken to task by the Mur press right”
The Western political establishment has proven that it never genuinely cared about human rights as a principle; it only cares about the human rights of Western citizens and allied nations, using human rights rhetoric as selective justification for some military interventions while ignoring genocide committed by allies.
“the West especially those who claim to care about human rights we must accept that we have now proven Beyond dispute that we never cared as countries as Politics as establishments as media about human rights we only cared about our human rights and the human rights of our friends of our bastards right if you are not one of us you don't have human rights you can be bombed you're never killed even if we kill you you die um whenever they say hang on what's Happening they are terrorists right”
The fault for centre-left political failure in the UK, Europe, and USA lies with the left parties themselves, not with external circumstances or the strength of right-wing opposition; the left must blame itself and take responsibility.
“it's the fault of the labor party in this country it's the fault of the of the center left across Europe it's a fault of the Democrats in the United States when you have a Social Democratic party...and when they come to power they turbocharge every oligarchic policy that they've inherited from the Tories...it is the fault of the left and I include myself in this it is our fault we must blame no one except ourselves”
Public ownership of British Rail, British Gas, British electricity, and water boards worked significantly better before privatization under Thatcher, despite being presented as 'ancient, arthritic, and inefficient'.
“Thatcher model the first thing she did was um to denounce State Corporations as inefficient as monopolistic as awful terrible you know British Rail British gas British electricity by the way they work much better than they do today or the water board my goodness you know much better I mean it was pretty Britain was a pretty miserable place when I lived here but it was you know all these corporations worked better than they do today you you only need to take the train to go to Brighton or to go to Manchester to realize it”
Thatcher's political success was due to her ability to 'wipe the floor clean' with opposition parties and her own party's moderate wing ('wets'), implementing radical restructuring and infecting European politics with these same oligarchic policies.
“but wasn't she brilliant in the way that she managed to wipe the floor clean with the labor party with the liberal party with her own wets and push all this in and not only push this in but cause an infection in the European Union because every cynical and oligarchic policies introduced in this country is now in Greece in Italy in Portugal”
Even if Hamas disappeared entirely, Israel's ethnic cleansing and genocide would continue in the West Bank where Hamas has no presence, proving that Hamas is a pretext for genocide rather than its cause, and the real objective is territorial acquisition and population removal.
“in any case let's say that we press a button and hamash disappear they just disappear they you know they're all convinced they're brainwashed... what happens in West Bank Hamas are not there the ethnic cleansing the genocide is continuing there and of course you can see that they just want the land not to not to mention the natural gas deposits which are of Gaza”
The IDF's current aim is to expel and/or kill enough Palestinians to convince the rest to leave Gaza; the goal is not total extermination but to depopulate the territory to settle it with Israelis.
“the IDF is in the process of ensuring that the zist um allegory slogan becomes a fact on the ground they're getting rid of them the whole point is to expel them to kill them to to drive them away they do not want to kill them all I mean they want to kill as many as is necessary to convince the rest to leave”
Netanyahu and previous Israeli governments supported and financed Hamas militarily, politically, and financially in order to destroy the Palestinian Authority and eliminate the possibility of a unified Palestinian political alternative, ensuring only Hamas would remain as negotiating partner.
“people say to me but Janis how can you possibly support Hamas I'm not supporting Hamas Netanyahu supported Hamas leud and Netanyahu were in the business of diminishing the authority of the poo and they have been for decades supporting Hamas financially uh politically militarily until they completely destroyed the um the capacity of the of the PLO of the Palestinian Authority to appeal to the Palestinian people and only Hamas is left to represent them”
Keir Starmer's Labour Party exhibits authoritarianism greater than any previous Labour government, including under Tony Blair, with expulsions of party members for attending film screenings and purging of leftist candidates, indicating Starmer is moving the party toward Tory-style authoritarian conservatism.
“the labor party has never had this degree of authoritarianism in its midst you know even under Tony Blair you there there were people like Tony Ben and Jeremy Corbin were they were never thrown thrown out yeah there was of course a dominant cast of uh righted Wingers in the labor party but it was a broad Church now it's not now there was this mayor in North England I remember his name who attended who attended a screening of Ken Lo's fantastic movie Jamie dris he was thrown out yeah that's fascism okay”
The genocide in Gaza has damaged the West's international image more severely than at any previous time; while Western public opinion is solidifying support for Israel, the rest of the world is becoming disillusioned with Western claims of ethical governance and human rights.
“never before has the West image around the world been so terrible what is happening is at once in the west opinion public opinion conventional wisdom is solidifying its support for Israel's genocide but the rest of the world is becoming more and more disillusioned with the so-called principles or ethical um dimension of the western uh polity of the western way of thinking”
Working-class voters in Britain do not organize mass protests against corporations extracting billions in profits during crises because they lack the ability to imagine an alternative political reality beyond capitalism—it appears natural and inevitable rather than constructed and changeable.
“there seems to be apathy uh there isn't a a popular Revolt a mass protest movement no one is marching to the gates of centria or you know take your pick name the company demanding that they they get their money back why do you think that is is there a it's almost you know to sort of um to quote Mark to do a bad job of quoting Mark Fischer the sort of the lack of an ability to imagine an alternative political reality right that this is just the capitalist system we happen to live in and we have to we have to suffer the consequences”
Western leaders (Biden, Macron, Scholz, Sunak) are war criminals for supporting Israel's genocide in Gaza; their verbal criticism of Israeli actions is hypocrisy, given that they simultaneously supply weapons, bombs, and satellite intelligence that enable the killing.
“and of course you have Biden Schulz macron Rish sunak supporting this war criminal I'm glad therefore they are war criminals themselves”
Netanyahu's personal war aim is for the war to never end, because ending the war means losing his position as Prime Minister; indefinite war keeps him in power and protected from accountability.
“as far as Netanyahu is concerned his War aim is that the war doesn't end an endless war because he knows that the moment it ends he loses the prime ministership and you have Biden Schulz macron Rish sunak supporting this war criminal I'm glad therefore they are war criminals themselves”
Rachel Reeves has adopted the 'toxic lie of austerity' (state budgets like household credit cards that must be cut if in deficit) before entering Number 10, indicating she will implement austerity policies when in power, destroying public services and deepening crises.
“Rachel Reeves has adopted This Magnificent toxic lie of austerity before moving to T 10 11 Downing Street so what is she going to do when she moves in there I mean my goodness Spar us of the this labor party whoever you are you know nature Society God whoever”
Keir Starmer's Labour government would pursue indefinite war in Ukraine, with the strategy being 'take Moscow without soldiers fighting Zelinski soldiers taking Moscow,' which means a never-ending war with no possibility of peace settlement.
“I very much fear that the G label government you see many people said to me come on yanis but labor will be better than the Tories no not necessarily when it comes to Ukraine The NeverEnding war of Ukraine I mean y more so than suak seems to believe that um we have to as the West we have to keep going until we take Moscow without soldiers fighting gilinski soldiers taking Moscow that means a never ending War that's k starmer”
If the United States immediately halted military support to Israel—via satellite systems, weapons deliveries, and spare parts—the war would end within 24 hours, proving that international pressure through arms cutoffs is feasible and that continued Western support is a deliberate choice to enable genocide.
“if he orders today that the American Army seizes to support through the satellite system through delivery of armaments spare parts for their planes and of course these gigantic bombs that are being delivered daily to Israel by the American Military the war will end tomorrow so if it was applied International pressure could bring about an end to this conflict yesterday could have ended we are in the West responsible for the Ming and the killing of the children of Gaza today we are responsible for it”
The genocide of Palestinians started in 1948 with the founding of Israel and the displacement of Palestinians, and current military operations in Gaza are intensification of this longstanding genocide, not a new phenomenon.
“the genocide started in 1948 it's simply becoming uh more lethal more bloodthirsty uh less barable than it ever was”
Israel is an apartheid state defined by: separate legal systems for Jews and Palestinians, walls and roads reserved for Jewish settlers that Palestinians cannot use, and the implementation of the Zionist ideology of 'a land without people for a people without land' through ethnic cleansing.
“you have an apar hiide state it is clearly an apide anybody who's been to the West Bank knows it's an apar hiide State they've built walls and they've built roads exclusively for the use of the illegal settlers uh that the local population cannot use that's apide”
Varoufakis prefers a Tory government of explicit class enemies ('bastards who claim to be bastards representing the aristocracy') over a Labour government of betrayers ('bastards who claim to be representing the working class') because at least the Tories are honest about whose interests they serve.
“I prefer to have bastards in power who claim to be bastards representing the aristocracy than bastards in power who claim to be representing the working class and in denial of their status as bastards”
A British Conservative politician privately admitted to Varoufakis that he doesn't actually believe in austerity or free markets being superior to the state, but that if he didn't espouse these beliefs he would not be allowed to hold ministerial office.
“I remember I was having a conversation with a British politician whose name is not going to be mentioned here you sure sure because you know I keep confidences but naturally Tori minister at the time and he was he was saying how can you possibly claim that I don't truly believe that which I'm saying that you know it austerity works and that free markets are always better than the state I said mate I have no doubt that you believe in what you're saying but if you didn't believe what you were saying they wouldn't actually let you be ministered”
Rupert Murdoch considers Labour politicians like Tony Blair (and by extension Keir Starmer) 'weasels' and traitors to the ruling class they were born into, because they are not class conscious—they do not understand that the working class is not their constituency and cannot be trusted like the Tories can be.
“you know these old men in the clubs of London you know look at them and laugh at them they may consider them useful idiots and quite useful but they will never trust them uh they may you know they may you know like like Tony Blair's government if was excellent Splendid for conglomerates and corporations and so on for rubert for rubert Murdoch who even supported Tony Blair he may even support K tomorrow but trer Muk thinks of them as weasels they don't they can't take them seriously because nobody likes a traitor a traitor of the class that they supposedly represent no one likes a traitor especially the one who benefits from the Traer”
Keir Starmer's Labour Party lacks any coherent economic alternative to neoliberalism and will turbocharge Tory austerity policies once in power, making it incapable of addressing structural crises and likely to be replaced by a populist far-right government within one term.
“K starm wins that election let's say I don't know a land maybe it's like 97 whatever it's like but nonetheless he has a significant majority in Parliament and I'm going to expect and predict that his political answers will not rise to the scale of the challenge not least because they are essentially the neoliberal economic settlement that we've had in this country for the last 30 years so how on Earth can you rise to the challenges that have been delivered by the same system by go turning back to that system nonetheless the electorate says okay we gave you a chance you have failed we placed Our Hope in you you've let us down what's the most likely political vehicle they will be able to turn to instead let's assume it's the conservative party that has gone through its ideologic battle for its ideological Soul has ended up in the grip of Suella bramman cam Bok some kind of populist right-wing politician and we could end up with the extraordinary scenario of going from let's say a 200 seat labor majority in the space of one Parliament to a resurgent populist right”
Varoufakis became an academic not because he enjoyed academia but as a deliberate escape from capitalism and the labor market; academia allowed him to be paid for reading, writing, research, and teaching without direct participation in commodity markets.
“because I hated capitalism and I didn't want to be involved in the labor market m I decided when I was studying here in Britain that I was going to become an academic not because I liked Academia but because it was a way out of the labor market get essentially back then not anymore back then you got paid to read write research and teach right yeah that's effectively an escape from capitalism”
Varoufakis has been fascinated since childhood by understanding how exorbitant social power works—specifically how some people get others to do things against their own interests—which he describes as 'the greatest crime that humanity has ever managed to accomplish.'
“ever since I can remember um I had a penchant for um uncovering for myself how power Works how you know exorbitant Social Power works not so much electricity power but you know political power the power to make other people do things that are against their interests on your behalf right that always fascinated me it was like who done it it was the greatest crime that Humanity has ever managed to accomplish and therefore I wanted to unpack it yeah to analyze it to to to understand it myself”
The 2008 financial crisis was the second mega-collapse of capitalism in modern history (following 1929) and Varoufakis sensed around 2003-2004 that a major crisis was coming, which motivated him to speak publicly beyond academic halls.
“around 2003 2004 I started realizing that or feeling sensing that a tsunami was coming a new gigantic capitalist crisis not one of those regular ups and downs because you know when I moved here to Britain in 1978 that was a winter of discontent that had just started that was a crisis of capitalism but it wasn't the big one like bigest Quake that demolishes everything that happened in 1929 and it happened again in 2008 around 2003 I started sensing that a big one is coming so I started speaking out beyond the amphitheater the lecture hall of the University”
The documentary 'In the Eye of the Storm: The Political Odyssey of Yanis Varoufakis' was created and executed by British artist Raoul Martinez, who made it about the repercussions of 2008 financial collapse using Varoufakis's edited answers; Varoufakis is a 'talking head' not the author.
“it's not my documentary go ahead it's a documentary devised imagined executed implemented completed by a remarkable young British Artist rul Martinez who for some strange reason you have to ask him about that uh decided to Centre the six-part 4 Hour 4 and a half hour documentary on me so I'm just a talking head in there um responding to His Brilliant questions but he has created a story out of my answers by editing them in a beautiful way”
Political modesty (Varoufakis's tendency to deflect credit and point to others) masks the reality that he is in a unique position where people look to him for answers and to shape their worldview, which is a significant source of social influence.
“it's striking to me and it's for this reason that I want to focus on it for a moment because I think it makes you a little bit uncomfortable to describe it as focusing on yourself you're very quick to deflect and point rightly so to the people that are involved but I wonder you you know you're clearly someone that people want to listen to right whether it's in the form of this documentary whether it's in the form of the interviews you do whether it's in the form of the books that you WR and I'm struck that in our conversations it's happen just now your modesty and I wonder how it feels to be in the position you are in where people are looking to you for answers people are looking to you to inform not just what they might think about something but the very nature of their world view”
Varoufakis's detractors call him a narcissist and arrogant, though he personally doesn't identify with this characterization and prefers to focus on understanding power structures rather than personal aggrandizement.
“well if you were to ask any of my detractors and there are many they would call me a narcissist M arrogant up myself and so on and so forth so it's very nice to be to be here you know listening to you”
Varoufakis was motivated throughout his academic career to explain power to students and to avoid boring them the way his professors bored him.
“whatever I uncovered in this process of um declo looking and unring power I was trying to explain to my students and the one thing I didn't want to do was to bore them the way that my professors bored me or most of them so you know I got a lot of pleasure out of um putting forward an analysis of power to students”