• Thordros [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    3 months ago

    I'm eepy rn somebody please tell me who the fresh fuck these people are and why I should spend two hours listening to them.

    Also I know who Hasan is. The other guy. WHO??

    Thank you! sleepi

    • dead [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      Yannis Varoufakis is an economist from Greece. From 2012-2013, he worked as an Economist for the video game company Valve. He has called himself a Marxist but also called himself a Libertarian.

      Recently Yanis Varoufakis was banned from Germany for giving speeches in support of Palestine, against Israel. He is banned from entering the country and also he said the government shut down events where he was giving a speech remotely over webcam.

      https://jacobin.com/2024/04/yanis-varoufakis-germany-banned-palestine-gaza

      Here's a clip from 5 years ago that went viral. Some woman tells Yanis that China is doing imperialism in Africa. Yanis replies "No, they're not. China is far more humanistic than the United States ever was." He explains that China is non-interventionist.

      https://youtu.be/gGeevtdp1WQ?t=4053

        • CommCat [none/use name]
          ·
          3 months ago

          For Syriza, the biggest disappointment in recent SocDem history. I remember listening to one of his talks during that time, he said that the radical left was not ready to take power, so they have to fix capitalism instead. I haven't been following him since.

      • SerLava [he/him]
        ·
        3 months ago

        Sometimes people say libertarian in the older sense and not the ancap sense. I think I have heard him use that language in that way

        • SSJ2Marx
          hexagon
          ·
          3 months ago

          I think that's still the preferred usage in Europe. There's a story of an American "Libertarian" showing up to a Greek "Libertarian" meetup and getting physically thrown out as soon as he started talking that comes to mind.

          • SerLava [he/him]
            ·
            3 months ago

            I love that story lmao... "wait, that just sounds like fascism??"

      • Thordros [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        3 months ago

        Thank you! I'd been running on zero sleep for a couple days and I couldn't bear to watch two hours of some guy I didn't know about.

      • Sons_of_Ferrix
        ·
        3 months ago

        From 2012-2013, he worked as an Economist for the video game company Valve

        Lol what I've never heard that

        • SSJ2Marx
          hexagon
          ·
          3 months ago

          According to him, the "Valve economy" (I guess CS:Go knives and stuff?) emerged unexpectedly, and they hired him to tell them how it worked.

    • wheresmysurplusvalue [comrade/them]
      ·
      3 months ago

      Yanis is a left leaning economist but not quite Marxist (I don't think?), he was Greece's finance minister during the budget crisis.

      • novibe@lemmy.ml
        ·
        3 months ago

        P sure he is a Marxist. And even might be a Leninist, in this exact interview him and Hasan agree the dictatorship of the proletariat is necessary.

        • RuthlessCriticism [comrade/them]
          ·
          3 months ago

          He is a not a Marxist in any meaningful way. His economics is Keynsian/MMT. If in light of all evidence, you still rejected the labor theory of value you have no right to call yourself Marxist.

          • FuckyWucky [none/use name]
            ·
            edit-2
            3 months ago

            Im not sure. He has been to Cuba and has spoken positively about it.

            https://youtu.be/6MfuGSlDRsc

            I don't agree with his anti worker's-state views but he is pretty good overall.

            • Yllych [any]
              ·
              3 months ago

              Plenty of soc Dems and Keynesians (especially Europeans) don't want to crush Cuba and even speak supportively of it while couching their criticisms in one's of the "bureaucracy" or the Cuban state. That being said, giving the thumbs up to Cuba doesn't make you a Marxist imo

          • novibe@lemmy.ml
            ·
            3 months ago

            He is an economist working within the bourgeois state apparatus. If you don’t think pushing MMT/neo-Keynesian economics in that position is a good idea, not sure what to tell you. If you read and listen to him enough, you’ll see he understands and thinks very much like a radical Marxist. But the framework he has agency in allows for very little, and he tries to push as far left as possible imo. While also agitating for radicalism outside of that framework, with his books, talks, appearances etc.

            • Yllych [any]
              ·
              3 months ago

              You can think that he does good with his platforms and appearances and whatnot, that's a seperate thing. But simply put, if he pushes Keynesianism he is not a Marxist and that's that.

      • HexBroke [any, comrade/them]
        ·
        3 months ago

        Beginning in March 2012, Varoufakis became economist-in-residence at video game publisher, Valve. He researched the virtual economy of the Steam digital delivery platform, specifically focusing on exchange rates and trade deficits.

        gamer-gulag

        • SerLava [he/him]
          ·
          edit-2
          3 months ago

          Yeah all games with any kind of p2p shop, using real or fake money, actually need a lot of work to make sure the prices don't go ape shit in either direction

          In a lot of wow servers a level 5 character could pick literally the most common flower and sell it to some max level guy on the auction house for 1 gold each (10,000 copper) , which is 100 times the value of all his equipment and all of his quests for the next day or so of gameplay.