In the Eye of the Storm: The Political Odyssey of Yanis Varoufakis

Episode Synopsis

It’s 2019. Across the globe, the far right is on the rise, climate change is rapidly accelerating, and democracy is under threat. Drawing on his experiences as a politician, dissident, and economist, Varoufakis offers a stark warning: that we must learn from the dark history of the 1930s if we are to avoid repeating it. Connecting fascism, austerity, liberalism and globalization, Varoufakis begins to shed light on the wider context of the Greek crisis. He asks: How do we learn the lessons of history and avoid repeating the mistakes made by the Weimar Republic in response to that generation’s great financial crash? In answering these questions, Varoufakis takes us on a journey which links FDR’s New Deal, pre-Hitler Germany, the dangerous response of governments across the world to the 2008 financial crash, the presidencies of Barack Obama and Donald Trump, and the difference between globalization and internationalism.