In his new book, the maverick Greek economist says we are witnessing an epochal shift. At his island home, he argues it’s now the ‘fiefdoms’ of tech firms that shape us

[P]erhaps traditional distinctions between left and right don’t make sense any more. The right, Varoufakis says, “thinks of capitalism as like a natural system, a bit like the atmosphere”. Whereas the left “think of themselves as people created by the universe in order to bring socialism over capitalism. I am telling you: you know what, you missed it. You missed it. Somebody killed capitalism. We have something worse.”

The early internet, he says, has given way to a privatised digital landscape in which gatekeepers “charge rent… The people we think of as capitalists are just a vassal class now. If you’re producing stuff now, you’re done. You’re finished. You cannot become the ruler of the world any more.”

  • stabby_cicada@slrpnk.netOP
    14·
    1 year ago

    Got to take this in context.

    In the United States, the “traditional distinction between left and right” is between neoliberals who like abortion and neoliberals who hate abortion, and people who talk about overcoming that “traditional distinction” are typically arguing for some new form of right wing cryptofascism, so it’s fair to be suspicious.

    But what they’re talking about here is the traditional distinction between left and right in Europe - a distinction based on support for capitalism versus opposition to capitalism - and how that might not be an effective way to understand society if the economic policies supported by the right are no longer capitalist.

    • Solar Bear@slrpnk.netEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      That’s a fair point, I was definitely thinking about it from the American Cryptofash angle. However, that would still ultimately be a left-right divide, it just means the divide is better seen through a different distinction, whatever that ends up being.