1 00:00:03,162 --> 00:00:06,879 I remember in 2008, Paul Volker, who used 2 00:00:06,962 --> 00:00:10,602 to be the chairman of the Fed, not a left winger, 3 00:00:11,062 --> 00:00:15,522 but he was brought in by Barack Obama to oversee 4 00:00:16,362 --> 00:00:19,259 a project for defanging the financial sector. 5 00:00:19,342 --> 00:00:22,059 It didn't go down very well with the financial sector 6 00:00:22,142 --> 00:00:25,962 as you can imagine, but there was this remarkable conference 7 00:00:26,182 --> 00:00:28,159 in which all the representatives 8 00:00:28,242 --> 00:00:29,722 of the financial community were there 9 00:00:29,982 --> 00:00:34,362 and they were looking at Paul Volker as the devil 10 00:00:34,872 --> 00:00:36,399 because he was there in order 11 00:00:36,482 --> 00:00:38,602 to impose restrictions upon them. 12 00:00:40,022 --> 00:00:42,482 And their arguments were all about the financial innovation 13 00:00:43,432 --> 00:00:46,282 that their banks were performing 14 00:00:46,502 --> 00:00:49,322 and what a great service to the world that was. 15 00:00:49,702 --> 00:00:52,322 They were warning them that if you constrain us, 16 00:00:52,712 --> 00:00:54,682 then all this financial innovation goes away. 17 00:00:56,032 --> 00:00:57,139 Paul Volker listened to them, 18 00:00:57,222 --> 00:00:58,759 and then at some point he got up 19 00:00:58,842 --> 00:01:00,562 and he said, "I'm 80 something years old. 20 00:01:01,792 --> 00:01:05,179 I've been in banking all my life, not just central banking, 21 00:01:05,262 --> 00:01:06,562 but private, commercial banking. 22 00:01:07,702 --> 00:01:09,602 The only financial innovation 23 00:01:10,312 --> 00:01:12,442 I've ever come across was the ATM." 24 00:01:13,172 --> 00:01:17,229 "Everything else was differently bundled forms of debt 25 00:01:17,312 --> 00:01:20,282 that you are producing against the interests of society." 26 00:01:22,472 --> 00:01:25,522 That was a very interesting comment coming from somebody 27 00:01:25,912 --> 00:01:28,082 that was in the banking community all his life. 28 00:02:53,682 --> 00:02:57,142 In 1944, President Roosevelt convened 29 00:02:57,962 --> 00:03:00,972 in Bretton Woods the conference 30 00:03:01,592 --> 00:03:03,492 of representatives of different states. 31 00:03:05,152 --> 00:03:07,652 It is quite interesting that within a few weeks 32 00:03:08,042 --> 00:03:11,572 they designed the post-war financial 33 00:03:12,112 --> 00:03:16,052 and economic system, which oversaw the the golden age, 34 00:03:16,352 --> 00:03:17,852 the golden era of capitalism. 35 00:03:19,402 --> 00:03:21,769 What I find fascinating is that the President 36 00:03:21,852 --> 00:03:24,892 of the United States of America only made one condition 37 00:03:25,442 --> 00:03:27,892 regarding who attends that conference. 38 00:03:28,772 --> 00:03:31,809 Remember, Roosevelt made sure 39 00:03:31,892 --> 00:03:33,612 that in the Bretton Woods Conference, which 40 00:03:33,892 --> 00:03:37,129 designed the post-war... the first post-war phase 41 00:03:37,212 --> 00:03:38,732 between the 1940s 42 00:03:38,992 --> 00:03:42,889 and 1971, 1973, he had stipulated 43 00:03:42,972 --> 00:03:46,689 that one kind of person should not be allowed into 44 00:03:46,772 --> 00:03:47,932 the Bretton Woods Conference. 45 00:03:48,352 --> 00:03:51,162 You know who these people were? Bankers. 46 00:03:52,662 --> 00:03:55,362 Not one banker attended the Bretton Woods Conference, 47 00:03:55,582 --> 00:04:00,402 and that was at the explicit order of FDR. True. 48 00:04:00,622 --> 00:04:02,602 So you had boring banks 49 00:04:03,832 --> 00:04:05,882 between 1944 and 1971. 50 00:04:05,992 --> 00:04:08,682 This explains to a very large extent 51 00:04:09,262 --> 00:04:11,442 the serious reduction in inequality. 52 00:04:12,462 --> 00:04:15,039 The difference between what a CEO made 53 00:04:15,122 --> 00:04:17,122 and what a janitor made collapsed 54 00:04:17,942 --> 00:04:20,442 to unprecedented levels, low levels, 55 00:04:21,462 --> 00:04:23,882 and that had to do with the fact that 56 00:04:24,062 --> 00:04:26,282 the financial genie was put into the bottle. 57 00:04:27,062 --> 00:04:29,679 The Bretton Woods system banned the transfer 58 00:04:29,762 --> 00:04:32,682 of capital from one country to another without permission, 59 00:04:33,702 --> 00:04:38,202 and totally did away with the right of financiers to 60 00:04:38,832 --> 00:04:41,079 send money around the world in search of means 61 00:04:41,162 --> 00:04:42,202 to escape taxation. 62 00:04:43,392 --> 00:04:46,579 They were not in a position to gamble with 63 00:04:46,662 --> 00:04:47,722 people's deposits. 64 00:04:49,112 --> 00:04:52,882 This is why the Bretton Woods system was so very hated by bankers. 65 00:04:54,732 --> 00:04:59,642 While that system was viable, you had the highest level 66 00:04:59,822 --> 00:05:04,122 of growth together with the lowest level of unemployment 67 00:05:04,582 --> 00:05:08,599 and shrinking inequality. Alas, 68 00:05:08,682 --> 00:05:10,242 that system could not survive, 69 00:05:11,782 --> 00:05:14,682 and the United States just jettisoned it 70 00:05:15,322 --> 00:05:17,602 famously on the 15th of August 1971, 71 00:05:20,862 --> 00:05:22,002 and all hell broke loose. 72 00:05:29,072 --> 00:05:31,722 Most people believe that money is printed 73 00:05:31,902 --> 00:05:33,802 by the State via the Central Bank. 74 00:05:34,552 --> 00:05:37,642 Well, it is true that the money in our pocket, cash, 75 00:05:38,382 --> 00:05:40,442 is printed by the Central Bank, 76 00:05:40,902 --> 00:05:42,482 but that only constitutes about 3% 77 00:05:42,822 --> 00:05:44,362 of the money doing the rounds. 78 00:05:48,502 --> 00:05:51,159 So, when you get from Barclays Bank, from ING, 79 00:05:51,242 --> 00:05:54,482 from whichever bank a loan, 50,000 quid, 80 00:05:55,612 --> 00:05:56,962 where is the money coming from? 81 00:05:57,352 --> 00:05:59,532 The money is conjured up from thin air. 82 00:06:01,992 --> 00:06:04,392 Somebody just typed 50,000, 83 00:06:04,712 --> 00:06:08,109 somebody from within the bank. This is why 97% 84 00:06:08,192 --> 00:06:09,889 of the money in an economy 85 00:06:09,972 --> 00:06:10,909 has nothing to do with the state. 86 00:06:10,992 --> 00:06:12,952 It's produced by the banks. They just type it in. 87 00:06:15,652 --> 00:06:18,512 You pay interest to the bank. The bank has a profit. 88 00:06:21,022 --> 00:06:23,472 Imagine the power that this gives a banker. 89 00:06:26,412 --> 00:06:29,759 A banker can create money out of thin air and earn a profit. 90 00:06:29,842 --> 00:06:33,009 This is more or less like having a free ATM in your own 91 00:06:33,092 --> 00:06:36,172 living room producing money out of the wall 92 00:06:38,472 --> 00:06:39,632 but, actually, it gets worse. 93 00:06:43,202 --> 00:06:44,532 With financialization, 94 00:06:45,522 --> 00:06:49,572 this process of creating money is turbocharged. 95 00:06:52,422 --> 00:06:55,969 Capitalism is a wonderful beast with a unique capacity 96 00:06:56,052 --> 00:06:59,092 to undermine itself, to be pregnant with its opposite. 97 00:06:59,952 --> 00:07:01,289 Not only is it producing immense wealth 98 00:07:01,372 --> 00:07:03,652 and immense poverty at the same time 99 00:07:04,272 --> 00:07:07,972 but, when it is stable, its stability breeds instability. 100 00:07:08,602 --> 00:07:11,572 When financiers place all sorts of bets 101 00:07:12,352 --> 00:07:13,412 and everything works out 102 00:07:13,552 --> 00:07:17,129 and they make money, they become increasingly greedy, and 103 00:07:17,212 --> 00:07:19,452 therefore they keep taking new risks 104 00:07:19,922 --> 00:07:21,812 that eventually blow up in their face. 105 00:07:23,192 --> 00:07:26,612 Now, in 2008, the whole thing came crashing down 106 00:07:27,512 --> 00:07:31,012 but because the financiers have so much power in society, 107 00:07:32,002 --> 00:07:36,409 when the crisis happens, they also have the political 108 00:07:36,492 --> 00:07:40,812 weight to ensure that their misdeeds, 109 00:07:41,352 --> 00:07:43,892 the losses that they have created, 110 00:07:44,952 --> 00:07:47,492 are shifted onto the shoulders of the weakest 111 00:07:48,192 --> 00:07:51,389 of the proletariat, of the precariat, of those 112 00:07:51,472 --> 00:07:54,932 who did not have the political power to oppose them. 113 00:07:58,832 --> 00:08:00,892 The result is austerity for the many. 114 00:08:02,332 --> 00:08:03,529 Economics is really simple. I've got 115 00:08:03,612 --> 00:08:04,652 £10 in my pocket. 116 00:08:05,032 --> 00:08:07,572 If I go out and buy three pints of beer in Cambridge, 117 00:08:07,712 --> 00:08:08,932 I'm probably borrowing money. 118 00:08:09,372 --> 00:08:12,572 If I carry on doing that, then I'm going to run out of money, 119 00:08:12,832 --> 00:08:13,892 and I'm going to go bust. 120 00:08:14,002 --> 00:08:17,209 It's not difficult guys to sit down, work out 121 00:08:17,292 --> 00:08:18,452 what the country needs to do, 122 00:08:18,592 --> 00:08:19,989 and work collectively together. 123 00:08:20,072 --> 00:08:21,729 Because the country does not operate as your budget 124 00:08:21,812 --> 00:08:22,809 does. We have a magic money tree. 125 00:08:22,892 --> 00:08:23,892 But why not? 126 00:08:24,232 --> 00:08:26,492 Why not? 127 00:08:26,752 --> 00:08:27,670 Why not? In the country, total 128 00:08:27,753 --> 00:08:29,269 expenditure equals total 129 00:08:29,352 --> 00:08:31,172 income. In your life, 130 00:08:31,392 --> 00:08:34,599 you have a wonderful independence 131 00:08:34,682 --> 00:08:37,772 between your expenses and your income. 132 00:08:38,472 --> 00:08:39,729 So, when you cut down on your expenses, 133 00:08:39,812 --> 00:08:41,589 your income doesn't cut... is not cut. 134 00:08:41,672 --> 00:08:43,892 But for the country as a whole, if the country 135 00:08:43,992 --> 00:08:48,812 as a whole goes into a major savings spree, 136 00:08:49,042 --> 00:08:50,972 then its total income is going to come down. 137 00:08:51,432 --> 00:08:55,012 So, your personal life is not a good model on which 138 00:08:55,112 --> 00:08:56,212 to base planning. 139 00:09:00,342 --> 00:09:03,492 Economists do not know many things about the economy. 140 00:09:04,422 --> 00:09:05,942 We're not real experts in the economy. 141 00:09:06,142 --> 00:09:07,452 There are a few things we know. 142 00:09:08,112 --> 00:09:10,489 One is that you cannot overcome a 143 00:09:10,572 --> 00:09:11,789 bankruptcy through more loans. 144 00:09:11,872 --> 00:09:13,892 And the other is that austerity never works. 145 00:09:15,232 --> 00:09:17,212 Hi. You went on Question Time - 146 00:09:17,512 --> 00:09:19,012 it was probably about six weeks ago - 147 00:09:19,152 --> 00:09:20,429 and there was a bloke in the audience 148 00:09:20,512 --> 00:09:23,929 and he tried to start a parable about having £10 at 149 00:09:24,012 --> 00:09:25,369 the end of the week and going 150 00:09:25,452 --> 00:09:26,769 to the pub and buying four pints, 151 00:09:26,852 --> 00:09:29,332 and you explained to him correctly that his 152 00:09:29,592 --> 00:09:31,292 personal life wasn't a very good model 153 00:09:31,472 --> 00:09:35,029 for economics. But his personal life has been used 154 00:09:35,112 --> 00:09:38,172 as a model for economics by, particularly in this country, 155 00:09:38,632 --> 00:09:40,452 by the Conservative Party. 156 00:09:41,032 --> 00:09:44,289 I just wanted to ask why you thought the center-left 157 00:09:44,372 --> 00:09:45,589 and the left in this country 158 00:09:45,672 --> 00:09:50,052 and in Europe has failed so spectacularly really to 159 00:09:50,512 --> 00:09:52,289 debug that myth. You're 160 00:09:52,372 --> 00:09:53,290 right. 161 00:09:53,373 --> 00:09:56,209 The main point he was making is one which 162 00:09:56,292 --> 00:09:57,652 is dominant around the world 163 00:09:57,752 --> 00:10:00,172 to this day. It's dominant in the Republican Party 164 00:10:00,552 --> 00:10:01,612 in the United States. 165 00:10:01,722 --> 00:10:04,532 It's dominant even in the socialist parties of Europe. 166 00:10:04,872 --> 00:10:08,172 The idea of belt tightening... of austerity. 167 00:10:08,482 --> 00:10:12,172 Austerity is a very specific macroeconomic policy. 168 00:10:12,912 --> 00:10:15,572 It is the policy of trying to 169 00:10:17,002 --> 00:10:21,772 prevent debt from rising, even forcing it to fall, 170 00:10:22,512 --> 00:10:24,132 during periods of recession 171 00:10:25,432 --> 00:10:28,692 by cutting on government expenditure and increasing taxes. 172 00:10:28,872 --> 00:10:33,412 That's austerity. That has never worked and never will work 173 00:10:33,962 --> 00:10:36,732 because it's a law of nature that it cannot work. 174 00:10:37,842 --> 00:10:38,789 Pigs are more likely 175 00:10:38,872 --> 00:10:41,572 to fly than austerity is likely to work. 176 00:10:42,032 --> 00:10:45,452 The problem is exacerbated, the problem of falling incomes, 177 00:10:45,872 --> 00:10:47,532 by an attempt to cut down. 178 00:10:47,992 --> 00:10:52,732 So, if tonight you don't have a pint, you abstain 179 00:10:53,442 --> 00:10:55,652 from having a pint. How much is a pint these days? 180 00:10:57,962 --> 00:10:59,492 £4? Okay, let's say £4. 181 00:10:59,632 --> 00:11:02,129 You've saved £4. Your income doesn't 182 00:11:02,212 --> 00:11:03,812 shrink, doesn't increase. 183 00:11:04,302 --> 00:11:07,332 Stays the same. In an economy like Britain, 184 00:11:08,022 --> 00:11:10,172 total expenditure equals total income. 185 00:11:10,352 --> 00:11:12,332 So, my expenditure is your income 186 00:11:12,472 --> 00:11:13,792 if I'm buying something from you. 187 00:11:14,072 --> 00:11:16,449 Our total expenditure equals our total income. 188 00:11:16,532 --> 00:11:18,449 Suddenly there is a complete breakdown in the 189 00:11:18,532 --> 00:11:20,292 independence between expenditure and income. 190 00:11:21,232 --> 00:11:24,212 What happens during a crisis is this. Corporations 191 00:11:24,712 --> 00:11:27,972 and households seeing that now they're in trouble, 192 00:11:28,562 --> 00:11:32,212 they stop spending. The private sector as a whole, 193 00:11:32,812 --> 00:11:35,932 families, individuals, companies, spend less. 194 00:11:36,232 --> 00:11:37,169 If suddenly you panic 195 00:11:37,252 --> 00:11:41,012 and you try to apply the principles of austerity 196 00:11:41,202 --> 00:11:43,569 that work at the private level, you try 197 00:11:43,652 --> 00:11:46,332 to apply this at the governmental macroeconomic level, 198 00:11:46,442 --> 00:11:50,012 what happens is while private expenditure shrinks, 199 00:11:50,152 --> 00:11:53,052 public expenditure shrinks. What's the sum of these two, 200 00:11:53,187 --> 00:11:55,572 private and public expenditure? It's total income. 201 00:11:56,312 --> 00:11:58,492 So what should we do instead of austerity 202 00:11:59,032 --> 00:12:02,092 if we are serious about cutting down on debt 203 00:12:02,432 --> 00:12:05,369 and on deficits? The answer is, stimulate 204 00:12:05,452 --> 00:12:10,292 investment. Periods of recession are typified by 205 00:12:10,922 --> 00:12:13,332 lots of losses and debts 206 00:12:14,232 --> 00:12:18,612 but at the same time savings that are too 207 00:12:19,202 --> 00:12:22,209 terrified to be invested into productive activity 208 00:12:22,292 --> 00:12:24,649 because those who own that money fear 209 00:12:24,732 --> 00:12:26,572 that if they invest it in productive activity, 210 00:12:27,122 --> 00:12:29,569 then there won't be enough demand for those goods 211 00:12:29,652 --> 00:12:30,689 and services that are being produced 212 00:12:30,772 --> 00:12:31,809 because the rest of society 213 00:12:31,892 --> 00:12:33,412 doesn't have enough money to buy them. 214 00:12:33,872 --> 00:12:36,092 We must remember that, at times of recession, 215 00:12:36,182 --> 00:12:39,332 we are not missing out on money, on people, on skills. 216 00:12:39,642 --> 00:12:41,332 They're all there. The money is there... 217 00:12:42,102 --> 00:12:44,652 idle savings. The workers are there waiting to work, 218 00:12:45,032 --> 00:12:47,892 if only somebody will gainfully employ them. 219 00:12:48,442 --> 00:12:51,052 What we have is a massive coordination failure. 220 00:12:51,802 --> 00:12:54,652 That failure can only be overcome 221 00:12:54,762 --> 00:12:56,092 through the political system. 222 00:13:00,872 --> 00:13:04,849 I'm astounded to hear neoliberals telling us 223 00:13:04,932 --> 00:13:07,972 that we just can't afford a welfare state. 224 00:13:08,072 --> 00:13:12,532 We cannot afford all the public goods 225 00:13:12,802 --> 00:13:15,252 that society absolutely needs. 226 00:13:17,182 --> 00:13:19,812 Think of 1945 in the United Kingdom. 227 00:13:20,592 --> 00:13:22,032 The country was coming out of a war. 228 00:13:22,542 --> 00:13:25,892 There was scarcity everywhere, rationing, 229 00:13:26,352 --> 00:13:31,212 and yet the country managed to finance the most spectacular 230 00:13:32,482 --> 00:13:36,489 welfare state creation process, including pensions, 231 00:13:36,572 --> 00:13:38,092 including the National Health Service. 232 00:13:38,892 --> 00:13:41,092 Tomorrow, there will come into operation 233 00:13:41,912 --> 00:13:45,212 the most comprehensive system of social security 234 00:13:45,962 --> 00:13:47,772 ever introduced into any country. 235 00:13:48,802 --> 00:13:53,012 When the political will is there, the money becomes 236 00:13:54,522 --> 00:13:58,892 immediately available as a result of bringing together 237 00:13:59,472 --> 00:14:01,612 of economic forces that can contribute 238 00:14:01,952 --> 00:14:04,052 to the generation of those public goods. 239 00:14:05,942 --> 00:14:07,172 After 2008, 240 00:14:07,922 --> 00:14:11,892 when the financial sector had created this massive crisis, 241 00:14:13,032 --> 00:14:15,849 it was treated to a version of socialism - the bailouts 242 00:14:15,932 --> 00:14:16,969 that the public was providing 243 00:14:17,052 --> 00:14:18,449 to the bankers - while the public was 244 00:14:18,532 --> 00:14:19,692 being treated to austerity. 245 00:14:20,802 --> 00:14:24,169 What was effectively happening at the time was a cynical 246 00:14:24,252 --> 00:14:25,532 shift of the losses 247 00:14:25,632 --> 00:14:29,132 of the financial sector onto the shoulders of the poor. 248 00:14:33,642 --> 00:14:36,532 Austerity is another term for class war against the poor. 249 00:14:37,472 --> 00:14:38,472 That's what it is. 250 00:15:28,172 --> 00:15:31,852 I grew up in a Greece where you could lose your life 251 00:15:32,472 --> 00:15:35,132 or freedom because you read a book that was banned. 252 00:15:36,072 --> 00:15:38,052 My greatest fear is a fascist Europe. 253 00:15:39,192 --> 00:15:42,132 We had it in the 1930s, we may have it again. 254 00:15:43,032 --> 00:15:47,052 The forces of fascism are feeding off the fragmentation 255 00:15:47,172 --> 00:15:49,332 of the liberal establishment. Greece 256 00:15:49,682 --> 00:15:51,372 was the canary in the mine. 257 00:15:52,512 --> 00:15:56,929 It should be seen as a warning sign that the galleries 258 00:15:57,012 --> 00:16:00,789 of the mine were about to collapse. The powers that be chose 259 00:16:00,872 --> 00:16:04,709 to blame the canary, not the mine's architecture, 260 00:16:04,792 --> 00:16:07,372 not the methane gas that was about to blow up the mine. 261 00:16:08,352 --> 00:16:09,449 And the result is 262 00:16:09,532 --> 00:16:12,452 that now we're facing a postmodern 1930s across Europe, 263 00:16:12,872 --> 00:16:17,452 across the world. Our generation 264 00:16:17,672 --> 00:16:20,532 has to study very carefully the Weimar Republic. 265 00:16:25,842 --> 00:16:29,629 John Maynard Keynes wrote a beautiful piece at the end 266 00:16:29,712 --> 00:16:34,012 of the Great War in which he admonished the winners for 267 00:16:34,612 --> 00:16:37,812 imposing harsh reparations upon the defeated Germans. 268 00:16:38,992 --> 00:16:40,289 So harsh, that it was clear 269 00:16:40,372 --> 00:16:42,132 that they would never be able to repay them. 270 00:16:42,392 --> 00:16:44,649 And Keynes's concern was 271 00:16:44,732 --> 00:16:49,169 that the moment you impose unsustainable debts simply 272 00:16:49,252 --> 00:16:51,812 because you have the military power to do it 273 00:16:51,952 --> 00:16:53,412 or the political power to do it, 274 00:16:53,752 --> 00:16:56,812 not only are you destroying the life prospects 275 00:16:57,032 --> 00:16:59,892 of the vast majority of the people in the defeated country, 276 00:17:00,672 --> 00:17:03,732 but you're also creating economic stagnation 277 00:17:04,482 --> 00:17:09,212 that will only foment political forces, social forces, 278 00:17:09,682 --> 00:17:12,652 that will result in another great war. 279 00:17:15,232 --> 00:17:17,312 Moreover, during the 1920s 280 00:17:17,932 --> 00:17:19,872 and early 1930s in Germany, 281 00:17:20,852 --> 00:17:22,712 the liberal establishment at the time 282 00:17:24,252 --> 00:17:27,289 was committing one error after the other. 283 00:17:27,372 --> 00:17:28,592 It was a comedy of errors. 284 00:17:29,772 --> 00:17:34,512 It was constantly shifting the burden of the economic crisis 285 00:17:35,102 --> 00:17:38,872 onto the shoulders of the many, of the disenfranchised, 286 00:17:39,252 --> 00:17:41,709 of those who were finding it very 287 00:17:41,792 --> 00:17:43,032 difficult to make ends meet. 288 00:17:46,212 --> 00:17:50,052 And at the same time, while it was being genuinely 289 00:17:50,252 --> 00:17:53,549 threatened by the monstrosity of the Nazis, 290 00:17:53,632 --> 00:17:57,852 the Weimar Republic was far more preoccupied with the task 291 00:17:57,952 --> 00:18:00,092 of not allowing progressives, genuine progressives, 292 00:18:00,632 --> 00:18:04,252 to gain any kind of influence within German society. 293 00:18:04,632 --> 00:18:07,972 The result was Nazi Germany. 294 00:18:10,432 --> 00:18:14,212 It seems to me that the liberal establishment today 295 00:18:14,872 --> 00:18:19,052 is struggling in order to emulate the Weimar Republic. 296 00:18:25,472 --> 00:18:26,472 Yes, we can. 297 00:18:31,872 --> 00:18:33,889 We are in the middle 298 00:18:33,972 --> 00:18:36,412 of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. 299 00:18:36,592 --> 00:18:38,812 So, at a moment like this, the last thing we can afford 300 00:18:39,392 --> 00:18:42,852 is four more years of the same old, tired, 301 00:18:43,592 --> 00:18:47,369 worn-out economic theories that say, as long as we give more 302 00:18:47,452 --> 00:18:49,569 and more to billionaires and millionaires 303 00:18:49,652 --> 00:18:52,079 and big corporations, prosperity will somehow 304 00:18:52,162 --> 00:18:53,452 trickle down on everybody else. 305 00:18:53,902 --> 00:18:56,652 These are the economic theories that got us into this mess. 306 00:18:57,762 --> 00:19:00,452 They have not worked. It is time for a change, 307 00:19:00,912 --> 00:19:02,892 and that's why I'm running for President 308 00:19:03,312 --> 00:19:04,692 of the United States of America. 309 00:19:08,142 --> 00:19:11,529 Obama rode into the White House on a tsunami of 310 00:19:11,612 --> 00:19:13,292 expectations that he cultivated, 311 00:19:14,272 --> 00:19:16,612 and which he spectacularly failed to honor. 312 00:19:19,632 --> 00:19:20,929 In the one and only meeting I had 313 00:19:21,012 --> 00:19:23,372 with Barack Obama in the White House when he was president, 314 00:19:25,072 --> 00:19:27,449 he felt the need, possibly 315 00:19:27,532 --> 00:19:29,932 because he was talking to a left-wing finance minister, 316 00:19:30,432 --> 00:19:35,049 without being prompted to justify himself, he said 317 00:19:35,132 --> 00:19:38,332 to me, "Oh, Yanis, you know, when I was first elected, 318 00:19:38,892 --> 00:19:39,932 I had to save the bankers, 319 00:19:40,112 --> 00:19:42,172 and this was really very unappetising. 320 00:19:42,312 --> 00:19:44,812 It was like drinking a glass of poison." 321 00:19:45,192 --> 00:19:47,452 So, that's his excuse for what he did. 322 00:19:49,472 --> 00:19:50,732 You've got to save the banks. 323 00:19:51,362 --> 00:19:53,652 They are like the arteries of the capitalist system. 324 00:19:53,792 --> 00:19:58,212 He was right on this but he didn't just save the banks, 325 00:19:58,832 --> 00:19:59,892 he saved the bankers. 326 00:20:00,702 --> 00:20:01,849 These two are not one 327 00:20:01,932 --> 00:20:06,332 the same thing. In 1992, when 328 00:20:06,452 --> 00:20:09,492 Sweden's Banks collapsed, in 1998 329 00:20:10,002 --> 00:20:13,692 when South Korea's banks collapsed, the states of Sweden 330 00:20:13,872 --> 00:20:15,772 and South Korea saved the banks, 331 00:20:16,752 --> 00:20:18,332 but they got rid of the bankers. 332 00:20:19,002 --> 00:20:21,412 They nationalised the banks. They cleansed the banks. 333 00:20:22,322 --> 00:20:24,049 They made sure that the practices 334 00:20:24,132 --> 00:20:26,452 that had brought about their bankruptcy 335 00:20:26,562 --> 00:20:27,612 were never to be repeated. 336 00:20:29,162 --> 00:20:32,412 Instead of doing that, he brought into the treasury 337 00:20:34,032 --> 00:20:35,409 people like Larry Summers 338 00:20:35,492 --> 00:20:37,329 and Tim Geithner, who were the ones 339 00:20:37,412 --> 00:20:40,092 who had unshackled Wall Street, and allowed them to run riot 340 00:20:40,592 --> 00:20:43,892 and effectively, in my view, bring about the 341 00:20:44,622 --> 00:20:46,389 Great Crash of 2008. 342 00:20:46,472 --> 00:20:50,332 He brings these people back in with one 343 00:20:51,622 --> 00:20:54,052 remit: to refloat the bankers, 344 00:20:55,272 --> 00:20:59,092 and they spent around $1 trillion without 345 00:20:59,482 --> 00:21:00,932 even this being transparent, 346 00:21:01,072 --> 00:21:04,132 the so-called Geithner-Summers plan, which was 347 00:21:04,812 --> 00:21:06,532 a dastardly plan - very clever 348 00:21:06,792 --> 00:21:08,372 but very dastardly at the same time. 349 00:21:09,442 --> 00:21:11,572 This was his window of opportunity 350 00:21:12,152 --> 00:21:15,292 to bring back the New Deal into American politics. 351 00:21:17,072 --> 00:21:18,072 He misses it. 352 00:21:22,352 --> 00:21:25,292 The combination of austerity for the many 353 00:21:26,602 --> 00:21:29,652 with this restoration of Wall Street 354 00:21:30,232 --> 00:21:33,172 and illiberalism when it came 355 00:21:33,352 --> 00:21:35,332 to never closing down Guantanamo Bay, 356 00:21:37,692 --> 00:21:41,852 introducing increasingly authoritarian powers 357 00:21:42,112 --> 00:21:43,972 for the national security apparatus, 358 00:21:47,272 --> 00:21:51,372 if you put all this together, you end up with Donald Trump. 359 00:21:52,352 --> 00:21:55,652 We will have strong borders and we will have the wall 360 00:21:55,952 --> 00:21:59,249 and Mexico will pay for the wall 361 00:21:59,332 --> 00:22:01,769 Mexico will pay for the wall, believe me. 362 00:22:01,852 --> 00:22:06,182 Donald Trump 363 00:22:06,642 --> 00:22:11,382 was created by the Democratic Party's failure to perform 364 00:22:11,962 --> 00:22:16,759 the duties that a New Deal administration should 365 00:22:16,842 --> 00:22:18,062 and could have performed 366 00:22:18,512 --> 00:22:19,742 after 2008. 367 00:22:23,282 --> 00:22:27,782 In 2016, for the first time in 50 years, 368 00:22:28,452 --> 00:22:30,102 more than half of American families 369 00:22:30,752 --> 00:22:33,939 could not afford the cheapest new car on the market. 370 00:22:34,022 --> 00:22:35,782 When I say that they couldn't afford it, 371 00:22:36,282 --> 00:22:39,342 not only did they not have the money, the $14,000, 372 00:22:39,762 --> 00:22:41,519 but they did not have the credit worthiness 373 00:22:41,602 --> 00:22:43,502 to borrow the money to buy that car. 374 00:22:43,842 --> 00:22:45,739 In the United States, if you can't buy a car, 375 00:22:45,822 --> 00:22:46,942 you can't get a a job, 376 00:22:47,282 --> 00:22:49,822 you can't take your kids to school, 377 00:22:50,002 --> 00:22:51,282 you can't go to the supermarket. 378 00:22:56,082 --> 00:23:01,062 There is no doubt that Trump weaponised racism 379 00:23:02,002 --> 00:23:04,479 and the 75 million that voted 380 00:23:04,562 --> 00:23:07,822 for him are either tolerant of racism or actively racist. 381 00:23:08,162 --> 00:23:10,782 But people are not born racist. 382 00:23:11,522 --> 00:23:12,862 They're made racist. 383 00:23:13,282 --> 00:23:14,499 They're made racist by 384 00:23:14,582 --> 00:23:16,222 circumstances not of their choosing. 385 00:23:17,682 --> 00:23:21,662 We need a humanist embracing of the Trumpists, 386 00:23:21,762 --> 00:23:24,182 of the supporters of Trump, not to vilify them 387 00:23:24,482 --> 00:23:27,489 but to treat them like human beings who 388 00:23:27,572 --> 00:23:29,142 have surrendered to despair. 389 00:23:29,332 --> 00:23:31,019 Nothing is going to change until and 390 00:23:31,102 --> 00:23:34,759 unless we can talk to people who have been deluded, 391 00:23:34,842 --> 00:23:37,739 who have been oppressed, who've been suppressed, 392 00:23:37,822 --> 00:23:39,262 who've been exploited, you know, 393 00:23:39,442 --> 00:23:42,862 and who've become effectively enslaved in a machine 394 00:23:43,372 --> 00:23:44,902 that uses them as fodder 395 00:23:45,112 --> 00:23:48,329 to produce value for the very, very few. You have to speak 396 00:23:48,412 --> 00:23:50,092 to their concerns 397 00:23:50,192 --> 00:23:51,289 and you've got to do it in a way 398 00:23:51,372 --> 00:23:52,532 you have to engage with them. 399 00:23:54,322 --> 00:23:58,492 Fascism only rises up during moments of crisis, 400 00:23:59,582 --> 00:24:01,332 capitalist crisis, to be precise. 401 00:24:01,882 --> 00:24:06,332 Fascism is all about harnessing the discontent 402 00:24:07,072 --> 00:24:10,972 in the people's hearts to grab power 403 00:24:11,592 --> 00:24:15,849 by strongmen, by authoritarians like Mussolini, 404 00:24:15,932 --> 00:24:17,532 like Salvini, like Donald Trump, 405 00:24:18,872 --> 00:24:20,612 and then use this power 406 00:24:21,792 --> 00:24:23,132 to ingratiate themselves 407 00:24:23,602 --> 00:24:25,812 with the financiers, with industrialists. 408 00:24:26,512 --> 00:24:30,319 We have the legendary Wall Street genius, Wilbur Ross, 409 00:24:30,402 --> 00:24:32,252 here. He is our Secretary of Commerce. 410 00:24:32,912 --> 00:24:36,572 We have Gary Cohn, who's the President of Goldman Sachs. 411 00:24:37,752 --> 00:24:40,372 When you get the president, this is the President 412 00:24:40,612 --> 00:24:44,589 of Goldman Sachs. Smart. And I love all people, rich 413 00:24:44,672 --> 00:24:47,452 or poor, but in those particular positions, 414 00:24:47,572 --> 00:24:49,732 I just don't want a poor person. Does that make sense? 415 00:24:50,402 --> 00:24:53,692 Fascism never became powerful 416 00:24:54,512 --> 00:24:55,652 by promising war, 417 00:24:56,552 --> 00:25:00,892 the Gulag concentration camps, pogroms. 418 00:25:02,672 --> 00:25:06,692 It combines the rhetoric of nationalism, jingoism, racism 419 00:25:07,802 --> 00:25:09,932 with genuine 420 00:25:10,752 --> 00:25:13,132 or genuine-sounding concern for the weak. 421 00:25:13,912 --> 00:25:16,532 As long as the weak are the right kind of people. 422 00:25:17,432 --> 00:25:18,932 I'm going to deliver jobs, 423 00:25:19,912 --> 00:25:24,449 safety, great education, help small businesses to thrive and 424 00:25:24,532 --> 00:25:25,450 grow. We must 425 00:25:25,533 --> 00:25:27,009 remember that Mussolini was the first 426 00:25:27,092 --> 00:25:29,169 to introduce universal pensions 427 00:25:29,252 --> 00:25:31,369 in Europe, a welfare state. Too 428 00:25:31,452 --> 00:25:33,479 many Americans are living in terrible 429 00:25:33,562 --> 00:25:35,092 poverty and violence. 430 00:25:35,752 --> 00:25:38,452 We need jobs and we're going to produce those jobs. 431 00:25:38,602 --> 00:25:42,412 They look into the eyes of those disenfranchised people, 432 00:25:43,202 --> 00:25:47,812 desperate people, and they promise them their pride back. 433 00:25:48,882 --> 00:25:52,339 They say to them, we will make you feel good about being 434 00:25:52,422 --> 00:25:55,652 Greek again, about being American, about being German, 435 00:25:55,942 --> 00:25:58,852 about being white, about being Italian. 436 00:25:59,282 --> 00:26:02,732 What the Brexit campaign did is we reached those people 437 00:26:03,352 --> 00:26:07,132 who've been let down by modern global corporatism. 438 00:26:07,472 --> 00:26:10,732 We reached those people who have never voted in their lives 439 00:26:11,432 --> 00:26:14,372 but believed by going out and voting for Brexit 440 00:26:14,602 --> 00:26:16,532 they could take back control of their country, 441 00:26:17,042 --> 00:26:20,692 take back control of their borders, and get back their pride 442 00:26:21,032 --> 00:26:22,412 and self-respect. 443 00:26:23,392 --> 00:26:27,132 If the ordinary decent people are prepared to stand up 444 00:26:27,312 --> 00:26:29,012 and fight for what they believe in, 445 00:26:29,352 --> 00:26:30,892 we can overcome the big banks. 446 00:26:31,432 --> 00:26:33,292 We can overcome the multinationals. 447 00:26:34,042 --> 00:26:37,009 They promise them that they will look 448 00:26:37,092 --> 00:26:41,169 after them, that they will shield them from the vagaries 449 00:26:41,252 --> 00:26:43,852 of austerity on condition 450 00:26:44,442 --> 00:26:45,972 that there will be no trades unions, 451 00:26:46,562 --> 00:26:49,492 that you'd never contest the authority, our authority, 452 00:26:49,672 --> 00:26:51,532 or the authority of the industrialists, 453 00:26:52,682 --> 00:26:55,372 that you'll simply follow 454 00:26:56,072 --> 00:27:00,329 the patriarchal authoritarian 455 00:27:00,412 --> 00:27:05,132 social norms that fascists are building up 456 00:27:06,032 --> 00:27:10,332 in order to create solid foundations for the reproduction 457 00:27:10,512 --> 00:27:11,772 of their authoritarianism. 458 00:27:11,962 --> 00:27:13,369 That is fascism. That's 459 00:27:13,452 --> 00:27:16,012 how it grew up in the 1920s and 30s, 460 00:27:16,442 --> 00:27:18,052 this is how it's growing up today. 461 00:27:24,402 --> 00:27:27,532 Really... you know, I campaigned against Brexit 462 00:27:27,792 --> 00:27:30,732 and yet the contempt 463 00:27:30,842 --> 00:27:34,612 with which radical left-wing, good people, 464 00:27:34,712 --> 00:27:36,092 my friends 465 00:27:36,552 --> 00:27:39,452 who were on the pro-remain side, the way 466 00:27:39,562 --> 00:27:43,029 with which they treated contemptuously, people who had voted 467 00:27:43,112 --> 00:27:45,012 for Brexit, that really upset me. 468 00:27:45,272 --> 00:27:50,092 And until and unless younger, more liberal, 469 00:27:50,482 --> 00:27:53,852 more urbanite and more upwardly mobile leftists 470 00:27:54,952 --> 00:27:58,052 can start paying their dues 471 00:27:58,312 --> 00:28:03,009 and be more respectful to those who have been held behind 472 00:28:03,092 --> 00:28:05,572 and left behind in the Rust Belt areas, 473 00:28:05,952 --> 00:28:08,652 or in the Clacton-on-Sea areas 474 00:28:08,872 --> 00:28:10,972 and the Bournemouth areas of the world, 475 00:28:11,272 --> 00:28:15,252 it can't work. I'm all for, for instance, 476 00:28:15,532 --> 00:28:18,132 bringing down the symbols of 477 00:28:18,832 --> 00:28:20,972 institutionalised racism, 478 00:28:21,602 --> 00:28:24,372 whether it is changing the name of Yale University 479 00:28:25,072 --> 00:28:27,772 or bringing down a statue in Bristol. 480 00:28:28,112 --> 00:28:29,529 I don't have a problem with that. 481 00:28:29,612 --> 00:28:33,449 I don't mind it. But what we must understand is 482 00:28:33,532 --> 00:28:37,172 that when somebody is about to lose their job in a factory 483 00:28:38,152 --> 00:28:42,412 or they've lost it, it really offers them no succour, 484 00:28:42,752 --> 00:28:46,529 it offers them no satisfaction to hear 485 00:28:46,612 --> 00:28:48,612 that Yale University now is called something else. 486 00:28:52,642 --> 00:28:55,209 What do you make of those politicians whose reaction 487 00:28:55,292 --> 00:28:57,572 to the rise of fascism is to concede ground? 488 00:28:59,552 --> 00:29:02,972 The so-called liberals who were in power 489 00:29:03,152 --> 00:29:06,092 or close to power at the time of the fragmentation 490 00:29:06,432 --> 00:29:09,289 of the liberal establishment order, fragmentation 491 00:29:09,372 --> 00:29:11,209 that was due to the inane policies 492 00:29:11,292 --> 00:29:14,692 that they were pursuing while in power, panicked. 493 00:29:15,762 --> 00:29:18,972 Started competing with the racists 494 00:29:19,432 --> 00:29:23,892 and the fascists by offering light versions of racism 495 00:29:25,032 --> 00:29:29,569 in juxtaposition to the fully blown versions 496 00:29:29,652 --> 00:29:31,052 of racism from the right. 497 00:29:31,192 --> 00:29:32,412 So you had François Hollande, 498 00:29:33,272 --> 00:29:37,049 who was cuddly socialist... social democrat up 499 00:29:37,132 --> 00:29:39,772 until he became president of the Republic in France 500 00:29:40,632 --> 00:29:42,849 and then succumbed to the austerian logic 501 00:29:42,932 --> 00:29:47,052 of the European Union. When his regime was collapsing 502 00:29:47,152 --> 00:29:50,332 and the ultra-right was increasing its strength, 503 00:29:51,152 --> 00:29:54,329 he introduced in the National Assembly of the people 504 00:29:54,412 --> 00:29:57,519 of France, legislation against migrants 505 00:29:57,602 --> 00:30:01,212 that allowed the state to withdraw the passports 506 00:30:01,672 --> 00:30:02,849 of the children of migrants 507 00:30:02,932 --> 00:30:05,492 who had become naturalised, and citizenship. 508 00:30:08,372 --> 00:30:11,129 A measure that even the right would not have contemplated 509 00:30:11,212 --> 00:30:15,752 up until recently. When Hillary Clinton is 510 00:30:16,072 --> 00:30:20,512 advising European liberals to be tougher on 511 00:30:21,492 --> 00:30:23,889 the migrants and on the refugees so as 512 00:30:23,972 --> 00:30:26,512 to stem the rise of xenophobia, 513 00:30:27,362 --> 00:30:31,352 she's following the same path of xenophobia-lite. 514 00:30:32,332 --> 00:30:34,312 But of course, xenophobia-lite is never 515 00:30:35,152 --> 00:30:37,072 a bulwark against xenophobia. 516 00:30:37,692 --> 00:30:39,152 It simply feeds the beast. 517 00:30:39,572 --> 00:30:42,149 It makes the Le Pens of the world, the Trumps 518 00:30:42,232 --> 00:30:43,649 of the world, the Kurzes of the world, 519 00:30:43,732 --> 00:30:47,469 the Salvinis of the world feel that they're onto something... feel 520 00:30:47,552 --> 00:30:50,832 that all they need to do is up the ante, 521 00:30:51,912 --> 00:30:54,912 increase the toxicity of their racism. Because 522 00:30:55,742 --> 00:30:59,632 however much to the right Hillary Clinton and François Hollande 523 00:30:59,772 --> 00:31:01,992 and Emmanuel Macron moved, 524 00:31:02,692 --> 00:31:04,552 the alt-right will move further to the right. 525 00:31:05,292 --> 00:31:09,312 The fascists do not need to win office to be in power. 526 00:31:10,492 --> 00:31:15,312 Simply by existing, simply by being, simply by 527 00:31:15,872 --> 00:31:16,952 altering the agenda, 528 00:31:17,662 --> 00:31:20,952 they can shift the whole of the spectrum of politics, 529 00:31:21,252 --> 00:31:24,789 the political center, towards increasingly right-wing 530 00:31:24,872 --> 00:31:26,249 and racist narratives 531 00:31:26,332 --> 00:31:29,602 and policies without ever winning office. 532 00:31:30,902 --> 00:31:34,842 And this is a truth about fascism that 533 00:31:35,442 --> 00:31:38,962 I think should keep all of us awake at night. 534 00:31:40,692 --> 00:31:43,032 We are in a church, so let me tell you a story 535 00:31:43,342 --> 00:31:45,712 that has a Christian dimension. 536 00:31:46,812 --> 00:31:49,642 His name is Shabbir. He comes from Pakistan. 537 00:31:50,832 --> 00:31:55,452 His great move that completely wrecked his life 538 00:31:56,192 --> 00:31:57,812 was to come to the aid of his neighbour. 539 00:31:57,952 --> 00:31:59,152 His neighbour was a Christian, 540 00:31:59,472 --> 00:32:02,052 a Christian family in a town in Pakistan. 541 00:32:02,592 --> 00:32:05,409 The Islamists petrol bombed the house 542 00:32:05,492 --> 00:32:07,252 of the Christians in the middle of the night 543 00:32:07,472 --> 00:32:11,012 and Shabbir, who is a Muslim, went out and helped that family. 544 00:32:11,552 --> 00:32:14,012 The next day, he was branded an apostate 545 00:32:14,432 --> 00:32:15,992 for having helped the Christian family. 546 00:32:16,712 --> 00:32:19,529 His brother was killed. He was a businessman, 547 00:32:19,612 --> 00:32:21,212 he had a rent-a-car business. 548 00:32:21,392 --> 00:32:22,572 His cars were burned down, 549 00:32:23,192 --> 00:32:25,709 and then he had, in order to divert the attention 550 00:32:25,792 --> 00:32:28,172 of the Islamic fundamentalists away from his family, 551 00:32:28,672 --> 00:32:30,292 he took his elderly father 552 00:32:30,592 --> 00:32:34,212 and walked across Iran into Turkey. 553 00:32:34,712 --> 00:32:39,412 In Turkey, he was at attacked by robbers. His father died. 554 00:32:39,592 --> 00:32:42,932 He carried his father's corpse in his arms. 555 00:32:43,682 --> 00:32:46,349 Policemen attacked him. He managed to escape. 556 00:32:46,432 --> 00:32:48,932 To cut a very long story, an odyssey, short, 557 00:32:49,592 --> 00:32:53,012 he ends up on the boat from the Turkish coast 558 00:32:53,512 --> 00:32:54,972 to Lesbos. 559 00:32:55,392 --> 00:32:59,652 The boat sinks. There were 70 people on board. 35 died. 560 00:33:00,072 --> 00:33:03,612 He managed to just about survive, to escape with his life. 561 00:33:03,872 --> 00:33:07,532 He ends up in Mitilini in Lesbos, and he applies for asylum. 562 00:33:08,082 --> 00:33:10,612 This person whose life was wrecked 563 00:33:10,812 --> 00:33:12,652 because he tried to help a Christian neighbor, 564 00:33:12,752 --> 00:33:16,132 and what does Christian Europe do? In the context 565 00:33:16,312 --> 00:33:17,932 of the EU/Turkey treaty, 566 00:33:18,402 --> 00:33:21,012 he's now waiting extradition back to Turkey. 567 00:33:21,552 --> 00:33:23,809 Now, you only have to tell the story in order 568 00:33:23,892 --> 00:33:25,452 to capture the horrors 569 00:33:25,842 --> 00:33:29,132 that is the European Union/Turkey deal 570 00:33:29,312 --> 00:33:31,612 and this humanitarian refugee crisis. 571 00:34:04,682 --> 00:34:08,989 Civilised Europe is using the Mediterranean Sea as a means 572 00:34:09,072 --> 00:34:11,772 by which to drown migrants 573 00:34:11,872 --> 00:34:15,729 and other refugees trying to make the passage to Europe so 574 00:34:15,812 --> 00:34:18,572 as to deter more of them from making the crossing. 575 00:34:19,672 --> 00:34:23,389 The moment Europe behaves that way, it loses the right 576 00:34:23,472 --> 00:34:27,252 to call itself civilised. It becomes barbaric 577 00:34:28,112 --> 00:34:32,292 and, in the end, such barbarism turns against its own people 578 00:34:32,762 --> 00:34:35,732 because it's a very short step 579 00:34:36,562 --> 00:34:38,212 from turning a blind eye 580 00:34:38,792 --> 00:34:42,689 to the way in which you are using other people as means 581 00:34:42,772 --> 00:34:46,429 to an end and accepting that you can be used 582 00:34:46,512 --> 00:34:47,572 as a means to an end. 583 00:35:07,762 --> 00:35:10,972 Borders are a scar on the face of the earth. 584 00:35:11,472 --> 00:35:15,772 The only way to beat this project 585 00:35:16,152 --> 00:35:19,732 of creating fear, terror in the mind of the natives 586 00:35:20,462 --> 00:35:25,092 about a refugee crisis is to confront it head-on. 587 00:35:25,472 --> 00:35:30,332 We need to take the courageous position, let them in. 588 00:35:30,772 --> 00:35:32,069 I think it should be a slogan for 589 00:35:32,152 --> 00:35:33,572 all progressives across the world. 590 00:35:34,512 --> 00:35:35,512 Let them in. 591 00:35:45,642 --> 00:35:50,012 Globalisation was a process of liberating capital. 592 00:35:52,832 --> 00:35:56,412 If you want an image of globalisation, 593 00:35:56,922 --> 00:35:58,492 take the US-Mexican border. 594 00:35:59,632 --> 00:36:02,372 It prevents any movement of humanity, 595 00:36:03,782 --> 00:36:06,989 while at the very same time, it's got large openings 596 00:36:07,072 --> 00:36:09,849 for huge trucks to be going up and down, in 597 00:36:09,932 --> 00:36:13,652 and out, ferrying commodities while 598 00:36:14,392 --> 00:36:18,709 across the ether through electronic means, trillions 599 00:36:18,792 --> 00:36:20,729 of dollars are going backwards and forwards. 600 00:36:20,812 --> 00:36:25,492 That's globalisation. Internationalism is 601 00:36:26,012 --> 00:36:29,132 a project of reversing that, of liberating people 602 00:36:29,992 --> 00:36:31,412 and constraining capital. 603 00:36:32,992 --> 00:36:35,772 Our freedom as human beings 604 00:36:37,312 --> 00:36:40,332 is oppressed by the freedom of capital 605 00:36:40,952 --> 00:36:42,412 to move about unimpeded. 606 00:36:45,792 --> 00:36:47,609 So, internationalism is all about going back 607 00:36:47,692 --> 00:36:49,092 to the original Bretton Woods idea 608 00:36:49,522 --> 00:36:52,212 that the financial genie must be placed back into its bottle, 609 00:36:52,752 --> 00:36:54,172 that banking must be boring, 610 00:36:54,402 --> 00:36:57,252 capital flows must be politically controlled, 611 00:36:58,502 --> 00:37:00,212 money is socially produced 612 00:37:00,392 --> 00:37:03,092 and must be controlled socially and democratically. 613 00:37:07,442 --> 00:37:08,932 That is internationalism. 614 00:37:10,512 --> 00:37:12,629 Of course, it is a major challenge to the model 615 00:37:12,712 --> 00:37:17,092 of society which has been bred under globalisation. 616 00:37:39,672 --> 00:37:43,379 The establishment has always been in denial. The worst 617 00:37:43,462 --> 00:37:47,532 were the Social Democrats, the SPD in Germany, the 618 00:37:48,122 --> 00:37:50,772 Parti Socialiste in France, the PASOK people in Greece. 619 00:37:51,322 --> 00:37:55,052 They were the ones who used the name of social democracy 620 00:37:55,952 --> 00:37:58,092 in order to do favours to the bankers 621 00:37:58,472 --> 00:38:03,249 and in order to shift all the pain onto the innocent 622 00:38:03,332 --> 00:38:05,532 victims of the financial sector. 623 00:38:06,082 --> 00:38:08,012 Once you have the political centre, 624 00:38:08,202 --> 00:38:09,772 whether it's the centre left 625 00:38:10,112 --> 00:38:13,609 or the centre right, participate in this 626 00:38:13,692 --> 00:38:14,932 crime against logic, 627 00:38:16,952 --> 00:38:19,812 the result is infinite discontent. 628 00:38:20,552 --> 00:38:23,572 Out of infinite discontent and hopelessness, 629 00:38:24,392 --> 00:38:29,092 one thing grows. Xenophobia, antisemitism, 630 00:38:29,692 --> 00:38:31,652 Islamophobia, misogyny. 631 00:38:32,632 --> 00:38:34,012 It is a mistake to believe 632 00:38:34,522 --> 00:38:36,799 that there is an almighty political clash 633 00:38:36,882 --> 00:38:39,612 between the establishment and the populists. 634 00:38:40,892 --> 00:38:44,252 I think of them as accomplices. They need each other. 635 00:38:44,792 --> 00:38:49,092 Le Pen thrives on the failures of Brussels. 636 00:38:50,032 --> 00:38:54,409 Farage would not have existed without the inane handling 637 00:38:54,492 --> 00:38:55,932 of Europe's inevitable crisis. 638 00:38:57,112 --> 00:38:59,812 And at the same time, the establishment needs Le Pen 639 00:38:59,962 --> 00:39:03,012 because what is the only argument today for voting 640 00:39:03,112 --> 00:39:04,652 for somebody like Fillon 641 00:39:04,832 --> 00:39:07,969 for God's sakes. Vote for him otherwise 642 00:39:08,052 --> 00:39:10,729 Le Pen will come in. So, they need each other. They are 643 00:39:10,812 --> 00:39:15,452 accomplices. The toxic deception is that there is a clash 644 00:39:15,802 --> 00:39:20,012 between the so-called liberal establishment on the one hand, 645 00:39:20,682 --> 00:39:22,929 Mateo Salvini, Le Pen and so on 646 00:39:23,012 --> 00:39:27,012 on the other hand. Nothing could be further from the truth. 647 00:39:27,632 --> 00:39:31,812 Macron, Juncker and Merkel draw their authority 648 00:39:32,802 --> 00:39:35,052 from the fact that they are facing Salvini 649 00:39:35,192 --> 00:39:36,492 and they're facing Le Pen. 650 00:39:36,962 --> 00:39:39,772 Macron would never have been President without Le Pen. 651 00:39:40,912 --> 00:39:42,049 Juncker would never have a leg 652 00:39:42,132 --> 00:39:44,572 to stand on if you could not say, if it's not me, 653 00:39:45,002 --> 00:39:46,772 après moi, Salvini. 654 00:39:47,562 --> 00:39:51,172 What you see there is an evil dance 655 00:39:51,962 --> 00:39:53,132 between partners. 656 00:39:54,012 --> 00:39:57,649 Comrades in arms. The inane austerity 657 00:39:57,732 --> 00:39:59,932 politics create 658 00:40:01,602 --> 00:40:02,972 greater economic failure. 659 00:40:04,192 --> 00:40:05,732 The greater the economic failure, 660 00:40:06,752 --> 00:40:09,532 the more austerity you need in order to keep a lid on it, 661 00:40:10,222 --> 00:40:12,772 which means you need more authoritarianism. 662 00:40:13,312 --> 00:40:16,332 So, there is this vicious cycle, process 663 00:40:16,832 --> 00:40:20,492 of positive reinforcement, between authoritarianism, 664 00:40:21,442 --> 00:40:23,292 austerity and economic failure. 665 00:40:35,092 --> 00:40:37,112 The Weimar Republic lives on.