“Η Ευρώπη είναι καπούτ. Ζήτω η Ευρώπη!”: Βαρουφάκης, Ζίζεκ και Ασάνζ μαζί συζητούν για ISIS, Ευρώπη, καπιταλισμό και Wikileaks | Βίντεο

Assange: Wikileaks has discovered documents going as far back as 2006 which detail the US’s plans to overthrow the Syrian government, to increase ‘paranoia’ and ‘frighten’ (words used in documents), cause the Assad regime to overreact, and to prevent foreign investment and cooperation. In 2010 Syria requested assistance to stop terrorists entering from Iraq. Assange stated that Libya was ‘Hillary’s war’, and that Generals had written in documents that she pushed ‘over and above’ what was necessary. He then displayed footage of the moment Hilary Clinton was told of Gaddafi’s sodomy and subsequent murder. The video showered her throwing her head back laughing, cackling, with a large satisfied grin. The reporter who she was with during an interview repeatedly asked, “Was that to do with your visit recently?” which prompted further laughter.
Assange, cont: There is a spiritual dimension to this issue that we have to consider – there is something in Hilary, and in her reaction, that personality, that has an 85% chance of entering, and embedding itself in, the White House after the election. That is something to think about: how a Western head of state reacts to another head of state being other thrown and killed in such a manner, and that person becoming the most powerful individual on earth.
– Rather than look for stability, France has also roused community fear by requesting everyone run to their local hospital to donate blood; there is talk of ‘borders’, ‘crackdowns’ and the British have already highlighted surveillance. This plays directly into ISIS’s crackdown of the ‘grey zone’ between devout muslims and those Muslims embedded in Western ways, with increased Islamophobia and disunification in multicultural states.
– There is no ideological alternative being proposed: Isis vs. the West. What can occupy the middle ground? There needs to be a new European left movement. A type of ‘Christianity’, a preaching of love and unification.

Varoufakis: The paradox of the last 20 years has been that we have increased our communication, its frequency, participants and methods to do so. And there was the opportunity to produce a clear picture of the world. But instead, the content of that information, and what we actually know, is decreasing. It is dynamite to the foundation of the EU and adds to its ‘democratic deficit’. Wikileaks is a bridge. It is, what Julian called, ‘Scientific Journalism’. It provides information that does not rely on secondary and tertiary information, or is sources from those with vested, corporate, interests. It is the antithesis of the growing 4th hand knowledge in which people return to the source of those who misinformed them in the first place. Its triumph is that it is using that very same technology (e-mail, etc.) which allows for covert communication to disrupt this process.

Varoufakis: It is not that capitalism is flawed because it breeds inequality, it is flawed because it is extremely wasteful between human and material resources and their capacities. Issues such as rising inequality are by-products to this wastefulness that underpins it. It will also other throw itself through the technologies it creates. Apple, for instance, are bringing back their first stores to the US from China, not because they will fill them with American employees but because they will be the first to be robotised.

Assange: When you speak to senior figures in Silicon Valley such as Google’s Chairman they have frightening worldviews. There is a real ‘poverty’ there, in that respect. There is a ‘High-tech liberalism’ ideology, which you can see references to in Google’s book mentioning a ‘new digital age’, with Washington already going to Silicon Valley for information and solutions. They, as corporations have great experience in managing sheer scale, and with competency. They even have influence in some local governments. When you go to India and China and ask young people about their futures they say they want to work for Facebook, or if they’re radical, start their own Facebook. Beyond this, Silicon Valley also ‘rebrands’ when it’s abroad. For instance, to be “Doing it the Chinese/Indian way”, but there’s no choice, there’s no ‘China/India’ involved – it’s just a rebranding of Silicon Valley’s ideology. And there’s no growing competition.