Yanis Varoufakis is the leftist former Greek finance minister who tried and failed to end austerity.
Like him or loathe him, Varoufakis is worth a look ahead of EU elections where centrists are struggling to compete with the far right’s clear and simple, if deceptive, messages.
After a brief and tumultuous term in office, Varoufakis created the Democracy in Europe Movement, DiEM25. Varoufakis wants DiEM25 to win seats in the European Parliament to save the continent from what he sees as twin enemies: the Brussels establishment and far right ultra-nationalists.
Varoufakis has found allies among a motley but enthusiastic crew: cerebral artists and musicians like Brian Eno; philosophers and intellectuals who name-drop Heidegger and Arendt at political rallies; and activists like Pamela Anderson, the ex-Playboy model and Baywatch star.
Critics point out that by creating his own movement, Varoufakis may further splinter the European left when it needs to be united against the far right, which appears in the ascendant.
We go on the trail of Varoufakis and his movement with Eleni Varvitsioti, the Greek journalist who covered her country’s crises in masterful detail for Skai TV and the newspaper Kathimerini.
