Bernie Sanders and Yanis Varoufakis (previously) (the “libertarian Marxist” former Greek finance minister who split with his party and resigned over their embrace of austerity) have announced the formation of a new global organizations called “Progressives International,” designed to serve as a check to the rising cult of ultra-nationalist authoritarian groups.
The movement will fight “austerity for the many and socialism for the bankers,” calling for a European Spring to reform the EU and put more power in the hands of elected representatives instead of bureaucrats largely drawn from the ranks of the industries they are nominally in charge of regulating.
Varoufakis described the initiative in part as an attempt to counter the work that Steve Bannon, who also made an appearance in Rome last month, has been doing to help nationalists forge a united front in elections for the European Union’s parliament next spring. Varoufakis also accused immigration critics like Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini and German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer of being part of an extremist alliance.“The financiers are internationalists. The fascists, the nationalists, the racists — like Trump, Bannon, Seehofer, Salvini — they are internationalists,” Varoufakis said. “They bind together. The only people who are failing are progressives.”
Bernie Sanders Is Partnering With A Greek Progressive To Build A New Leftist Movement [J. Lester Feder/Buzzfeed]
(via Naked Capitalism)