And the Weak Suffer What They Must?: Europe’s Crisis and America’s Economic Future
Yanis Varoufakis
[Nation Books]
Yanis Varoufakis, Greek ex-Finance Minister and economist, has brought us another big tale of economic mythology and tragedy. Following on from his first work The Global Minotaur, this time he presents the history of the European and American economies since World War II using his particular narrative focus: peering into the human passions of those in power when making the decisions that shaped the world. Varoufakis visits politicians and economists in their moments of tribulation, as circumstance gives form to their legacy. He jumps back and forth in time unfolding the events, betrayals, agreements and back-stabbings that shaped the institutions in charge of global finance today.
Varoufakis’s stance is clear from the title onwards – And the Weak Suffer What They Must? is written with a strong humanistic bent that calls for the return of politics for the people as an antidote to policy tailored to the interests of neoliberal finance and multinational corporations. The author’s personal experience provides valuable insight into the intricacies and ambience of European high politics. He exposes the mechanisms he encountered as a deeply analytical and critical spectator. His first-hand observations are the book’s point of departure, but his writing looks back into history to find the milestones that brought us to the present state. This book is a moral call, a reminder that unjust power is inherently self-destructive – or in the author’s words, “only when the weak have decent reasons to defend the system that reproduces their subservience does the empire of the powerful stand a chance to survive”.
Words: Laura Hernandez Leal
