Greece's Golden Dawn: A Wake-up Call for Europe

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Greece's Golden Dawn: A Wake-up Call for Europe

Tuesday, 20 August 2013 09:50
By Christopher Lawrence, Truthout | Op-Ed


[font size="1"]A member of Golden Dawn, the extremist right-wing political party, hangs the group's flags in a shop in Athens, Greece, March 15, 2011. Rights groups say that xenophobic violence has grown markedly in debt-racked Greece, and that the police are failing to take steps to stop it. (Photo: Nikos Pilos / The New York Times)[/font]


It is hard to convey the experience of economic and political collapse in Greece. In Athens, the city center is full of vacant, graffiti-covered storefronts. The only businesses that seem to be thriving are the pawn shops and the huge open-air heroin market that the police are apparently tolerating in the student neighborhood of Exarchia. For the first time since WWII, many Greeks are faced with hunger, homelessness and a lack of basic health care. Schools are struggling to provide lunch to the growing number of malnourished children. The public health system has collapsed, a sacrifice to austerity. HIV infection rates have doubled, and malaria is on the rise. Suicides have increased dramatically. The legitimacy of the political system, which was long dominated by two mainstream parties - the center-left PASOK and the center-right New Democracy - is under threat because of the parties' inability to offer either an alternative to the current austerity regime or a plausible strategy for surviving it. In the midst of this crisis, the neo-Nazi group Golden Dawn has become the fastest growing political movement in Greece, with some placing support above 20 percent.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. When Greece entered the European Union in the early '80s, hopes were high that it signaled a new era. Despite the common tendency toward fatalism, many Greeks hoped that the sad history of 20th century ethno-nationalism, a history of war, occupation and dictatorships, had finally closed. Now they feel that the rug has been pulled out from under them. Suddenly the beneficence of the EU, much of which was diverted into the pockets of the politicians and financiers with a nod and a wink, has become a noose around their necks. Among the Greek middle class, - which, thanks to the EU, has grown to include most farmers, small craftsmen and clerical workers - feelings of frustration and injustice are palpable. Not only has their new-found prosperity collapsed like a huge pyramid scam, but they are being pilloried in the international press as a bunch of lazy welfare cheats.

With Greece looking more and more like the Weimar Republic, Golden Dawn has found success following the Nazi playbook. Golden Dawn was founded in 1980 under the leadership of right-wing fanatic Nikolaos Michaloliakos. During the '80s and '90s, Golden Dawn was a tiny party on the far-right lunatic fringe. Their fetish for Nazi regalia won them few supporters in a country that had suffered horribly from the German occupation. Among other things, they claimed Christianity was a Jewish plot and advocated a return to worshiping the ancient Greek gods, positions which did not sit well with traditionally devout right-wing Greek nationalists. After several unsuccessful attempts to merge with other right-wing groups, Golden Dawn finally muted their more bizarre positions and concentrated on promoting a neo-fascist philosophy they branded as "social nationalism." They also shifted their recruiting efforts from the old right-wing organizations to the new generation of apolitical soccer hooligans.

Unlike other Greek far-right groups, who tend to get bogged down in obscure ideological debates, Golden Dawn, from the early '90s on, emphasized street-fighting and other forms of direct action. These tactics are attractive to many young men schooled in soccer violence. Gangs of Golden Dawn thugs in black tee shirts began appearing at Communist and anarchist protests and instigating brawls, sometimes resulting in serious injuries. Several prominent Golden Dawn members have been charged with assault or attempted murder as a result of party actions. During the Bosnian conflict, Golden Dawn supplied volunteers for a Greek unit of the Bosnian Serb army, some of whom participated in the siege and massacre at Srebrenica in 1995. There are also reports that Golden Dawn infiltrated the protests of 2008 that followed the police killing of a young anarchist and acted as provocateurs in the subsequent riots that resulted in widespread destruction and two deaths. ........................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/18239-greeces-golden-dawn-a-wake-up-call-for-europe

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