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Old November 9th, 2012 #2001
Alex Linder
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[from Counterpunch]

Two Distinct Images of Morning in Europe May Determine Its Future
Twin Dawns Over Europe
by Rev. JOS M. TIRADO

Several weeks ago, the UK Guardian released a 12 minute video documentary[1]. It was chilling in its narrative about Chrysi Avgi, the Golden Dawn. Golden Dawn is an openly racist, homophobic, hyper-nationalist group which uses Nazi-like symbols, salutes, and rhetoric, and is rising in popularity in an unraveling Greece. It was founded by Nikolaos Michaloliakos, a former military man with ties to the Greek military junta (1967-1974), with assistance from ultra-right street gang leader, Giannis Giannopoulos who was once associated with the Afrikaner Resistance Movement, a white supremacist, neo-Nazi organization.

In this video, we see Golden Dawn’s open infiltration of the police forces and their regular use of threats, intimidation and violence against immigrants and others, providing queasy recognition to any student of modern German history and the Nazi party’s rise. Michaloliakos, in fact, has openly praised Hitler (calling him “our great leader”) and made his admiration for Nazi philosophy clear (“We are the faithful soldiers of the National Socialist [Nazi] idea and nothing else”)[2]. Immigrants are nearly beaten to death, opposition political figures are openly speculating about a fascist takeover, and there is a palpable edginess to the entire subject with fear being the dominant backdrop to conversations about Golden Dawn’s increasing influence. For a country which suffered tremendously in the recent past over militaristic dictatorship and further back, Nazi occupation, this is a deeply disturbing trend.

Meanwhile on YouTube, images of another political dawn is shown on a set of nine short videos[3], shot in Iceland, and albeit far more tongue-in-cheekily. Traveling the sparsely populated and often stark interiors of the country, we see long stretches of rugged, beautiful landscapes interspersed with various personal shots and town meetings. Joggers running alongside the bus, piano-playing sing-alongs, and talks given in coffee shops and meeting rooms. The mood is generally subdued (as are most Icelanders) and yet playful, belying the fact that serious attempts are being made here to connect with and inspire people to vote in the upcoming constitutional election. By extension, they are also informally introducing themselves to the country as a new political force, and trying to recruit others for a run in next springs Parliamentary elections.

These are not “political” videos as such, they’re almost a running mockumentary in the self-effacing way they treat this small movement’s dedicated members as they travel together, road trip style from place to place. But in Iceland, small is not the same as insignificant and, as people are valued as individuals (and in a country where the degrees of separation are narrow and frequently familial) such earthy portrayals are just as likely to be taken seriously as any informative political ad. Possibly more so. So, yet another dawn may be breaking in Iceland.

Readers of CounterPunch may recall I used this image once before [4] in describing the effects of the “Pots and Pans Revolution” and the results of the 2009 election. Now, after 3 years of a rough stabilization of the economy that remains highly problematic, with most Icelanders no better off and even more disgusted with politics-as-usual, a new political party is rising.

Dgun, Icelandic for “dawn,” is the latest populist movement to attempt to challenge the political status quo and revitalize a deeply disgruntled public. Its full name is “Dawn – The organization of justice, fairness and democracy”. It is made up of former members of several other recent political factions; among them, The Citizen’s Movement, the Liberal Party, and The Movement, along with 2 members of the Constitutional Council which was established to draft a new constitution.

In the weeks leading up to the constitutional vote, Dgun members took the streets in a 40 year old revamped and repainted bus whose logo is an arctic tern flying across a purple sky with a bright dawn rising from below. (The tern’s incredible determination makes it the most traveled animal on earth, journeying tens of thousands of miles every year, from the Arctic to Antarctica and back.) They used bullhorns and impromptu gatherings in public spaces to hopefully jolt an electorate tired of the glacial pace of their so-called economic “stability.” The results of that election[5] may have been affected by the extra efforts put out by Dgun’s challenge to citizens, written along the side of the bus, “Do you want a new Constitution or do you want a caf latt?” Now, as a political slogan, it may not rival, “Fired up, ready to go!,” but it just may have convinced enough Icelanders that, if they want real change, then they were going to have to get up and actually do something (in this case, vote for the Constitutional Council’s recommendations) rather than just talk about what needs to be done. And so they did.

Levity aside, the differences between these two dawns are not only in style; on issues of importance, Greece’s Golden Dawn and Iceland’s Dgun couldn’t be farther apart. For example, both Dgun and Golden Dawn tackle a sensitive issue throughout Europe, immigration, but the similarities end there. [Disclosure: I have helped translate some of their materials into English.]

Dgun’s policy toward immigrants and refugees is remarkably tolerant. Describing themselves as “a multiculturally-inclined political party”, they confidently assert that, “people with foreign roots contribute to broadmindedness among Icelanders… that the education and work experience of immigrants is currently underutilized … [and] the legal status of immigrants must be equal to that of Icelanders.” Refugees are to be treated according the UN Refugee Convention, and should be able to live and work where they please while their paperwork is processed in a fair and timely fashion.

Such openness is very different from Golden Dawn’s attitudes. As the Guardian video shows, they regard the influx of immigrants as “garbage.” One immigrant was brutally beaten, requiring metal plates in his face after he was attacked in his sleep, his face a barely recognizable mess. An immigrant rights activist speaks about the threats and blackmail Golden Dawn uses against immigrant workers on the docks, and we hear a Golden Dawn parliament member threaten to throw immigrants out of the hospitals. Later, we see another Golden Dawn Parliamentarian throwing a drink at one woman MP and publicly slapping another, Liana Kanelli, all on live TV, (Kanelli later quotes the Golden Dawn as promising to “make soap” of communists too, who are treated as a “separate race”). Scenes of intimidating, black T-shirted, muscled men are shown at Golden Dawn rallies, with fists aloft, ominously watching the crowds and attacking makeshift stalls and what appears to be people in a stadium. According to one policeman (whose identity is masked) “they display their virility on the back of the hopeless.” All of this echoes Nazi-era brownshirts who used similar techniques of demonizing Jews as responsible for all the ills their society faced while denouncing communists and liberals who objected to their platform as unpatriotic. We are seeing similar trends in the United States as well.

Few probably believe Iceland can be an inspiration for huge, multi-cultural and multi-racial nations around the world. Iceland’s immigrant population is about 7%, mainly Poles. So I’m not suggesting we take the Icelandic example as totally representative of the kinds of activism currently rocking many European nations. In Madrid, Athens, and other cities, hundreds of thousands of marchers have called for an end to austerity and for radical changes to their own political systems of governance and economics, and many are tackling issues of immigration with courage. And I’m not suggesting that Icelandhas all the right ideas necessary for a radical transformation of the world’s democracies. Iceland is pretty small, relatively homogenous culturally and the numbers of people hitting the streets at any given time is small. Nevertheless, the sheer doggedness of the activists of Dgun, much like the arctic tern, should provide some measure of inspiration in this world so often bereft of hope. Because, when all is said and done, either we persistently try to defend democracy, inspiring a widening redefining of its scope, or we will face a different kind of organizing. One that is vigorous and demagogic, which demonizes the Other, uses resentment to stir up hatred, attacks people physically, and calls for a militant ultra-nationalism, becoming a revived fascism whose end will be the same as the last one, ovens.

Dgun may not look sexy or revolutionary or powerful; it may look both small and insignificant, in fact. But if we are to have any future which does not end in more barbarity – or worse – then the slow-moving brightly colored Dgun bus, persistently trudging along the sleepy towns of Iceland, may be a hopeful signal of what our side needs to be doing, every single day, if we are to avoid catastrophe. Reaching out to each other, one person, and one stop at a time.

Rev. JOS M. TIRADO is a poet, priest and writer finishing a PhD in psychology while living in Iceland.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/11/...s-over-europe/

[1] “The Rise of the ‘Golden Dawn’ in Greece – Mini-documentary by ‘The Guardian’ (English Subtitles)”
[2] http://www.iefimerida.gr/news/48267/
[3] Rokkrutan (“Rocking Bus”)
[4] http://www.counterpunch.org/2009/04/...nd-s-new-dawn/)
[5] http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/10/...es-in-iceland/

Last edited by Alex Linder; November 9th, 2012 at 03:33 PM.
 
Old November 9th, 2012 #2002
Alex Linder
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Crisis: poll indicates Greeks are increasingly pessimistic

09 November

(ANSAmed) - ATHENS, NOVEMBER 9 - Greeks distrust the country's politicians and political parties and are increasingly pessimistic regarding both the country's and their own financial future, according to a latest opinion poll conducted by Public Issue on behalf of Skai and Kathimerini. According to the survey, Prime Minister and New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras is still favored for the role of premier, against SYRIZA chief Alexis Tsipras. A three-party coalition government comprising New Democracy, PASOK and Democratic Left, is still ahead of a potential SYRIZA administration. The opinion poll was conducted during the November 1-5 period. Antonis Samaras garnered 37% of the vote of those questioned, against 31% earned by Alexis Tsipras, while 27% responded that neither party leaders should lead the country. At the same time, the ND-PASOK-Democratic Left coalition was favored by 32% of respondents, while 24% favored the possibility of SYRIZA rising to power. Those who favored neither reached 39%. Meanwhile, 59% of those questioned believed that the SYRIZA coalition would prevail in the case of snap elections, compared to 26% who saw New Democracy as the winner.

The vast majority of those questioned (76%) believed that the three-party coalition will not last its four-year-mandate.

SYRIZA was voted as the most popular opposition party (33%) irrespective of respondents' party preferences, trailed by Independent Greeks (16%) and far-right Golden Dawn (14%).

The need for the country to proceed with a series of privatizations was reflected in the answers of 62% of those questioned, with 33% stating that they did not believe these were necessary. Not a single politician went over the 50% mark in terms of popularity: Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis earned 49%, followed by Alexis Tsipras (42%) and Antonis Samaras (38%). According to the survey, 81% of those questioned said they were disappointed with the way democracy operated in the country, 11% stated their satisfaction, while 8% felt that democratic rules had been abolished altogether. Only 5% of respondents expected their own financial situation to improve, while 75% believed that things will get worse. (ANSAmed).

http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/n...c_7769500.html
 
Old November 9th, 2012 #2003
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred O'Malley View Post
Three nukes are all we need. Bomb NYC, Tel Aviv & London, and the heart of kike evil will implode. If you have an extra nuke, hit Hymieweird.

As for Golden Dawn I am expecting dirty tricks and murder to be used against them, along with disinfo cointelpro style to try and start infighting among GD.

Notice how so very few enemy alien joos died in NYC during the insurance fraud and mass murder crime still unpunished.

Notice you don't hear about this, if their were even fifty joo's who had died in that building their names would be screamed out with movies and paid lip movers crying over them.

If any one has a list of how many of these Light Of Earth types actually died that day please post.
__________________
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We cannot allow the natural passions and prejudices of other peoples
to lead our country to destruction.

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http://www.fff.org/freedom/0495c.asp
 
Old November 9th, 2012 #2004
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Linder View Post
[from Counterpunch]

Two Distinct Images of Morning in Europe May Determine Its Future
Twin Dawns Over Europe
by Rev. JOS M. TIRADO

Several weeks ago, the UK Guardian released a 12 minute video documentary[1]. It was chilling in its narrative about Chrysi Avgi, the Golden Dawn. Golden Dawn is an openly racist, homophobic, hyper-nationalist group which uses Nazi-like symbols, salutes, and rhetoric, and is rising in popularity in an unraveling Greece. It was founded by Nikolaos Michaloliakos, a former military man with ties to the Greek military junta (1967-1974), with assistance from ultra-right street gang leader, Giannis Giannopoulos who was once associated with the Afrikaner Resistance Movement, a white supremacist, neo-Nazi organization.

In this video, we see Golden Dawns open infiltration of the police forces and their regular use of threats, intimidation and violence against immigrants and others, providing queasy recognition to any student of modern German history and the Nazi partys rise. Michaloliakos, in fact, has openly praised Hitler (calling him our great leader) and made his admiration for Nazi philosophy clear (We are the faithful soldiers of the National Socialist [Nazi] idea and nothing else)[2]. Immigrants are nearly beaten to death, opposition political figures are openly speculating about a fascist takeover, and there is a palpable edginess to the entire subject with fear being the dominant backdrop to conversations about Golden Dawns increasing influence. For a country which suffered tremendously in the recent past over militaristic dictatorship and further back, Nazi occupation, this is a deeply disturbing trend.

Meanwhile on YouTube, images of another political dawn is shown on a set of nine short videos[3], shot in Iceland, and albeit far more tongue-in-cheekily. Traveling the sparsely populated and often stark interiors of the country, we see long stretches of rugged, beautiful landscapes interspersed with various personal shots and town meetings. Joggers running alongside the bus, piano-playing sing-alongs, and talks given in coffee shops and meeting rooms. The mood is generally subdued (as are most Icelanders) and yet playful, belying the fact that serious attempts are being made here to connect with and inspire people to vote in the upcoming constitutional election. By extension, they are also informally introducing themselves to the country as a new political force, and trying to recruit others for a run in next springs Parliamentary elections.

These are not political videos as such, theyre almost a running mockumentary in the self-effacing way they treat this small movements dedicated members as they travel together, road trip style from place to place. But in Iceland, small is not the same as insignificant and, as people are valued as individuals (and in a country where the degrees of separation are narrow and frequently familial) such earthy portrayals are just as likely to be taken seriously as any informative political ad. Possibly more so. So, yet another dawn may be breaking in Iceland.

Readers of CounterPunch may recall I used this image once before [4] in describing the effects of the Pots and Pans Revolution and the results of the 2009 election. Now, after 3 years of a rough stabilization of the economy that remains highly problematic, with most Icelanders no better off and even more disgusted with politics-as-usual, a new political party is rising.

Dgun, Icelandic for dawn, is the latest populist movement to attempt to challenge the political status quo and revitalize a deeply disgruntled public. Its full name is Dawn The organization of justice, fairness and democracy. It is made up of former members of several other recent political factions; among them, The Citizens Movement, the Liberal Party, and The Movement, along with 2 members of the Constitutional Council which was established to draft a new constitution.

In the weeks leading up to the constitutional vote, Dgun members took the streets in a 40 year old revamped and repainted bus whose logo is an arctic tern flying across a purple sky with a bright dawn rising from below. (The terns incredible determination makes it the most traveled animal on earth, journeying tens of thousands of miles every year, from the Arctic to Antarctica and back.) They used bullhorns and impromptu gatherings in public spaces to hopefully jolt an electorate tired of the glacial pace of their so-called economic stability. The results of that election[5] may have been affected by the extra efforts put out by Dguns challenge to citizens, written along the side of the bus, Do you want a new Constitution or do you want a caf latt? Now, as a political slogan, it may not rival, Fired up, ready to go!, but it just may have convinced enough Icelanders that, if they want real change, then they were going to have to get up and actually do something (in this case, vote for the Constitutional Councils recommendations) rather than just talk about what needs to be done. And so they did.

Levity aside, the differences between these two dawns are not only in style; on issues of importance, Greeces Golden Dawn and Icelands Dgun couldnt be farther apart. For example, both Dgun and Golden Dawn tackle a sensitive issue throughout Europe, immigration, but the similarities end there. [Disclosure: I have helped translate some of their materials into English.]

Dguns policy toward immigrants and refugees is remarkably tolerant. Describing themselves as a multiculturally-inclined political party, they confidently assert that, people with foreign roots contribute to broadmindedness among Icelanders that the education and work experience of immigrants is currently underutilized [and] the legal status of immigrants must be equal to that of Icelanders. Refugees are to be treated according the UN Refugee Convention, and should be able to live and work where they please while their paperwork is processed in a fair and timely fashion.

Such openness is very different from Golden Dawns attitudes. As the Guardian video shows, they regard the influx of immigrants as garbage. One immigrant was brutally beaten, requiring metal plates in his face after he was attacked in his sleep, his face a barely recognizable mess. An immigrant rights activist speaks about the threats and blackmail Golden Dawn uses against immigrant workers on the docks, and we hear a Golden Dawn parliament member threaten to throw immigrants out of the hospitals. Later, we see another Golden Dawn Parliamentarian throwing a drink at one woman MP and publicly slapping another, Liana Kanelli, all on live TV, (Kanelli later quotes the Golden Dawn as promising to make soap of communists too, who are treated as a separate race). Scenes of intimidating, black T-shirted, muscled men are shown at Golden Dawn rallies, with fists aloft, ominously watching the crowds and attacking makeshift stalls and what appears to be people in a stadium. According to one policeman (whose identity is masked) they display their virility on the back of the hopeless. All of this echoes Nazi-era brownshirts who used similar techniques of demonizing Jews as responsible for all the ills their society faced while denouncing communists and liberals who objected to their platform as unpatriotic. We are seeing similar trends in the United States as well.

Few probably believe Iceland can be an inspiration for huge, multi-cultural and multi-racial nations around the world. Icelands immigrant population is about 7%, mainly Poles. So Im not suggesting we take the Icelandic example as totally representative of the kinds of activism currently rocking many European nations. In Madrid, Athens, and other cities, hundreds of thousands of marchers have called for an end to austerity and for radical changes to their own political systems of governance and economics, and many are tackling issues of immigration with courage. And Im not suggesting that Icelandhas all the right ideas necessary for a radical transformation of the worlds democracies. Iceland is pretty small, relatively homogenous culturally and the numbers of people hitting the streets at any given time is small. Nevertheless, the sheer doggedness of the activists of Dgun, much like the arctic tern, should provide some measure of inspiration in this world so often bereft of hope. Because, when all is said and done, either we persistently try to defend democracy, inspiring a widening redefining of its scope, or we will face a different kind of organizing. One that is vigorous and demagogic, which demonizes the Other, uses resentment to stir up hatred, attacks people physically, and calls for a militant ultra-nationalism, becoming a revived fascism whose end will be the same as the last one, ovens.

Dgun may not look sexy or revolutionary or powerful; it may look both small and insignificant, in fact. But if we are to have any future which does not end in more barbarity or worse then the slow-moving brightly colored Dgun bus, persistently trudging along the sleepy towns of Iceland, may be a hopeful signal of what our side needs to be doing, every single day, if we are to avoid catastrophe. Reaching out to each other, one person, and one stop at a time.

Rev. JOS M. TIRADO is a poet, priest and writer finishing a PhD in psychology while living in Iceland.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/11/...s-over-europe/

[1] The Rise of the Golden Dawn in Greece Mini-documentary by The Guardian (English Subtitles)
The Rise of 'Golden Dawn' in Greece - Mini-documentary by 'The Guardian' (English subtitles) - YouTube
[2] http://www.iefimerida.gr/news/48267/
[3] Rokkrutan (Rocking Bus)
[4] http://www.counterpunch.org/2009/04/...nd-s-new-dawn/)
[5] http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/10/...es-in-iceland/
The author of this article, Jos M. Tirado, is, as his name suggests, an American mestizo. Boy, these people are everywhere nowadays!

He's a christling too, and a priest at that (or so he says). His facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/jose.m.tirado.1

I am not new to VNN, but I am a reader only, and this is what I will remain here for the most part.

This thread is the exception. I am watching GD progress as well
 
Old November 9th, 2012 #2005
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The leader of the "Stop Golden Dawn" coalition in NYC is, predictably, not even Greek. She is an Argentine-Jewess communist who lived in Cuba for many years (probably in the wealthy areas, as champagne communists of the West like to do).

https://www.facebook.com/marinasitr?ref=ts&fref=ts Feel free to ask her why she is so racist against Greeks, but is not starting a "Stop AIPAC/Israeli Column" organization.

This bitch is so smug, so self-absorbed, it's hard to think people actually would publish one of her books. Read her self-fellating bio here http://marinasitrin.com/?page_id=28

She's is a self-styled rebel, yet doesn't bother to ask herself just why, if she is such a force of revolution, the system's academia and media allow her not only to operate without trouble, but even give her the platform to disseminate her idiotic ideas.
 
Old November 9th, 2012 #2006
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Comments on the BBC video:

- it's a typical judeo-homo-commo BBC smear job
- lay it on thick about 'immigrants' (sic - immigrants are legal, and all these creature crawling into greece are illegal aliens. it is not a matter of opinion, the junkmedia, the global, coordinated, controlled mass media, deliberately use the wrong term) being attacked by GD. no face time for victims of illegal alien robberies and attacks. no context given about the number of illegals in greece (approaching 20% of the population - 1.5m out of 10-11m)
- funny: the communist broad Kasidiaris slapped says GD members view communists as a different "race" and threaten to "turn you into soap." I own't care who y'are, that's funny stuff. Communist jews, you'll recall, altho certainly not from a BBC show or a government school, concocted the Big Lie that the nazis rendered jews into bars of Irish Spring. It was a gross confection, so gross that, after a few decades, even the people our great philosopher Schopenhauer called 'the great master of the lie' admitted it was just such a porky. Isn't that big of them? the people always whining about blood libels? So that's the backdrop to these ironic retorts, if indeed GD are gibing the communist cunts with such. And of course assertions from communists can never be taken at face value.
- GD member says illegal Egyptian fisherman are disrupting the market and will henceforth report to Golden Dawn. That's good. Why should aliens be allowed to enter a country illegally and compete with local businessmen illegally, not following the rules everyone else has to, not paying the taxes everyone else has to? It is self-evident this is wrong and unfair - self-evident except to the globalist-communist-jews, who always and everywhere OUTSIDE ISRAEL (where invaders get expelled physically) favor the invader over the native.
- some blacked-out fag whining about being beaten up. did the beaters shove dicks up your ass? no? that was later that night? then you've got nothing to complain about. what you do to yoursel is what you ought to be worried out, pathetic poostabbing poofters of pestilence. quit your bleating and start your retreating to the land o' mothballs. (hopefully they'll work on you too).
- GD speaker (apparently) says: "As our leader says, our enemies should be aware we have approximately 50 army divisions"
- use of ANONYMOUS "high ranking police officer" is lip curling. yeah, this guy might be this or he might not. just like the fag, he won't put his name on his words, so we can't trust him. shots of violence are shown without it being clear, except in the stall-smashing incident, that it's Golden Dawn at work. Again, we simply can't trust the proven liars behind the BBC.
- show Samaras saying Greek children are being pushed out of kindergarten, and illegals are taking over, this must be stopped. cynical attempt to steal GD thunder which BBC plays as proof that state is using GD to carry out its mission, which was asserted by the anonymous cop just before Samaras is shown speaking the words above. this is the communist partyline, but as others have observed upthread, it is not accurate. GD is not a tool of the elite, it is entirely organic response to globalist attempt to destroy Greece as a nation. All the other parties are The System - the same thing. Golden Dawn alone stands for Greece.
- the anony-cop hints at the real story, as stated, again, by someone upthread: GD was able to "infiltrate," as the left says, the cops, because they support it, while the left and anarchists attack it with firebombs
- in the end you're left with no clear understanding of why a group like GD might have arisen. rather, out of nowhere these jackbooted thugs arose to stomp the hell out of nice, respectful immigrants who just want to work peacefully at their low-level jobs. in other words, this film, like all of them, comes straight from Fantasyland Studios
- also notice there is not one interview with a GD member, but the communist cunt who got slapped is treated as a reputable and reliable source. yeah, how many tens of millions did her party kill last century?
 
Old November 9th, 2012 #2007
Alex Linder
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What way forward for workers in Greece?

9 November 2012

This week’s strikes and mass protests have provided an impressive demonstration of the potential power of the Greek working class. Workers shut down virtually the entire country for 48 hours, with almost all state enterprises and many private companies on strike. Hundreds of thousands poured into the streets to express their determination to resist the austerity measures of the government of Antonis Samaras and the European Union, which are driving the country into ruin and raising unemployment to record levels.

The scale of these protests shows that the working class is a social force capable of defeating both the social attacks dictated by the government and the EU as well as the fascist gangs that have terrorized immigrants in recent weeks. This applies not only to Greece but also to Spain and Portugal, where mass protests have taken place in recent weeks, and to all other European countries.

There is a deep chasm, however, between the interests and desires of Greek workers and the policies of the trade unions and their political allies, which have sought to curb the movement of the working class, limiting the mass strikes to short-term protest actions and ensuring as much as possible that they do not impinge upon the fundamental interests of Greek and foreign capital.

The political allies of the unions, such as the Coalition of the Alternative Left (SYRIZA) and other pseudo-left forces, are strictly opposed to any genuine struggle to defeat the draconian austerity measures being imposed upon the working class. They are against bringing down the Samaras government and reject any break with the European Union, without which no real fight to defend workers’ interests is possible.

They place themselves in front of the protests to prevent them endangering the government or the country’s membership in the EU. Both the union leaders and head of SYRIZA, Alexis Tsipras, have repeatedly emphasized that they will maintain Greece’s EU membership no matter what the consequences and will guarantee the repayment of Greek government debt to the international banks.

Notwithstanding historical differences between Europe in the 1930s and the situation in Greece and more broadly in Europe as a whole today, the lessons of that period and in particular the betrayal of the mass struggles of the working class at the hands of the Stalinist Popular Front are of vital importance. The subordination of the workers’ movement to the parties and institutions of the “democratic” state and the class interests that they serve prevented the working class from advancing its own, socialist, solution to the crisis created by capitalism. In the absence of a decisive leadership from the working class, the path was opened for the far right and the fascists to grow, aided and abetted by the bourgeoisie and the state apparatus. This is the communist belief that Golden Dawn is a tool of the state. It is not true. The socialists of SYRIZA

Once again there is a danger today that the political stranglehold exercised by the unions and their political allies upon the workers is leading to the growth of right-wing forces.

While able to carry out vicious assaults on the streets of Greece, with the support of the police, the fascist gangs of Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn) are numerically small compared to the masses mobilized by the working class.

However, the historical crisis of world capitalism and the austerity measures imposed by the EU are rapidly accelerating the decline of Greek society. Broad sections of the working class and middle class are being plunged into poverty. Class conflict is intensifying. Should the working class fail to show a way out of the crisis there is a danger that desperate layers of the middle class will orient to the right. The growing poll numbers for Golden Dawn, which already has 18 seats in parliament, show that this danger is not merely hypothetical.

The savage attacks that have been carried out against the Greek working class together with the threat of fascism and dictatorship are the outcome of policies worked out not merely in Athens, but more fundamentally by the entire European bourgeoisie organized in the European Union.

Greek workers are being victimized to pay for the crisis of European capitalism as a whole. The defense of their social and political rights is a European-wide question, that requires the mobilization not only of the Greek working class, but of workers in Germany, France, Britain and the entire continent in a united struggle against capitalism.

The key to the situation in Greece and throughout Europe is the development of an independent revolutionary movement of the working class. This requires a political break with the unions and their pseudo-left political allies who will do everything in their power to suppress such a movement and tie workers to the ruling class and its institutions.

Greek workers must organize themselves independently of the unions and their political allies. They should build action committees to defend jobs and social rights, organize protection against fascist attacks and unite all sections of the working class. They must fight for a workers’ government, which expropriates the major corporations and banks and reorganizes the economy to serve the social needs of the population at large rather than the drive for profit by the international and domestic financial aristocracy.

In order to implement such a program, a new revolutionary party must be established, a Greek section of the International Committee of the Fourth International. The International Committee embodies the historical continuity of the Marxist, Trotskyist movement. It fights for an international socialist program and for the overthrow of the European Union and for the construction of the United Socialist States of Europe.

Christoph Dreier

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/no...pers-n09.shtml
 
Old November 9th, 2012 #2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeOfGDNY View Post
The leader of the "Stop Golden Dawn" coalition in NYC is, predictably, not even Greek. She is an Argentine-Jewess communist who lived in Cuba for many years (probably in the wealthy areas, as champagne communists of the West like to do).

https://www.facebook.com/marinasitr?ref=ts&fref=ts Feel free to ask her why she is so racist against Greeks, but is not starting a "Stop AIPAC/Israeli Column" organization.

This bitch is so smug, so self-absorbed, it's hard to think people actually would publish one of her books. Read her self-fellating bio here http://marinasitrin.com/?page_id=28

She's is a self-styled rebel, yet doesn't bother to ask herself just why, if she is such a force of revolution, the system's academia and media allow her not only to operate without trouble, but even give her the platform to disseminate her idiotic ideas.
Typical. The personification of the bitchy-jew-leftist-hypocrite agitator of the modern era. And that 'bitch' category extends to the male jews and shabbos leftist goys too - especially the younger ones springing up - as the climate, and the left in particular, is so thoroughly feminized. In a way you almost miss the old stern stalinist/leninist types (yeah, I probably wouldn't say that if my family had been killed by a Bela Kun or a Jewish commissar though) because at least their level of self-righteousness, although still prominent, wasn't quite as absolute. It has literally never crossed these peoples mind, not even for a second of doubt and self-reflection, that what they stand for might not be for the ultimate goodness of the universe. Thus, in a sense, they are even more fundamentalistic than their leftists kin of the past.
 
Old November 9th, 2012 #2009
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Meet the Real Sons of Anarchy — Greek Anti-Fascist Motorcycle Club Confronts neo-Nazis

by Will Potter on November 7, 2012

Real Sons of Anarchy, GreeceMeet the real Sons of Anarchy. An anti-fascist motorcycle club in Athens, Greece, patrols the community, fighting neo-Nazis who attack immigrants.

From Athens Anarchist Anti-Fascist Motorcycle Club:

As of June 2012 the far right/neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn is officially represented in the Greek Parliament with support from the local media. As we have seen throughout history, in times of “economic” crisis, far-right ideologies tend to increase their influence dramatically.

The number of attacks on immigrants is rising every week, fuelled by the police’s complicitly apathetic stance and refusal to do anything to stop the perpetrators. This has led to a need for anti-racist patrols, as it is the only way of protecting immigrants from racist violence.

On the nights of the 15th and 22nd of September, the first two antifascist motorcycle patrols took place, with fly-posting and protest chants against neo-Nazi attacks. A third motorcycle demo passed through down-town locations on the evening of Sunday, September 30th, where it encountered a group of neo-Nazis smashing up immigrants’ shops. The antifa successfully attacked and stopped them, and were themselves attacked in retaliation by several motorcycle police units.

I wanted to share this because here in the U.S., anarchism is increasingly being linked to “terrorism” in the courts and in disinformation campaigns. There are currently two anarchists in prison for refusing to talk about their politics before a federal grand jury, and a third individual has been subpoenaed to appear today. Meanwhile, the Cleveland 4 are fighting a “terrorism enhancement” penalty that would officially reclassify them as terrorists in prison. Minneapolis anarchist motorcycle rally supporting CeCe McDonald.

Minneapolis anarchist motorcycle rally supporting CeCe McDonald.

Of course, not all anarchists form motorcycle clubs. They also step in after natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy to provide relief and support that, in some cases, has been more effective than the government has been able to do. Check out Occupy Sandy Relief for more information.

http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog...ub-nazis/6553/
 
Old November 9th, 2012 #2010
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lol

That's the most fantastic anti-GD piece yet.
 
Old November 10th, 2012 #2011
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Default Can't translate the website, but understand and like the group

I checked out Golden Dawn's website, but it is all Greek to me. Seriously though, I have only known of this group a short time but the more I research them the more I like about them. Ron Doggett recommends all WNs to study this group and now I see why. We certainly need an American Dawn here or something similar.
 
Old November 10th, 2012 #2012
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Rev. JOS M. TIRADO is a poet, priest and writer finishing a PhD in psychology while living in Iceland.
Trust a goddamned choir boy-licking shrink to sing the praises of multicultists wherever they may be.
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Old November 10th, 2012 #2013
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Default John Zerzan, Anti-Racist Collaborator, Whines about the "violence" of the Greek Golden Dawn Party

https://johnzerzan.net/content/week-...liament-greece


"A Week in Racist Hell: a wave of violence marks the start of the new parliament in Greece" Fri, 2012-06-29 03:33

7/6, early hours: from among the crowds celebrating the footbal victory of Greece over Russia in Euro2012, there emerges a group of 70, attacking immigrants in Omonoia Square, in Central Athens. They stop buses and attack non-Greek passengers, punching and kicking them, threatening anyone who tries to oppose them. Similar attacks take place further west in the city, in Attiki Square, at the hot-spot of Agios Panteleimonas, and at the junction of Acharnon and Galatsiou, where immigrants get attacked in a nearby park by a group of bikers. The latters weapon of choice are their helmets. There are also reports that few minutes earlier, the same group had vandalised and torched the local kiosks of the two radical left parties, ANTARSYA and SYRIZA.
[The streets, my friend, nothing matters to me any more...]

17/6, early hours: in Chania, in the island of Crete, a gang of four attacks with knives and metal bars two Algerians, 23 and 27, who were sleeping on the beach of Nea Chora, steeling from them their mobiles and blankets. The victims end up in hospital.

17/6, 23:50: a group of Golden Dawn supporters attack an immigrant in the Athens underground station Attiki. The attack is videoed by a passer-by, who pretends to be talking to a friend on the phone (the subtitles translate what the fascists shout and what the immigrant cries). The attack is only a slice of a wider night of violence as the GD crowd celebrates the electoral success of its party.

17/6, election night: At the police headquarters in Athens for the second time in two months the elite police units were offered the opportunity to disprove all common association of the police with fascism and they declined it, casting their ballot overwhelmingly in favour of the neo-fascists of the Golden Dawn. In some cases up to 50% of local police units voted for the neo-fascist party!

17/6, late evening: Chania, again. A homeless 25 year old Egyptian immigrant is attacked with a metal bar. The assault is so brutal that the victim had to undergo emergency operation during which doctors remove his kidney. Three days later, police arrest a 39 year old Greek for participating in the attacks. (His is the only perpetrators arrest reported regarding any of the attacks included in this list)

18/6, 15:00-15:30: two teens punch non-Greek street-sellers in Alimos Baths, and hit them with clubs. Bathers just stand-byand observe. Only 4 girls react verbally against the attackers.

18/6, 21:30: A 23 year old Pakistani cycling back home from work along the motorway between Corinth and the resort of Loutraki is stopped by two Greeks on a motorbike, who ask him if he is indeed Pakistani. He denies it because he knows that this is the typical way that racist attacks start. Few minutes later a group of six, on three motorbikes, chase him down and hit him with a wooden club. The victim survives, ending up in hospital. When the incident is reported to the police it is dismissed as an inter-Pakistani feud. The police then go on to arrest 10 sans-papiers [immigrants without documents] as they visit their wounded friend in hospital.

20/6: Two kids attack street-sellers in Palaio Faliro, just a few kilometres from Alimos.

21/6, 15:30: In Kalamaki, on the same stretch of the Athens seafront with Palaio Faliro and Alimos, a group of ten thugs dressed in khaki attack immigrant street-sellers

23/6, 13:30-14:30: a GD gang on motorbikes, reach Agios Giorgios Square in the Athens suburb of Nikaia and go to every shop owned by a non-Greek and threaten them to leave. They warn them that in a weeks time, if they are still there, there will be violence. They also go around asking for names of landlords who rent rooms to immigrants. Their visit is closely observed by the police who intervene at no point.

23/6, evening: In the industrial/slumhouse neighbourhood of Elaionas, close to central Athens, an incident between local Greeks and non-Greeks soon escalates, as a group of 20 thugs appear and start chasing the non-Greeks. They hit them with clubs, and then they go to 4 immigrants houses and vandalise them.When police arrive, they arrest the sans-papiers and drive off. A wounded immigrant has to wait for the head of the Pakistani community in Greece to pick him with his car and take him to the hospital. By 23:00 the tensions in the neighbourhood reach new heights and the local ordinary Greeks attack the remaining immigrants. When police arrive they arrest 20 more sans-papiers.

To finish off this small snapshot of immigrant life in Greece, let us mention the following story, that came on the final day of the first post-election week. It gives a taste of how it is for immigrants trying to leave Greece, as all fascists and most Greeks wish them to do.
On June 23, two immigrants were discovered dead, hidden in a truck that came off the Patras to Ancona, Italy, ferry. The two Afghanis had died from suffocation while 18 of their co-travellers were hospitalised with varied degrees of injuries and respirational problems.

Hardly any of the above stories apart from the case in Chania was reported in the mainstream media.

The escalation in violence comes partly as a result of the wider rise of racist, neo-fascist and anti-immigrant politics in Greece in the last months. The elections of 17 June saw for the second time in two months the neo-fascist Golden Dawn (GD) entering the Greek parliament with a slice of the general vote that nears 7%. They also brought to power the conservative New Democracy, under the leadership of Antonis Samaras, a persistent advocate of anti-immigrant and nationalist positions. Theoretically, Samaras Far Right tendencies should be kept in check by his coalition partners of the socialist PASOK, and the reformists of the Democratic Left. But the former have clearly shifted to the anti-immigrant camp in the last couple of years, and the latter suffer at best from the same delusions that all reformists do, forgetting also on the way that they are the smallest party in this political menage a trois.

But there is also a clear strategic decision by the Far-Right to create, through escalation, a perfect racist storm, where separate incidents will gradually combine towards a nationwide pogrom that will not only force immigrants to abandon the country, but that will shift the whole political agenda to the Far Right.

They have to be stopped. This is a far more urgent challenge than the opposition to the austerity measures.


Here are the comments, by the antifascist morons.

Comments
ANARCHIST ANTI-FASICST
anon - Sun, 2012-07-01 11:22

ANARCHIST ANTI-FASICST SOLIDARITY FROM THE NORTHEAST USA!


reply

Enthusiastic post by an
anon - Sun, 2012-07-01 15:00

Enthusiastic post by an american who insists he is an expert on the Greek situation.


reply

Occupied London is written by
anon - Sun, 2012-07-01 22:46

Occupied London is written by Greeks


reply

sounds like it's time for an
anon - Sun, 2012-07-01 16:50

sounds like it's time for an anti-fascist popular insurrection.


reply

There are still many
anon - Sun, 2012-07-01 17:05

There are still many Partisans in good old Serbia, you know... and they got a lotta guns.


reply

Golden Dawn are total shills,
anon - Sun, 2012-07-01 17:02

Golden Dawn are total shills, and about half of Greek cops are into that group. Their front men look more Arab than Greek... Al Qaida tools again? Wouldn't be too surprising.

Anyways, it's time to eradicate these fuckers from Greece. After all, anarchists are ten-fold bigger and popular, all they need now is a bunch of guns. You are into pre-Nazi times... if you keep letting it happen, they'll grow too strong.


reply

Ethnic Greeks range in skin
anon - Mon, 2012-07-02 22:58

Ethnic Greeks range in skin tone from very pale to olive or brown-skinned, this is because of Greece's place between the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Northern Africa. Fascism isn't always pushed forward by blonde whites, but is based, in the very beginnings, on Nationalism. The leaders of Golden Dawn are straight up Greek.

Way to be racist on an articles about racists.


reply

I know... but the
anon - Tue, 2012-07-03 09:24

I know... but the darker-skinned Greeks rather look more like Egyptians or Turks than Arabs. I was just surprised by the looks of the leaders of the Golden Dawn, who could be funnily confused for being Arab immigrants in a racist pogrom if they'd didn't know who they were...

They are not for real anyways... there's proof out there that they've been funded by the secret service since the early '80s at least.
 
Old November 11th, 2012 #2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ironguard1940 View Post
I checked out Golden Dawn's website, but it is all Greek to me. Seriously though, I have only known of this group a short time but the more I research them the more I like about them. Ron Doggett recommends all WNs to study this group and now I see why. We certainly need an American Dawn here or something similar.
They are mighty inspiring, that's for sure. The 12-minute video at post #2001 above also provides us with valuable insights into what we, ourselves, will be engaged in very soon. Well worth viewing.
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Old November 11th, 2012 #2016
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Originally Posted by littlefieldjohn View Post

Expect 40,000 at the next IMIA rally!
 
Old November 11th, 2012 #2017
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Hunger brings perception

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/s...,4494340.story

ATHENS (Reuters) - Three percent of Greeks trust their politicians, according to a new survey which shows rising support for opposition parties across the spectrum, from left-wing SYRIZA to ultra-nationalist Golden Dawn.

According to the KAPA Research poll, SYRIZA, which opposes the government's austerity policies, is the most popular party with 23.1 percent support, up from 20.7 percent in June. Golden Dawn had 10.4 percent support, up from 7.5 percent in June. (Bullshit, it's a lot more than that)

The survey showed that unemployment was the biggest concern for Greeks. According to official figures released on Thursday, Greece's unemployment rate rose to a record 25.4 percent in August, more than double the euro zone average.

Support for the conservative New Democracy party, part of a pro-austerity coalition, fell to 20.6 percent from 23.6.

Only 3 percent of Greeks trusted politicians and two-thirds had a negative view of both the government and opposition-leading SYRIZA, according to the survey released on Friday. (It's pretty obvious that if Golden Dawn was as negatively viewed as SYRIZA they would publish it over and over, but they didn't, which means Golden Dawn probably has more of a favorable stance in Greek eyes than even the globalist friends SYRIZA)

Over two-thirds of the population expect the situation in Greece to deteriorate in the next five years.

However, most people in the Mediterranean state of 10 million people think the present government should be given more time to address the country's problems, the poll showed.

Euro zone finance ministers will meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss whether to release a new tranche of loans to the near-bankrupt country.
 
Old November 12th, 2012 #2018
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[ok been occupied with deer hunters last couple days, back on the beam, we'll be totally caught up on Golden Dawn by end of day]. btw, if your post disappears, it's because it's not relevant. no highjacking on this thread. no tiresome ego trips, jokes that aren't funny, diversions of any type. anything posted will be relevant to golden dawn, greece, europe - the situation. giving your opinion about what's going on is fine, of course]
 
Old November 12th, 2012 #2019
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Default "SPECIAL REPORT-Greece's far-right party goes on the offensive"

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 09:00 GMT

Source: reuters // Reuters

quoteGolden Dawn makes further gains amid nation's economic collapse


By Dina Kyriakidou

ATHENS, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Arm raised in a Nazi-style salute, the leader of Greece's fastest-rising political party surveyed hundreds of young men in black T-shirts as they exploded into cheers. Their battle cry reverberated through the night: Blood! Honour! Golden Dawn!

"We may sometimes raise our hand this way, but these hands are clean, not dirty. They haven't stolen," shouted Nikolaos Mihaloliakos as he stood, floodlit, in front of about 2,000 diehard party followers filling an open-air amphitheatre at Goudi park, a former military camp near Athens.

"We were dozens, then a few hundred. Now we're thousands and it's only the beginning," cried the leader of Golden Dawn, a far-right party that is seeing its support soar amid Greece's economic collapse. Last month's rally revealed the party, which describes itself as nationalist and pledges to expel all illegal foreigners, has a new-found sense of triumph, even a swagger, that some find menacing.

Riding a wave of public anger at corrupt politicians, austerity and illegal immigration, Golden Dawn has seen its popularity double in a few months. A survey by VPRC, an independent polling company, put the party's support at 14 percent in October, compared with the seven percent it won in June's election.

Political analysts see no immediate halt to its meteoric ascent. They warn that Golden Dawn, which denies being neo-Nazi despite openly adopting similar ideology and symbols, may lure as many as one in three Greek voters.

"As long as the political system doesn't change and doesn't put an end to corruption, this phenomenon will not be stemmed," said Costas Panagopoulos, chief of ALCO, another independent polling company. "Golden Dawn can potentially tap up to 30 percent of voters."

The party now lies third in the polls, behind conservative New Democracy and the main opposition, the radical leftist Syriza. Violent behaviour by Golden Dawn members, who often stroll through run-down Athens neighbourhoods harassing immigrants, seems to boost rather than hurt the party's standing.

As the government imposes yet more austerity on an enraged public, the collapse of the ruling conservative-leftist coalition remains on the political horizon. The possibility that Golden Dawn could capture second place in a snap election is slim but real, say pollsters.

Analysts believe that, ultimately, the party lacks the broad appeal and structure needed to gain mass traction. In World War Two Greece suffered massacres and famine in its fight against the Nazis, and the spectre of the 1967-1974 military junta still hangs heavy over its modern politics. So why are many Greeks now turning to a party whose emblems and rhetoric, critics say, resemble Hitler's?

Golden Dawn denies any such resemblance. In an interview with Reuters at an open-air cafe in the Athens district of Papagou, a traditional neighbourhood for military personnel, Ilias Panagiotaros, a Golden Dawn lawmaker and spokesman, explained the party's appeal. "Golden Dawn is the only institution in this country that works. Everything else has stopped working or is partially working," he said.

"We operate like a well-organised army unit, because the military is the best institution in any country."


NO LONGER MARGINAL

Short, squat and combative, Mihaloliakos once praised Hitler and denied the Nazi gas chambers existed. A former special forces commando in the Greek army, he met the leaders of the Greek military junta while in prison for carrying illegal weapons and explosives as a member of a far-right group in 1979.

When pressed on such issues, Golden Dawn says they are all in the past and it is looking to the future.

For years after Mihaloliakos founded the party in 1985 it remained marginal: in the 2009 elections Golden Dawn won just 0.29 percent of the vote, or fewer than 20,000 votes. Yet in June, the party amassed votes from across the political spectrum, wiping out the more moderate nationalist LAOS party and winning support from as far left as the communist KKE party, pollsters said.

Now it is stealing votes from New Democracy, which flip-flopped on the international bailout keeping Greece afloat and, after coming to power, imposed harsh cuts instead of relief measures. Though Golden Dawn attracts mainly urban male voters up to 35 years old, the party is also gaining its share of women and the elderly, primarily those suffering unemployment or falling living standards, say pollsters.

Part of its appeal is down to the sort of welfare work that Hamas, the Palestinian party, does in Gaza. Golden Dawn distributes food in poor neighbourhoods, helps old ladies get money safely from ATMs - and has also set up a Greeks-only blood bank.

One story repeated at cafes, but not verified, is that of a Greek whose house is taken over by immigrants. When he asks the police for help, he is given the Golden Dawn number. Not only do they throw out the squatters but deliver the house clean and painted, the tale goes.

"I voted for Golden Dawn for the first time in June and I will vote for them again because they are the only ones who really care about Greece," said 45-year-old Demetra, an unemployed Athenian, as she walked through the party's rally at Goudi park. "All the other politicians have sold us out."

The gathering was a chance for the party to relish achievements and flex muscle. Well-built youths in black T-shirts emblazoned with the Swastika-like party logo stood in military formation at the entrance. Two men stood to attention on both sides of the podium, flagged with a big sign reading "Getting the stink off the country", while speakers delivered patriotic oratories.

A short film showed highlights of the year, which included attacks on immigrant street vendors, clashes with police outside parliament and food distribution to the poor. When the film showed Golden Dawn lawmaker Ilias Kasidiaris slapping a female communist lawmaker, Liana Kanelli, across the face on live TV, youths bellowed profanities against the victim.

"Golden Dawn's target is simple. We want the absolute majority in parliament so we can replace the constitution with our own," Kasidiaris told the crowd. "It will then be easy to immediately arrest and deport all illegal immigrants."

Pollsters were ready to write off the party when Kasidiaris slapped Kanelli after she swatted him with some papers during a dispute he was having with a Syriza lawmaker. Kasidiaris says he was defending himself; Kanelli says she was coming to the aid of the Syriza lawmaker after Kasidiaris had thrown water at her.

Painting Golden Dawn as an aberration stemming from the financial crisis, pollsters said the party's support would dwindle. The opposite happened - the party gained 3 to 4 percentage points in polls as a direct result of the Kasidiaris incident.








http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/s...-the-offensive
 
Old November 12th, 2012 #2020
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[Associated Press's latest attack on Greek nationalists. In reports like these, you can always find the truth in the bottom 1/4 of the article, and almost always best put in the second to last paragraph. The last paragraph is reserved for the return to the main theme, which is retying the news story back to whichever Agenda item is being emphasized. Here the 'story' is that illegal aliens, deliberately mislabeled immigrants, are being attacked by Greekes. The truth is the opposite: illegal aliens attack Greeks, and nationalists are the response to these attacks]

On streets of Athens, racist attacks increase

AP


Nikitas Kanakis, head of Doctors of the World in Greece, describes how immigrants who have been the victims of racist attacks come to the organization's clinic in central Athens to be treated for their injuries.

The attack came seemingly out of nowhere. As the 28-year-old Bangladeshi man dug around trash bins one recent afternoon for scrap metal, two women and a man set upon him with a knife. He screamed as he fell. Rushed to the hospital, he was treated for a gash to the back of his thigh.

Police are investigating the assault as yet another in a rising wave of extreme-right rage against foreigners as Greece sinks further into economic misery. The details vary, but the cold brutality of each attack is the same - Asian migrants confronted by thugs, attacked with knives and broken bottles, wooden bats and iron rods.

Rights groups warn of an explosion in racist violence over the past year, with a notable surge since national elections in May and June that saw dramatic gains by the far-right Golden Dawn party. The severity of the attacks has increased too, they say. What started as simple fist beatings has now escalated to assaults with metal bars, bats and knives. Another new element — ferocious dogs used to terrorize the victims.

“Violence is getting wilder and wilder and we still have the same pattern of attacks... committed by groups of people in quite an organized way,” said Kostis Papaioannou, former head of the Greek National Commission for Human Rights.

As Greece’s financial crisis drags on for a third year, living standards for the average Greek have plummeted. A quarter of the labour force is out of work, with more than 50 percent of young people unemployed. An increasing number of Greeks can’t afford basic necessities and healthcare. Robberies and burglaries are never out of the news for long.

With Greece a major entry point for hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants seeking a better life in the European Union, foreigners have become a convenient scapegoat.

Some victims turn up at clinics run by charities, recounting experiences of near lynching. Others are afraid to give doctors the details of what happened and even more afraid of going to the police. The more seriously hurt end up in hospitals — white bandages around their heads or plaster casts around broken limbs.

“Every day we see someone who complained of (some form) of racist violence,” said Nikitas Kanakis, president of the Greek section of Doctors of the World, which runs a drop-in clinic and pharmacy in central Athens that treats the uninsured.

Racist attacks are not officially recorded, so statistics are hard to come by. In an effort to plug that gap and sensitize a population numbed by three years of financial crisis, a group of rights groups and charities banded together to document the violence.

They registered 87 cases of racist attacks between January and September, but say the true number runs into the hundreds.

“Most of the time the victims, they don’t want to talk about this, they don’t feel safe,” Kanakis said. “The fear is present and this is the bigger problem.”

Frances William, who heads the tiny Tanzanian community of about 250 people, knows the feeling well.

“People are very, very much afraid,” he said, adding that even going next door to buy bread, “I’m not sure I’ll be safe to come back home.”

The community’s cultural centre was attacked several weeks ago, with amateur video shot from across the street showing a group of muscled men in black T-shirts smashing the entrance. Earlier that day, children standing outside during a birthday party were threatened by a man brandishing a pistol, William said.

The recent elections showed a meteoric rise in popularity of the formerly marginalized Golden Dawn, which went from less than half a percent in 2009 elections to nearly 7 percent of the vote and 18 seats in the country’s 300-member parliament in June.

Campaigning on a promise to “clean up the stench” in Greece, the party whose slogan is “blood, honour, Golden Dawn” has made no secret of its views on migrants - All are in the country illegally and must be deported. Greece’s borders must be sealed with landmines and military patrols, and any Greeks employing or renting property to migrants should face punishment.

The party vehemently denies it is involved in racist attacks.

“The only racist attacks that exist in Greece for the last years are the attacks that illegal immigrants are doing against Greeks,” said Ilias Panagiotaros, a burly Golden Dawn lawmaker who divides his working time between Parliament and his sports shop, which also sells military and police paraphernalia.

The party’s tactics handing out food to poor Greeks, pledging to protect those who feel unprotected by the police are working. Recent opinion polls have shown Golden Dawn’s support rising to between 9 and 12 percent.

In late August, the conservative-led coalition government began addressing the issue of illegal immigration by rounding up migrants. By early November, they had detained more than 48,480 people, arresting 3,672 of them for being in the country illegally.

Rights groups also warn that what started as xenophobic attacks is now spreading to include anyone who might disagree with the hard-right view. Greek society must understand that the far-right rise doesn’t just concern migrants, said Kanakis.

“It has to do with all of us,” he said. “It’s a problem of everyday democracy.”

http://www.thehindu.com/news/interna...cle4090543.ece
 
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