Greek police send crime victims to neo-Nazi 'protectors'

[Zaune]

The Guardian

Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party is increasingly assuming the role of law enforcement officers on the streets of the bankrupt country, with mounting evidence that Athenians are being openly directed by police to seek help from the neo-Nazi group, analysts, activists and lawyers say.

In return, a growing number of Greek crime victims have come to see the party, whose symbol bears an uncanny resemblance to the swastika, as a "protector".

One victim of crime, an eloquent US-trained civil servant, told the Guardian of her family's shock at being referred to the party when her mother recently called the police following an incident involving Albanian immigrants in their downtown apartment block.

"They immediately said if it's an issue with immigrants go to Golden Dawn," said the 38-year-old, who fearing for her job and safety, spoke only on condition of anonymity. "We don't condone Golden Dawn but there is an acute social problem that has come with the breakdown of feeling of security among lower and middle class people in the urban centre," she told the Guardian. "If the police and official mechanism can't deliver and there is no recourse to justice, then you have to turn to other maverick solutions."

Other Greeks with similar experiences said the far-rightists, catapulted into parliament on a ticket of tackling "immigrant scum" were simply doing the job of a defunct state that had left a growing number feeling overwhelmed by a "sense of powerlessness". "Nature hates vacuums and Golden Dawn is just filling a vacuum that no other party is addressing," one woman lamented. "It gives 'little people' a sense that they can survive, that they are safe in their own homes."

Far from being tamed, parliamentary legitimacy appears only to have emboldened the extremists. In recent weeks racially-motivated attacks have proliferated. Immigrants have spoken of their fear of roaming the streets at night following a spate of attacks by black-clad men on motorbikes. Street vendors from Africa and Asia have also been targeted.

"For a lot of people in poorer neighbourhoods we are liberators," crowed Yiannis Lagos, one of 18 MPs from the stridently patriot "popular nationalist movement" to enter the 300-seat house in June. "The state does nothing," he told a TV chat show, adding that Golden Dawn was the only party that was helping Greeks, hit by record levels of poverty and unemployment, on the ground. Through an expansive social outreach programme, which also includes providing services to the elderly in crime-ridden areas, the group regularly distributes food and clothes parcels to the needy.

But the hand-outs come at a price: allegiance to Golden Dawn. "A friend who was being seriously harassed by her husband and was referred to the party by the police very soon found herself giving it clothes and food in return," said a Greek teacher, who, citing the worsening environment enveloping the country, again spoke only on condition of anonymity. "She's a liberal and certainly no racist and is disgusted by what she has had to do."

The strategy, however, appears to be paying off. On the back of widespread anger over biting austerity measures that have also hit the poorest hardest, the popularity of the far-rightists has grown dramatically with polls indicating a surge in support for the party.

One survey last week showed a near doubling in the number of people voicing "positive opinions" about Golden Dawn, up from 12% in May to 22%. The popularity of Nikos Michaloliakos, the party's rabble-rousing leader had shot up by 8 points, much more than any other party leader.

Paschos Mandravelis, a prominent political analyst, attributed the rise in part to the symbiotic relationship between the police and Golden Dawn. "Greeks haven't turned extremist overnight. A lot of the party's backing comes from the police, young recruits who are a-political and know nothing about the Nazis or Hitler," he said. "For them, Golden Dawn supporters are their only allies on the frontline when there are clashes between riot police and leftists."

Riding the wave, the party has taken steps to set up branches among diaspora Greek communities abroad, opening an office in New York last week. Others are expected to open in Australia and Canada. Cadres say they are seeing particular momentum in support from women.

With Greeks becoming ever more radicalised, the conservative-led government has also clamped down on illegal immigration, detaining thousands in camps and increasing patrols along the country's land and sea frontier with Turkey.

But in an environment of ever increasing hate speech and mounting tensions, the party's heavy-handedness is also causing divisions. A threat by Golden Dawn to conduct raids against vendors attending an annual fair in the town of Arta this weekend has caused uproar.

"They say they have received complaints about immigrant vendors from shop owners here but that is simply untrue," said socialist mayor Yiannis Papalexis. "Extra police have been sent down from Athens and if they come they will be met by leftists who have said they will beat them up with clubs. I worry for the stability of my country."

Seated in her office beneath the Acropolis, Anna Diamantopoulou, a former EU commissioner, shakes her head in disbelief. Despair, she says, has brought Greece to a dangerous place.

"I never imagined that something like Golden Dawn would happen here, that Greeks could vote for such people," she sighed. "This policy they have of giving food only to the Greeks and blood only to the Greeks. The whole package is terrifying. This is a party based on hate of 'the other'. Now 'the other' is immigrants, but who will 'the other' be tomorrow?"

Well, that's just fucking wonderful.

[mr friendly guy]

A lot of the party's backing comes from the police, young recruits who are a-political and know nothing about the Nazis or Hitler," he said.

How could young people not know anything about Hitler or the Nazi? I don't remember it being taught in school, but even as a kid I knew who Hitler was. I might not have been aware of how horrendous the final solution was until years later, but certainly as an adult I knew of the atrocities by the Nazis. What the hell is wrong with these people?

[Sea Skimmer]

The German occupation is extra ironic because the Greek currency collapsed, and the Germans propped it back up with a supply of Swiss gold francs. They did this for several other occupied nations too. But yeah, history repeats!

Hundreds of thousands of Greeks also outright starved to death in WW2.

[Dr. Trainwreck]

The country has always been right-leaning. In the years since WWII, we've had a fascist dictatorship (1936-41), a rightwing victory in the civil war (46-49) and a military junta (67-74), during all of which the Communist Party was outlawed and you needed an official 'certificate of patriotism' to become a public servant. Army and police were geared towards suppressing an internal enemy, and the state officially celebrated the rightwing victory that "saved the country from Bolshevism".

Then we had democratic governments, whose great sin was indifference. Although the junta carefully installed its people in every branch of government. Nobody purged the army, or stopped the indoctrination in military academies. The same thing happened in the police. You know what police academies are called by some Greeks? Cow schools. All these things were built on for thirty-eight years, but no government actually tried to put an end to this.

The historic lesson was important, because it is true that Greeks didn't turn into fascists overnight; they were ready to slip for a long time. Also, official policy regarding immigration always was to do nothing, which let these people flock to low-rent neighborhoods, create ghettos, and alienate a populace that was used to national uniformity (read: no foreigners at all) since the twenties and was quite racist. Combine this with the recent breakdown of public services and the neo-Nazis' tendency to play the strongman, and you see what happens. Ultimately it is their vigour and confidence that wins them votes.

How could young people not know anything about Hitler or the Nazi? I don't remember it being taught in school, but even as a kid I knew who Hitler was. I might not have been aware of how horrendous the final solution was until years later, but certainly as an adult I knew of the atrocities by the Nazis. What the hell is wrong with these people?

I've talked to such people. Would you believe their attitude was "nobody cares because I'm not the one getting beaten up"? I even gave them Niemoller's quote, and they said "yeah, how do you know they'll come for me in the end?" They seriously don't give a fuck, they've been raised to think everything is someone else's fault; we're an entire country that operates on that principle, to the point that caring marks you as weird.

[Tiriol]

Is it possible that Hitler and Nazis have become such mythical bogeymen that nobody takes the possibility of it happening again seriously, because surely such evil monsters would be stopped? And that surelt the Golden Dawn isn't as bad as the SA and the SS?

[Stark]

It's probably more that being entitled and short-sighted is always the atmosphere for this kind of thing. Honestly, high-level politicians being surprised about it is the only thing that surprises me about the situation, but its clear that the rest of Europe has done a great job of not really paying attention for some time.

[Sephirius]

Glad to see that EU thing is working out so well for everyone.

[Stark]

In all seriousness, how is this an EU issue beyond accepting Greece at all? Wasn't this going to happen either way?

Unless you're just shitposting, I mean.

[Thanas]

^Definitely shitposting.

Unless the EU is the great black helicopter in the night power that conspiracy theorists claim it is, erasing all sovereignty and reengineering society on a vast scale, I don't see how the EU is to blame for a part of the greek populace being idiots.

[K. A. Pital]

I'd say the Greek neo-fascist regime of the colonels and British actions in the 40s are here more to blame than the EU. Although current and prior EU policies with regard to all of periphery, not just Greece, are certainly contributing.

[Sephirius]

Unless the EU is the great black helicopter in the night power that conspiracy theorists claim it is, erasing all sovereignty and reengineering society on a vast scale, I don't see how the EU is to blame for a part of the greek populace being idiots.

Way to strawman. 'Reengineering society' is a good term though though, except replace the latter word with 'financially' or 'economically' and it's closer to what is going on.

[Thanas]

Please explain how the EU is the driving cause for neo-Nazis to rise.

[Dr. Trainwreck]

Please explain how the EU is the driving cause for neo-Nazis to rise.

Austerity. All it does is destroy Greece and drive people to despair. Some of those people are Nazi fucktards, but point is, if the situation was better and mainstream parties could credibly promise a better future, they'd compromise their ideals somewhat and vote for the mainstream Right. I've already said how such people always existed here, and back in the days you would find surprisingly extreme people in mainstream parties.

So yes, the EU and the IMF are certainly to blame for the hatched egg, in that they created the conditions. Whether they wanted it or not means little for someone stabbed in a backstreet because he was dark skinned, a leftist, or didn't speak Greek quite "properly" (fuck, I wouldn't put it past the Golden Dawn to stab a Cypriot). But for whether these fascists already existed or not, Stas Bush is 101% right.

[Thanas]

^As if it is the EU's fault that Greece could not use its money responsibly.

[Jub]

Or that Greece lied to get into the EU at all.

[Stark]

I think he's looking from the other perspective; that given the poor situation in Greece, these measures lead to this reaction given the weak government, social attitudes, etc.

[Sea Skimmer]

Or that Greece lied to get into the EU at all.

It lied to get into the Eurozone. However had the relevant Eurozone leaders in fact followed the zones own written rules on debt-GDP ratio, they wouldn't have been allowed into the Eurozone even with the lies. Without all that the Greeks would have been facing this crisis earlier, and maybe not so badly. Still the Greeks fault, but the Eurozone certainly made it worse.

[Thanas]

I think he's looking from the other perspective; that given the poor situation in Greece, these measures lead to this reaction given the weak government, social attitudes, etc.

Yeah, but that is kinda like blaming the doctor for performing an amputation after you contracted gangrene.

[Stark]

Except the arm in this case is a local country with millions of people living there?

TBH amputating Greece was probably a good idea years ago. Now the country is fucked and they're going to blame the EU no matter what happens.

[Thanas]

Oh man, my analogy kinda failed there, considering I am one of those who thinks kicking Greece out solves nothing.

[Stark]

I'd like to ask Stas and the Greeks who've thought about this issue what they think the best outcome is for Greece and Greeks. I mean, it'd be pretty daft if the EU guys make themselves mega unpopular and then kick Greece out after wasting huge sums of money paying their bills because whoops they're fascists. But what paths forward are left?

[Zaune]

For the benefit of someone who actively avoids English-language news articles about Europe for mental health reasons, is it the EU or the German government that's pushing for any bailout of Greece to be conditional on the austerity measures that pretty much everyone agrees are counter-productive?

[Thanas]

Hard to say, but at the moment looks like it is mainly Germany. Which is not surprising considering it is mainly our money and our name that guarantee the whole thing.

Edit: The problem is that Germany simply saying "We'll cover everything, no questions asked, just put it on our tab" is never going to fly in internal German politics for a majority of reasons. One of those reasons being that we already delayed investments in our own debt and infrastructure in favor of financing the greeks.

Another problem is that nobody trusts the Greek Government or the Greek public anymore due to both being incompetent. Plus, there is the whole "Nazi" spiel they tried to run.

[bobalot]

Who could have possibly foreseen that extreme economic hardship will give rise to extremist parties? or that austerity during a recession will only further depress an already depressed economy?

It's not like any of this has happened before.

[Jub]

Who could have possibly foreseen that extreme economic hardship will give rise to extremist parties? or that austerity during a recession will only further depress an already depressed economy?

It's not like any of this has happened before.

So why should the rest of the EU care at the point? Greece and her citizens made their bed with decades of bad choices, now they get to live with it.