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Greece: The menace of Golden Dawn
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Dec 30, 2012
By Amalia Ioizidou |
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Greece
has a proud anti-fascist history and yet, in 2012, a neo-fascist party, Golden
Dawn, won 7% of the vote (over 400,000 votes), and 18 members of
parliament.
Amalia Loizidou, first published in "Socialism Today", magazine of the Socialist Party (CWI England and
Wales)
 Even in villages that had been wiped out by the
Nazis in the second world war, such as Distomo and Kalavryta, Golden Dawn
averaged 6%. Why is this happening? Can it be stopped, and how? Below are
extracts from articles by Xekinima (CWI
in Greece), collated and translated for "Socialism Today" by AMALIA
IOIZIDOU.
GOLDEN DAWN IS a neo-fascist party, a gang of thugs and criminals. Their
leader, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, has a criminal record, most notably for planting
bombs in cinemas that showed left-wing films. Recently, it was revealed that he
is the co-owner of a hotel that operates as a brothel. Other members of Golden
Dawn’s leadership have also been convicted for criminal offenses. Currently,
there are court cases on-going against four of its MPs.
Many commentators expected Golden Dawn to moderate its public violence upon
entering parliament. In fact, its hooligan behavior has increased, with 63
attacks within two months. It followed up its electoral success with a
near-fatal arson attack on an abandoned factory used as a refuge for immigrants
in Patras. There are daily reports of attacks against immigrants and
anti-fascist activists. In parliamentary speeches, Golden Dawn MPs have
threatened school student occupations. Its members have leafleted gay bars with
the sinister threat ‘you are next’.
Even the international media were forced to take notice when Golden Dawn
members attacked a theater cast and audience of a play it judged to be
blasphemous. In an echo of the 1930s they have injured members of left parties
and organisations during activities to build for the last 48-hour strike (6/7
November). This follows on from the infamous scenes of Golden Dawn spokesman,
Elias Kasidiaris, physically attacking Rena Dourou, a woman candidate for the
Syriza radical left coalition party, and Liana Kanelli, a female MP for the KKE
(Communist Party), live on TV.
Turning point
THE TURNING POINT for Golden Dawn, however, was not the most recent general
elections in May and June. It was the municipal elections in Athens in 2010. Its
leader, Michaloliakos, was elected as a councilor with 5.27% of the vote – in
contrast to the 0.51% it got in the 2009 national elections. This gave Golden
Dawn a certain legitimacy in the eyes of some Greeks by changing the image they
had of being merely a marginalized group of extremist thugs.
Undoubtedly, the desperate social and economic situation in Greece has fueled
the rise of Golden Dawn. But the crisis alone does not entirely explain its
sudden growth. It is also necessary to understand the tactics that Golden Dawn
has used and the failings of mainstream and left parties to offer a way out of
the crisis. As long as there are absolutely deprived areas with massive poverty
and unemployment then problems will arise in relation to criminality and general
social breakdown. In these conditions, Golden Dawn and fascism in general have a
golden opportunity to rise.
Golden Dawn’s electoral success in 2010 was the result of consistent local
campaigns it had launched in the deprived neighborhoods. Whose fault is it, they
endlessly asked, that these areas are deprived? Whose fault is it that there is
such extreme poverty, unemployment, criminality, and no hope for the future? Its
answer, of course, is to blame immigrants and foreigners, not the big-business
bosses or capitalists. On the basis of this propaganda, Golden Dawn intervened
in schools. It went petitioning. It went door to door and organised
demonstrations. This was the way it built its electoral profile and recruited
supporters.
Anti-austerity rhetoric
GOLDEN DAWN HAS also been aided in its rise by the use of anti-austerity
rhetoric. In Greece, support for the far-right over the past few years was
expressed in a party called LAOS (Popular Orthodox Rally). But LAOS voted in
favor of the first memorandum of cut-backs dictated by the troika – the European
Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund. It also
participated in the coalition government of the appointed technocrat prime
minister, Lucas Papademos (in office from November 2011 to May 2012). Following
this, LAOS was seen as an ally of the troika and on the side of the memorandum.
As a result, it plunged into crisis and lost out to Golden Dawn. The more
traditional far-right currents moved towards Golden Dawn as the ‘most authentic’
version of Greek nationalism.
Golden Dawn clearly understood that allowing the left to monopolize the
anti-austerity movement would give it a huge advantage in the battles for hearts
and minds. Positioning itself against the memorandum meant being on the side of
the massive anti-austerity current that is developing within Greek society. This
is how the Golden Dawn had the chance to have, according to its own website, its
“most militant sections acting in the, until now, ‘red areas’.”
Most of its supporters are young people who have nothing left to hope for.
Over half of the youth in Greece are currently unemployed. Those in employment
mostly work in horrible conditions, in precarious jobs and on extremely low
wages. Golden Dawn had its best results among students and youth (9.5%), farmers
(9.3%) and unemployed (9.1%). It is seen as providing easy answers to their
problems – blaming immigrants – and as a party that is against corrupt
politicians.
Yet, despite its boasts, Golden Dawn has not even touched a hair of any
government politician, bankers, etc. The only ones its members threaten, and
have physically attacked, are politicians of the left parties. Alarmingly, one
out of every two police officers voted for Golden Dawn. It is widely known that
the Greek police, especially the riot police (MAT), have close relationships
with Golden Dawn. Recently published documents prove this. This is illustrated
by the fact that when Golden Dawn members are on the streets they do not get
attacked by the police like other demonstrators. On the contrary, they are being
protected by the MAT.
Golden Dawn’s obvious slogans are ‘foreigners out’ and ‘Greece for the
Greeks’. It also proclaims ‘Golden Dawn against everyone’. That slogan should
really be ‘Golden Dawn against anyone that fights back’. The rest – ship-owners,
big business, and capitalism in general – have nothing to fear. In parliament,
Golden Dawn has backed increased tax relief for the ship-owners while, in
Athens, it allocated publicly-owned municipal parking for use by private
companies. Many other similar examples could be listed.
Last spring, Golden Dawn members provoked media workers by circling their
demonstration on scooters, insulting the workers, giving Nazi salutes, and
making obscene gestures. On 7 November in Volos, they were waiting outside of
their offices for the participants of the general strike demo, holding clubs in
their hands. On this occasion the demo was too big for them to be able to attack
it. They also threatened teachers’ union officials because of their support for
anti-fascist action.
This also has a theoretical expression. In a number of Golden Dawn website
articles it is made clear that it is against strikes on the grounds that strikes
create “hatred among fellow Greeks”. It has declared publicly that it opposes
specific strikes in specific workplaces, factories, etc. Its dominant theme is
that all Greeks are of the same nation, blood and race – not that there are poor
and rich, workers and bosses, oppressed and oppressors. According to Golden
Dawn, therefore, Greeks must sit tight because, when they strike or demonstrate,
they “serve the division that the system wants”. This position is not at all
different from the government’s and the bosses’, of the system and the
establishment.
The clearest proof for all of the above is the consistent absence of the
Golden Dawn from the mobilizations of the workers’ and youth over the past
two-and-a-half years, in all the general strikes, massive demonstrations,
occupations of the squares, etc.
Refugees, immigrants and ultra-nationalism
GOLDEN DAWN’S ultra-nationalism finds its expression in a virulent and
xenophobic campaign against refugees and immigrants, demanding their complete
removal from Greece. It claims that this is the only way to solve unemployment,
poverty and criminality. Golden Dawn tries to present itself as a solution to
these problems in an utterly racist fashion. For example, it accompanies old
ladies to cashpoints and to the banks to collect their pensions offering them
‘protection’ against so-called ‘foreign thugs’. Yet, over the last two years,
unemployment has tripled without a respective increase in the number of
immigrants and refugees. In fact, many have sought a better life elsewhere.
Golden Dawn says: “Big problems demand extreme solutions. A revolutionary
vanguard is necessary to destroy the rotten political establishment. This
vanguard, after the disappearance of the so-called ‘revolutionary left’, can
only be nationalist”. Its demagogy is full of nationalism, with scenarios
denouncing ‘traitors’ and ‘conspiracies against the nation’. The irony is that
Greek capitalism (the ruling class) has already compromised with the
neo-colonialism of the troika and its lenders. This is not unique to Greek
capitalism, as it is a central characteristic of the way global capitalism
functions. The weaker bourgeois classes historically survived by choosing more
powerful bourgeois classes as their ‘protectors’.
Golden Dawn’s ‘revolution’, and its view of the ‘destruction’ of the
establishment, sees no role for the millions of workers, oppressed and young
people. It sees it as the work of the ‘nationalist vanguard’, which will impose
the model of Mussolini, Hitler and the junta of the colonels, which ruled Greece
from 1967-74. In reality, the role of Golden Dawn in the event of
counter-revolution, would be as a deadly auxiliary to the military and other
reactionary state forces.
In relation to the central question of the Greek crisis and austerity, Golden
Dawn’s position really is for a renegotiation of the memorandum. It does not
call for a repudiation of the debt because it does not want to clash with Greek
capital, which it considers as the locomotive of the economy. Greek capital, for
its part, does not want to and cannot clash with its bosses in Germany, the EU,
the USA, etc.
Failure of the left
THE RISE OF Golden Dawn – and, generally, of the rise of racism, nationalism,
the far-right and neo-fascism throughout Europe and elsewhere – is also the
result of the failure of the left to respond to the urgent needs of the workers
in the worst crisis of capitalism in a generation and the consequent defeats of
the movement.
In Greece there was an underestimation of Golden Dawn and the dangers it
represented. The left often merely denounced violent attacks, pointing at the
historic experience of fascism, or limited itself to a narrow ‘humanitarian’ and
not at all class-based and internationalist understanding of immigration.
Additionally, the left’s political absence in the deprived neighborhoods left
a vacuum to be filled by Golden Dawn, which had a consistent presence and daily
activity in those areas. There was also a superficial belief that a
demonstration through those neighborhoods would be enough to ‘exile’ Golden Dawn
from the area.
Most of all there was a refusal of the major forces of the left to unite and
create common residents’ committees of both Greek and immigrants, which would
develop a plan on how to face their common issues. The combined power of the
different left parties and organisations was never used to develop initiatives
and actions that would unite the workers and youth, including the refugees and
immigrants, of these areas.
How can the Golden Dawn be stopped?
FOR MANY YEARS Xekinima (CWI in
Greece) has been active around anti-racism and anti-fascism. It called for a
united front of the left, the trade unions, and the movement against Golden Dawn
even before it managed to establish itself as a party with elected
representatives. The situation today is even more serious. What is needed is a
new big anti-fascist effort. The united participation and common action of the
left is crucial. Xekinima has repeatedly
called for this with concrete proposals, before the last elections and the huge
electoral rise of the Golden Dawn.
After the elections, Xekinima put
forward the following steps to make this a reality: the creation of anti-fascist
committees in every neighborhood, workplace, school and university; the creation
of self-defense groups in areas which have become dangerous for left and
anti-fascist activists; for the campaign to be systematic to counteract the
neo-fascists’ daily propaganda within the neighborhoods; and the need for Greeks
and immigrants to unite in a common struggle in order to tackle their common
problems.
Xekinima also proposes a motion in the
trade unions calling for members of neo-fascist organisations, especially Golden
Dawn, to be barred from membership. This became a tradition after the fall of
the junta in the 1970s, both in the workplaces and student unions. It is
important that such decisions are taken in the union branches, in order to
protect the workers’ struggles that are developing and that will inevitably rise
in the future.
A number of anti-fascist committees are being set up in different areas of
Athens and other cities. Xekinima has
taken the initiative for the creation of some of these committees. It is
noticeable that local activists from different organisations are endorsing this
effort. Additionally, the role that the teachers’ union has played in a number
of areas is also significant, including taking the decision, officially, to take
up the issue of anti-fascism in the schools and with students.
Unfortunately, the main left parties (Syriza and the KKE) have not responded
to this danger urgently enough. The KKE is tackling this issue with its usual
sectarian approach. Syriza had mentioned the need for anti-fascist action but
without any organised initiatives, apart from those taken by some of its
components separately. However Syriza’s central secretariat has recently changed
its stand and is now in favor of anti-fascist committees.
In addition, there are other smaller left organisations that either do not
comprehend the importance of anti-fascist struggle or, when they do participate,
try to hijack them or function in such a way that they obstruct the movement
instead of helping it (such as the Greek SWP).
Historically, fascism has found fertile ground to grow in times of austerity,
mass poverty and unemployment. This is why it is crucial to combine our
programme and tactics in relation to anti-fascist action with a programme
against cuts and austerity, and against the core of this problem which is
systemic. The problem, in other words, is capitalism. Capitalism, as a last
resort, will again turn to a dictatorial regime to preserve itself. The
capitalists will not hand over power to fascistic forces like Golden Dawn, but
they will use them as an auxiliary to the military, riot police, etc, as a
lethal weapon against the workers’ organisations. The working class in Greece is
far from being defeated, but political mistakes can lead to defeats, as in
Germany in the past. That is why the above are very important developments.
Firstly, the left in Greece must patiently explain the phenomenon of
migration. Whose fault is it that there are deprived areas with poverty and
homeless immigrants? It needs to explain why this phenomenon will not stop as
long as there is poverty, hunger and wars. If done correctly, such an
explanation can even attract sections of society that have been affected by
Golden Dawn’s propaganda. Besides, Greece is a country whose population in the
past had migrated in waves, and whose youth is again leaving (or trying to) to
go abroad because of the crisis.
However, it is also crucial to have a socialist programme in the agenda. It
is necessary to explain persistently and patiently who is to be blamed for the
crisis and austerity. The real positions of Golden Dawn have to be exposed
consistently. It is not against the memorandum, as it tries to present itself,
but against workers’ mobilizations and the movement of resistance.
It is necessary also to oppose all cuts and austerity, to demand money for
the needs of society and not for the bankers. A state needs to be organised in a
way that drug and people trafficking networks are punished instead of the
victims, a justice system that will also punish all police officers who
collaborate in racist acts, as well as the neo-fascists. All of these must be
linked with the need to develop a planned, democratically controlled economy on
the basis of the needs of the big majority of the population and not a handful
of families and big multinationals.
Greeks should refuse to pay the debt. Then they should move to the
nationalization of the banking system and all strategic units and big
businesses, under democratic workers’ control with absolute transparency. Such a
solution would act as an inspiration to other workers across Europe struggling
against austerity. It would be a beginning to establishing a socialist
confederation of Europe which will put an end to the nightmarish existence of a
capitalist Europe united only by poverty and
unemployment.
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