Greece hit the headlines last week after the murder of a left-wing hip hop musician, Pavlos Fyssas, by an associate of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party. Anger at the harsh economic austerity policies imposed on Greece in recent years has led to a growth in support for the far right, with the result that Golden Dawn is now the third-largest party in parliament. Here, the author and journalist Dimitris Psarras tells rationalist.org.uk what the latest events – which have led to calls for a ban on Golden Dawn – mean.
Q: Golden Dawn has already been linked to a string of violent attacks on immigrants. Why is the murder of Pavlos Fyssas, who organised anti-fascist concerts, such a significant development?
A: Unfortunately, the death of a young Greek was needed to trigger this shock to public opinion and to the political system. The truth is that in the week leading up to the murder, Golden Dawn was continuously raising the stakes of violence. Before the murder of Fyssas, 50 Golden Dawn members attacked a group of KKE (Communist Party of Greece) activists who were putting up posters, sending 8 communists to hospital. The attack occurred in Perama, in the same area where Fyssas’s murder took place. On the Sunday before there was a confrontation between Golden Dawn members and other nationalists in the Peloponnese town of Meligalas in a "festival of hatred" to mark "communist crimes" during the civil war. The third step was the murder – which was carried out not by one person but an organised group. With all that, Golden Dawn crossed the limits that any society and any government, even a right-wing one, would tolerate.
Q: The prime minister Antonis Samaras, has vowed not to let the far right “undermine democracy”. Yet the Greek government itself has pursued a strongly anti-immigrant agenda, and has cracked down on civil and political liberties. Does it bear some responsibility for the rise of Golden Dawn?
A: Samaras bears great responsibility for current developments. Despite the fact that he and the public order minister Nikolaos Dendias have been talking for months about neo-Nazis, the government has promoted the so-called “theory of the two extremes”, equating the Nazis’ actions with those of the mass left-wing opposition movement, especially SYRIZA [the second largest party in the Greek parliament]. Even Samaras’s closest adviser, Chrisanthos Lazaridis, said - after the murder of Fyssas - that SYRIZA falls “outside” the constitution! Such statements exonerate Golden Dawn.
Q: Two weeks ago one prominent media commentator even raised the prospect of a future coalition between Golden Dawn and the governing, centre-right New Democracy party. Was that ever likely?
A: Direct collaboration between New Democracy and Golden Dawn was not possible even before the murder (and even less so now). What some New Democracy members did, especially the government’s powerful general secretary Panos Baltakos, was to keep the doors open to Golden Dawn’s views, hoping that in this way some voters who switched their support to the Nazi organization would return to New Democracy during the crucial time of next elections. But it must be remembered that both New Democracy and the centre-left PASOK collaborated with the far-right LAOS party, which also incorporates fascists, in the three-party coalition government led by Lucas Papademos from 2011-2012. Co-operation even between social democrats and the far right is no longer a taboo.
Q: Since its entry to the political mainstream, at the general elections of 2012, Golden Dawn has been trying to build links with the Greek Orthodox Church. How much progress has it made?
A: There are promising developments within the Church. After the first phase, where the old right-wing bishops (of Kalavryta, Konitsa and Piraeus) had made positive noises about the organization, Golden Dawn’s highly provocative Nazi propaganda made most bishops keep a clear distance. Now, both the Archbishop and the majority of bishops have strongly condemned Golden Dawn’s action. Even the right-wing bishop of Piraeus, who was cooperating with them, now claims they are heretics and, ironically [given how anti-Semitic Golden Dawn are] ... “Zionists”.
Q: What is likely to happen now? Will the government ban Golden Dawn?
A: The Greek constitution does not allow the banning of political parties. Greece has a bitter experience from similar bans. The KKE (Communist Party) was banned until the fall of the dictatorship in 1974. Besides, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, the leader of Golden Dawn, has declared for years now that in such cases he will simply rename the organisation. What can be done is to apply the law concerning organised criminal gangs. [There are signs this may now be happening.] Golden Dawn has all the elements of such an organisation and according to the law, its leadership should have already been prosecuted for instigating the murderous attacks, since the organisation works with a strict military discipline. Until now, the government has chosen to crack down on anti-fascists [in line with their ‘two extremes’ theory, that both sides are as bad as one another], but last week’s events make this strategy harder to pursue.
Dimitris Psarras is the author of The Black Book of Golden Dawn, an investigative account of the party’s origins, behaviour and ideology. He is currently working on an English translation
Interview translated by @Inflammatory_
