Rise of Golden Dawn: A presage of doom?

 

As Europe turns a blind eye to the immigration crisis, many impoverished foreigners find themselves trapped in an economically crippled country that can't sustain them, says Hatef Mokhtar.

Hatef Mokhtar is chief editor of The Oslo Times.

"The undisguised extremism promoted by Greece’s neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn is a chilling watershed in its post-war democracy.
Fascist gangs are turning Athens into a city of shifting front lines, seizing on crimes and local protests to promote their own movement, by claiming to be the defenders of recession-ravaged Greece.
An opinion poll published by KAPA Research in October showed that support for the extremist political group had grown from 7.5% of the population in June to 10.4% currently.
The Golden Dawn emerged from political obscurity into the mainstream in May, after winning 7% of the vote in the Greek parliamentary elections. Since then, the country has reportedly witnessed an upsurge in racial violence connected to the right-wing group.

The party has manipulated a weak Greek state and disastrous austerity management by European bureaucrats to become, according to recent polls, the third most popular political party in the country - a noxious omen for the euro zone and a worrying challenge and counterpoint to the very idea of the EU itself, which received this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
Three years ago, Greeks ignored Golden Dawn, seeing its members as neo-Nazi thugs waging war against migrants and giving it a miserable 0.29% of the vote.
Last year, however, Golden Dawn - rebranded as an anti-austerity party - won nearly 7% and secured 18 of the 300 seats in Parliament.
Its ascent has continued in opinion surveys despite its parliamentary deputies' being filmed attacking immigrant vendors and demanding that all non-Greek children be kicked out of day-care centres and hospitals.

As the cash-strapped government struggles to offer its citizens basic services, Golden Dawn has set up parastate organisations to police the streets, donate to Greek-only blood banks and help unemployed Greeks find jobs.
The party has also promised to cancel household debt for the unemployed and low-wage earners. "Soon we'll be running this country," says Ilias Panagiotaros, a beefy 38-year-old army-supply-shop owner who is now a Golden Dawn parliamentary deputy representing Athens.

http://www.euractiv.com/general/rise-golden-dawn-presage-doom-analysis-517582