The arrest of "Golden Dawn" leaders by a far right government

The supreme court of Greece decided that “golden dawn” is a criminal organization. 34 warrents were issued for arrests of main GD members including the nazis’ leader, Michaloliakos, most of its MPs and leaders of storm squadrons in various districts. Three illegal weapons were found in Michaloliakos’ home plus the amount of about 45000 euros in cash -a sum that may be related to illegal activities or to the unofficial support funding that golden dawn received from businesses and the underworld. Few nazi supporters were gathered outside the police headquarters in Athens, a sign that shows that despite its popularity, the particular organization could not mobilize mass active support and most of its basis are spitefull pety bourgeois citizens.

Is this the begining of the end of nazi rise in crisis-struck Greece though? Can the nazis be stopped by a government with many of its members having a direct fascist past? A government that continuously violates the political, social and human rights of its citizens, a government that implements policies that deepen social injustices to serve capital’s demands, or a government that attempts to equate fascist violence to leftist politics as well as to social movements’ activities for freedom, justice and equality?

The nazis of golden dawn played a convinient role to Greece’s austerity governments: their ‘antisystemic’ facade, the organization’s fat and empty talk, the publicity performances of golden dawn members, all attracted the attention of several citizens that found themselves in despair due to the catastrophes of austerity; golden dawn managed to cumulate their anger. Golden dawn was able to divert a portion of the Greek society from the identification and critique of the sources of its immizeration, the capitalist elites of Greece and the EU and their political representators. This way, golden dawn haulted the popular struggles that begun developing during 2011-2012, against the capitalist assault to the Greek society, allowing capital and its political representatives to continue their fierce class war against the poor and the middle classes in Greece and elsewhere, making Greece a test tube of neoliberalism and an example to terrorise others abroad. Not only that but behind its empty words and its goebbelistic lies and distractions, golden dawn offered open support to businesses, shipowners and industrialists. Through its  ‘patriotic’ cries, golden dawn pushed its sympathisers towards a pointless witch-hunt of the Left and migrants. Furthermore, golden dawn served as the state’s long arm, to attack and to terrorise resistances against never-ending austerity and dispropriation policies in the country. We need to remember that crisis-politics and emergency politics circumvent democratic rights, while austerity requires various degrees of totalitarian governing in order to progress its injust strategies and interests against the majority of the population.

It is also important to note that the decision to finally implement the existing law and persecute leading nazi figures of contemporary Greece, representing an organization that is responsible for at least 5 murders over the past 3 years (recent police reports state that there are a hundred of cases of missing migrants, something that may also relate to the murderous activities of golden dawn), as well as for countless of violent attacks towards various people and the spilling of hate speech propaganda to society, is a decision applied by an extreme right wing government with many known fascists performing the role of ‘democratic’ ministers, MPs and advisors. The particular government, as much as the EU and its neoliberal agents, tolerated and contributed to the rise of the nazis and were also aware of its criminal activity and golden dawn’s ties to the state, the police, and the military. It is also a fact that Greek state apparatuses have funded nazis like Michaloliakos during the 1980’s and 1990’s in order to strike the social movements of the country in critical moments of social struggle and unrest.

The picture below shows the governing party’s (New Democracy) MP, Makis Voridis in an image from his 1980’s fascist militant activity, while being a member of the EPEN party founded by the former dictator Georgios Papadopoulos from prison. Voridis along with golden dan’s leader Michaloliakos were both companions in the same party, both enjoying Papadopoulos admiration. Michaloliakos though left the group to pursue a nazi approach to fascism. In the picture below, Voridis is holding a self-made axe while chasing leftist demonstrators, along with his fascist companions. The particular figure, who was also an associate of Jean Mari Lepen and later an MP for LAOS far right party – succeeded by golden dawn in the parliament – is looked upon by many in his party as the future leader of New Democracy after Samaras. Voridis is a neo-fascist neoliberal politician that advocates for extreme austerity as a way to curb social resistances through “free market” automation and to establish deep social conservativism and a quasi-militaristic society, where citizens will live with minimum rights and accept (the unequal and exploitative) class structure as “natural”.

In the recent video below, the notorious television book-seller of conspiracy theory and anti-semitic books, Adonis Georgiadis, former LAOS deputy, now in the role of ‘the minister of health’ (!) for the current government of Samaras, is interviewed by the BBC on his past in a far right, antisemitic party:

In an older video below, the same figure is incarnating his former role, a private TV book seller, while advertising a book entitled ‘Jews, the whole truth’ (sic), written by the most famous Greek nazi appologist and Holocaust denier, Kostas Plevris, an individual with extensive parastate history. Adonis Georgiadis, who in the past has admitted that Kostas Plevris was his ‘mentor’, is currently serving the Troika’s plans to sell out the public health system to big capitalists in health, along with Plevris’ son another far right extremist named Thanos Plevris.

In the video below, Adonis Georgiadis advertises Kostas Plavris’ book ‘Jews, the whole truth’ (sic):

The current Greek government may be trying to harvest the fruits grown by the work of the broader antifascist movement that developed in Greece and abroad, against the fascist threat, and present it as its own accomplishment. This way Samaras’ government can present itself as a stability force in Greece, curb the threat posed to it by Syriza and social movements, and further pursue its policies of social immizeration, while continue developing its ‘theory of extremes’ in expanding the punitive and control apparatuses of the state towards its main threat, the Left. Yet, the policies that this government supports are those that augmented fascism in the first place. A persecution of golden dawn members may not curb the spreading of fascist ideology and fascist practices in the functions of state apparatuses and in the level of everyday life, if social immizeration and pauperisation advanced by neoliberal capitalism and its crisis, are not overthrown. Possibly Samara’s government wishes to monopolise fascism to the level of excersises of a totalitarian state, while doing away with its most militant wings such as the parastate activities of golden dawn.

The social movements need to continue developing their anticapitalist work which also needs to be antifascist and internationalist.

Antifascista, alerta!