Golden Dawn prepares for election race
Neo-nazi plans to run for Athens mayor despite racism charges
Sitting in a cramped office decorated in Greece’s blue-and-white national colours, Ilias Kasidiaris talks about his plans to run for mayor of Athens – from a prison cell.
“The government’s aim is to put me in jail before the elections so that I don’t have the right to speak in public,” he says. “But I will still be a candidate unless they pass a special law stripping me of my political rights.
Such are the campaign considerations these days for Greece’s far-rightGolden Dawn party. Its neo-Nazi founder, Nikos Mihaloliakos, is already in jail awaiting trial on charges of running a criminal organisation.
As a result, Mr Kasidiaris, the party spokesman, has acquired the role of acting leader even though he, too, faces criminal charges. A former Greek army commando, the 35-year-old shot to prominence during a general election campaign in 2012, when he threw a glass of water at a leftwing parliamentary candidate and slapped a former communist lawmaker on a breakfast television show.
He is accused of racism and hate speech, yet video-clips on You Tube of his speeches in parliament attract hundreds of thousands of hits.
“We are not extremists, fascists or neo-Nazis, as they claim. They just want to block a popular nationalist organisation. And unfortunately there are judges in Greece who serve political interests,” Mr Kasidiaris said in an interview at the party’s headquarters, a modest Athens office building whose most remarkable feature is a heavy steel door securing its entrance.
Support for Golden Dawn fell sharply after a party supporter confessed to the fatal stabbing last year of Pavlos Fyssas, an anti-fascist rapper, following an argument in a bar. Yet it has since rebounded to about 10 per cent, according to recent opinion polls.
The revenge killing of two Golden Dawn members in a drive-by shooting outside a party office in suburban Athens, which was claimed by a leftwing extremist group, triggered a wave of sympathy.
Some analysts now predict that Golden Dawn could win 15-20 per cent of the vote in May’s European parliament elections – even challenging the centre-right New Democracy party of Antonis Samaras, the prime minister, for second place behind the far-left Syriza party, the main opposition.
Based on its alleged criminal activity, it is widely expected that Golden Dawn will be banned from participating in that contest. Yet the party has already drawn up a contingency plan to ensure its survival: A new political party, National Dawn, was officially registered last month by 200 Greeks who are supporters but not members of Golden Dawn.
“The government wants to outlaw Golden Dawn, which would amount to a coup and be destructive of the political system. National Dawn has been set up to represent the millions of Greek patriots in this country and contest the elections if we are banned,” he said.
“National Dawn will run a full list of very reputable candidates – retired army generals, university professors, respected doctors. They’ll get strong support from the rising numbers of nationalist voters in Greece,” he added.
The popularity of a party with neo-Nazi roots and symbols in a country brutalised by the Nazi Germany in the second world war may confound many. To Mr Kasidiaris, Golden Dawn’s appeal is straightforward: it stems from its willingness to provide support for ordinary Greeks hit hard by the economic crisis, and its no-holds-barred criticism of the political establishment.
“We’re the only party that supports Greek citizens suffering hardship because of the recession, through regular food distributions and medical help offered free of charge by doctors working with us,” he said.
Golden Dawn’s 18 lawmakers contribute 60 per cent of their monthly salary of €6,000 to social welfare operations, he said. But food distributions have been cut back following an overwhelming vote by parliament to scrap the party’s €850,000 annual grant from the state budget.
“We want a thorough cleansing of the political system, a real catharsis. The politicians who have stolen billions from the taxpayers over the years must give the money back and go to jail, “ he said, citing recent scandals over the alleged payment of bribes in defence procurement deals.
Asked about scores of violent attacks on immigrants allegedly carried out by Golden Dawn supporters – documented by Greek anti-racist groups and international organisations such as Doctors of the World – Mr Kasidiaris pleads ignorance.
“We don’t know who’s responsible for such things,” he said. “But our position on immigrants is quite clear: the law must be applied. People who enter Greece without papers must be deported back to where they came from. We shouldn’t make reception centres for them when thousands of Greeks are homeless.”
Μπορεί στο προτεκτοράτο των Αθηνών οι γραικύλοι που κυβερνούνε να διατάζουνε δημοσκοπήσεις ψεύτικες και κάλπικες, όμως εκεί στο Αμέρικα, οι διεθνείς επικυρίαρχοι κοιτάνε τις δημοσκοπήσεις τις πραγματικές, που τους παρέχει η πρεσβεία τους. Θυμίζουμε ότι στην δημοσκόπηση της αμερικανικής πρεσβείας που διέρρευσε προ διμήνου η Χρυσή Αυγή είχε υποσκελίσει την ΝΔ αποσπώντας το 17,5% των ψήφων, έναντι μόλις 13,5% που έπαιρνε η Νέο Πασοκοκρατία.
Σε άρθρο τους περί των εκλογών και της Χρυσής Αυγής οι Financial Times παραδέχονται του λόγου το αληθές , λέγοντας ότι «αναλυτές προβλέπουν ότι η Χρυσή Αυγή θα πάρει 15%-20% στις ευρωεκλογές του Μαΐου και θα μπορούσε ακόμη και να κοντραριστεί με την Νέα Δημοκρατία για την δεύτερη θέση, πίσω από τον αριστερό ΣΥΡΙΖΑ». Οι αναλυτές βέβαια που το προβλέπουν αυτό δεν είναι άλλοι από τους αναλυτές της αμερικανικής πρεσβείας.
Καθίσταται, λοιπόν, σαφής ο λόγος για τον οποίο η Νέα Δημοκρατία προβαίνει σε όλες αυτές τις αντιδημοκρατικές μεθοδεύσεις εναντίον της Χρυσής Αυγής, με την αγαστή συνεργασία επιόρκων σε σταυροφορία τύπου λαϊκού δικαστηρίου της Σοβιετίας. Η Χρυσή Αυγή έχει υποσκελίσει την Νέα Δημοκρατία σε ποσοστά, οπότε αυτό που διακυβεύεται τώρα για την παράταξη της αμαρτίας είναι η ίδια της η ύπαρξη. Όπως ευστόχως διατύπωνε στο παρελθόν το σαμαρικό antinews η κυβέρνηση βρίσκεται σε έναν «αγώνα υπαρξιακών διαστάσεων» εναντίον της Χρυσής Αυγής.
Κοινώς, η Νέα Δημοκρατία προβαίνει στις παράνομες και αντισυνταγματικές διώξεις εναντίον της Χρυσής Αυγής, γιατί αλλιώς συντόμως θα έχει την τύχη του ΠΑΣΟΚ, το οποίο στην δημοσκόπηση της αμερικανικής πρεσβείας βρίσκεται κάτω από 3% και συντόμως τερματίζει την ίδια του την ύπαρξη. Αν στις εκλογές επιβεβαιωθούν τα δεδομένα και η Νέα Δημοκρατία βρεθεί κάτω από την Χρυσή Αυγή, θα έχουμε το ίδιο φαινόμενο που είχαμε με το ΠΑΣΟΚ και τον ΣΥΡΙΖΑ, όπου οι ψηφοφόροι μετακινήθηκαν απότομα. Έτσι την επομένη των εκλογών η ΝΔ θα βρεθεί στο 4-5% και η Χρυσή Αυγή στο 30%. Αυτό προσπαθεί να προλάβει ο Σαμαράς, ο Δένδιας και ο Αθανασίου, βιάζοντας το Σύνταγμα και τους Νόμους του Κράτους.
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου