Greece: Behind the Rise of the Golden Dawn

Source: The Progressive Magazine

Three years of hard economic crisis, poverty, and misery have nourished the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn, which has emerged as a significant force in the Greek Parliament.

The criminal activities of Golden Dawn have long been known to the Greek and other European governments. Even while participating in the Greek Parliament, the Golden Dawn continued its goon squad activities: engaging in acts of violence even in schools, issuing death threats, and abusing and even murdering immigrants.

The media typically did not present these incidents in the news, and the political system “did not see” and “did not listen.”

It took the cold-blooded murder of a young Greek artist to characterize the Golden Dawn as a “criminal organization” and to arrest the General Secretary Nikos Michaloliakos, four MPs and other leading members.

The political murder of Pavlos Fyssas was allegedly organized about thirty neo-Nazi Golden Dawn members, who wore black clothing, wore gloves and knuckledusters, and operated as paramilitary force.

The murderer arrived by car, approached the victim purposely, and carried out the killing.

The doctor who examined the body talked about a “professional hit” to the heart. The alleged killer, George Roupakias, was well-known within Golden Dawn, took part in food distribution by the party, joined its summer camps, was photographed with its MPs and confessed to performing various “errands” for a fee.

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