Golden Dawn Declared Criminal Organization.

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After 5.5 years on trial, in what is the most important trial since the trial of the Colonels that instigated the Junta in 1967, the leaders of the Greek Neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn have been declared guilty of running a criminal organization. For those of you not keeping up to date, Golden Dawn has for years run strike squads with which they have targeted immigrants, refugees, and leftists, and have killed an undocumented number of people, believed to be in the low hundreds. The most famous murder is of raper and leftist political activist Pavlos Fyssas, whose high profile death spawned demonstrations and lead to the trial that ultimately damned the party.

Golden Dawn has existed since 1980, and their criminal elements as well as their reverence of Nazism have been known -to those that don't close their eyes and ears- for a long time. But they were a fringe group until the recession hit Greece, where they saw a huge surge in popularity, culminating in them getting almost 10% of the vote on the 2014 elections, becoming the third biggest party in Greece. The members of the organization increased greatly, and they even did fascist marches and Michaloliakos gave speeches reminiscent of Hitler, where he blamed the current state of affairs on Jews, immigrants and refugees, keeping the Greek man down by taking his jobs, and instigating the myth that unless we act Greeks would become the minority in their own country. Golden Dawn exploited the economic recession and the nascent refugee crisis, and as a result they grew exponentially.

It was during this time that GD trained strike squads to target undesirables, and started patrolling the streets at night looking for people to beat up or kill. As someone that crossed fists with GD at the time, I have seen members of such strike squads carry bats, knives and even pistols. For those of you wondering what the police were doing, let's just say that the police and GD were good friends. For three or so years, GD run wild and the police were all too happy to see them go nuts. Only after the trial started really picking up and showing evidence of police involvement in the party that they started to mobilize to save face, and only after most of the leadership was detained did GD's terror attacks stop.

Now that it's over, most people can breathe a sigh of relief. But I cannot help but feel disgust. You see, back when GD started gaining traction, and many on the left condemned the group and called for investigations against them, many within New Democracy -the current party in charge- were quick to legitimize Golden Dawn as a political party. To give a few examples, Dora Bakoyianni, a high profile member of parliament and sister to current PM Kyriakos Mistotakis, had taken several pictures with leaders of GD and went on to say that GD's leaders "treated her with respect". Then Minister of Education (and Religion), Loverdos went on to say that GD is a legitimate movement doing activism on very important matters.. Finally, current PM Mitsotakis, back in 2017 had gone on to say that political violence in Greece comes exclusively from the Left.. Ever since coming to power, Mitsotakis has expanded the police and their powers(who I might remind you, were pretty chummy with GD and their methods, and has a long history of brutality, including murdering a 15 year old and an LGBT+ activist), letting them run rampant by raiding Exarcheia (a suburb of Athens known for its Anarchist community) and breaking peaceful protests with force, as well as repealing the law that banned police from entering university campuses. (Which is significant, as occupying the campus has been a major way for students to start political demonstrations against the government since the Politexnio uprising). To paraphrase Brecht and sum up the situation. "Though the beast is dead, the ***** that bore him is in heat again".
 
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Chimpzy

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I don't know anything about this group, was unaware of its existence before this thread, but I'm somehow completely unsurprised they turn out to be shitty.

Because who the fuck calls their group Golden Dawn? That sounds heinous as balls. Like some kind of evil secret society from comics or spy thrillers that's holding the world hostage with a solar powered orbital death beam. Or maybe a cult. You know, the kind that looks all Stepford perfect on the outside, but behind closed doors they're flaying people, then cooking them alive in a sun oven.
 
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I don't know anything about this group, was unaware of its existence before this thread, but I'm somehow completely unsurprised they turn out to be shitty.

Because who the fuck calls their group Golden Dawn? That sounds heinous as balls. Like some kind of evil secret society from comics or spy thrillers that's holding the world hostage with a solar powered orbital death beam. Or maybe a cult. You know, the kind that looks all Stepford perfect on the outside, but behind closed doors they're flaying people, then cooking them alive in a sun oven.
It's like Patriot Prayer. Who in the gods name thinks of these and how to the automatically make them sound so malicious
 

Thaluikhain

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Why now? Is the far right weakened in Greece at the moment?

Because who the fuck calls their group Golden Dawn?
Someone who wanted their group to be mixed up with Asian Dawn, who Hans Gruber read about in Time Magazine?
 

Agema

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Ah yes. I remember the right-wing Greek journalist Taki called them - what was it - "good old-fashioned patriots" in the British press.
 

Schadrach

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Neuromancer

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Why now? Is the far right weakened in Greece at the moment?
Well, "now" being a trial that has lasted half a decade finally concluding. The proceedings have taken this long despite heaps of incontrovertible evidence pointing at the obvious conclusion. As for the far right, it's less overt now. Like I've said, that the Golden Dawn's leadership is being jailed doesn't change that they've had huge police support over the years, or that they have friends in the military. Hence the Brecht quote. Dealing with the far-right has always been an uphill battle in Greece, and the struggle goes back all the way to WW2 and the civil war afterwards. The Brits were pretty fine with putting nazi collaborators in government if it ment the communists would be stopped, and Greece remains one of the few countries where Nazi collaborators were never trialed but rather placed into power even after the war.

Even after that there was a US-backed military junta back in the late 60's. A great deal of the current police and military apparatus was built by great power-backed far right, and both police and military is in large parts full of people with connections and legacy on those regimes.

For example, during my draft I served in the Rimini Brigade, and in its headquarters you could see in display pictures of people saluting Metaxas (the WW2 dictator) and of parades during the Junta, including a handshake with the leader of the Junta. These are not just there for historical reasons, and it's clear from the way that they are placed that they are there to showcase reverence to the brigade's past glories. And having served right in the thick of a new refugee crisis, I can tell you that I have seen a great deal of brutality and hatred towards refugees. One of my superiors told me, while we were watching the border and we were discussing the refugees, that he "feels sorry for the kids, but not the whores that spawned them." The current Chief of Staff has very casually said that "first we'll burn them and then ask who they are"

Long story short, though the far right has been weakened the past years in terms of outright brutality and terror attacks, they remain strong within the police and military, and the police force remains one of the most brutal in Europe.


Ah yes. I remember the right-wing Greek journalist Taki called them - what was it - "good old-fashioned patriots" in the British press.
Ι remember back when Golden Dawn was on the rise there was an interview with Mihaloliakos' right hand man Kasidiaris in one of those trashy gossip shows where they called him "a man of our generation", "sensitive" and very "caring", generally humanizing him and making him sound like an upstanding citizen.

That was after Kasidiaris attacked another MP on live television.
 

Chimpzy

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These guys:

Also bands Ministry and Fields of the Nephilim produced songs named for the people in the link, with the one by Ministry sampling Aleister Crowley (a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn) chanting the Call of the First Aethyr for part of it.

So yes, exactly.
You know, I clicked that link, saw that name and cross and immediately did a search for "Lovecraft".

Alas, no dice, which was both very disappointing and very much not so.
 
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Agema

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Ι remember back when Golden Dawn was on the rise there was an interview with Mihaloliakos' right hand man Kasidiaris in one of those trashy gossip shows where they called him "a man of our generation", "sensitive" and very "caring", generally humanizing him and making him sound like an upstanding citizen.

That was after Kasidiaris attacked another MP on live television.
Oh, I think I remember that. These guys really don't think women should be allowed to argue with them, do they? Well, to be fair, they don't like anyone arguing with them, but women, foreigners, other races, leftists and so on are particularly not supposed to.

I do think it's genuinely quite shocking that - not just in Greece - society has been so passive about these scum. If we were honest, across much of the Western world these guys have been given too much slack.
 

ObsidianJones

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I remember learning about their political growth a few years after the recession. A friend of mine said Greece was a great destination for a trip, and that we'd have fun there. I said no, I wanted no part of it.

This was before Bakari Henderson.

I spoke about the Golden Dawn, Alternative for Germany, and France's National Front when they all won elections after the wake caused by Trump. And on the old forums, I was told they were just minor and I was getting worked up over nothing.

Whelp. Here we are.
 

lil devils x

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I remember learning about their political growth a few years after the recession. A friend of mine said Greece was a great destination for a trip, and that we'd have fun there. I said no, I wanted no part of it.

This was before Bakari Henderson.

I spoke about the Golden Dawn, Alternative for Germany, and France's National Front when they all won elections after the wake caused by Trump. And on the old forums, I was told they were just minor and I was getting worked up over nothing.

Whelp. Here we are.
It really is scary tbh how much this crap has been on the rise in so many places right now.. When I was reading about how the bigots were even attacking the Polish people in the UK, and makes me seriously worry if it is bad enough that white people are even racistly attacking other white people, do I even stand a chance? Though then I think, I have survived the Neo Nazis and KKK here, is it as bad, worse or better than what I am already dealing with here? Like do we need like a racism meter to gauge if it is safe to travel there?

You know what, it is seriously F'd up that we have to even think about this in the fist place...
 

Agema

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I spoke about the Golden Dawn, Alternative for Germany, and France's National Front when they all won elections after the wake caused by Trump. And on the old forums, I was told they were just minor and I was getting worked up over nothing.
To be fair, AfD and FN aren't as bad as Golden Dawn, but they're unquestionably on the spectrum and a sign things were not going well.
 

ObsidianJones

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It really is scary tbh how much this crap has been on the rise in so many places right now.. When I was reading about how the bigots were even attacking the Polish people in the UK, and makes me seriously worry if it is bad enough that white people are even racistly attacking other white people, do I even stand a chance? Though then I think, I have survived the Neo Nazis and KKK here, is it as bad, worse or better than what I am already dealing with here? Like do we need like a racism meter to gauge if it is safe to travel there?

You know what, it is seriously F'd up that we have to even think about this in the fist place...
Here's the thing. I think about that a lot. And I was worried even moving to Florida. Because I know the racism level in New York. I know how to maneuver the people and how to say the right thing.

I don't know the people in Florida. I'm not even sure the difference between and Sheriff and the Police. I often wonder if I can turn on right even though I can see others do it... I know the laws and Mores in New York, but I don't know them here.

And I'm a citizen of this Country. Entitled to laws I at least have some passing idea of.

I don't know what protections I have in Germany, England, or France. And I speak passing German, France, and Bad English.

A country I don't know? With Text that is as foreign to me as the sounds? You're helpless.

That's why I'll never travel to places I can't muster out what to do for myself.

Let's put it this way. You have the KKK and the Neo Nazis here. And you live in a State that you can legally arm yourself to put yourself on a level playing field. Don't they send you a hand gun on your 16th birthday?

In London, if you're getting out of the Tube and a group of skinheads come walking your way... what do you have? What do you know you can do legally to defend yourself? Who can you trust to come to your aid?

Other places be scary, yo.

To be fair, AfD and FN aren't as bad as Golden Dawn, but they're unquestionably on the spectrum and a sign things were not going well.
Any group with their mindsets, they are either Toxically Bad, in terms of total meltdown... or they are biding their time to get to that Meltdown point. "Not as bad" now means they don't think they are powerful enough to make their actual move.
 

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Here's the thing. I think about that a lot. And I was worried even moving to Florida. Because I know the racism level in New York. I know how to maneuver the people and how to say the right thing.

I don't know the people in Florida. I'm not even sure the difference between and Sheriff and the Police. I often wonder if I can turn on right even though I can see others do it... I know the laws and Mores in New York, but I don't know them here.

And I'm a citizen of this Country. Entitled to laws I at least have some passing idea of.

I don't know what protections I have in Germany, England, or France. And I speak passing German, France, and Bad English.

A country I don't know? With Text that is as foreign to me as the sounds? You're helpless.

That's why I'll never travel to places I can't muster out what to do for myself.

Let's put it this way. You have the KKK and the Neo Nazis here. And you live in a State that you can legally arm yourself to put yourself on a level playing field. Don't they send you a hand gun on your 16th birthday?

In London, if you're getting out of the Tube and a group of skinheads come walking your way... what do you have? What do you know you can do legally to defend yourself? Who can you trust to come to your aid?

Other places be scary, yo.



Any group with their mindsets, they are either Toxically Bad, in terms of total meltdown... or they are biding their time to get to that Meltdown point. "Not as bad" now means they don't think they are powerful enough to make their actual move.
I have travelled to a lot of places I was nervous about, but I always travel in groups, and have organizations looking out for my well being so, that helped some. With MSF, though there were some times I did not feel safe, and I literally hid in a vehicle once until they were gone, but for the most part my group was able to keep me safe. When I travelled for medical conferences, it was better because at least that collective group holds power to help me if need be. I always had people I could call and people with me at all times so it wasn't so bad.

You're right though. The dangers I have here are familiar, I am able to even the odds a bit due to my Glock 40, and my heavily armed cousins are a phone call away if I am really all that afraid. When Travelling, moving, you don't know what to expect and being out of your element, you don't even have the options you do from "home base." Sometimes I feel like my Lab Coat and Lanyard are like a shield, armor from the police, and people who may mess with me worse if I didn't have them because they identify me as someone they respect and will help them, rather than just this girl by herself they could easily overpower or mess with. In a way, I think it actually has been a shield, and it is sad that has to be the case. It like changes the " subject" in their mind when they see it..
 
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Tireseas

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I remember learning about their political growth a few years after the recession. A friend of mine said Greece was a great destination for a trip, and that we'd have fun there. I said no, I wanted no part of it.

This was before Bakari Henderson.

I spoke about the Golden Dawn, Alternative for Germany, and France's National Front when they all won elections after the wake caused by Trump. And on the old forums, I was told they were just minor and I was getting worked up over nothing.

Whelp. Here we are.
Don't forget Modi's Nazi-cousin Hindu Nationalist Party (BJP) in India, the Nippon Kaigi in Japan, Han ethnonationalism in China, the Brexit party as the new face of the BNP, Bolsinaro in Brazil, Vox in Spain, and Lukid and Netanyahu in Israel.

When I'm panicking about the literal rise in anti-democratic movements, this is what I'm talking about, and why solidarity among a broad spectrum of the political center and left is necessary to try and beat them back. It's also why voting in a coalitional manner is so important, because these groups operate on first gaining legitimacy through legislative victories and then coalitions with or inside of major right-wing/center-right parties, who are willing to work with them in order to maintain power.
 

Revnak

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Don't forget Modi's Nazi-cousin Hindu Nationalist Party (BJP) in India, the Nippon Kaigi in Japan, Han ethnonationalism in China, the Brexit party as the new face of the BNP, Bolsinaro in Brazil, Vox in Spain, and Lukid and Netanyahu in Israel.

When I'm panicking about the literal rise in anti-democratic movements, this is what I'm talking about, and why solidarity among a broad spectrum of the political center and left is necessary to try and beat them back. It's also why voting in a coalitional manner is so important, because these groups operate on first gaining legitimacy through legislative victories and then coalitions with or inside of major right-wing/center-right parties, who are willing to work with them in order to maintain power.
You say in a thread about Golden Dawn, who rose to such prominence because the Greek center bolstered them.
Edit: Oh, and also Bolsonaro, who came into power because the Brazilian center tried to force through an anti-Democratic purge of the left under the guise of anti-corruption trials.
 

Tireseas

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You say in a thread about Golden Dawn, who rose to such prominence because the Greek center bolstered them.
New Democracy is a Center-Right Party.
Edit: Oh, and also Bolsonaro, who came into power because the Brazilian center tried to force through an anti-Democratic purge of the left under the guise of anti-corruption trials.
If you're referring to Operation Car Wash, those crimes did actually happen and the corruption was very real. That does not justify the election of a hunta-loving far-right psychopath to anyone except you.
 
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Revnak

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New Democracy is a Center-Right Party.

If you're referring to Operation Car Wash, those crimes did actually happen and the corruption was very real. That does not justify the election of a hunta-loving far-right psychopath to anyone except you.
Yes, centrists. Also, you’re missing where it was recently revealed the lawyer who led the trials in operation car wash specifically did so to benefit the right and Bolsonaro, thus why he didn’t go into the often far more grievous crimes of the right and center.
 

Tireseas

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Yes, centrists. Also, you’re missing where it was recently revealed the lawyer who led the trials in operation car wash specifically did so to benefit the right and Bolsonaro, thus why he didn’t go into the often far more grievous crimes of the right and center.
Only you sees "center right" and immediately thinks "centrists." "Center-right" parties are called that because they generally aren't outright fascists like far right parties are in many counties.

And that second one is going to require more than your already-suspect word on it. Put up a credible source and we can talk, otherwise, I'm done given your habit of trying to excuse corruption and authoritarianism when its by far-left parties.
 
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