Portsmouth Celebrates UN Anti-Racism day.March 21st. Join the world protests against Racism!

Simon Magorian UAF.

It's vitally important to make a stand against racism,now more then ever.With Politicians trying to outdo each other as to who can be tougher on immigrants in the runup to the General Election it is crucial for everyone who opposes racism to get out and clearly state;"Not in my Name!"

We need a maximum pushback against the Racists and Nazis.All demos and protests against the Racists helps to undermine their confidence and gives a boost to Anti -Racists everywhere to fight back.
Newcastle gave a clear lead. Thousands of Anti-Racists turned out against the Nazis of Pegida ,outnumbering them 10 to 1. Hundreds turned out on the Stand Up to UKIP protest on the last day of their conference in Margate.The EDL recently cancelled a proposed march in Brighton in the face of massive opposition.However they plan marches in Manchester ,Oxford and elsewhere.Their marches must be vigorously opposed.

National Demonstration Saturday 21 March Assemble 12pm, BBC Portland Place, London W1A 1AA (nearest tube Oxford Circus) Rally Trafalgar Square

Diane Abbott MP • Owen Jones Writer and Journalist • Jeremy Corbyn MP • Claude Moraes MEP • George Galloway MP • Natalie Bennett Leader, The Green Party • Dr Marina Prentoulis Syriza London / Senior Lecturer at the University of East Anglia • Christine Blower General Secretary NUT • Colette Levy Hidden Child from Vichy France • Bruce Kent VP Pax Christi • Talha Ahmad MCB National Council Member • Stephanie Lightfoot-Bennett Chair, United Friends and Families (UFFC)• Carol Duggan Mark Duggan Family Campaign • Janet Alder Justice for Christopher Alder • Marcia Rigg UFFC Co-Chair / Sean Rigg Justice and Change Campaign • Maz Saleem Daughter of the late Mohammed Saleem • Sam Fairbairn Secretary Peoples Assembly Against Austerity • Hamja Ahsan Free Talha Ahsan • Gerry Gable Searchlight • Ismail Patel You Elect • Jo Cardwell Stand Up To UKIP • Weyman Bennett and Sabby Dhalu Joint National Secretaries, Unite Against Fascism

• Click here for details of coaches from around the country. • Click here for rallies in your area building for the demonstration. • Please donate to help us cover the costs of the march.

This racist tide will only be driven back by you and me standing up and confronting it. From Germany to Greece to Ferguson, people who want a society free from racism are saying no more. People are taking to the streets in large numbers to oppose the racist Pegida movement in Germany and the Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn in Greece, and to protest against institutional racism and police violence against Black communities. People are outraged at the Islamophobic and anti-Semitic backlash after the Copenhagen and Paris attacks, and the mass media silence on the Chapel Hill shootings where three Muslim students were brutally shot dead, so many have mobilised under the slogan ‘Muslim Lives Matter’. Immigrant communities are fed up with being wrongly blamed for an economic crisis they did not create. On UN anti-racism day people across the world will be taking a stand. Will you be there? Last year over 10,000 people from across Britain people took to the streets in London – students and trade unionists, people of all faiths and none, migrants, musicians, teachers, pensioners and parents. And together we showed unity in the face of racism. A huge demonstration this year, just a month before the General Election, will send a powerful message to all politicians:

We are the majority and we will stand up to racism.

Demos are happening across Britain, and internationally including London, Glasgow, Cardiff, Athens and Barcelona. #standuptoracism #m21 standuptoracism.org.uk Facebook: ‘Stand Up To Racism’ Twitter: @AntiRacismDay

 TRANSPORT DETAILS

There will be transport going up to London from Portsmouth.
Portsmouth Unison City Branch have generously sponsored a coach.

Seats are £10 waged
               £5 unwaged.

Contacts: Mark Sage,Unison 07816835621
Simon Magorian, UAF 07758112931

Collection points.
9.00 The Hard Interchange
9.10 The Student's Union,Cambridge Rd.
9.20 Fratton Trades Club, Fratton Bridge
9.30 Old Post Office, Cosham.


Facebook page here.

  

March for England to visit Portsmouth?

 Addendum.11th June.
 (Due to a complaint from the Sea Cadets association the picture has been removed.The picture shows the sea cadets and is emblazoned with March for England. They have written to me to voice their displeasure  that the image of the Sea Cadets being associated with the group .)

The picture above has been appearing all over Nazi pages on Facebook.It appears to be a bit of a teaser. It's worth bearing in mind March for England is both an organisation and an event.It doesn't say they will be marching in Portsmouth.If they do wish to come there are plenty of people who will be happy to heckle them .They are just recovering from their recent debacle in Brighton.About 150 Nazis being harangued by 2-3 thousand Anti Fascists.

Another factor is they seem to be falling out with everyone.They are no longer on good terms with either the Casuals or the EDL ,with recriminations about a perceived lack of support.It is also felt that their leader in Portsmouth has been attempting to play people off against each other. For two years running they have been embarrassed in Brighton and it's possible they are thinking of coming down here.However they also seem to be thinking of  a return to Brighton.
They appear to have discovered a new Saint,one a bit more English than St.George,who at best was Mediterranean, and possibly Palestinian.Something which doesn't go down too well in MFE circles.St. Edmund is the current favourite and the South East Alliance, who are largely the same people as MFE, are calling for an event in November.This was brought to my attention by Anti Fascist Network.

 

The violence of the intent and the  imagery are unavoidable, and are sure to attract the attention of the Police.There has been a tension within the Fascist movement in recent months between the people who want to project a more respectable image and those who look at the success of Golden Dawn in Greece and want  a return to more old fashioned street based violence.
There is concern about the nature of the event as reported in The Argus : A message on the South East Alliance Facebook page reads: “Our event in Brighton for St George’s Day was rudely interrupted by those of the UAF and ANTIFA.
“Now we plan to return to Brighton on St Edmund’s Day to celebrate our true nation’s saint.
“This time the Swampys of the left won’t be invited, but no doubt they'll gatecrash it. Will you return to Brighton to celebrate on November 20?”
There has been no announcement of a demo for Portsmouth nor has there been permission requested.However, this is almost half a year away,and only a few weeks are required for notice to be given.This appears to be kite flying at the moment,and we will have to see how this develops.
In the event of there being a march we will have to consider the appropriate response.
This could be a provocation ,and therefore we will have to see what happens.However the proposed event in Brighton with its violent overtones is the more worrying prospect as it seems that at the moment that is more likely to be actioned.It may be that it is Brighton that requires our support.
Considering the humiliation they recieved in Brighton this may be whistling in the dark.  

However experience has taught us there is no room for complacency.

We will keep you posted.

Golden Dawn:Tensions rise over Golden Dawn blood donation in Tripoli.

 

Protesters gather outside a Tripoli hospital to demonstrate against another Golden Dawn blood donation for Greeks only. A local cameraman is reportedly attacked by party members asking him to delete video footage

 
(file photo) 
  Tensions rose on Saturday at the Panarkadiko Hospital of Tripoli, Peloponnese, when a local media cameraman was reportedly attacked by Golden Dawn members holding a voluntary blood donation at the hospital.

The extreme-right party members asked the cameraman to delete video footage recorded on his mobile phone, arguing that their faces should not be identifiable in the video.

Labour unionists of PAME – the trade union affiliated to the communist party KKE – had gathered outside the hospital protesting against Golden Dawn and holding banners that read “Golden Dawn is the bosses’ sidekick and the system protects them.”

Golden Dawn had announced on Friday that they would be donating blood to Greeks only, sparking strong reactions from medical practitioners, who are asking the health ministry to intervene.

Golden Dawn secretary in Tripoli Nikolaos Skantzos said that this was the second time they were donating blood, stressing that the hospital was not the appropriate place for political controversy.

The head of the PESY trade union in the Peloponnese said in a statement that, thanks to the protesters’ intervention, Golden Dawn members were forced to donate blood in the same way that any other citizen would and the blood collection bags would not be specially labeled to be given to Greeks only.
 

EnetEnglish

Demo against Golden Dawn Nazis outside Greek Embassy in London.

                                Major demonstration in Athens.

   

        Protesters rallied in memory of murdered Pakistani immigrant Shehzad Luqman

 From the BBC

Some 3,000 people have taken part in a demonstration in the Greek capital Athens to protest against the rise of the neo-fascist party Golden Dawn. 

The protest, which brought together Greeks and immigrants, was part of a day of anti-racism events.
Golden Dawn, exploiting public anger over the financial crisis, won 18 seats in parliament last June.
One of the most right-wing parties in Europe, it is accused of anti-immigrant attacks, but denies violent activity.

The coffin of a Pakistani immigrant murdered by suspected right-wing extremists was also put on display.
Shehzad Luqman, 27, was stabbed to death by two men who had been riding a motorcycle as he rode his bicycle to work in the Athens neighbourhood of Petralona in the early hours of Wednesday.
More than 80% of immigrants to the European Union enter via Greece.
Fear of the outsider
 
This was a day designed to show the other side of Greece, drowning out the racism of the minority, says the BBC's Mark Lowen in Athens.

Golden Dawn made headlines after winning seats in parliament this summer

Greek hospitality is well-known - but the financial crisis is changing the nation with elements lurching to the right and fearing both the future and the outsider, adds our correspondent.
Away from Athens, campaigners used a more artistic means of spreading the word: a children's play with a social message was staged, telling the story of a Greek family that meets Iranians and a Pakistani on holiday, and of initial fears subsiding as the group learns to live together.
The play's director, Vassilis Koukalani, told the BBC: "The play is about prejudice, about racism, about xenophobia and it shows how we can overcome these things with common sense, with a sense of humour, with a sense of justice above all."

Opposition grows to Golden Dawn's Canada section being launched.

Hot on the heels of the Nazi Golden Dawn's launch of its New York section, they have now launched a section in  Montreal.The white supremacist website STORMFRONT has enthusiastically been promoting the Canadian section of the Greek Nazi organisation.Golden Dawn has come to further notoriety over the last week over the videos of their members assaulting immigrants in the flea market in Athens.

The new section has been operating since the beginning of September. It has been  ostensibly  collecting for the poor of Athens. Although they make no bones about the fact that anything collected will only go to white Greeks.
 As reported in National Post they are completely upfront about the racist nature of their organisation.

It reports:

“[Golden Dawn] is blatantly and proudly anti-immigrant,” says Phil Triadafilopoulos, an associate political science professor at the University of Toronto.
 “They combine the political ideology of extreme right-wing xenophobic parties with the ethos and tactics of a street militia.”
And when the group turns away non-Greeks, he says, Golden Dawn doesn’t care whether they are in the country legally or not. “They are anti-immigrant, period.”

Prof. Triadafilopoulos says that most Greeks have “deep misgivings” about Golden Dawn.
Yet the party is doing little to temper its image. Reports allege that members have begun patrolling downtown Athens, beating anyone who doesn’t appear to be a Greek.

There is however opposition growing to the presence of the support group in Montréal.



 Below is a petition currently circulating against: Golden Dawn in Canada.





  Here is a link to the petition.

Please  sign and circulate.

Sign here to stop Golden Dawn Nazi Organization in Montreal!

Why this is important

The existence of a Nazi Organization in Canada such as Golden Dawn, the Greek Neo-Nazi party, is against the Canadian Charter of Human Rights.

Their leader has written extensively on the goodness of the nazis and white supremacy, and ends a passage quoted on the site with a “HEIL HITLER”. Not to mention their goal of expelling gays, immigrants, addicts, the disabled, and those with mental illness from Greece, and creating a blood registry to ensure citizens’ “purity”. Or the brutal beatings of gays and immigrants, often with help from the cops.

L'existence d'une organisation nazie au Canada comme L'aube Doree, l'organization Naziste de Grece est contraire à la Charte Canadienne des droits de l'homme.

MORE INFO HERE / LIRE ICI POUR PLUS DE DETAILS:
http://www.fachowatch.com/aube-doree-section-montreal-nouvelles-informations/#Article_du_site_officiel_dAube_Dore

Posted September 23, 2012

Report this as inappropriate

Created by
Kat M. Canada

To be delivered to:

Stephen Harper Canada Prime Minister

SIGN THIS PETITION

Golden Dawn is a Nazi & Organization that has been allowed in the Greek Parliaments, Greek courts have declared them LEGAL even though their actions and beliefs break European Union Laws, they are now being investigated by the European Union. We demand that Canadian government prevents them from establishing any Nazi organization in any shape or form. It is hypocritical to allow them to practice racism and discrimination in the most immigrant friendly country in the world! PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION!

 

Two demonstrators stabbed after anti-Nazi demonstration in Greece.

 photo: AFP.

On Saturday several hundred people marched on the outskirts of Athens to protest against the wave of racist violence unleashed by the Nazi Golden Dawn organisation. There have been a wave of assaults against immigrants and against market traders of African descent over the last few weeks. There has also been growing unease at the role of the police, who seem reluctant to intervene in assaults the Golden Dawn are quite clearly responsible for. After the demonstration on the outskirts of Athens near the suburb of Metamorfossi a group of men of Pakistani origin were hijacked.

 A man on a motorbike pulled out in front of them and at the same time a group of men  leapt out of a car  and proceeded to assault the two men , the two men were taken to hospital  both with stab wounds.One of them is said to be in a serious condition.

Last month an Iraqi man was stabbed to death by group of five  young men in Athens.as in the previous case the police seem reluctant to act against the perpetrators.

Protests against the surge in racist violence also took place in the port of Piraeus, next to Athens, and in another Athens suburb. 

Golden Dawn Nazi Rock video promoting their New York intervention.

The latest "musical " offering from the Nazis of Golden Dawn with the usual raspings about creating a new world order, Nazi culture hasn't moved on much since the days of Goebbels and co.

For those who know of  The Blood and Honour network this will be all too familiar ,The portentous sounding music with lower register vocals are now de rigueur for Nazi Rock.

They are using this to promote their "charity" drive, however the collections will only be administered to white Greeks.Hitler's Nazis took trucks of bread into poor rural areas and gave food to hungry pensioners in the early years.This is another clear lift from history that GD are using.

It's clear that this strategy is beginning to pay dividends for them..

Golden Dawn set up office in New York.

Apparently this has been going for some time.I would be very interested to know if there has been any opposition to this,after all New York is an Anti-Fascist city.

From:



Neofascist party Golden Dawn has inaugurated a branch in New York to promote its ideas and campaigns as part of a general drive to reach out to Greeks abroad, Kathimerini has learned.

The party’s NYC website calls on diaspora Greeks to donate food, clothing and medicine to the party’s charity drives, which are limited to Greeks only. The first collection of aid from the New York branch has already reached Greece and was recently distributed in Aspropyrgos, western Athens, party officials told Kathimerini. A similar drive took place in Melbourne and Montreal, they said.


“The unholy alliance of the bankers, the media, corrupt politicians and the educational system are vehemently attempting to extinguish all traces of Hellenism -- past, present and future -- through poverty, historical revisionism, media distortions and third world immigration,” the party said on its website. “Golden Dawn is the only party that truly recognizes the problem and has the solution,” it said.
 

Golden Dawn's Hitlerite Storm Battalions must be stopped.

AFP © 

ATHENS (AFP) - Following its unprecedented election to parliament, Greece's neo-Nazi group Golden Dawn has been engaged in 'law and order' crackdowns and solidarity gestures that have boosted its popularity, alarming the state.
In recent weeks the once-fringe group has organised Greeks-only food handouts and blood donations, and has twice ousted migrant peddlers from street markets to the delight of local operators and the outrage of authorities.
Tightly regimented and dressed in black T-shirts stamped with the meander, an ancient Greek motif, Golden Dawn is also suspected of orchestrating a rising trend of racist violence against foreigners, legal or otherwise.
And it has sent squads of black-clad supporters to harass and intimidate political opponents at public events.
The government has already accused Golden Dawn of attempting to usurp the role of the police and warned that "storm battalions" would not be tolerated, a direct reference to the paramilitary gangs that helped Adolf Hitler's rise to power.
Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias earlier this month stripped the group's 18 lawmakers of their police guards after one of them was allegedly implicated in the smashing of immigrant trading stalls.
Golden Dawn retorted that it was fully entitled to help merchants and traders brought low by the crisis and accused the government of "taking the side of smugglers and illegal migrants."
The group's ratings have risen to over 10 percent in recent opinion polls.
"They seek to appear as the upholders of the law" to a nation groaning under a third year of austerity measures and decades of political corruption, criminologist Sophia Vidali told AFP.
"It's a strategy reminiscent of Italian neo-fascism in the '70s," she said. The self-styled nationalist party, which campaigned in June elections with pledges to "scour the country clean", has capitalised on the perception that undocumented migration has been allowed to run rampant.
It has benefited from judicial inertia and a suspiciously soft-handed response by police, who usually fail to arrest Golden Dawn members even when under direct attack by them.
And it has exploited anger towards Greece's political system which is blamed by most people for the country's economic ills.
"It's a new phenomenon that is very dangerous for the parliamentary system," said Yiannis Mavris, a political analyst whose polling institute Public Issue recently recorded the party's rating at "nearly double" its score at the last election, where it picked up over 425,000 votes.
Golden Dawn "is here to stay," Mavris said.
A former police unionist who is now a lawmaker recently warned the ruling coalition that planned pay cuts to police "would send 300,000 families directly to Golden Dawn."
And a former police minister last year revealed that Golden Dawn militants had carried out "joint actions and assisted Greek police."
Dimitris Psaras, a journalist investigating far-right groups, says Golden Dawn has links with German neo-Nazis.
"They are trying to appear as the only credible response to the system," he said, deploring the state's slow-paced response.
So far, the government has been forced to tread with caution as the party usually sends its lawmakers -- who can only be prosecuted by special permission from parliament -- to head street operations.
The Supreme Court has duly called on parliament to lift the immunity of three Golden Dawn lawmakers who were present at the market peddler crackdowns.
Three far-right militants -- one of them a former Golden Dawn political candidate -- are set to go to trial next week after seven deferrals, accused of stabbing Afghan migrants.
But Justice Minister Antonis Roupakiotis has warned that it will take more than legal action to stop the "inhuman" behaviour of Golden Dawn members.
"We are wrong if we believe that the Golden Dawn phenomenon can be addressed with legislation. We must seek the causes of this Nazi, fascist and inhuman behaviour by Golden Dawn members," said Roupakiotis.
Rights activists see little room for an anti-racist campaign of substance, as the conservative-led government is itself raising the tone against migrants.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has pledged to crack down on undocumented migration which he termed "an unarmed invasion" during the election campaign.

Politicians begin to respond to wave of Hate Crime in Greece.

 

 

 

  From the BBC
By Vitaly Shevchenko and Stella Athanasoulia 

Greece's politicians and press are agonising over a wave of attacks on immigrants, and what to do about it.

Justice Minister Antonis Roupakiotis threatened tougher punishment for ethnic crimes, with sentences of over three years in jail for those who attack migrant workers.

The public order ministry also said it would no longer provide police guards for MPs from the far-right Golden Dawn party, which is seen by many as a key factor contributing to the climate of xenophobia in Greece.

The party, which won 18 seats in parliament in June, blame some of the country's economic problems on illegal immigration.

Hate attacks Earlier, Javied Aslam, the head of the Migrant Workers' Association in Greece and leader of the Greek Pakistani community, said hundreds had been injured in racially motivated attacks.

"In the past six months, knife-wielding fascists have attacked some 500 persons with impunity from the police," he said.

The attacks have drawn strong condemnation from officials.

"The rise in hate attacks against foreigners is starting to take a dangerous direction," Justice Minister Antonis Roupakiotis said. "The country's acute migration problem and its consequences cannot, of course, be dealt with using inhumanly violent means."

Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis also urged punishment for the attackers: "When fellow human beings are being stabbed on an almost daily basis, society has to be alert and the state has to bring the perpetrators to justice."

'Is there no prosecutor?' Some, however, have accused the authorities of inaction.
"Is there no judge left in Athens? Is there no prosecutor?" commentator Paschos Mandravelis asked on the Kathimerini website.

"There appear to be gangs of criminals that drive around the city beating, stabbing and killing fellow humans and yet no state authority seems willing or able to do anything about it."

"The Greek press is rife with reports of 'attacks carried out by members of Golden Dawn', the country's neo-fascist political party," the comment piece went on. "However, no prosecutor seems to be looking into the allegations."

The left-wing opposition party Coalition of the Radical Left, known as Syriza, blamed the government for the wave of attacks on migrants, accusing it of creating a "political climate of targeting immigration as the cause of all of the country's woes".

In an article headlined "Uncontrollable beast" on the Protagon website, journalist and blogger George Karelias criticised the security services for failing to act against hate crime, arguing that this inaction not only emboldens and encourages the attackers, but also broadens their "social base".
He also suggested that the government was unwilling to prosecute right-wing perpetrators for fear of "heroicising" them. "Greek society has become a mess that very easily accepts neo-fascist practices in the name of its own 'protection'," Karelias said.

Golden Dawn criticised One incident attracted particular attention in the media and among officials.
On 7 September, a group of several dozen flag-waving Golden Dawn supporters clad in black T-shirts raided a street market in Rafina, northeast of Athens. A video clip posted online showed them checking migrants' papers and overturning their stalls, leaving merchandise strewn on the ground.

It also featured a Golden Dawn MP saying he had to step in where the police had failed in order to drive out "illegal vendors".

Speaking after the incident, Justice Minister Antonis Roupakiotis said that "the Golden Dawn's actions are offensive to traditional democratic principles and are creating the conditions for neo-fascist practices in the country".

"Any manifestation of violence or hate against either immigrants or Greek citizens must be condemned and punished," the minister said, warning people against "acting in place of the state".
This sentiment was echoed by an article on To Vima website, headlined "No to the Golden Dawn's state within the state".

The Golden Dawn raid in Rafina prompted the authorities to suspend the local police chief and launch an inquiry. Following assertions from Golden Dawn that it intends to continue policing street markets, the public order ministry also said it would not longer provide police guards to the party's MPs.

Blood collected by Golden Dawn to be available for all, Hospital declares.

Nurse June Whitfield :
"Blood is blood."

Tony Hancock:
"I did not come here for a lecture on Communism !"

A good excuse for a bit of classic comedy, The blood Donor with Tony Hancock.

Golden Dawn have been told by the hospital authorities  that the Blood they collected 'for Greeks only' will be available for everyone.

Golden Dawn are more in the business of shedding blood and I imagine many would have preferred that the blood should have been refused, I presume the authorities thought that it might potentially save a life.However they are having no truck with Golden Dawns racism. 

Athens answer to June Whitfield has obviously put them straight.



From Athens News.

by Lynn Edmonds , Damian Mac Con Uladh 14 Sep 2012

Party MP Ilias Kasidiaris was among those who donated blood. Hospital officials say the blood will go to whoever needs it (EK) Blood collected by Golden Dawn members on a square in central Athens on Friday will not be for the exclusive use of Greek patients, a hospital superviser has told the Athens News.    The neofascist party set up stalls outside Agios Panteleimonas church to distribute food and collect blood, in an event organised to coincide with the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.   Press reports claimed that the blood would be delivered to Gennimatas General State Hospital in Athens. In July, a demand by the party to create a Greeks-only blood bank was flatly rejected by the authorities.   The party's website provided no details on where and how the blood would be used, but gave strong indications that it would go to Greeks only.   However, a superviser at Gennimatas hopital's said that donors, be they individuals, associations or parties, cannot dictate where the blood goes.   "The blood goes to whoever needs it," Ekaterini Makri told this newspaper.   "We can't just save the blood. It goes off. There are no separate fridges for different associations."   Party MP Ilias Kasidiaris was among those who donated blood, in a health ministry mobile van.    The Federation of Greek Hospital Doctors (OENGE) and the Thessaloniki Hospital Doctors Association (ENITH) condemned the blood drive as repulsive as it was based on racial discrimination and segregation. The bodies called on doctors to refuse to participate in the action.   On the square, party activists distributed potatoes, onions, carrots, pasta, fresh milk, rice and fish only to Greeks, who were required to present IDs to prove their nationality.   A brief statement on the party's website claimed similar actions were taking place across the country.

Greece considering toughening Hate Crime Laws.

 

From Greek Reporter.

By Andy Dabilis

Greek Justice Minister Antonis Roupakiotis says hate crimes will not be tolerated anymore

Battling with the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party that has 18 seats in Parliament and has been involved in a number of assaults on immigrants, the Greek government is planning to increase the penalties for hate crimes.
The Parliament is also moving to strip immunity for all crimes that lawmakers have, for the party’s members, some of which reportedly led a raid on immigrant-operated stalls at a fair, and plans to remove their police body guards.
Justice Minister Antonis Roupakiotis said racially motivated crimes would carry a minimum three-year prison sentence, under judicial reforms due to be voted on in Parliament later this year. Current guidelines generally do not have specific provisions for racial motives in sentencing, and prison sentences for assault are often suspended.
Human rights groups have catalogued a number of brutal assaults on immigrants this year, with some tied to Golden Dawn although the party has denied its involvement despite a platform that calls for all immigrants to be deported and for land mines to be placed around the border to keep out illegals trying to enter the country to seek asylum or use Greece to get to other European Union countries.
“It seems like the Greek government is finally taking xenophobic violence seriously,” Judith Sunderland, a senior Western Europe researcher at Human Rights Watch, told the Associated Press. “But we need to see concrete action, not just announcements. We hope draft legislation will be examined in parliament soon.”
The U.S.-based group, in a report issued in July, said it had documented a rise in anti-immigrant attacks, including stabbings and serious beatings, in Athens over the past two years, leaving dozens of confirmed victims. Earlier this week, Greece’s government launched an urgent inquiry into attacks by members of the extreme right Golden Dawn party against immigrant street vendors, whom they accused of operating illegally.
Four people were arrested in Messolongi, a town in central Greece, for demanding document inspections from immigrant vendors, while a police officer was suspended for allegedly participating in a Golden Dawn-led attack on immigrants’ stalls in the same town over the weekend.
Roupakiotis accused the party of trying to cultivate a “neo-Nazi ideology” in Greece. “We condemn in the strongest possible way every act of violence, and especially actions by members and supporters of Golden Dawn against immigrants or other citizens,” he said. “We believe this is an insult to our long-standing notions of justice and the defense of human rights. It is a threat to harmony in society and creates the conditions to develop fascist and neo-Nazi ideology.”
Golden Dawn said it had taken legal action against Greece’s public order minister and chief of police, seeking their prosecution for alleged breach of duty, after police were ordered to stop and search passers-by outside the party’s Athens headquarters. Police were also investigating an attack on two Pakistani men in a barbershop in Metamorphosi, northern Athens, in which a Greek taxi driver was stabbed after apparently attempting to stop the two attackers. The store was set on fire.
Nearly 500 racially motivated attacks were carried out in the first seven months of the year according to the Migrant Workers Association, as immigrants say that the rising wave of xenophobic violence has left them afraid to walk the streets. The victims were in most cases attacked with steel rods, knives and brass knuckles, the association says.

Golden Dawn attacks African Market traders in vicious Racist attack.Nazi thuggery caught on film.

For people who remember the images of Hitler's brown shirts  in Nazi Germany  smashing up Jewish shops this will all be depressingly familiar.The video shows Golden Dawn members patrolling the market, inspecting the licences of those selling goods and then moving away. Then you can see the Golden Dawn members carrying Greek  flags smashing up the stores because allegedly they didn't have a proper licence.

Apparently one of the Nazi party's MPs, one George Germanis justified the actions by saying they're entitled to do this because they did not have proper permits.

"We took a walk around the bazaar to listen to the problems of small goods sellers here and we noticed some illegal immigrant is trying to sell this stuff without the appropriate licences. We told the police then we did what Golden Dawn must do."

This conflicts with the statement of the Mayor of   Rafina. He stated they all had valid licences.

It is not just that the Golden Dawn see fit to do the job of  the police and to usurp their role.It is clear that Golden Dawn think that they are above the law. This is hardly surprising  since the police just stand around doing nothing while they assault people and smash up their property.  There were golden dawn MPs present during these assaults.

A Street vendor gives an eyewitness account of the events:








What is becoming clear is that the police, far from not merely intervening in Golden dawns violence and preventing at, are actually facilitating it.

Since the events at the market there has been an outcry at the racist violence of Golden Dawn and the police inactivity in preventing it.

The local police chief in Rafina was suspended pending the results of a government inquiry. No police were seen in any of the videos.There there is now growing unease at the level of racist violence occurring in Greece.

In August an Iraqi man was stabbed to death  by five men in Athens. This happened shortly after police had conducted a sweep of the city for undocumented residents.

Since the assaults on the street vendors the police had been forced to take the issue  more seriously . The following Monday the police launched patrols outside Golden Dawn's offices in Athens and stopped and searched people coming in and out of the building.

Far from denying the assaults Golden Dawn have complained that the police are interfering with their political work. An official from Golden Dawn claim they would be taking legal action against the police for interfering with there administrative work, and that it amounted to harassment.

It has become clear that the degree of collusion between Golden Dawn and the police force that they can be very little confidence from targeted communities with the police force.

It is therefore a matter of some urgency that targeted groups to start organising their  own self-defence.

Surge in support for Golden Dawn Nazis puts them third in polls.

  Golden Dawn the Greek neo-Nazi organisation has overtaken the mainstream socialist party Pasok in a recent opinion poll. This follows a recent clamp down on illegal and uncertificated citizens. The tactic of undermining racist votes by introducing racist policies has once again failed. It has merely had the effect of making Golden Dawn a much stronger entity.

The government has initiated a major clampdown on illegal immigrants and people without documents, and has ceded ground to  Golden Dawn by implicitly accepting that illegal immigrants are responsible for practically all crime.
Greek police arrested 1,130 unregistered migrants in Athens  during part of operation "Xenios Zeus". 

Public Order and Citizens' Protection minister Nikos Dendias said"today is a good day for Greek Police, regarding both the smooth development of the major 'Xenios Zeus' operation and the success in solving the  hideous crime on Panos". 

  Christos Manourasif, the police spokesperson, said the operation was essential for Greece's survival.   Manouras said "We must send the message that Greece cannot afford work and hospitality to would-be immigrants." 

 

  Golden Dawn wants to rid Greece of all foreigners and what it calls the "stench" of immigrants. it has bolstered its support by giving food out to the poor of Athens, although only of course to Greeks.  

Backing for Golden Dawn, which has been linked to a rise in attacks against migrants in recent months, stood at 10.5 percent, up nearly 4 percentage points since the June elections that gave the party a foothold in parliament.The poll also shows a significant drop in support for the conservative New Democracy party which leads the governing coalition. It's  support has dipped to 25% from 29.7% in June.Whilst backing for the   leftist  Syriza party has fallen by nearly 3 percentage points to 24%. Pasok, the once mighty socialist mainstream party has fallen to fourth place with 8 percent of the vote.

The government is now in the process of trying to push through deeply unpopular spending cuts and a  massive privatisation programme worth almost 15 billion euros.

The privatization scheme, according to the Associated Press, would include over 28 state properties, including the state natural gas, water and betting companies, the rights to development the former Athens airport, other airports, state-owned marinas, and the state railways. The privatization of Public Power Corporation will come at a later stage, said finance minister Yannis Stournaras Stournaras .

This is the biggest fire sale ever.

the economic policies of the government is pursuing  is piling yet more misery upon the people.

The combination of a series of racist attacks, by the Golden Dawn party, with it appears the complete connivance of the police force, and a racist onslaught by the government has created an almost perfect storm for the Nazis.

It is essential now more than ever that the left form a united front against the Nazis, failure to do so could have disastrous consequences.

 
 

Golden Dawn MP assaults two women on live TV.

From the New Statesman.

Video: Golden Dawn spokesman attacks 

left-wing politicians on live TV

 

 

Far-right politician faces arrest after

 assault of Communist Party member on 

talk-show.

By Samira Shackle Published 07 June 2012 9:55

 

   

Golden Dawn party members march on parliament, May 2012. Photograph: Getty Images 

An arrest warrant has been issued for a member of Greece's extremist far-right party Golden Dawn (Chrysi Avgi) after he assaulted two left-wing politicians on live television this morning.

During a heated discussion on a political talk show, Ilias Kasidiaris threw water over Rena Dourou, a member of the radical left Syriza party, after she referred to a pending court case pending against Kasidiaris (in which he is accused of being an accomplice in the mugging of a student).
He then jumped out of his seat to slap Communist Party member Liana Kanelli, after a disagreement about whether there were oil reserves south of Crete. The show quickly went off air after Kasidiaris hit Kanelli, but some reports suggest that scuffles continued after the cameras were off.


Golden Dawn, which won nearly 7 per cent of the vote on 6 May, is frequently described as a neo-Nazi party, a label it rejects. Members have been accused of being behind recent attacks on immigrants, a charge which the party denies.
Although Kasidiaris was elected to parliament on 6 May, he will not be protected by parliamentary immunity - the House has been dissolved so that elections can take place.

Golden Dawn leader,Nikos Michaloliakos denying gas chambers, endorsing Hitler and minimising the Holocaust on T.V.

The Golden Dawn's leaders  attitude over the Holocaust flips from Stuff Happens to minimisation to finally declaring there were no ovens or gas chambers at Auschwitz.
This is depressingly familiar to any Nazi watchers.It's the standard trajectory of most euro fascists, here condensed into 3 revolting minutes.




 This interview is from Greek television last week.The interviewer is left -wing  journalist Stavros Theodorakis and is an extract from his Protagonistes programme.

Golden Dawn Nazis attempting to intimidate journalists.

                                                           Nikos Michaloliakos

The Golden Dawn is now beginning to lash out at the free press.Clearly,they are beginning to feel the heat.There has been universal condemnation of the Golden Dawn's leader Nikos Michaloliakos assertion that there were no gas chambers in Auschwitz.

Since gaining 21 seats in the recent elections GD has been subject to much greater scrutiny,and their support seems to be taking a dive.Anti-fascists have been denouncing them as a Nazi organisation and they have seen their support ebbing away.

One poll even puts their support at below 3%,this would mean that in the re-run elections they would lose all their seats.This poll should be viewed with caution,as it was a phone poll,and people are not entirely honest about their voting intentions if it involves the far right.There is however no question that they are taking a hammering ,in the polls and they have decided to blame the messenger.

The ridiculous performance of Nikos Michaloliakos at the press conference after the first elections this year when journalists were instructed to stand up and show their respect for him set alarm bells ringing.

As Digital Journal reports:

"The Greek Federation of Journalists has sent a warning to the far-right Golden Dawn party that it will not be terrorized, following accusations that the newly elected neo-Nazi party has intimidated reporters. 

Greece's journalists' union is not alone in its stance as Sott reports International press freedom watchdogs are also monitoring the situation in Greece following mistreatment of journalists by Golden Dawn. The issue was first raised when journalist Xenia Kounalaki recounted how she was threatened following the publication of an article in Greek newspaper Kathimerini entitled "The Banality of Evil," about Golden Dawn's surge in popularity. She concluded the party should be banned. Following the publication of her story Kounalaki wrote a piece in Der Spiegel describing the threat her story provoked. She wrote "

An anonymous reply to my article appeared on the Golden Dawn website. It was a 2,500-word-long personal attack in which the fascists recounted my entire career, mocked my alleged foreign roots (I was born in Hamburg) and even, for no apparent reason, mentioned my 13-year-old daughter. The unnamed authors indirectly threatened me as well: 'To put it in the mother tongue of foreign Xenia: 'Kommt Zeit, kommt Rat, kommt Attentat!' In other words, watch your back."

Kounalaki is not alone in feeling threatened. During Golden Dawn's election victory press conference journalists were ordered to stand and salute the party or leave the room. Greece's journalists' union has released a statement. Ekathimerini reports it said

“The Greek Federation of Journalists (POESY) warns Hitler nostalgics and especially the ‘brave boys in black T-shirts’ that no journalist will be coerced, threatened or above all terrorized.”

Additionally the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) reacted to the situation by stating "I hope that these incidents will be isolated cases and that the Golden Dawn leaders will respect democratic principles."

Golden Dawn : Now they attack the LGBT community.

                                                “After the immigrants you are next.” 

This was the blunt heading on the top of leaflets Golden dawn members were distributing in the Gazi district of Athens.This is known to be a district with a high proportion of LGBT residents. This is of course not the first time that they have distributed anti-gay leaflets and attempted to intimidate the gay community.In 2005 they gave out homophobic leaflets during the Athens Pride March.

This is a classic fascist strategy of finding several minorities to scapegoat to build a movement.This follows comments from Michaloliakos about the gas chambers of Auschwitz which amount to Holocaust denial.

They are now speaking up about "sick and abnormal " homosexuals.
 According to Greek reporter

   "The General Secretary of the far-right party told reporter Stavros Theodorakis during an interview that homosexuals are an abnormal part of Greek society. “I wouldn’t feel proud if I were a fag,” added party leader Nikos Michaloliakos.

When asked if Golden Dawn has homosexual members, Michaloliakos noted that there are no particular tests to perform on his party members to know for sure who is homosexual and who is not. Being openly homosexual and being a member of Golden Dawn at the same time is impossible, according to the General Secretary of the party."

There are also growing concerns about collusion between GD and the police .There have been reports of both organisations jointly attacking immigrants,and also a wealth of reports of Golden Dawn members attacking people whilst the police stand around doing nothing.

Clearly communities are going to have to organise their own self defence.


Spokesperson of the Homosexual Groups of Greece Gregory Vallianatos who has been victimised by Golden Dawn twice in the past is demanding action.

 “What Michaloliakos said was a direct threat against all homosexuals. He may be cool or not about him being a ‘fag’, but he beats anyone else who feels proud of being a ‘fag."

The line the Nazis are now taking is to associate Gay people with leftism and saying it is a product of decadent socialism.This is straight out of German National Socialism  of the 1930s.

Golden Dawn is now maintaining that homosexuality is completely alien to Greek society.


 Alexander the Great, Sophocles,  Euripides and Socrates were unavailable for comment.

Golden Dawn Nazis: Nikolaos Mihaloliakos engages in Holocaust denial.

Close on the heels of Golden Dawn having their website closed down their leader has been publicly questioning the existence of the gas chambers and the historical record of the Holocaust.There are hopes that this  will cost him dear in any ballot box rerun.
It's becoming fairly obvious that another election is almost inevitable .Since the election and his preposterous behaviour at Golden Dawn's press conference anti-fascists are hopeful that this will give added impetus to the electoral campaign against the Nazis.With their support seemingly ebbing away it could yet be the case that they do not have any seats to take in the next parliament.

Jennifer Lipman from The Jewish Chronicle reports:

The leader of the neo-fascist party that won seats in the Greek parliament for the first time earlier this month has denied some of the fundamental facts of the Holocaust.

Golden Dawn, which now claims 21 parliamentarians and whose members are known for giving Nazi salutes and for their staunchly anti-immigrant stance, is led by Nikolaos Mihaloliakos. According to Reuters Mr Mihaloliakos told an interviewer on Sunday that he did not believe that six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis.
He described the figure as an "exaggeration".

He said: "There were no ovens, this is a lie ... there were no gas chambers either."
Holocaust denial is not illegal in Greece, but a government spokesman said he categorically condemned Mr Mihaloliakos's remarks.

"They distort history and offend the memory of millions of Holocaust victims," said Pantelis Kapsis.

Golden Dawn's success has sent shockwaves around Greece's Jewish community, which is estimated to include several thousand people. The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece called it a "serious blow" to Greek democracy.

Greek Nazis Breakthrough.Golden Dawn wins seats in Elections.

 "The time for fear has come."

  "The time for fear has come for those who betrayed this homeland," Golden Dawn leader Nikos Michaloliakos announced at a press conference at an Athens hotel, flanked by menacing shaven-headed young men.
It is important to point out that Greece's Golden Dawn Party are not Post-Fascist ,Proto-Nazi Crypto-Nazi or Semi Nazi.

They are Nazis.

Old school ,Holocaust denying ,racial supremacist,violent ,Mein Kampf reading Nazis.

The background of Golden Dawn is strictly old school and has been discussed on this site before.
Golden Dawn has gone from an irrelevant movement barely getting 0.3% of the vote to now polling around 7%.

Nazis thrive on misery and the financial bailout of Greece has caused plenty of that.
More than two years of repeated austerity measures that have included pension and salary cuts and waves of tax hikes have pushed Greece into a deep recession that has seen the jobless rate explode and tens of thousands of businesses close.
There is now talk of an additional 15% cut in wages.

 According to The Guardian reporting in February:
"Greeks have already suffered a 30% cut in wages and can look forward to steep cuts in the minimum wage as well as pensions as the price for securing the latest €130bn bailout which, with €34.4bn rolled over from the original €109bn rescue package, gives €164.4bn available over the next three years.

The sheer scale of the fresh dose of austerity, doubts over the ability of both the Greek government and the eurozone to reach targets and gaps in the eurogroup deal prompted cynics to suggest the agreement would hold together for only a few months. Some non-eurozone diplomats have already begun speculating about when a third package will be required to keep Greece within the euro.


Papademos, who flew to Brussels to help broker the deal, secured significant backing from a large group of private bondholders for the increased 53.5% nominal "haircut". He also won an extra €10bn in the package for the recapitalisation of Greek banks which now see €50bn set aside.


The proceeds from privatisations, already scheduled to raise €50bn, have so far been a paltry €1.6bn from five transactions and the new programme envisages raising €19bn from 35 transactions. But the full proceeds will only be raised if the Greek state sells off huge tracts of land and buildings, the officials conceded."


Every other week more and more demands have been made on the Greek people to bear greater burdens for the crisis.There have been constant strikes in response to the austerity measures.
The question has been not whether Greek anger would explode but when.

 Although the left have been the principle beneficiaries of the anger the growth of the Nazis must not be overlooked.

In it's TV campaign it's slogan was “Let’s rid this country of the stench.”

Golden Dawn's official  motto is, “So we can rid the land of filth.”

Golden Dawn’s charter says its “main ideal and belief is the nation-tribe” and that “only men and women of Greek descent and consciousness should have full political rights.”

There have been many reports of violence against dark  skinned Greeks ,or anyone who might be an immigrant,legal or not.
It is also very clear that their violence is not being challenged by the police and many feel that the police are in some sort of alliance with Golden Dawn.

Javad Aslan, a spokesman for Greece’s Pakistani immigrant community,voiced his concerns over Golden Dawns electoral success..

“This is dangerous for everyone who is living in Greece,” Aslan said.
 “This (result) unbelievable for me. It is very serious, very dangerous. I can never believe a political party that comes with knives and bars against us, that hurts people and puts them in hospital.”

The black-shirted thugs of GD have also been attacking political opponents. A Pasok candidate was chased down the street and attacked with bottles and bricks.

Golden Dawn conforms to all the aspects of classical fascism.It clearly now is a political and physical threat.

 The rise of Marine Le Pen in France has given hope to GD. The right in France have tried to appeal to the rise of the Fascists by directly appealing to their base.

Antonis Samaras,leader of New Democracy has aligned himself with the church and announced it's centrality to Greek identity.He has also made a commitment to  repeal a law giving citizenship rights to the children of legal immigrants.Unfortunately much as in France it is not only the right wing who attempt to appeal to racist attitudes.

 As Mario Margonis points out in The Nation:
 "But populist nationalism is not confined to the right. At least since the rule of the first Pasok prime minister, Andreas Papandreou, in the 1980s, parts of the Greek left have had a strong nationalist streak, rooted in the anti-imperialist opposition to the CIA-backed junta and to decades of cold war meddling in Greek politics. Now, with Greece’s sovereignty once again hemmed in by foreign powers, those buttons are easy to push, and make for strange bedfellows. Politicians of all stripes reach for ugly metaphors of disease and war.
 In April Pasok ministers called the migrants in Athens a “hygenic time bomb” and began turning military bases into detention centers.
 A Russian prostitute who tested HIV-positive was locked up on criminal charges and had her picture plastered all over the media; when several Greek hookers were also found to be carriers, the immigration panic morphed into a moral one. Half the worried johns who called a public helpline turned out to be—shock, horror—married men, carrying infection into the heart of the “Greek family.”

The Nazis are also going into deprived areas with food to give to the poor, whilst propagandising, a tactic lifted from Hitlers Nazi's.
The BBC reported  these comments from their supporters:

"We believe in our race, we believe in our nation's power," Athina says. "These immigrants have not been checked for diseases. If a Greek person feels threatened by an immigrant, I justify someone trying to give them justice.


"I don't know why I should care about violence against immigrants."


"We are not racist," Rosalie assures me. "They [immigrants] are [racist] towards us, because we love our country. Is this wrong?

"We brought civilisation, we brought everything. They kill us and they rape us."




They are now likely to have about 21 seats.

This is their leader ranting at a post election press conference.

With the Elections now over in France and Hollande victorious,arguments against austerity are now far more mainstream.

The crisis in Greece is the most extreme crisis in Europe ,which means anything is possible.

In these situations anything can happen.

Greece faces an acid test next month when it must give parliamentary approval for over 11 billion euros in extra spending cuts for 2013 and 2014 in exchange for more aid from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
Considering the results that is going to be a tough call.
 With the rise of various competing lefts, Golden Dawn should be easy to neutralise,however with an emerging paramilitary wing seemingly acting with the connivance of the police and a political wing,the time to act is now.

If they are allowed to grow it could be disastrous.Elements in the Greek establishment have turned to Fascist solutions before,and if it is a realistic option might do so again.