Alex Andreou

Asking the questions others are too intelligent to ask

With the rise of SYRIZA and Golden Dawn, Greece's status quo has been forever altered

Greek Democracy will never be the same after this turbulent month

By Alex Andreou Published 18 June 2012 8:45

Supporters of SYRIZA wave flags outside a university building on election night. Photograph: Getty Images

I am grateful to expert Louise Mensch, who once had a Greek Salad from Waitrose, for analysing the result of yesterday’s election so that I can grasp it. She said: "When push comes to shove, the Greek people voted for austerity and sanity. Are you listening, Labour?" Obviously I cannot compete with this sort of laser-like analysis, which would reduce Shakespeare’s Othello to "interracial marriages just don’t work". But try, I must.

It is difficult to give you a sense of the tectonic plate shift which has taken place in the Greek political geology in the last few years. If you can imagine, between now and 2015, the Tories dropping thirty-two percentage points, the LibDems disappearing into seventh place with less than 5 per cent, the BNP securing 18 MPs, the Greens emerging from nowhere to become the main opposition and the prospect of a Tory/Labour coalition, you may get a taste.

Let us put aside the facile notion that a fragmented election result is "not decisive". It is, in many ways, a healthier expression of democracy than what has happened in Greece for the last 50 years - a polarised sharing of 80 per cent of the vote between two major parties who swap power every few years. It is as valid a decision as any other. In the case of Sunday’s election, it says loudly and clearly "we trust none of you unfettered or unsupervised". Given the history of corruption and mismanagement which has brought my country to its knees, it seems to me a perfectly sensible position.

The nominal victors are the New Democracy right-of-centre party. With 29.6 per cent of the vote, 2.7 per cent ahead of radical left SYRIZA, they have secured the much coveted "bonus" which, under Greek electoral rules, gives the top party an additional 50 MPs. This leaves them in the unenviable position of having to form a coalition and drive forward with the austerity package. To add to their woes, the most likely coalition partner (both in numerical terms and being pro-austerity) is the left-of-centre PASOK; their sworn enemies for a generation. PASOK, who were in power three years ago with 44 per cent, now languish on a paltry 12.5 per cent of the vote. Their fall from grace is truly astounding. The Communist KKE party has been obliterated into seventh place with less than 5 per cent. Other assorted new, coalition or independent parties have largely lost out too, as the vote became concentrated around New Democracy and SYRIZA.

SYRIZA is the real winner. I notice that both the BBC and Sky News yesterday took to describing them as left-of-centre or leftist. They are about as left-of-centre as Norwich is west-of-Japan. They are a radical left party and anti-austerity – a term which is not, as the Guardian seems to consider, interchangeable with anti-euro. They took shape in the debates of the Syntagma Square demonstrations, with little party funding or organisation, to secure 17 per cent in the May election and have increased that to 27 per cent a month later.

SYRIZA have already declared that they are not willing to play ball in a New Democracy led pro-bailout coalition. This leaves them in a uniquely strong position. Untainted by the corruption and dirty dealing of the past, their hands clean from the misery which will be visited on the electorate over the coming months, they can sit back, maintain their ideological position intact and watch their mandate grow in the opinion polls. Many commentators are now confidently predicting that their leader Alexis Tsipras (who British news outlets have taken to describing as "charismatic", presumably because it would be unprofessional to say he’s "hot") will be Prime Minister in Greece within a couple of years.

And SYRIZA have won in another very important way. They have shifted the whole debate on the bail-out package. So terrifying to Troika and their representatives was the prospect of having someone in charge who might put people above markets, that all the pro-bailout parties have had to water down their position during this campaign. Everyone is now talking about, at the very least, a relaxing of the conditions, a renegotiation of aspects of the package and an emphasis on growth.

Even the Euro-cacophony, which has been hollering that any attempt at deviation from the agreement would see Greece sent to the drachma naughty step, is making softer noises. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said "I can imagine we could do something in terms of the time frame". The Commission and the IMF too, have been talking about helping Greece, using words like "partners" and "family". Are these the same people who told Greece last year to "sell some of its islands" in order to repay its debts?

There was another winner too. The far-right party Chrissi Avgi (Golden Dawn) cemented its position with 7 per cent of the vote and will get 18 MPs. These are not cuddly BNP types. They are a neo-Nazi party with a history of violence which makes Nick Griffin look like Julie Andrews. Their supporters call the leader of the party "Führer" and greet him with the Nazi salute. Their logo is a swastika, thinly disguised as an ancient Greek meander. The country is littered with their graffiti calling for "another holocaust – to clean the place out".

Many had said that the votes they got in the May election were protest votes; votes cast in anger. Many had hoped that their poster boy, Ilias Kasidiaris, viciously beating up a 60-year-old female rival MP live on television, would put voters off. Not a bit of it. Instead Kasidiaris has been elected to Parliament and will sit across from the very woman he assaulted. As one sharp blogger put it, "violence is porn for fascists". And if the woman you’re punching happens to have very loud opinions, happens to be a lesbian, happens to be a communist, happens to be all three, well that’s the "money shot".

Golden Dawn did not just appear out of nowhere. They have been around for a long time waiting for their opportunity. When I left Greece, many years ago, they would be the subject of whispered gossip at the grocer’s: "Did you hear? So-and-so’s son is a Chrissavgitis." It was tantamount to having a criminal in the family; a source of shame. Yesterday, the results from my home-town of Mykonos show that among the four thousand or so voters, 267 people voted for a Nazi party. I probably know some of them. A couple might be my distant cousins. What the hell happened?

Fear and anger happened. And the responsibility must rest squarely with the centre-right parties. Because their reaction to difficult times, their reaction to fear and anger, is to reach for insidious, populist right-wing strategies. More fear. More anger. Attack the immigrant. Blame the unemployed. Demonise the disabled. Wave the flag and clutch at nationalism disguised as patriotism. It’s like an involuntary, political nervous tic. "The mind of the bigot is like the pupil of the eye", said O.W. Holmes, "the more light you pour upon it the more it will contract."

And this is the lesson which I hope the UK reader will take away and ponder. When the leader of New Democracy, Samaras, chooses to say that the reason kindergarten schools are struggling to cope is because of all the foreign kids, he paves the way for Golden Dawn to goose-step their way into Parliament. When Sarkozy courts Marine Le Pen’s voters, when Merkel says multi-culturalism is dead, when Cameron links race and religion to terrorism, they open the Overton window for the far-right burglars waiting outside. They make what was previously impossible, possible.

__________________________

On to more important matters now. The deities of football have set up a highly ironic Euro 2012 quarter-final between Greece and Germany on Friday. We should suggest a little bet to Merkel – "Double or Quits. What do you say, Ange?" If by half-time Greece is not performing to Merkel’s expectations, she may well get rid of our manager and appoint a technocrat of her choice. Perhaps Greece will have a government by then. If they don’t do as they’re told, she may do the same. It wouldn’t be the first time.

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Tags: Greece Eurocrisis

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44 comments

Sun, 2012-07-08 18:01 — ThorsteinGreville

Tsipras says he wants Greece to stay in the euro, but will not support more cuts. That is a bit like wanting to stay on the rack, but not wanting the pain. The euro means poverty, it means destruction. Former Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos has warned that Greece would enter a ‘vortex of self-destruction’ if it left the euro. What’s it in now if not a ‘vortex of self-destruction’? Greece should get out of the euro, default, devalue and then rebuild, as Argentina did. http://www.squidoo.com/best-color-laser-printer-reviews

Thu, 2012-06-21 04:15 — Alexander Chalkidis (not verified)

This article, obviously written by a SYRIZA supporter, has been widely circulated in Greece by SYRIZA supporters. It glosses over the fact that Alexis Tsipras has effectively stepped into the same two-party system he is supposedly criticizing. "Untainted" is probably the worse word to use for him since he has espoused every populist trick in the book including promising 100,000 jobs in the civil sector, nationalization of industries and all sorts of other similar jokes.

A more blatantly obvious point the author seems to have missed completely is that the force of PASOK, its strength amongst civil servants, simply switched from PASOK to SYRIZA. This is obvious even with a cursory reading of election results by region. Even more so by the numerous PASOK members which moved to SYRIZA!

The fall of the two party system in its Greek version will indeed be great news when it happens. A sign of political maturity we badly need. SYRIZA however is a very, very, very far cry from that.

Thu, 2012-06-21 16:51 — Iraklis Renieris (not verified)

It's practically impossible to deal with this kind of logic. Up untill now, all left supporters in Greece had to face the same critique : "you, commies and leftists, have to shut up, because, after all, you are hardly the 20% of Greece - the other 80% is New Democracy and PASOK" - now that only this horrible law, that gives the winning party a bonus of 50 (!!!) MP seats, made SYRIZA second party instead of first, SYRIZA members are accused of being part of the two-ruling-parties-oppressive system! is the word chutzpah appropriate? sorry if it is'nt... Meanwhile, the threats and dirty propaganda reached their ugly goal : the two parties that were SOLELY responsible for all the mess are now in the same government and grin happily under their moustaches to the poor, to the underprivileged, to the dead by suicide and the lot of us : "you, stupid voters! - you stupid half-blind citizens! you clearly deserve us!..."

Thu, 2012-06-21 00:50 — Apollo (not verified)

"Tracers of Great Ancestors, Children of Brilliant Fighters.
We are the New Spartans, with our brave hearts.
Forward, always forward! The Time of a new Glory rises!
Forward, always forward! We're led by the Light of Hellenism!
We lit the Torch, we gave birth to Rage!
We want a New Hellas that will cover the whole World!
Forward, always forward! The Time of a new Glory rises!
Forward, always forward! We're led by the Light of Hellenism!"

Anthem of the Golden Dawn

Tue, 2012-06-19 20:33 — Yawn (not verified)

How do you "disguise" a swastika as a meander? F-ckin ridiculous.

Wed, 2012-06-20 12:58 — Constantine (not verified)

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

THE SWASTIKA IS A TROJAN SYMBOL

Wed, 2012-06-20 12:58 — Constantine (not verified)

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

THE SWASTIKA IS A TROJAN SYMBOL

Tue, 2012-06-19 17:36 — Constantine (not verified)

Alexis is no more no less "a stormy petrel"
I am much more worried about the "Golden Dawn" phenomenon as it surged
out of overtolerant and leftist policies.

Tue, 2012-06-19 17:35 — Constantine (not verified)

Alexis is no more no less "a stormy petrel"
I am much more worried about the "Golden Dawn" phenomenon as it surged
out of overtolerant and leftist policies.

Tue, 2012-06-19 16:57 — Will Podmore (not verified)

Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras stressed that he was committed to keeping Greece in the euro, arguing, “The people of Greece want to replace the failed old memorandum of understanding (as signed in March with the EU and International Monetary Fund) with a ‘national plan for reconstruction and growth’. This is necessary both to avert Greece’s humanitarian crisis and to save the common currency.” But the EU outlaws any national plan for reconstruction and growth.
Tsipras says he wants Greece to stay in the euro, but will not support more cuts. That is a bit like wanting to stay on the rack, but not wanting the pain. The euro means poverty, it means destruction. Former Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos has warned that Greece would enter a ‘vortex of self-destruction’ if it left the euro. What’s it in now if not a ‘vortex of self-destruction’? Greece should get out of the euro, default, devalue and then rebuild, as Argentina did.

Tue, 2012-06-19 16:53 — Will Podmore (not verified)

Tue, 2012-06-19 14:57 — Iraklis Renieris (not verified)

The post made by TRUTHSHINESOUT is constructed totally out of his mind - everything he says is a lie, there arenot 2 million illegal immigrants in Greece, there was no policeman killed by immigrants and ofcourse there was no gang rape at any time. If he dares, he can come up with names and the police announcements that would be related to those events if those had EVER taken place. He can be considered a real spiritual child of Goebels who once stated : "the bigger the lie the bigger the impact - people can never imagine that you only want to deceive them". Unfortunately, friends at the NS, you really have to get some fact-checking before printing anything similar. Great article, by the way (very thoughtful and 'bull's eye' for some Greek that lives in UK...)

Tue, 2012-06-19 09:00 — Sokratis (not verified)

It was not only that the center right (the Nea Dimokratia party) that adopted the GD agenda; the PASOK (socialists) did also blame immigrants, poor people and finally everyone ("We ate [the money] together", "The immigrants are a hygiene bomb", "1 million public servants make 1o millions suffer" and so on). A nazi rhetoric has been spreading since late 2009 and this came from mainstream politicians. People just tried to help by turning to the real thing, the Chrissi Avgi, they were eager to do something with all these groups they were told were the actual reason of their suffering.
Now GD kills and beats people in the street every night. GD members have been seen many times getting in and out of police vehicles and chatting with the police at the time of action. Golden Dawn seems to have been given the OK to begin the dark game of the core of the state. The Troika can't rule only by law and television. The streets must get dangerous.
Thank God we live in a Democracy!

Tue, 2012-06-19 02:38 — jesifast12 (not verified)

khasiat daun sirsak

Mon, 2012-06-18 22:59 — İlgi (not verified)

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Mon, 2012-06-18 17:04 — mbrecker (not verified)

In all of the "expert analysis" up to the latest Greek elections, not once did anyone talk about th fact that the Greek debt (and the global debt) can never be repaid. We keep hearing the same economic professors (easy to book for all of these shows) talking about maybe we'll stay in the EU, maybe not. Not once does anyone say, hang on a minute. What if we just wrote off the debt and started over?

That's a vaid angle to this story. Why then is everyone afraid to touch this?

You'll piss off your advertisers.
The govt. won't tolerate it.
The politicians careers will all be over.
There will be riots in the streets and so on.
Society as we know it will totally collapse.
The politicians will then declare martial law. Do you really want that to happen?

If you won't do your job, you just lost another part of your audience.

Mon, 2012-06-18 20:48 — Alex, Sturdyblog (not verified)

Darn it. I have failed once more to write an article which includes everything.

Perhaps you should read some of my other articles on the Greek debt...

Mon, 2012-06-18 15:57 — vangelis

As a Greek living in he UK, I think the majority of the British media should be embarrassed of the coverage of the 'Greek story'. Their 'experts' are people who don't understand anything outside the British culture and as such their 'analysis' is a joke.

In that respect the article was refreshing, although I don't agree with some of its points.
Anti-austerity means anti-Europe; the fact that the recent Greek government failed to cut down on the state's extravagant expenses does not mean that all austerity has to mean reducing salaries at the lower end of the spectrum. Arguing that you should be able to waste others' money without the responsibility to repay with the agreed terms, is anti-European, first and foremost culturally.

As for golden dawn, it is very puzzling and worrying. To me it is an indication of how the Greek political and educational system have failed in the last forty years to educate the people about the need for democracy and toleration. They are not merely neo-nazis, they are also in favour of the much more recent dictatorship. There has never been any serious attempts to analyse the political and social reasons behind the duration of the dictatorship and not just the coup - everything has been blamed on some military officers and focused on those who suffered the most; but what about the 'silent majority' and the rest of the army? Unfortunately an explanation of the rise of golden dawn may be that there have been a lot of sympathisers of the dictatorship in Greece, absorbed mostly by the conservative party. Several years ago, Jean-Marie Le Pen said that there are not nationalistic parties in Greece because all parties are nationalistic. I'm afraid he was right to an extent - there have been deeply nationalistic and xenophobic voters all across the political spectrum.
The rise of immigration and the exposition of the political system corruption gave them the electoral boost they needed, but I'm not sure that's all there is behind their popularity.

Mon, 2012-06-18 15:17 — Joanna E (not verified)

When governments attempt to commit genocide against their own people by mass immigration and forced assimilation in all White countries and only White countries, it becomes inevitable that the people will respond. Golden Dawn is not just the future of Greece, but the future of all of Europe.

Tue, 2012-06-19 22:39 — Red Shift

I'd be horrified if the Greek immigrants in this country were vilified.

Mon, 2012-06-18 20:25 — quantum_Q (not verified)

Don't be so ignorant. I'd like to see how you're economies fair were immigrants to suddenly up and leave 'your' country.

Mon, 2012-06-18 19:57 — justiceman (not verified)

Europe needs migrants but legal ones and not those who enter illegally and foist themselves and their culture, sometimes rotten culture, on the native population. The US and EU must act fast to avoid the rise of extreme right parties and ethnic cleansing on the scale of Nazi Germany and more recent issues in former Yugoslavia.

Mon, 2012-06-18 15:07 — thinkov

zita Syriza

pasok are appalling

Mon, 2012-06-18 15:07 — thinkov

zita Syriza

pasok are appalling

Mon, 2012-06-18 14:59 — Kay Darens (not verified)

Dear friend from other countries,

I am Greek and I live in Athens. Me, my girlfriend and all of our friends (about 20 people) are unemployed. We have been trying to work in any work we can but that's impossible. There are just no jobs around. From the 20 persons only 10 of them can get the OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT CARD the others cannot because they never worked before and the law here doesn't permit someone who just graduated to be considered UNEMPLOYED even if he is. Thus the real stats about unemployment in Greece amongst young persons 18-30 is over 60% and not just 25%.

I studied Computer Systems Engineering at the University of Peiraeus. I was one of the lucky ones to work for 4 consecutive years as a Software Engineer in a multinational company (ASPECT) and I have a Proficiency in English and a DALF 2 in French. I have also been specialized in Cloud Computing, I have over 7 Microsoft Certifications regarding MS Communicator, .NET etc and a certificate in AVAYA telephony software. When I go on an interview they tell me that I am overqualified for any position - and that they won't take me. So I am unemployed right now for over a year.

My girlfriend finished Arts & Conservation University in Athens and she never managed to get a job because even though Greece is full of ancient monuments the goverment doesn't care to conserve them. To be concise for all Acropolis marbles only 8 persons are employed as CONSERVATORS. The actual need is over 100 but they won't take them.

Most people work for a salary as high as 425 Euros / month (that's about 580$). Living cost here is about 800$/month. For example: GAS is 1.7 - 1.8 euros | COFFEE is 3.7 to 4.5 euros | MILK costs 2 euros etc. To make a living most Greeks ask for help from their parents but our parents are also facing HIGH taxes which are not based on INCOME CRITERIA.

It's true! Actually one day TROIKA said they needed more money to cover the debt and so the Minister of Economy back then Evaggelos Venizelos declared that they would pass a SPECIAL TAX that every Greek citizen should pay whether he is unemployed, has the money or not. This special tax called here "CHARATSI" reminding of us the times we were slaves to the Turks back in 1800's has been imposed through NATIONAL ELECTRICITY COMPANY. So If someone doesn't pay CHARATSI then he just get's his POWER disconnected. It doesn't matter if he is sick. It doesn't matter if he cannot pay it because he has no job for over 2 years. They just cut the POWER off and let you DIE. This SPECIAL Tax is based on a per SQUARE METER basis of your home so it varies from 600 euros to 3000 euros in the bigger homes and you have to pay it in 2 doses.

Furthermore if you DONT' pay then the IRS is informed and they CONFISCATE your HOUSE - so most Greeks right now are facing homelesness. Only in Athens we have more than 30.000 homeless people with the 15.000 of them appearing after losing everything after the TROIKA got here.

I could write for ages how life here is HELL. The only thing that we have is our PRIDE, the sun and the sea. Nothing more.

As far as yesterdays elections are concerned NEA DIMOKRATIA won because the age group of +55 (the elder in Greece are more than the younger) voted for them because they are ignorant and they only learn the news through TV which serves only PROPAGANDA.

Unfortunately for us and all of the world TROIKA won and the mother of DEMOCRACY is dying. Next stop will be all of the other nations as the experiment here proved TOTAL SUCCESS....

Tue, 2012-07-31 12:12 — nikki of Troy (not verified)

Look America,Behold your future.

Mon, 2012-06-18 16:29 — vangelis

If it's such a hell why don't you move abroad?
I'm sorry but I can't sympathise with home owners who complain.
Real unemployment has always be as high in Greece in the last thirty or so years. But all those years the state would hire people even if they weren't needed.

(By the way, power will not be disconnected if you don't pay your tax - they changed it.)

Wed, 2012-06-20 11:00 — vd4 (not verified)

perhaps his life is hell, because of people like VANGELIS and their Thatcherite ideology

if he is not employed for more than a year and can't cover his basic living costs, how is he supposed to come up with the money to move abroad and look for a job? Or are we to assume that 'abroad' is the land of opportunity?

Wed, 2012-06-20 10:32 — Metoikos (not verified)

You had a chance to stay silent. That way we wouldn't have known how clueless you are. Now, you left us with no doubts.

Mon, 2012-06-18 13:44 — Euan McArthur (not verified)

With SYRIZA, we see the inevitable phenomenon under a capitalist democracy of a radical party whose interests do not align with those of capital - whether communist, fascist, environmentalist etc. - changing towards "moderate" positions. The BBC and Sky News are just unconsciously reflecting this. I would not be surprised if they did not call for resistance at all, but asked their supporters to "respect democracy" and move on to changing things after-the-bailout.

Mon, 2012-06-18 12:23 — Chris Christodoulou (not verified)

I'm a bit surprised by you—a fellow greek— characterizing SYRIZA a radical left party... Only radical thing about it is in its name (SY.RIZ.A means Coalition of Radical Left, for those who are wondering what I mean). Other than that it's a pro-Europe, pro-Euro (the currency) party that has expressed the intent or "gradually denying" (or "renegotiating" the memorandum). Nothing radical about that, especially when there were two other parties of the left (KKE and ANTARSYA) that have expressed truly radical anti-Euro(pe) positions. If anything, SYRIZA has moved "radically" towards the center in the past few months...

Mon, 2012-06-18 13:32 — Alex, Sturdyblog (not verified)

I understand your position and it is a valid way of looking at it, but not the only one. I, for one, do not think there is anything radical about saying "screw them - let's leave the EU and the euro". It is sadly an all-too-common position all around this continent.

I think it is radical to say "we're here to stay, but we will fight you, because austerity has failed". From their hysterical reaction to the possibility of a SYRIZA victory, I would say Merkel, the ECB and the IMF agree with me.

Mon, 2012-06-18 11:00 — Bill Kruse (not verified)

I wonder how it goes with international pedants? :-)

Mon, 2012-06-18 10:56 — TruthShinesOut (not verified)

This article oversimplifies the reason for the rise of the Golden Dawn.
It says that the Centre-Right parties blamed immigrants for taking jobs, and for burdening the education and health system, and that this opened the door for Golden Dawn. WRONG!
Greece is a nation of 11 million people. 2 MILLION of these people are ILLEGAL immigrants!
When you have 2 million illegal immigrants in a nation of only 11 million people, the citizens of the nation tend to notice that their national sovereignty and national security has been compromised and their immigration laws trashed!
When Greek citizens are getting raoed and murdered and bashed every few days by these illegal immigrants, then Greek citizens will support the ONLY political party that openly says it's number one priority is to deport illegal immigrants.
(Just in the last couple of weeks, a couple of Greek citizens as well as a police officer have been murdered by illegal immigrants, and a 15 year old Greek girl was gang raped in the middle of a street, by 4 illegal Afghan immigrants, who bashed her father and made him watch as they raped his daughter).
It is these types of daily incidents that make Greek citizens vote for Golden Dawn.
So next time, try speaking the truth in your articles please!

Wed, 2012-06-20 23:54 — dionusis (not verified)

A) You are making s**t-up (#'s and events and political realities) to support your argument. B) Just because illegal immigrates are in Greece doesn't give this right to attack innocent people just walking down the street... you are a sick/fascist/racist/inferiority feeling/insecure-part the Greek society. Get lost from my country...

Mon, 2012-06-18 15:20 — vangelis

You do not explain why people voted for golden dawn either. The fact that there is a lot of illegal immigrants related crime does not mean that golden dawn will be able to deal with. They haven't made any reasonable suggestions, unless you think that throwing all illegal immigrants out of the country is realistic and possible. Or that beating random people of a darker complexion is a solution. I'm afraid your argument is an oversimplification as well.

Tue, 2012-06-19 05:06 — Vasilis v (not verified)

They suggest land mines and killing them which, as far as I am concerned would solve the issue.

In all seriousness though, I am happy golden dawn exists, I really am. Call me a terrible person if you want. Of course, I would dread the day they would get real power to rule but in the meantime they protect old ladies, carry groceries, securing meighbourhoods (check the Aghios Panteleimonas case which incidentally I used to live on) and of course highlight the VERY important issue of immigration.

Would they be good for a government though? HELL NO!!!

Wed, 2012-06-20 22:28 — Anaximandros (not verified)

The only conversation you can have with a fascist is throw a brick on his head.

Tue, 2012-06-19 11:58 — Bosworth (not verified)

It's shocking that someone can be so naive. Go away and think about what you have written and see if you can find out where you are wrong. Believe me you are very wrong.

Wed, 2012-06-20 15:20 — Vasilis V (not verified)

Is it naive? Maybe we should never allow voice to parties we disagree with. That would help secure "democracy" and wouldn't be so naive, amirite?

The irony of leftists being more fascist in their policies than the ACTUAL fascists in the name of...combatting fascism is just too great for me to not laugh at your pathetic bunch. Seriously, screw you.

Mon, 2012-06-18 13:56 — Stratos (not verified)

11,000,000 people are the people living in Greece who are counted in the latest census so no illegal immigrants anywhere in there. And painting these people as murderers or criminals or responsible for Greeks being job-less is naive to say the least. GD is taking advantage of rhetoric and thoughts like yours to fuel their rise. Much like Hitler did in Germany in the 30s.

Mon, 2012-06-18 13:35 — Alex, Sturdyblog (not verified)

Golden Dawn have been intimidating and beating people since the late 70s. There was near zero immigration then. Do you also think that woman deserved a beating for being "mouthy"?

Making outrageous sweeping generalisations about entire groups of people in CAPITALS, has not alas made them any more convincing.