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Golden Dawn (Greece)

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Xrisi Aygi, also Hrisi Avgi, (Greek Χρυσή Αυγή, "Golden Dawn") was, until 2005, a Greek neo-Nazi party, espousing an anti-Semitic, anti-Capitalist and anti-Immigrant philosophy. "Hrisi Avgi" is also the name of a newspaper and a magazine published by the same party.

Hrisi Avgi described itself as "The Popular National Movement" with the ideology of Έθνος-Φυλή "Nation-Race" central to its platform. The party claimed to be comprised of "young people, workers, students, professionals, farmers, day-laborers and the unemployed," - in effect claiming to be broader in terms of appeal to more mainstream political parties and movements.

The party's symbol was a red flag bearing a black meander pattern ("greek key") with white trim. An image on its website features a burning cross. Other symbols adopted by Hrisi Avgi members were the national emblem of Greece, the labrys and the celtic cross.

Hrisi Avgi has been lumped with various far-right, nationalist groups by its opponents, citing the fact that members of the group ran as candidates under the Front Line and later the Popular Orthodox Rally flag in several elections. However, unlike the Hellenic Front (which is more like the French Front National) and other tradionalist, nationalist and religious conservative movements, Hrisi Avgi openly espoused Nazi-like symbols and ideology and putsch-style methods and advocated much more radical solutions to immigration, irridenta and border issues.

History

File:XA-Jul06-128.jpg
Cover of the July 2006 issue of Hrisi Avgi magazine, featuring Rudolf Hess.

In December 1980, Nikolaos Michaloliakos with a group of devotees, started publishing the Hrisi Avgi magazine. Michaloliakos was not new in the far-right end of the greek political spectrum. He was known for assaulting journalists covering the 1976 trial of Mallios, a police officer who was later convicted for torturing prisoners during the Regime of the Colonels. For this he had been arrested but later let go due to technical judicial issues related to his arrest. He had been again arrested as a member of a far-right extremist group in 1978 and convicted to one year imprisonment in 1979 for illegaly carrying guns and explosives. [1]

At the same period Michaloliakos laid the foundations of the Hrisi Avgi party, based on the publication of the magazine. The characteristics of the magazine and the party were clearly National Socialist. Great importance was attributed to the preservation of ideological purity and ideological continuity with the german national socialists. The Second World War was described as the "Great Ideological War" and at its constitutional charte, the newly found party stated that Hrisi Avgi is "convinced that the truth and the right at the Great Ideological War lay with the party that was eventually defeated" and that the party is "trying to reveal the true nature of National Socialism despite the defamation and lies with which the winners of the war covered it".[1]

According to the charte "only Aryans in blood and Greeks in descent can be candidate members of Hrisi Avgi". The charte also went to lenghts to describe the role of the Leader (Michaloliakos) in the party: "The Leader is unassailable and inviolete and is the supreme leader of the party. He stands above electoral procedures" and "The national socialist Leader does not lie above or besides the People, he is not inside the People, he is the People itself, the People that has comprehended its historical destiny".

The charte went so far as to define a dress code and to formalize the Roman salute for party members: "The national socialist salute at entering and leaving the party offices is mandatory. The salute must be given with vigour and vibrancy, never indolently or relaxed, as is behoved to the National Socialist Order". "Dress that denotes militant spirit is mandatory. As such the following are suggested: khaki or gray shirt, black or khaki jacket, combat boots or boots. The dress is complemented by a tie and a small national socialist symbol which the party member is free to chose on".

The party also embraced neopagan beliefs, believing them to be intemigled with National Socialism in accordance to Nazi mysticism: "Modern ideological carriers of the two religious currents are National Socialism as the ideological carrier of Paganism and Marxism and Liberalism as the ideological carriers of Judaeo-christianity"[2]

Gaining momentum: 1991-1992

The group remained largely to the margin of far-right politics until the FYROM name dispute broke in the mainstream Greek politics in 1991-1992.[1] Hrisi Avgi took advantage of the political climate of the era to gain momentum. According to prominent party member Dimitris Zafeiropoulos: "The first years of the nineties found the greek nationalist movement at a quantitive increase never seen before and also saw it enter the political mainstream. The agitation over national issues and the long ideological work, unseen to many, have bore fruit" [3]

The party underwent ideological changes so as to reach into the mainstream,[4] accepting Orthodox Christianity. As leader Michaloliakos put it: "It is a historical truth and a certain fact that (for better or worse) after the imposition of the christian religion in Greece, the dynamic interaction of Christianity and Hellenism (which for long functioned against the latter) led to the formation of Greek Orthodoxy"[5]

During that period the first major assaults against leftists and anarchists start occuring. In October 10 1992, during a massive demonstation in Athens, against the usage of the name "Macedonia" by FYROM, circa 30 party members attacked leftist students at the Athens University of Economics and Business[6]. At the same time the first organized street teams appear under Giannis Giannopoulos, a former military officer, who was involved with the South African Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) during the 80s.[1].

From 1992 onwards

After the events of 1991-2 Hrisi Avgi, had gained a stable membership of more than 200 members, in Athens and all over Greece. Giannopoulos rose in importance within the party hierarchy. In April 1996 Giannopoulos was the speaker on behalf of the party at a pan-european convention of nationalist parties in Moscow, and even presented Vladimir Zhirinovsky with a bust of Alexander the Great for his birthday. In October 1997 he published an article in Hrisi Avgi newspaper calling for nationalist vigilantism against illegal immigrants and leftists.[7] This marks the maturity of the street teams of the party[1], that a year later, under another prominent party member, Antonis Androutsopoulos, known as Periandros, would assault the student Dimitris Kousouris.

A few members of Hrisi Avgi took part in the Bosnian War in 1995 as members of the Greek Volunteer Guard (abbrev. GVG, Greek: "Ελληνική Εθελοντική Φρουρά" , ΕΕΦ), part of the "Drina Corps" of the Army of Republika Srpska. A few GVG volutneers were present in Srebrenica during the Srebrenica massacre and raised a greek flag at a ruined church after the fall of the town.[8] However, it is not clear whether the GVG participated in the massacres or not. Spiros Tzanopoulos, a sargeant for the GVG, that took part in the attack against Srebrenica stated: "Myself, as well as many other Greek volunteers, belong to a particular political formation, we belong to Hrisi Avgi and that was the main reason we went up there".[9] The cover of the 2/6/95 issue of the party's newspaper featured the activities of its members alongside the Chetniks, while at in its 28/7/95 issue a GVG volunteer was quoted saying that Hrisi Avgi was represented more than any other organisation or party at the GVG.[9]. Members of Hrisi Avgi participating in the GVG were even decorated by Radovan Karadžić, however according to former Hrisi Avgi member Charis Kousoumbris, those that were decorated later left Hrisi Avgi.[9]

The assault on Kousouris in 1998 would bring mainstream media attention to Hrisi Avgi. This, along with internal conflicts lead some of its most extremist elements, such as Giannopoulos, to gradually fade from the party's affairs.[1] The party however continued its participation in the far-right edge of the political spectrum, holding rallies and marches while frequently being accused of various acts of extremism against immigrants, leftists, anarchists and Jews. (See Activities section below).

Hrisi Avgi participated in the 1999 European Parliament election under an electoral alliance with the Front Line party of Kostas Plevris, gaining 48,532 votes nationwide, 0.75% of total votes.

Τhe party also held a staunchly homophobic stance. During a 2005 gay pride parade in Athens, they distributed fliers with homophobic messages.[10]

Disbandment

In December 1, 2005 according to the leader of the party, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, the organization has ceased to exist, due to clashes with anti-fascists.[11] Its members, though, have been instructed to continue activity in the Patriotiki Symmachia party.[12]

However, the newspaper and the magazine of the same name continue to be published. The organization's website also continues to be updated, mainly to support the Patriotiki Symmachia sponsored candidacy for the 2005 municipal elections in Athens.[13]

Ideology

File:Vitsi 2003 small.jpg
Members of Hrisi Avgi during a rally in 2003, for the anniversary of the Hellenic Army's victory against the communist partisans in the batlle of Grammos-Vitsi, during the Greek Civil War.

In an interview with the nationalist newspaper Eleutheros Kosmos, Michaloliakos stated that the members of Hrisi Avgi are "uncompromising Nationalists", thereby making it clear what his party's political orientation is. However, in that same interview, he clarifies the ideology behind Hrisi Avgi even more when asked by the interviewer what their ideology really is about: "The Ideology of our Movement as is characteristically cited in our charter is Popular Nationalism. We believe in the Nation -- the notion of the Nation first of all as a biological reality within the course of History -- we believe in the grandeur and the superiority of Hellenic Civilization. We want a just society that will be governed by the Worthy and we are anti-marxists as much as we are anti-capitalists". Finally, the interviewer asks about the ideological influences of Hrisi Avgi and receives the following answer: "Of course it is not possible to chronicle the roots of our ideology in an answer of 100 or 200 words. I simply state aphoristically that they are lost in the chronology of Hellenic History. The Homeric prototype of the hero, the Socialist Patriotic State of Sparta, the law of Lycurgus, the 'Republic' by Plato, the Akrites of the Hellenic empire, the Revolution of 1821, the period of '12-'13, the Great Idea, but also individual intellectuals of the last century such as Ion Dragoumis, Periklis Giannopoulos, Kostis Palamas, Sikoutris and Vezanis form the firm ideological rundown of our Movement. A Movement that is firmly counter to the spirit of the French Revolution, the so-called 'enlightenment', and those who generally created the industrial revolution. It is a 'revolt against the modern world', a revolution against all of the unfortunate things the industrial revolution created, which didn't have the intention of the people's welfare but rather profit".

In addition, Hrisi Avgi has always described itself as a "Popular Nationalist Movement". Their old website demonstrates both its nationalist and populist character. In the "Who We Are" section we read: "Hrisi Avgi, the Popular Nationalist Movement, is a legal political echelon. The ideological and political character of our movement is without dispute Nationalism, but simultaneously Socialism as well. [...] Our members are chiefly young people, labourers, students, academics, farmers, artists, white-collar workers, and even the unemployed. People who campaign with conviction and a spirit of sacrifice, without any agendas or falseness. [...] We campaign from our offices, but also from the streets, the sidewalks, the schools and the universities for a new Greece, for a Greater Greece in a Free Europe. We campaign for the Fatherland and the People without remission and compromises".[14] In "What We Want" section we read: "Hrisi Avgi has specific political positions for every issue and problem of our People. With only two words we believe in a New Policy, in a Policy truly National, that won't be dependent on big entrepreneurs and managers, who hold in bond the Political Parties of the establishment, that unfortunately direct the fortunes of our Nation. [...] We accuse the parties for the demise of the state and the sell-out of the Fatherland and through their actions the deeper division of our people. [...] Certain foreigners take the bread from Greek workers with wage-earning hunger, but this doesn't affect any of those who pose as the leaders of our people. [...] We believe in a Foreign Policy independent and proud, a Policy where Greece won't be a subordinate of America or any other foreigner. We campaign for the people, for social justice, for the cessation of Greeks being an article of manipulation of the profiteers and the extortionate party state".[14] In "What We Believe" section we read: "Our prevalent Idea and Belief is Nation-Race. Above everything for us is Greek Blood and the National Legacy. Still yet we believe in a just State in which everyone will be equal next to the law and where the law will be held reverent by all. We campaign for the abolition of parliamentary immunity and for the prevalence of a just state and social peace in our Fatherland. We believe in a State where its rulers won't be composed of the clever who hold billions, who profligate at elections, but the genuinely Worthy and Accomplished. We believe in a new Hellenic Civilization rooted in the great and everlasting Legacy of our Race. We believe in a Hellenic Way of Life as opposed to the sordid and vulgar foreign-imported mores".[14]

Activities

File:Imia06 2.jpg
Hrisi Avgi's march in 2006, in memory of the three Greek officers who died during the Imia military crisis.

Hrisi Avgi (and the subsequent Patiotiki Symmachia) holds annual marches on 27-30th of January, in memory of the three Greek officers who died during the Imia military crisis, in 1996. According to the European National Front website, the 2006 march was attended by 2500 people.[15]

Hrisi Avgi also organized an annual rally on 17th of June in memory of Alexander The Great, in Thessaloniki. In 2006 the rally was attacked by the police, who forced the members of Hrisi Avgi and Patriotiki Symmachia to leave the area. According to the European National Front website, the police acted without any order of the state attorney. [16]

Later the same day, members of Hrisi Avgi tried to protest, by gathering inside the building of the state-owned television channel ERT3. They tried to stop normal broadcasting to put accross their protests. [17] The police surrounded the building and arrested 48 of them. [16] They were found guilty of carrying arms (Greek flags according to Hrisi Avgi), and were fined €500.[18]

Eurofest 2005

In September 2005, Hrisi Avgi attempted to organise a festival called Eurofest 2005. The festival, reffered by Hrisi Avgi as "Eurofest 2005-Nationalist Summer Camp" would have taken place in a Greek summer camp. The festival counted on the participation of the German NPD, the Italian Forza Nuova, the Romanian Noua Dreapta, as well as on Spanish Neo-Nazi groups. The festival was canceled, largely because of the reaction of anti-fascist groups which resulted in the banning of the gathering by the government.

Illegal activities

Members of Hrisi Avgi have at times been engaged in various cases of assaults against immigrants, leftists and anarchists, as well as people who do not fit in the aformentioned categories.[19] [20] Some examples follow in chronological order.

In January 1998 The Last Drive's vocalist, Alexis Kalofolias, was attacked by members of Hrisi Avgi[20] because he was wearing a palestinian Keffiyeh around his neck.[21] Kalofolias suffered permanent damage to his right eye, losing 2% #REDIRECT Insert textof his eyesight.[21]

In June 1998 members of Hrisi Avgi, among them prominent member Antonis Androutsopoulos, attacked the leftist student Dimitris Kousouris and two other leftist students. Androutsopoulos was charged with attempted murder. (See also the next section)

In 2000 the Monastirioton synagogue of Thessaloniki, the memorial for Holocaust victims in Thessaloniki, and the Jewish cemeteries in Thessaloniki and Athens were vandalized and desecrated by unknown culprits, according to the authorities. At all four sites Hrisi Avgi symbols were present. This caused the KIS, the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece [22], the left political party Synaspismos[22] and the Greek Helsinki Monitor [23], among others, to issue statements condemning these acts.

Galazia Stratia

The hooligan organization Galazia Stratia (Greek for "Blue Army") who calls itself a "fan club of the Greek national teams" has been hold responsible for several acts of violence againsts immigrants in Greece. Galazia Stratia has been exposed as Hrisi Avgi herself as early as in 2001, when the Eleftherotypia newspaper revealed that their offices shared the same address with Hrisi Avgi [24].

In 2004 after a football game between Greece and Albania in Tirane, in which Greece lost 2-1, violence against Albanian immigrants erupted in various parts of Greece. Anti-fascists[25] and others held Hrisi Avgi directly responsible for the attacks. In other instances, such as after the conquest of the first place in 2004 UEFA European Football Championship and the second place in the 2006 FIBA World Championship, Galazia Stratia went as far as to attack immigrants of various ethnicities that were celebrating the national teams' successes together with the native Greek fans.

The Periandros case

From 1998 to September 14, 2005, when he surrendered to the authorities, Antonis Androutsopoulos, a prominent[26] member of Hrisi Avgi better known under his alias Periandros, was on the run for the attempted murder of leftist student Dimitris Kousouris. [27] [28]

In the meanwhile, Androutsopoulos had been convicted in abstentia to four years of imprisonment, for illegal weapon possession, while the charges against him for the brutal beating of Dimitris Kousouris were still standing. [29]

The authorities' failure to apprehend "Periandros" for seven years raised criticisms by the media. An article on the Greek newspaper Ta Nea claimed that Periandros remained in Greece and evaded arrest owing to his connections with the police.[26] However, in a 2004 interview, the former Minister of Public Order of PASOK, Michalis Chrysochoidis, claimed that such accusations were unfounded and blamed the inefficiency of the Greek Police instead.

Until 2005, when Androutsopoulos surrendered, it was estimated that he had evaded arrest because he had been residing in Venezuela, where he fled after charges against him were pressed. [30] "Periandros" is currently awaiting trial in the Malandrinos prison.

Attacks against Hrisi Avgi

File:XAnews-Aug06-604.jpg
Cover of the Hrisi Avgi newspaper, August 2006. This issue covered the assault against the organization's offices.

Hrisi Avgi's offices have been attacked several times, by anarchists and anti-fascists.

In November 2005 their offices were attacked by a group of anti-fascists with molotov cocktails and stones. Unknown perpetrators responded to the anti-fascists with gun-shots and two people (who testified that they were just passing by) were injured. [31] According to Hrisi Avgi, three suspects were arrested and set free.[32] In the consequent investigation by the police, molotov cocktails were discovered in Hrisi Avgi's offices. [31] This attack eventually was the reason for the organization's disbandment [11] [12].

According to the ENF and Hrisi Avgi, [33] [34] in June 2006, three young members of Hrisi Avgi, were attacked and injured heavily by anarchists in Galatsi, Athens. According to Hrisi Avgi they were attacked simply because they were wearing a t-shirt with the Greek Flag.[34] One of them became comatose for three weeks. Clashes between members of Hrisi Avgi and anti-fascists are not unusual. [35]

Allegations of connections to the Greek Police

There have been numerous times when possible connections between the Greek Police and Hrisi Avgi or neo-nazis in general have troubled the greek media.

In 1998 in an interview to the newspaper Eleftherotypia about the Periandros case, then Minister of Public Order, Georgios Romaios, addmited the existence of "fascist elements in the Greek police", and vowed to supress them. [36] In a TV interview, Romaios again confirmed the existence of a group inside the police, though not organized and in isolated cases.[37]

The same year, the Iospress journalist team of Eleftherotypia published a lengthy article under the name The lower limbs of the police (Greek:"Τα κάτω άκρα της αστυνομίας") [38], in which various indications of such connections were presented. In the same article, then PASOK MP, Paraskevas Paraskevopoulos was quoted from a speech at the Hellenic Parliament referring to a riot caused by the far right extremists in Thessaloniki in 30/10/97: "In Thessaloniki it is widely discussed that far-right organisations are active in the security forces. Members of such organisations were the planners and chief executioners of the riot and nobody was arrested. A Special Forces officer, speaking at a briefing of Special Forces policemen that where to be on duty that day, told the policemen not to arrest anyone because the rioters were not enemies and threatened that should this be overlooked there would be penalties. How is the minister of Public Order planning to deal with this?" [37] The article also reffered to statements by the government spokesman Dimitris Reppas that strongly denied any such connections.

Before the surrender of Androutsopoulos, an article by the newspaper Ta Nea[26] claimed that the group had close relationships with some parts of the Greek police force. In relation to the "Periandros case", the article reported the opinion of an unspecified police officer that "half the force wanted Periandros arrested and the other half didn't". The article also claimed knowledge of a confidential internal police investigation which concluded that :

  1. The group had very good relations and contacts with officers of the force -on and off duty- as well as with common policemen.
  2. The police provided the group with batons and radio communications equipment during mass demonstrations, mainly during celebrations of the Athens Polytechnic uprising and during rallies by leftist and anarchist groups so as to provoke riots.
  3. The connections of the group with the force as well as the connections of "Periandros" himself largely delayed his arrest.
  4. The brother of "Periandros", also a member of Hrisi Avgi, was a security escort of an unnamed New Democracy MP.
  5. Most Hrisi Avgi members were illegaly carrying weapons.

The newspaper produced a single photograph of a typewritten paragraph with no identifiable insignia [39] as evidence for the secret investigation in question. In the article, the then Minister of Public Order, Michalis Chrysochoidis, to whom the alleged investigation was addressed, responded that he did not recollect such a probe. Chrysochoidis also denied accusations about far-right connections within the police stalling the arrest of Periandros, reminding journalists that leftist terrorist groups such as the Revolutionary Organization 17 November similarly evaded the police for decades. In both cases, he attributed the failures to "stupidity and incompetence" on behalf of the force. [26]

Hrisi Avgi claims that rumours about the organization having connections to the Greek Police and the goverment can't be true, because the Police has attacked Hrisi Avgi's rallies and arrested some it's members many times, during the time the conservative party of New Democracy was ruling the country (for example, during the rally in Thessaloniki, in June 2006 and in the rally for the anniversary of the Pontian Greek Genocide, in Athens, again in 2006).[32]

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b c d e f 2/07/1998 article by the Iospress journalist team of Eleftherotypia.
  2. ^ "Our ideology: God Religion" ("Η ιδεολογία μας: Θεός-θρησκεία"), Hrisi Avgi's newspaper, issue 57, October 1990
  3. ^ Hrisi Avgi's newspaper, 25/7/97
  4. ^ 18/6/2000 article by Eleftherotypia's Iospress
  5. ^ "Proposals for a New Policy" ("Προτάσεις για μια Νέα Πολιτική"), Nikolaos Michaloliakos, 1992
  6. ^ 27/9/1998 article by Iospress.
  7. ^ article by Eleftherotypia, contains parts of Giannopoulos' article.
  8. ^ Michas, Takis;"Unholy Alliance", Texas A&M University Press: Eastern European Studies (College Station, Tex.) pp. 22 [1]
  9. ^ a b c 16/07/2005 article by Eleftherotypia.
  10. ^ 27/06/2005 article by Eleftherotypia
  11. ^ a b 01/12/05 article by www.in.gr (in Greek)
  12. ^ a b Golden Dawn stops their activities, ENF website
  13. ^ 06/08/06 interview of Patriotiki Symmachia's municipal candidate posted 9 months after H.A.'s disbandment
  14. ^ a b c From the old website of Hrisi Avgi.
  15. ^ ENF gathers in Athens from the European National Front website.
  16. ^ a b 48 Greek nationalists arrested from the ENF website
  17. ^ 18/6/06 article by newspaper Thessalia
  18. ^ Hrisi Avgi's press release (in Greek)
  19. ^ Article by the magazine KLIK that presents many such cases (in Greek)
  20. ^ a b Iospress article about attacks by the H.A. (in Greek)
  21. ^ a b from the KLIK article
  22. ^ a b Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece press release (in Greek). Also contains photographs of the dececrations.
  23. ^ Greek Helsinki Monitor press release (in Greek)
  24. ^ Nazis dressed up as fans, Eleftherotypia 1/12/2001
  25. ^ A-Infos: Greece, Anarchist block at antiracist demo in Athens
  26. ^ a b c d 17/04/2004 article by Ta Nea (in Greek)
  27. ^ 14/09/2005 article by Kathimerini
  28. ^ 14/09/2005 article by Eleftherotypia (in Greek)
  29. ^ 27/04/2004 article by Kathimerini (in Greek)
  30. ^ 14/09/2005 article by Kathimerini (in Greek)
  31. ^ a b 20/11/05 article from in.gr (in Greek)
  32. ^ a b Hrisi Avgi press release (in Greek)
  33. ^ Assassination attempt against 3 young nationalists in Athens, ENF website
  34. ^ a b 04/08/06 Hrisi Avgi press release
  35. ^ 17/09/05 article by in.gr
  36. ^ Athens News Agency: Press Review in Greek, 98-06-29
  37. ^ a b Iospress article part 3 (in Greek)
  38. ^ Iospress article part 1 (in Greek)
  39. ^ Image from the article of Ta Nea

See Also

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