It's a scary time for minorities living in Greece right now.
WIth all of Greece's economic troubles so well documented in the media the past year, the extreme right-wing antics of Golden Dawn--which include everything from harassment to murder--are finally coming to surface all over. And it isn't only ethnic minorities (Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Tanzanian, to name a few) that have to be careful: flyers were recently distributed in Athens' gay nightclub district stating, "After the immigrants, you're next."
The Nazi imagery is no coincidence here. They are clearly taking advantage of a classic human weakness: when an economy collapses, you can always count on a group of people to resort to racism, bigotry, and violence as some sort of scapegoat. Just look back at Germany's socio-economic stats as Hitler and his cohorts were rising political stars in the years preceding WWII.
The fact that such a small, extremest political party is able to gain traction now is concerning, to say the very least. What's even more disconcerting is the fact that they are actually trying to expand their influence by opening offices in New York and Montreal.
Where is the backlash from the ethnic Greeks themselves, or is there a statement from the Orthodox Church that I've missed (I hope so!)? Certainly most Greek citizens aren't on board with Golden Dawn, but it's up to them to counter this kind of backwards movement.
See the latest Human Rights Watch report on xenophobia in Greece.
Comments