Greece: Golden Dawn Will Rebound

September 26, 2013 | 1029 GMT

Summary

(STR/AFP/Getty Images)

The Golden Dawn party demonstrate in front of the parliament building in Athens in May.

The popularity of Greece's Golden Dawn, a far-right political party, has fallen slightly since one of its supporters allegedly murdered an anti-fascist musician on Sept. 18, and although Athens would like to curb the group's influence further, it will be too preoccupied with Greece's economic problems to manage fringe movements adequately. Thus there is still some room for Golden Dawn and similar parties to regain any support they may have lost.

Analysis

Since its inception in the 1980s, Golden Dawn has never shied from expressing its nationalist beliefs, its aversion to immigrants and, in recent years, its opposition to the Greek bailout and to mainstream political parties. Discontent surrounding the Greek economic crisis -- and the government's subsequent austerity measures -- was a boon to the party's popularity. Golden Dawn has attracted the disgruntled and the unemployed, sometimes targeting schools, youth clubs and social media outlets to populate its ranks. Though it comprises mostly youths, the party has become increasingly popular among older Greeks afflicted by their own economic hardships.

In fact, Golden Dawn became so popular that it won 18 (of 300) seats in the 2012 parliamentary elections. However, according to a recent poll by Greek newspaper Eleftheros Typos, the party's popularity popularity fell from 8.3 percent on Sept. 15 to 5.8 percent on Sept. 21. The rapid decline in popular support is unsurprising; the murder of activist and musician Pavlos Fyssas was highly publicized, and it is still widely discussed in Greek media. However, none of the social or economic conditions that facilitated the group's rise has changed, so Golden Dawn may rebound from the incident somewhat easily.

Allegations

What bothers many about Golden Dawn is its alleged cooperation with vigilante groups and with security forces. Over the past several years, vigilante groups have surfaced in such Athens neighborhoods as Agios Panteleimonas and Attiki, which are predominated populated by immigrants. These groups purport to protect Greek citizens, claiming they are filling a void left by overworked and underpaid police. However, they reportedly have attacked immigrants in an effort to encourage them to leave the country.

Notably, these groups hold some of the same nationalist beliefs as Golden Dawn, which has been accused of mobilizing them, and even of fighting alongside vigilante group members. So far, there has been no evidence suggesting vigilantism occurs at the behest of Golden Dawn.

There have also been allegations that Golden Dawn has worked with Greek police and the military. Before the group's creation, founder Nikolaos Michaloliakos had a close working relationship with the Greek military junta of 1967-1974. This relationship imparted a military mentality on Golden Dawn -- its members wear clothing that resemble military uniforms, its structure is akin to the military's, and they employ nearly the same tactics and weapons when they take to the streets. Coupled with a nationalist ideology, the group has been able to garner ideological and political support from the armed forces. In fact, when Greece became a democracy in 1974, most law enforcement and military personnel supported far-right parties.

That support appears to have continued. When anarchists and anti-fascists protest, they usually will engage police, sometimes violently. But when Golden Dawn members protest, police have been seen to ignore them. There have even been allegations that the police protect them. Indeed, when a group of Golden Dawn members attacked Fyssas on Sept. 18, witnesses reported that police simply stood by and even allowed the group to escape. Golden Dawn supporter Giorgios Roupakias later confessed to stabbing Fyssas and eventually was arrested.

On Sept. 23, the Greek government launched an investigation into the Greek police amid the allegations. This led to the resignations and transfers of several police officers. While there are conflicting reports as to why the police officers were punished, some speculate their dismissals reflect the government's efforts to clamp down on Golden Dawn's activities, as well as those of complicit police officers.

But the rumors of collusion have not stopped. According to Greek newspapers Sunday Vima and Ehtnos, Greek special forces were recently accused of training Golden Dawn members to conduct assassinations. No evidence has surfaced to corroborate these accusations.

Moreover, Greek police and Golden Dawn allegedly have jointly plotted attacks and robberies in Greece. In February, authorities arrested 23 people, including members of Golden Dawn, Greek police and relatives of police, suspected of responsibility in numerous bank robberies and ATM burglaries throughout Athens, as well as a plot to carry out an armed attack on an unknown target. A policeman from Kavala reportedly provided Golden Dawn members and police officers with explosives and bulletproof vests.

The Future of Golden Dawn

As a political party that favors grassroots support, particularly involving those afflicted by the economic crisis, Golden Dawn has an ideal recruitment ground in Greece. The group provides some Greeks a means to act out and voice their anger at the Greek government in a way that they otherwise would have not chosen to.

But because Greek and international media have so heavily covered the recent killing, Athens is under pressure to respond to Golden Dawn. There will likely continue to be cosmetic changes involving Greek police and strong statements from Greek politicians against Golden Dawn, but they will be of little consequence. Golden Dawn probably will keep a low profile until the outrage stemming from the murder passes, but the group eventually will resume its nationalistic campaign against immigrants and the Greek government -- which will further threaten stability. However, if Golden Dawn is banned, it will likely be replaced by a similar party, because the Greek crisis offers fertile ground for these parties to grow.

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