Greece’s Neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn is using the Greek economic collapse for momentum, and has transitioned from rhetoric against immigrants to violence against them.
As I wrote in a post on Oct 1, Golden Dawn had been setting up relief stations in Greece for natural born citizens exclusively. This highlighted their belief that immigration and the government policies enabling it caused the economic collapse in the first place.
At that time, they had opened an office in New York City to raise money and gather supplies which were then sent back to Greece. The party also used their anti-immigrant and anti-government positions to capture 18 seats in the Greek parliament.
Now, however, the rhetoric has been exchanged for physical violence, as members of Golden Dawn take their anger over economic hardships out on immigrants in Greece. In fact, the violence has gotten so bad that immigrants now recognize certain parts of Greece as “off limits,” and businesses owned or operated by immigrants are being targeted as well.
An Egyptian-born shopkeeper was reportedly beaten as riot police looked on Wednesday night, and another foreign-born shop owner was threatened that same night because he dared remain open for business.
Golden Dawn is seizing on the outrage many Greeks feel because of that country’s economic disaster. This enables them to pull together large groups of people who may have been opposed to Golden Dawn months ago, but now need an outlet for their rage.
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