21st International Conference of Europeanists

Resurrections
Organized by the Council for European Studies,
Columbia University
Washington, D.C., March 14-16, 2014

Gerassimos Karabelias1 & Thanasis Theofilopoulos2

THE RESURRECTION OF THE FAR RIGHT IN

POST-IMF GREECE:
THE CASE OF THE GOLDEN DAWN PARTY

Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences,
Athens.
2
PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences,
Athens.

THE RESURRECTION OF THE FAR RIGHT IN POSTIMF GREECE:

THE CASE OF THE GOLDEN DAWN PARTY

By: Gerassimos Karabelias and Thanasis Theofilopoulos

With the exception of the 1974-2009 period in which Modern Greece

appeared to have found a seat into the big Western European League, namely the
European Union, and temporarily enjoy the socio-economic benefits, its traditional
political life had been dominated by political polarization and instability, poverty,
corruption and bloody internal conflicts. Severe weaknesses in the everyday
functioning of the state, fragile political legitimacy, widespread party patronage and
clientelism and improper, almost servile, behavior towards leading foreign powers
and their representatives, were identified as the major factors behind those maladies.
Hence, to those acquainted with Modern Greeces turbulent history and political
culture, the entrance of an extreme, far right wing party, in this case the Golden
Dawn, into the Parliament following the 2012 elections, did not come as a surprise.
The road for Golden Dawns rising popularity (from 0,29% in 2009 to 6.97% in 2012)
had already been prepared, whether intentionally or not, by a variety of political and
economic forces, from the domestic arena as well as from the international one.
The marginalized extreme right-wing political arena before the 2012 elections
The lengthy disappearance of the far-right from the Greek parliamentary scene
can, as Kapetanyiannis argues, easily be explained by the failures of the military junta
of 1967-74. With the Turkish military invasion of Cyprus in the Summer of 1974 as
its greatest accomplishment, the supporters of the far-right became completely
demoralized, confused and disorganized. However, this appears to be half true as
some of the leading figures associated with it, tried repeatedly, usually through
parliamentary tactics, to impose their style of leadership. In contrast, others appeared
willing to join the center-right New Democracy (ND) Party as the contest for electoral
victory against the Panhellenic Socialist Party (PASOK) of Andreas Papandreou was
becoming increasingly bitter. That the center-right party absorbed most of the people
with nostalgic, far-right authoritarian tendencies in conjunction with the strengthening
of democratic institutions and practices due to Greeces participation in the European
Union, gave the impression to the majority of observers that these people and
organizations had either been marginalized or seized to exist.3
Indeed, during the first fifteen years of the post-junta period, the extreme right
wing political parties and organizations appeared to be a conglomeration of people
with nostalgic views towards the military 1967-74 regime, some with the institution
of monarchy and the majority with an extreme hatred towards communism and the
functioning of parliamentary democracy. Even though the virtual or real connections
that some of them kept with both jailed and free ex-junta personnel hampered the
electoral survival of their formations, it had limited if any effect upon them. Their
myopic views over Greek politics both in the internal and international arena had
strongly convinced them of the validity of their mission. What seemed to concern
them mostly was an ideological struggle over who was most loyal to the military

V. Kapetanyiannes, Neo-Fascism in Modern Greece in Ch. LUCIANO, r. Ferguson and V.

Michalina (eds), Neo-Fascism in Europe (New York: Longman, 1991) pp.200-203
3

juntas inheritance, to the values of the authoritarian, interwar regime of Ioannis

Metaxas as well as to anti-communist, anti-leftist ideology. ()
According to Tsiras, a major problem of the Greek far right political world
was its ideological, and cultural, heterogeneity. 4 Following the categorization of
fascism by S. Payne, he distinguishes their groups-organizations of the post-junta
period into three categories.5 In the first category, he assigns organizations,
subgroups and parties that claim to hold a national-socialist ideology and attracts
people that consider themselves as direct descendant of the 4 th August regime6 and
are not afraid to declare that.7 The Eniaio Ethnikistiko Kinima (United
Nationalistic Movement)8 and Chryse Avge (Golden Dawn)9 fall into that
category. Both of them they are against the current political and economic system,
are extremely suspicious with foreigners, whether Europeans or non-Europeans, and
maintain a problematic relationship with the Greek Orthodox Church since their
worship of the ancient Greek glory often collides with the Byzantine beliefs and
traditions of Orthodoxy.10
The second category is the radical right, in which, according to Tsiras, fit
E.P.EN. and Elliniko Metopo[Greek Front]. These are fascist or post-fascist
organizations that are trying to be politically accepted and through the use of
democratic mechanisms and methods to promote such projects as the unconditional
release of all imprisoned Colonels. Unlike the national-socialists, these groups keep
the Orthodox religion and Church in a highly-esteemed position. Furthermore, they
are in favor of the countrys economic system, which they agree that it must operate
in conditions of free market with a very small public sector. Even though they are
ideologically pro-systemic, they do not hide their strong dislike towards leftist,
communist and socialist parties and ideologies. Tsiras argues that their attitudes
towards the political system reflects a pre-dictatorship anti-communist stance that
existed on the right-wing political arena after 1958. This is confirmed by their claim

S. Tsiras, Ethnos kai LA.O.S. Nea Akra Dexia kai Laikismos [Nation and LA.O.S. New Far Right
and Populism], (Thessaloniki: Epikentro, 2012), pp.. 99-100.
5
Ibid., p. 100.
6
The dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas was established in Greece in 4 th August 1936 and lasted up to the
Italian-German invasion of WWII in 1941.
7
Tsiras, op.cit.,p. 100.
8
Eniaio Ethnikistiko Kinima- EN.E.K. (United Nationalist Movement - and not "United National
Movement" as is often mistakenly mentioned) - was founded in 1979 and according to Kapetanyannis
expressed, fascist, nationalist and racist views. EN.E.K. appeared to play an important political role
as it tried and succeeded to establish close connections with similar western European groups such as
the British League St. George, American and French ones [Ignazi Piero, Extreme Right Parties in
Western Europe, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003) p 317].
9
Mudde incorporates into the Greek extreme right the political parties Chrysi Avgi (Golden
Dawn), Ethiniki Politiki Enosis E.P.EN. (National Political Union) and Eniaio Ethnikistiko
Kinima (United Nationalistic Movement). The criteria for the inclusion in the list of the extreme
right parties in Western Europe are: political parties which are generally considered to be members of
the extreme right party family of Western Europe and parties which contested nation-wide elections
(i.e. parliamentary or European) at least once in the period between 1980 and 1999. (Mudde Cas, The
ideology of the Extreme Right (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000), p.185 Appendix A,
10
Tsiras, p.cit., p 100.
4

that they were forced to move away from Nea Dimokratia because the latter had given
up its original ideas.11
Into the third category, Tsiras puts the traditional conservatives groups with
the majority of them being fervent royalists. The groups-organizations that belong
into that category had joined the party of Nea Dimokratia and were better known as
the so-called People's Right Wing. Members of these organizations and groups
have been often seen to participate in celebrations of civil-war victories over the
communists as well as to accompany former King of Greece and his siblings when the
latter visit Greece.12 According to Tsiras, in the case of the Greek far right applies
what S. Payne observed for the totalitarian regimes. Thus, the traditional royalists
repeatedly used symbolisms and a vocabulary that shows a historical continuity and
the consistency in the demands and orientations it expressed. In contrast, the farradical right groups distinguished themselves from traditional conservatives and
fascism as being more right to the right and therefore as an adjacent to the elites.
Since all these groups of the far right agree on the ideological orientation and the final
products of the Metaxas dictatorship and less about the dictatorship of the Colonels,
as the institution of monarchy was abolished by the Colonels, the key link of them all
was the Metaxas dictatorship and anti-communism.13
Although the differences in ideological orientation and beliefs among these
three groups of the far right might seem insignificant to an external observer, however
they had created an important obstacle to the formation of a single, umbrella
organization capable of winning seats in the Greek parliament. In addition, the open
lines of communication with the mainstream right-wing party of New Democracy
prevented these far-right groups and organizations from creating a unified front. The
use of these groups by Evangelos Averrof and Constantinos Mitsotakis, two of ND
leaders, in their electoral campaigns against the dominant socialist party ()PASOK
attracted most of the voters of the far-right, thus, denying the latter any chance for
parliamentary representation.14 In addition, the fall of communism and the decline of
the importance of anti-communism ideology and sentiments both in the West and the
country played a negative role in the appeal of far right groups to new generations.15
The accomplishments of both EPEN, in the 1984 elections, and LAOS (Laikos
Orthodoxos Synagermos - Peoples Orthodox Rally) in 2007, to elect their
representatives to the Greek Parliament had been noticed by both internal and external
observers but not causing any concern. It was the entrance of members of the Golden
11

Ibid., p. 101.
Ibid., p. 101. Tsiras named the members of Nea Dimokratia Fran Tsangaris, Constantine Kiltidis
and Panagiotis Kammenos (Ibid., p 101). Later, Kiltidis will become member of the populist radical
right Laikos Orthodox Synagermos (Peoples Orthodox Rally)," while Kammenos founded his
own party Anexartitoi Ellines (Independent Greeks) - a national-populist party whose main
theme was the abolition of the Memorandum, the erasure of the national debt and the eviction of Troika
(ECB, IMF, EU) from Greece.
13
Ibid., p. 102.
14
As A. Bratakos argues, since the 1985 elections Mitsotakis came in contact with the far right via
members and cadres of his party, thus succeeding to attract most of Nea Dimokratias voters who has
moved more right on the political spectrum. Ibid., pp. 102-103.
15
Ibid., p. 103.

12

Dawn Party into the Parliament, following the 2012 elections that raised the level of
fear of what might follow among traditional mainstream parties and European allies.
The growing willingness of Greek voters to cast their votes in support of a clear-cut
racist, anti-systemic far right political party raised the level of anxiety to both internal
and external observers. As the level of Greeces economic and political instability
can have an effect on the financial and social well-being of the EU and its memberstates, similarly the growing parliamentary-political power of the Golden Dawn will
certainly have an impact in the European political arenas, especially among the
Southern and Eastern EU States (Portugal, Spain, Italy but also Hungary, Bulgaria,
Romania). Thus, a closer look at its ideology, organization and activities can offer a
possible explanation of its present and future appeal to voters.
Some Basic Characteristics of the Golden Dawn Party
Ideology
According to Ellinas, the members of Golden Dawn are asked to embrace
a biological form of nationalism reminiscent of Nazi ideology.16 For example, as it is
clearly stated in an official document of the party, called Identity, Golden Dawns
members ought to declare or embrace the following beliefs:
I believe that the only state that serves correctly its historical role is the
Peoples state, where the People have the political power without party promoters. For
Nationalism, the People is not only a numerical unity of people but a qualitative
composition of people with the same biological and intellectual heritage, which is the
source of all Creation and expresses the strength of the Peoples state. The only state
that can express the People as an organic and spiritual living whole ... I believe that
the state, the Peoples state is the political organization of the Nation and that the
Nation exists itself without being an invention. It's an automatic pneumatic fact
which burst out the existence of the People it is an objective reality that is based on
the existence of the People. Regardless if the members of the People realize the
breadth and depth of its existence, the Nation is the highest spiritual event. The People
is born through the genders, the types of a Race and its existence gives birth to the
Nation as its superior spiritual event (moral, cultural, religious). The Nation derived
from the People Race needs a state in order to be strengthened and developed. It
may be stateless but it continuously declines...The Peoples nationalism yields the
social equality of opportunities that is grounded in meritocracy and does not ignore
the law of diversity and difference in nature. By respecting the spiritual, ethnic and
racial inequality in human society we can build a society of justice and egalitarianism.
This egalitarianism is the proof of the moral excess of Nationalism and shows that
there is no legal difference to protect the institutional naturally existing inequalities as
they constitute an integral part of Nature and Life. On the contrary the Peoples National state of law provides the same margins for promotion and certification of the
A. Ellinas, The Rise of Golden Dawn: The New Face of the Far Right in Greece, South European
Society and Politics, Vol. 2013, p. 7.
16

different elements of every single being. Thus, as a nationalist I fight against any
flattening (of Nations, Tribes, Human Beings) as well as and any phony artificial
inequality and oligarchy (of money, party, perversion). 17
Moreover, as Ellinas emphasizes, except their ideological association with
Nazism, members of the Golden Dawn are encouraged to use violence (or not exclude
the use of it) as an instrument of political action, aimed especially against immigrants,
ethnic and social minorities. There were several cases whereas party members, even
MPs, used violent behavior in front on TV cameras against both immigrants who
work or sell things in bazaars in order to show their disrespect for anything else that
themselves do not consider it as Greek.18 Their anti - communist, anti - capitalist and
anti systemic ideological menace has led them to atrocities even against native
Greeks. For example, in 2013, a member of the Golden Dawn close to the leadership
circle killed with a knife a pro-left supporter in a caf brawl that he was not initially
involved.19 The problem, however, that emerges is that other parties like the proleftist SYRIZA and pro-rightist Anexartetoi Ellenes favor disobedience to the state
laws and decisions due to financial austerity programs imposed by EU and IMf thus
putting oil in the fire set up by the Golden Dawn.
Organizational Structure
The Golden Dawn has been described by Georgiadou, Kafe, Nezi and Peridis
as a closed organization with stable leadership and access to areas of the local
community.20 he highest decision-making body of the party is the conference
which takes place every three years and is responsible for establishing policies ideological principles, policy planning and strategy formation.21 Three hundred
persons - who have been elected by local organizations Golden Dawn - involve at
the conference and they are responsible for the election of the General Secretary and
the members of the central committee. Nevertheless, the General Secretary is the one
who basically controls the party, having received full authority from the partys
statute. The three-term service of the General Secretary is renewed automatically
unless there is a large majority of delegates who call for elections. The General
Secretary chooses the members of the political council among the members of the
central committee of the party, he appoints the General Director of the party and
finally he selects the candidates for all the elections (national, regional, European).
According to Ellinas, this formal organizational structure creates a significant
hierarchical distance between the general secretary of the party and everybody else.22
17

Golden Dawn, Identity, http://www.xryshaygh.com/index.php/kinima, last log in 3rd March 2014.

Ellinas, (2013), op.cit., p.8
19
Pavlos Fyssas was the name of the victim. His death appeared to awaken Greek authorities to put
under legal scrutiny the activities of Golden Dawns leadership and to imprison some of them.
20
V. Georgiadou, A. Kafe, R. Nezi and K. Pierides, From LAOS to Golden Dawn - Causes of
strengthening of the extreme right in recent elections, The Athens Review of Books, Vol.30, (2012)
p.32
21
Ellinas,op.cit., p. 10.
22
Ibid, p. 10.
18

Beyond the General Secretary and the party congress there are other bodies as
the central committee of the party, consisting of the General Secretary and sixty
members. The role of this committee is to assist the General Secretary to develop the
political, ideological and programmatic positions and the election of the other two
party organs: the Ethics Committee and the Audit Committee. The political council
of the party, it is responsible for the daily operation and execution of the decisions of
the Party Central Committee and the General Secretary. The members of this council
are selected and replaced by the General Secretary. There is no mention in the statute
of the party for the number of board members, but the most recent statutes of Golden
Dawn (2012) are signed by leading members such as Nikos Michaloliakos, Elias
Kasidiaris, Elias Panayiotaros Ioannis Lagos and George Germenis. The goal of the
Ethics Committee - which is appointed by the central committee of the party - is to
examine issues related to the discipline like a social behavior that can expose a
member of Golden Dawn and the party itself. As far as the Audit Committee is
concerned, which consists of five members appointed by the central committee, it is
designed to control the financial status of the party, estimate the partys budget and
find financial resources.23
The last body in the partys hierarchy is the five-member committee which
evaluates the partys candidate members of the party, which is also appointed by the
General Secretary. Only Greek natives can become party members and once they
receive the approval of the committee they will have to spend a year of active partisan
action in order to obtain the right to vote and to be voted in the partys elections. The
electoral success of Golden Dawn increased applications nominees, but as Nikos
Michaloliakos said in an interview to Ellinas, his party is highly selective as we do
not aim at a large membership base.24 This sounds rather strange as Golden Dawn
constantly establishes new local organizations. For example, only in October 2012,
the party founded fifteen (15) new ones, bringing their total number to forty-three
(43). According to Michaloliakos, increasing local organizations is designed carefully
in order to avoid opportunism and inconsistency.25 What he really means, is a desire
of the partys founding group to keep under their control the entire process and
prevent their partys infiltration with members with diverse from their own objectives,
Causes for the Rise of the Golden Dawn

It is well known in Greece that some political parties had, since the interwar
period, flirted with far right-wing ideology and practices and some of their members
had tasted the socio-economic fruits of political power. Their participation in the rise
and the establishment of dictatorial, with strong fascist orientation, regime of Ioannis
Metaxas in the 1936-41 period,26 their close co-operation first with the Nazis during
23

ibid, p. 11.
ibid, p. 11.
25
ibid, p. 11.
24

26

the German occupation of Greece27 and the British and American Forces during the
Civil-War28 and the post Civil-War years as well as their intimate involvement in the
military regime of 1967-74,29 had certainly contributed to the formation of a group of
people with similar memories, fears and expectations for themselves and their
fatherland. And these, were not simply uneducated peasants and workers who had
gained a piece of a prize due to their association with these organizations. Among
them one could find educated high and low ranking state officials, such as military
and police officers and public servants, as well as lawyers, medical doctors and
entrepreneurs. It is exactly these memories but from a different point of view that
kept away from them the anti-systemic social protest that emerged in Greece in the
mid-1980s.30
Thus, the entrance of the Golden Dawn Party in the Greek Parliament after the
2012 elections, cannot simply be explained as an abrupt awakening of hidden
authoritarian attitudes of Modern Greeks nor as an accidental breakup of
institutional constraints on extreme political parties. In order to have a clearer view
over this political phenomenon, there is a need to look thoroughly a number of both
domestic and external factors that assisted, directly or indirectly, to the final outcome.
Hence, changes in internal socio-economic conditions, the power of certain traits of
political behavior as well as effects of the rapidly changing post-Cold War
international factor cannot be overlooked.
A major socio-economic development that occurred in the country during the
post Cold War period was its transformation from an immigrant-exporting into one
that imported them with no-visible control or constraints and most of all with no long
or short-term plan for their integration. The civil-war in post-communist Yugoslavia
and the economic poverty that hit hard mainly Albania but also Bulgaria and
Romania, had made Greece to look as the most lucrative, safe Balkan state for all
those searching for a better destiny. () In addition, as an EU member, Greece had
suddenly become an important gateway to Europe for those immigrants and refugees
that had fled or were willing to do so from the poor and civil-war torn countries of
Asia and Africa. () As a result, modern Greeks that were for decades accustomed to
live in a socially and religiously homogeneous environment, found themselves
suddenly to meet foreigners-strangers, mostly illegal but also legal immigrants, not
during summer vacation but all year around in their workplace, in the house next-door
or even inside their own, as well as in schools and hospitals.31 And even though the
27
28
29
30

P. Ignazi, Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), p.196
In the late 1980s, in Greece, inhabited over 16,000 people, coming from the European Community
and about twice as many people from other countries - mainly Philippines, Poland, Egypt and Iran
(EKTHESI ex onomatos tis Exetastikis Epitropis gia ton Ratsismo kai tin Xenofovia [REPORT on
behalf of the Commission of Inquiry on Racism and Xenophobia], reporter Ford M. Glyn, Office for
Official Publications of the European Communities, Brussels, 1991, p. 68). According to the census of
March 2001, conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics, the population of foreigners amounted to
761,813, of whom 9,920 were seeking asylum and the refugees were 2.359. See, Allodapoi kata
Ypekooteta, Fylo kai Logo Egatastases sten Ellada, Synolo Ellados kai Nomoi, Apografe Plethismou as
31

first signs of racist behavior had made their appearance in the early 1990s,32 the
economic euphoria, the political stability and the overwhelming pro-EU attitude of the
public had led these events to fade away as accidental incidents
It is true that immigrants, and especially the illegal ones, played an important
role in the high rates of economic growth that the country experienced during the
1990s and 2000s. And indeed, Greece had become a host country to a large
immigrant population. As the 2011 survey revealed, foreign citizens constituted 8.5%
of the countrys population with non-EU citizens reaching the level of 7.1% whereas
in the EU as a whole the numbers are lower, 6.6% and 4.1% respectively. If to these
numbers we add that in Greece the population of foreign-born was 11.1% compared
to 8.8% in the EU and that there are always more immigrants than those surveyed, it
appears quite natural that the public would associate them with the growth of criminal
activities that the country witnessed as well as with the sudden rise of the level of
peoples sense of insecurity.33 The inability of the state to contribute to the
integration of at least the legal immigrants into Greek society and to improve public
perceptions of safety played a crucial role in the replacement of anti-communism with
anti-immigrant, anti-systemic rhetoric in the ideological agenda of far-right groups
and organizations. German, Dutch, British, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, and
Ukrainian far right groups, to name a few like-minded national organizations, played
a role-model and a source for practices. Due to financial austerity measures that the
EU-IMF imposed on the country since 2009, the anti-immigrant, racist verbalism of
the Golden Dawn could now appeal into the ears of a wider audience that included
even traditional leftist sympathizers.34
A second factor has been the ability of the Golden Dawn to present itself as
the last frontier to Greek nationalism. Whereas in the 1980s and 1990s the
mainstream political parties PASOK and New Democracy had paid attention to
peoples sentiments towards nationalism,35 the bitter taste of the Imia crisis with
Turkey in 1996,36 the hatred towards FYROM for plagiarizing the name of
Macedonia, and the attachment of the new breed of political leaders (Costas Simitis,
George A. Papandreou, Dora Bakoyianni and Constantinos Karamanlis) to
of 18 Martiou 2001 [Foreigners-Immigrants by citizenship, sex and cause for settling down in Greece,,
Prefectures
and
the
Country,
Census
of
18th
March
2001,
http://www.statistics.gr/portal/page/portal/ESYE/BUCKET/A1602/Other/A1602_SAM07_TB_DC_00
_2001_03_F_GR.pdf, last login 22 October 2012).
32
In January of 1992 an African-black man was severely beaten by strangers in the center of Athens
and in October of 1993, also strangers hit hard Asian and African immigrants in Ampelokipi, Goudi
and Kaisariani in Athens. D.Nikolakopoulos., E Ellenike Akrodexia sto Dromo tou Le Pen [The
Greek Extreme Political Right in the footsteps of Le Pen], TO VEMA, May 17, 1998,
http://www.tovima.gr/relatedarticles/article/?aid=99315, last login November 11, 2012).
33
Standard Eurobarometer 77, May 2012, Public Opinion in the European Union
34
Giorgos Karabelias, Oi Sponsores tes Crysis Avgis [The Sponsors of Golden Dawn] Arden,
Iounios-Augoustos 2012
35
Whereas Evangelos Averoff, Alexandros Papadogonas, Antonis Samaras, Panos Kammenos and
others presented themselves as representatives of the pro-nationalist forces, Andreas Papandreou,
theleader of PASOK emphatically promoted the message that Greece belongs to Greeks, kept close
to him pro-nationalist personalities like Michalis Charalambidis, Ioannis Drosogiannis and
Charalampopoulos and paid special attention to the countrys defence capabilities.
36

globalization traits such as multiculturalism and anti-nationalism, appeared to put in

the corner all those favoring ideas such as national pride. The victories of the Greek
national soccer team in the Euro 2004 and the success of hosting the Olympic games
in the same year, certainly boosted the publics national sentiments. As no
mainstream political party tried to capitalize from these events, naturally, the far right
groups and organizations found an opening capable of ascending them to political
power. First the LAOS and after it the Golden Dawn found themselves the great
beneficiaries of the strategic mistake of mainstream parties. Since then, Golden Dawn
has tried to exploit the nationalistic factor by organizing events only for Greeks,
such as free distribution of food, blood donations, safety to the elderly in foreigndominated neighborhoods as well as providing jobs to unemployed.
The
unquestionable Greek identity is necessary for the participant beneficiary of their
events.37
A third factor appears to be the promotion of culture of disobedience to state
laws and decisions. Since the end of the military regime of 1967-74, it appears that
both state institutions such schools, universities, employees at ministries, banks, ports
and airports as well as from the non-state sector such as farmers, industrial workers
etc. worked hard to promote or advance the cultural characteristic of bending or
breaking the law. Whether in a form of a yearly ritual of violent behavior during the
17th of November, the closing of schools for months due to secondary school as well
as university students reaction to policies adopted by the Ministry of Education, few
generations of young Greeks were trained to either accept or participate on actions of
disobedience towards their state.38 Due to financial euphoria, these traits could be
overlooked as these students would be assisted to grow up later on in life with their
parents economic assistance. However, as the new, strict financial measures imposed
by EU and IMF are shrinking the income of Greek families and the leading pro-leftist
parties (SYRIZA and KKE) and pro-right parties (LAOS and Anexartetoi Ellenes) are
openly inviting their members to show disobedience towards state laws and decisions,
naturally, they legalize the anti-systemic, anti-democratic behavior of the Golden
Dawn and its members. And as the economic wealth of families is decreasing and
unemployment is augmenting rapidly, especially among youngsters, the chance to
belong to an organization with clear-cut goals, political power and growing social
recognition as Golden Dawn presents itself, seems as a great opportunity to a large
segment of population, especially the urban.
Of course, there are other factors that have played an important role as well.
For example, the decreasing appeal of the European Union to the public as a result of
the austerity measures, the break-up of traditional family bondages, the lowering trust
of the people towards state institutions, the tension with the Muslim-Greek population
in Western Thrace and with Turkey, FYROM and to a lesser degree Albania in the
arena of foreign and security policies, as well as the existence of a sizeable number of
J. Swarts and N. Karakatsanis, Challenges to Desecuritizing migration in Greece, Journal of
Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, Vol.15, no.1, (2013) p.112
38
A. Doxiades and M. Matsaganis, National populism and Xenophobia in Greece (Counterpoint, 2012)
p p.58-59
37

10

far-right supporters in the police and the armed forces, has certainly played an
important role in the growth of Golden Dawns political power. Whether the Greek
state and the EU decision-makers are capable of understanding the importance of the
issue and adopting the proper measures and policies only time will show. What is
certain, however, is that if they continue the existing road Greece will enter
mathematically into undesired, dark waters.

11