GOLDEN DAWN AND THE FAILURE OF SOFT TOTALITARIANISM

When calling someone a "fascist"
doesn't work, only fascism will do.

by Dmitrios Papageorgiou

When calling someone a "fascist" doesn't work, only fascism will do.

During his visit to the USA, the prime minister of Greece Antonis Samaras, addressing the American-Jewish Committee, declared the resolve of his government to crack down on Golden Dawn. In his speech, while he was explaining what was happening in Greece, he made a "mistake" saying that nationalists (or "Nazis" in his words) would be "persecuted," quickly changing it to "prosecuted." The difference between the two words is quite self-explanatory of what's is going on in Greece. There is a Greek saying "Γλώσσα λανθάνουσα λέει την αλήθεια" that translates as "A mistaken tongue often says the truth."

Over the last weeks there has been an unprecedented witch hunt by the police and judiciary against nationalists in Greece. Dozens of houses of Golden Dawn supporters and members have been invaded by the police. The usual causes are "anonymous phone calls" that claim that weapons and armaments are hidden in people's apartments. After the search, if nothing is found, an attorney "advises" the victims to press charges against the "unknown assailants," just a convoluted way of saying that nothing can be done.

The Findings

During the house search of Christos Pappas, now imprisoned as "deputy of a criminal organization," a revolver (photo 1; see slideshow) and German helmets from WW2 were found, as well as a rusty bayonet (photo 2). 

Photo (1)

Photo (2)

But the main incriminating findings were flags and bottles of wine. It seems that those, added to the statements of some dubious people, were enough to send an MP of the Greek parliament to prison.

But it is not only MPs that are harassed like this. The case of what was described in the mainstream media as a "weapons cache" (photo 3) of a Golden Dawn supporter is a good example of what is going on. 

Photo (3)

Airsoft guns were described as real guns, house knives were includeed in the findings report, and newspapers and books were also classified as "evidence." 

In another case in a city of northern Greece a regional organiser of Golden Dawn was arrested because, during a search of Golden Dawn offices, a Greek flag was found along with a piece of wood (photo 4).

Photo (4)

But it gets even worse. The main target of police searches, so it seems, are members of the police and the coast guard suspected of being GD members. There have been many cases of house searches.

One of the most hilarious was the case in Patras, where the homes of two coast guard members were searched. They were actually prosecuted for about 1 kg of tobacco, which is farmed in the area, and was not taxed. The same situation popped up during two more house searches in the city of Agrinio, where the findings were 5 kg of tobacco and...an empty box of handcuffs.

While the police was making a "sweep" of nationalist homes, the parliament was also busy preparing two things. The first was a law denying the state grant to the GD party. Every party getting above a threshold of 1.5% of the vote receives a state grant. This amounts to several hundred thousand euros, which is more than a million euros a year. Golden Dawn has actually not collected 800,000 euros of this money.

Under the new law that parliament is bringing against this party whose leadership is only under investigation (and not yet guilty) for being a part of a "criminal organization," Golden Dawn will not only be denied the grant, but will also have to return the money it has already received, a move that will effectively bankrupt the party. Also, every MP under investigation for the same charge will stop receiving his salary of about 8000 euros per month. 

The second measure the government came up with was an antiracist law, which includes severe penalties. These range from imprisonment to removal of the right to vote and stand for election. According to the broadsheet Kathimerini, the law provides for the exclusion of "racist" parties from elections, and even the removal of elected MPs. 

It also includes imprisonment of up to three years and financial penalties for those convicted of "praising fascism and national socialism,” as well as harsh punishments for those participating in "hate-events," such as food distribution limited only to Greeks. 

The Witnesses

The most shocking element of all are the testimonies of "witnesses” under protection of anonymity, and the acceptance of their claims not only by the media, but also by the judicial system. People under investigation for paedophilia, who were expelled from GD, dissatisfied members, and who knows what else, are claiming to have knowledge of what is happening inside Golden Dawn. There have been claims that Golden Dawn members stashed weapons and food in monasteries and that they also used army firing ranges for training. Another claim is that there was an actual "order," direct from GD's leader Nikos Michaloliakos, to kill the rap singer Killah-P, who was practically unknown before his death. Other claims include that GD MPs are arm dealers and that some of them go to farms to butcher lambs as a form of training for knifing humans. 

So far there have been five witnesses like this, whose evidence consists of saying they "have heard" such things, Yet no one in the media bothers to question their claims. 

Due to these "testimonies," two more GD MPs are currently being investigated, upping the total number to eight. Nine more people are already in prison, including Michaloliakos, G. Lagos, Pappas and even a female police officer. Three GD MPs were bailed/released on condition of not leaving the country, but remain under investigation.

From PC to actual Soviet-like dictatorship

What has happened in Greece should be taken as an example of how the system reacts to threats. In Greece, as in every European country, the main controlling method of the system was political correctness – up to a couple of years ago. 

With the help of both the economic crisis and the corruption of the local political/ business/ media elites, which became common knowledge, political correctness crumbled. 

It was no longer particularly insulting to be labeled a "fascist" in Greece. Anyone could claim to be a nationalist at a party, in school, or at work and he would probably find a lot of people to agree with him. We have to note here that the Left greatly helped in this matter by overusing such labels. Since PC is no longer useful as a means of intimidating and coercing, the system has been forced to return to "old methods."

In his book Homo Americanus, Dr. Tomislav Sunic writes: 

"Soft totalitarian regimes can only be maintained by a sense of moral and intellectual legitimacy – the willing assent of the vast majority of the people. Without this legitimacy, the entire apparatus of cultural control either disintegrates or transforms into hard totalitarianism – the truncheons and the gulags."

This is exactly what is happening in Greece right now. Robbed of its moral legitimacy, the governing elite is reverting to hard totalitarian methods. As I read in a comment on my previous article at this site, the only protection of nationalist movements so far has been their insignificance.

When we have both the crumbling of PC and the rise to significance of a nationalist movement, what we get is what is now happening in Greece: a reversion to the most simple method of control. Pure, raw power. Sure, the media is doing its best to put a veneer of morality on it, but it isn't really succeeding. According to the latest polling results (7th October) about 30% of Greeks don't believe that GD is a criminal organisation. This is an impressive number after a couple of weeks of intensive brainwashing by the media.

On the question of "who are you going to vote for?" in the same poll, GD remains at around 7%. Exactly what it got in the last elections. It has certainly fallen back from polling 14-18%, but this is still impressive under all this pressure. But what good will those numbers do, if its MPs can be arrested, imprisoned and even kicked out of parliament?

P.S. A disappointment in these few weeks has been the low profile of GD activists. When its leader and MPs were arrested, only about 200-300 supporters rallied to their support. For a movement that got 400,000 votes that is rather disappointing. The reasons? That is the subject of a future article.