Post by Anthony Coppola - October 24, 2016
In 2015, over a million people fled their homes to seek refuge from danger--and in response, numerous political groups have formed to oppose the influx of these people invading their country’s borders.
One of these anti-immigrant parties is the Golden Dawn. The Golden Dawn is a violent, far-right party that has gained traction in Greece. With the crisis of immigration taking prominence, the Golden Dawn, according to The Guardian, has gained the support of hundreds of thousands of Greeks, winning 7-percent of the popular vote in the 2015 general election; this is third place behind Syriza and New Democracy.
According to The Huffington Post the Golden Dawn was founded in 1980 by Nikos Michaloliakos, a man who was imprisoned for engaging in “bomb attacks in Athens.” In 1996, in its first elections, the party gained 0.1 percent of the popular vote. 2009 was their next attempt at elections, where they gained, yet only captured 0.3 percent of the popular vote. And in 2015, again, they won 7-percent of the vote.
Again, this same petty party from 1996 and 2009 out of the blue won 7-percent of the vote in 2015. In a span of 7 years, this radical party went from 0.3 percent of the vote to 7 percent. Why is it that the party seemingly out of nowhere became the third largest party in parliament?
The Golden Dawn, whose party symbol resembles the Nazi swastika, prides itself as the party of the country of Greece, claiming itself as the “only nationalist choice,” according to The Guardian. They are extreme nationalists, and only wish to protect Greece and its people--a tune that many citizens of Greece sympathize with. The Golden Dawn claims to be the spirit of Greece, of “country,” and that refugees seeking asylum pose a danger to the country’s national security and overall traditional culture.
According to The Huffington Post, the Golden Dawn proposes “to arrest and deport all ‘illegal immigrants’ and hold them in detention camps that ‘will not resemble five-star hotels’ between arrest and deportation.”
Clearly, the Golden Dawn has no love for foreigners entering their land--but, is the party which claims to be the heart of Greece simply taking advantage of the immigration crisis to gain popularity in Greek politics? The situation certainly only helps them politically, and they can decry the current government as traitors and failures in order to become more powerful and influential as they flaunt their “nationalist” muscles.
At a rally, the Golden Dawn’s spokesman, Ilias Kasidiaris, was blunt: “The problem all these sellouts [in government] have is not that Greeks will soon be a minority in our own country, but that Golden Dawn's poll numbers will rise. Of course Golden Dawn's numbers will rise, because Golden Dawn is the Greek spirit!”
The Golden Dawn, as it continues to gain legitimacy in Greek politics, has tried to distance itself from similarities to the beliefs of Nazis. But, their links to the ideology cannot be ignored--and if they continue to gain the support of Greeks, we may face a future threat not necessarily from the Golden Dawn, but from a group like it that is perking the ears of extreme “nationalists.” Will this refugee crisis spark a new Nazi regime?
I think a group like the Golden Dawn if given too much power has the potential to become a very extremist group that could rally up support and become some sort of "new Nazi regime". They're ideals are very extremist and it is somewhat concerning that the parties votes jumped from 0.3 to 7 percent of the popular vote in such a short time span. I think the sudden surge in support for this groups demonstrates that much of Greece is against migrants coming into their land and if that is the case the government should take initiative in not necessarily shutting migrants out, but rather implementing some sort of background check or screening on the migrants coming in so that the people of Greece will be more at ease.
ReplyDelete- Hedvig Blanco
I think that with that parties like the Golden Dawn it may be an exaggeration to consider them the next Nazi regime, even though I wrote that. But it is the tip of the iceberg. The principle of vigilance is important, and we cannot rule anything out. The migrant crisis is a good catalyst for such a group to rise. If we ignore these parties then they may continue to grow, and before we know it, we may have new security threats.
DeleteAnthony Coppola
I think that with that parties like the Golden Dawn it may be an exaggeration to consider them the next Nazi regime, even though I wrote that. But it is the tip of the iceberg. The principle of vigilance is important, and we cannot rule anything out. The migrant crisis is a good catalyst for such a group to rise. If we ignore these parties then they may continue to grow, and before we know it, we may have new security threats.
ReplyDeleteAnthony Coppola
I find this all to be extremely interesting. This immigration crisis could have severe repercussions, one of those being the spark of a hate regime (similar to the Nazi regime). But, do you think Golden Dawn would have as much popularity if the immigration crisis was resolved? Would these anti immigration ideas still be in the mindsets of the people? It is a question of ideals and context. While the immigration crisis sparked these sentiments, would they still persist after the immigration crisis is solved (if it is solved)?
ReplyDelete-Dom
I find your question at the end very interesting. I think the anti-immigration movement is concerning and I would argue it is a response to an ontological security threat. I think there is less of a chance that the refugee crisis could spark a regime similar to the Nazi regime mostly because the refugee crisis is not located in only one country. However, I think this is still a valid concern and should be a driving factor to solve the refugee crisis.
ReplyDeleteBrianna