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Popular Association – Golden Dawn Λαϊκός Σύνδεσμος – Χρυσή Αυγή | |
|---|---|
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| Abbreviation | ΧΑ |
| General Secretary | Nikolaos Michaloliakos |
| Founder | Nikolaos Michaloliakos |
| Founded | 1 January 1985 (as an organisation) November 1993 (as a political party) |
| Headquarters | 131 Mesogeion Avenue, Athens, Greece (formerly)[1] |
| Newspaper | Χρυσή Αυγή (Chrysi Avgi) |
| Youth wing | Youth Front |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Far-right[18] |
| Religion | Greek Orthodox Church |
| European Parliament group | Non-Inscrits |
| Colors |
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| Slogan | Αίμα, Τιμή, Χρυσή Αυγή ("Blood, Honour, Golden Dawn") |
| Anthem | Hymn of the Golden Dawn "Ύμνος Χρυσής Αυγής" |
| Party flag | |
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| Website | |
| xrisiavgi | |
| Part of a series on |
| Neo-fascism |
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The Popular Association – Golden Dawn[19][20] (Greek: Λαϊκός Σύνδεσμος – Χρυσή Αυγή, romanized: Laïkós Sýndesmos – Chrysí Avgí), usually shortened to Golden Dawn (Greek: Χρυσή Αυγή, romanized: Chrysí Avgí, pronounced [xriˈsi avˈʝi]), is a far-right[24] neo-Nazi[a] ultranationalist former political party[25] in Greece. Golden Dawn rose to prominence during Greece's financial crisis of 2009, becoming the third most popular party in the Greek parliament in the January 2015 election. Its support since plunged, and it failed to enter parliament in the 2019 election. The criminal trial against the leaders, frequently described as the largest trial of Nazis since the Nuremberg trials, lasted more than five years.[26]
Nikolaos Michaloliakos began the foundations of what would become Golden Dawn in 1980, when he published the first issue of the right-wing, pro-military junta journal by the name Chrysi Avgi. In this context, Golden Dawn had its origins in the movement that worked towards a return to right-wing military dictatorship in Greece. Following an investigation into the 2013 murder of anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas by a self-identified member,[27][28] Michaloliakos and several other Golden Dawn MPs and members were arrested and held in pre-trial detention on suspicion of forming a criminal organization.[29] The trial began on 20 April 2015.[30] Golden Dawn later lost all of its remaining seats in the Greek Parliament in the 2019 Greek legislative election.[31] A 2020 survey showed the party's popularity plummeting to 1.5%,[32] down from 2.9% in the previous year's elections, and a peak of 7.0%.[33]
Golden Dawn is commonly described as neo-Nazi[38] and neo-fascist.[44] The group rejects these labels[45] and its members have expressed admiration for the former Greek dictators Ioannis Metaxas of the 4th of August Regime (1936–1941)[50] and Georgios Papadopoulos of the Regime of the Colonels (1967–1974).[51] The group's founder Michaloliakos, its self-appointed "Führer", advocates Holocaust denial theory and is an ardent supporter of Adolf Hitler.[52] Golden Dawn also uses symbolism which is very similar to that of the Nazis, Nazi salutes, blood and soil slogans and they have also praised figures of Nazi Germany.[53][54][55] According to academic sources, the group is racist and xenophobic,[56][57] and the party's leader has openly identified it as nationalist and racist.[58] Golden Dawn has been also described as ultranationalist,[59][60][61] they support the creation of Greater Greece,[6] and they have been strongly critical of the European Union.[8][9][10][11] On social issues, they are traditionalist[62] and oppose immigration,[63] and on fiscal issues they are protectionist.[64] Golden Dawn has engaged in right-wing populist rhetorics[7] with strong employment of antisemitism,[65][66] Islamophobia,[67][68] anti-Turkism,[69] and homophobia.[70][71] The party also has a militant wing consisting of numerous death squads that perpetrated hate-crimes against minorities.[72] The Hellenic Police has been criticised for its close links to Golden Dawn by government ministers, human rights activists, and whistleblower police officers.[73][74][75][71]
On 7 October 2020, the Athens Court of Appeals announced verdicts for 68 defendants, including the party's political leadership. The General Secretary Nikolaos Michaloliakos and six other prominent members and former MPs, were charged with running a criminal organization.[33] Guilty verdicts on charges of murder, attempted murder, and violent attacks on immigrants and left-wing political opponents were delivered[76] and the leadership was sent to prison.[77]
Program
After being founded in 1985,[78] Golden Dawn first received significant attention in 1991, and in 1993 registered as a political party. By this time, Golden Dawn had adopted several southern Balkan focused regional objectives as its main programme: to promote the idea of a Greater Greece through the expansion of Greek territory into Northern Epirus, Macedonia, and Northern and Eastern Thrace, and ultimately the reconquest of Istanbul and western Anatolia. They seek the complete Hellenisation of Greek Macedonia and Western Thrace through the expulsion of Northern Greece's last remaining Slavic-speaking minority and the Turkish-speaking Muslim minority of East Macedonia and Thrace. They also aspire "to combat Islam in the region", such as through contributing fighters to the Greek Volunteer Guard that helped capture Srebrenica during the Bosnian War.[79]
By the mid-2000s, Golden Dawn had redirected its attention to opposing non-European, and particularly Muslim, immigration into southern Greece and Athens. Golden Dawn temporarily ceased political operations in 2005 and was absorbed by the Patriotic Alliance. The Alliance, in turn, ceased operations after Michaloliakos withdrew support in the spring of 2007. Golden Dawn held its sixth congress in March 2007, where party officials announced the resumption of political activities. At local elections in November 2010, Golden Dawn got 5.3% of the vote in the municipality of Athens, winning a seat on the Athens City Council. In some neighbourhoods with large immigrant communities, its vote reached 20%.[80]
The party ran a campaign during the May 2012 Greek national elections based on concerns about unemployment, austerity, the economy, and immigration, which gained a large increase in support from the Greek electorate.[81] It received 7% of the popular vote, enough for the party to enter the Hellenic Parliament for the first time with 21 seats.[82] Following a second election in June 2012, this was reduced to 18 seats.[83] the party was reduced further to 17 seats following the January 2015 Greek national elections, but still became the third largest party in Parliament.[84]
The party is hard Eurosceptic[8][9][10][11] and also anti-globalisation.[85]
National Plan
In 2015, Golden Dawn outlined their 'National Plan' for Greece's recovery from the financial crisis as follows:[86]
- Increase agricultural production and manufacturing.
- Reward hard work and implement a meritocracy.
- Exploit Greece's oil, gas, and precious metal reserves.
- Audit and erase part of the national debt which they deem illegal.
- Demand that the German government repay a loan that was forced upon Greece during the Axis occupation.
- Form free trade agreements with Russia, Iran, and China; and remove the red tape blocking trade.
- Proclaim Greece's exclusive economic zone.
- Expand Greece's territorial waters to 12 nautical miles as defined by UNCLOS.
- Repeal members of parliament's immunity to criminal prosecution, arrest, and detention while in office.
- Remove party funding obtained from taxes and rely instead on donations.
- Reduce the size of the Hellenic Parliament to 180 members.
- Dissolve any existing plutocracy.
- Provide tax relief for investors, businessmen, and shipowners who employ only Greek workers and move their capital into national banks.
- Dismiss those recruited illegally into the public sector as a result of cronyism.
- Expulsion of all illegal immigrants who have entered Greece.
- Subsidize those in maternity, and offer tax breaks to young parents and those with large families.
- Nationalization of banks that received state loans.
- Nationalization of natural resources.
History
1980–2005
In December 1980, Nikolaos Michaloliakos and a group of supporters launched Chrysi Avgi magazine. Michaloliakos had been active in far-right politics for many years, having been arrested several times for politically motivated offences, such as beatings and illegal possession of explosive materials, which led to his discharge from the military.[87][88][89] While he was in prison, Michaloliakos met the leaders of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 and laid the foundations of the Golden Dawn party.[88] According to the newspaper Eleftherotypia the characteristics of the magazine and the organisation were clearly aligned to Neo-Nazism.[87] Chrysi Avgi magazine ceased publication in April 1984, when Michaloliakos joined the National Political Union and took over the leadership of its youth section.[88] In January 1985, he broke away from the National Political Union and founded the Popular National Movement – Golden Dawn, which was officially recognised as a political party in 1993.[88]
Golden Dawn remained largely on the margins of far-right politics until the Macedonia naming dispute in 1991 and 1992.[87] Eleftherotypia reported that on 10 October 1992, about 30 Golden Dawn members attacked students at the Athens University of Economics and Business during a massive demonstration against the use of the name Macedonia by the then Republic of Macedonia.[90] Around the same time, the first far-right street gangs appeared under the leadership of Giannis Giannopoulos, a former military officer who was involved with the South African neo-Nazi Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) during the 1980s.[87] After the events of 1991 and 1992, Golden Dawn had gained a stable membership of more than 200 members, and Giannopoulos rose within the party hierarchy.[87] Golden Dawn ran in the 1994 European Parliament election, gaining 7,264 votes nationwide; 0.1% of the votes cast.[91]
During the 1980s, the party embraced Hellenic Neopagan beliefs, praised the Twelve Olympians and described Marxism and liberalism as "the ideological carriers of Judeo-Christianity".[92][93] After the party went through ideological changes, it later endorsed Greek Orthodox Christianity.[94]
During the Bosnian War, Golden Dawn members participated in the Greek Volunteer Guard (GVG), part of the Drina Corps of the Army of Republika Srpska. A few GVG volunteers were present in Srebrenica during the Srebrenica massacre, and they raised a Greek flag at a ruined church after the fall of the town.[95] Spiros Tzanopoulos, a GVG sergeant who took part in the attack against Srebrenica, said many of the Greek volunteers participated in the war because they were members of Golden Dawn.[96] Golden Dawn members in the GVG were decorated by Radovan Karadžić. According to Charis Kousoumvris, a former member of Golden Dawn, those who were decorated later left the party.[96]
In April 1996, Giannopoulos represented the party at a pan-European convention of far-right nationalist parties in Moscow, where he presented a bust of Alexander the Great to Liberal Democratic Party of Russia leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky for his birthday.[87] Golden Dawn participated in the 1996 legislative election in September, receiving 4,487 votes nationwide; 0.07% of the votes cast.[97] In October 1997, Giannopoulos published an article in Chrysi Avgi magazine calling for nationalist vigilantism against immigrants and liberals.[98] In 1998, a prominent party member, Antonios Androutsopoulos, assaulted Dimitris Kousouris, a left-wing student activist. The resulting media attention, along with internal party conflicts (due to poor results in the 1996 elections), led some of its most extreme members to gradually fade from official party affairs.[87]
Androutsopoulos finally surrendered in 2005 and was convicted of the attempted murder of Kousouris and another two left-wing activists, for which he received a 21-year prison term. The other members of the squad that attacked Kousouris were never prosecuted. In March 2009, Androutsopoulos appealed his sentence and had it reduced to 12 years, but was released from prison a few months later. Golden Dawn continued to hold rallies and marches, and it ran in the 1999 European election in an alliance with the Front Line party, gaining 48,532 votes nationwide; 0.75% of the votes cast.[87][99] In 2005, Eleftherotypia reported that Golden Dawn members distributed homophobic flyers during the first pride parade held in Athens.[100]
2005–2019
According to Golden Dawn's leader, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, the party suspended its own autonomous political activities after 1 December 2005 because of clashes with anarchists.[101] Golden Dawn members were instructed to continue their activism within the Patriotic Alliance party, which was very closely linked to Golden Dawn.[102][103] The former leader of Patriotic Alliance, Dimitrios Zaphiropoulos, was once a member of Golden Dawn's political council, and Michaloliakos became a leading member of Patriotic Alliance.[88] There were accusations that the "Patriotic Alliance" was simply the new name of Golden Dawn.[104] Activities by Patriotic Alliance's members were often attributed to Golden Dawn (even by themselves), creating confusion.[103] This is the main reason Golden Dawn's members announced the withdrawal of their support of the Patriotic Alliance, which eventually led to the interruption of Golden Dawn's political activities.[105][106] In March 2007, Golden Dawn held its sixth congress and announced the resumption of their political and ideological activism.[107][third-party source needed]
In May 2012, WordPress shut down Golden Dawn's official website and blog due to death threats against Xenia Kounalaki, a journalist.[108][109][110]
In 2018, Ilias Kasidiaris, a then member of the party, declared himself an admirer of the Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini and added that the only non-hypocritical European countries were those of Visegrad. He asked why Muslim migrants did not go to Saudi Arabia or other Islamic countries, and claimed "We at Golden Dawn want to give priority to Christian asylum seekers. And, in any event, Greece cannot continue to welcome everyone in. If we ever get into power, we will put economic migrants in jail, instead of hosting them in hotspots, as Syriza does."[111]
In an article in March 2019, the leader of the party, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, declared that "Of course, Greece at the greatest moments of in its history was never multi-racial" and concluded that "The only way to stop the destruction of our nation is to fight hard in order to make our Fatherland a national state again, a Greece that will belong to the Greeks."[112]
Disintegration and conviction of leadership
During the 2019 European Parliament election Golden Dawn won only 4.88% of the vote and won only 2 seats, down from 9.4% and 3 seats in 2014. During the 2019 Greek Legislative election Golden Dawn lost all of its 18 seats in the Hellenic Parliament, winning only 2.93% of the vote, down from 7.0% in 2015. Shortly after the elections, one of the Golden Dawn's two MEPs, Giannis Lagos, abandoned the party and refused to hand over his seat, thus leaving GD with just 1 seat in the European Parliament.[113][114] In November 2019, Lagos founded the National Popular Consciousness.
On 8 July 2019, after the election result, the party leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos has made the following statement: "We send a message to enemies and friends. The Golden Dawn is not over. The struggle for nationalism continues. We will be back where we were strong, in the streets and squares, and we will fight hard against Bolshevism and the cruel capitalism that is coming."[115]
In September 2019, Golden Dawn's headquarters in Athens was closed and dissolved, only two months after the party's defeat in the July general elections. This followed years of campaigning and opposition by civil society groups including trade unions, anti-fascist networks, migrant groups and victims of Golden Dawn attacks.[116] The NGO KEERFA described this development as being "a victory of the anti-fascist movement". The party's website also became unavailable.[117]
Kasidiaris left the party in June 2020 to form Greeks for the Fatherland, which was said to be inspired by Lega with a similar logo.[118] In June 2020, ELAM, their de facto Cypriot branch, explained it had officially cut ties with Golden Dawn.[119] In July 2020, Michaloliakos removed Athanasios Konstantinou, Golden Dawn's last remaining MEP, from the party.[120] Konstantinou continues to serve in the European Parliament as an independent.[114]
On 7 October 2020, Michaloliakos and six other party leaders were convicted for heading a criminal organisation. The other 61 defendants were found guilty of participating in a criminal organisation.[121] The court described the convicted as a criminal organization "dressed in the mantle of a political party".[122]
The court found Michaloliakos, Giannis Lagos, Ilias Kasidiaris, Christos Pappas, Artemios Matthaiopoulos, Ilias Panagiotaros, and Giorgios Germenis guilty on the charge of directing a criminal organization. The court found sufficient evidence to find the rest of the sixty-eight defendants guilty of participation in a criminal organization. Eighteen of these defendants were former members of parliament.[123]
The court found Anastasios-Marios Anadiotis, Giorgios Dimou, Elpidoforos Kalaritis, Yoannis Vasilios Komianos, Konstantinos Korkovilis, Anastasios Michalaros, Giorgios Patelis (the secretary of the Nikaia Battalion), Giorgios Skalos, Giorgios Stambelos, Leon Tsalikis, Athanasios Tsorvas, Nikolaos Tsorvas, and Aristotelis Chrisafitis guilty of the murder of Pavlos Fyssas. The court had earlier acknowledged the guilt of Giorgios Roupakias.[124]
On 3 May 2024, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, the leader of Golden Dawn, was granted early release following a legal request and on account of his elderly age, albeit with several conditions such as a ban on traveling outside the greater Athens area.[125]
Activism
In 2002 Golden Dawn claimed to have local organisations in 32 Greek cities, but also in Cyprus.[126]
The party created the "Committee of National Memory" (Επιτροπή Εθνικής Μνήμης, Epitropí Ethnikís Mnímis), to organise demonstrations commemorating the anniversaries of certain Greek national events. Since 1996, the Committee of National Memory organized an annual march, usually on 31 January in Athens, in memory of three Greek officers who died during the Imia military crisis. According to Golden Dawn and the European National Front website, the march in 2006 was attended by 2,500 people,[127][128] although no neutral sources confirmed that number. The Committee of National Memory continued its activities, and a march took place on 31 January 2010.
The Committee of National Memory organized annual rallies on 17 June in Thessalonica, in memory of Alexander the Great.[129] Police confronted the participants of the rally of 2006, forcing Golden Dawn and Patriotic Alliance members to leave the area after conflicts with leftist groups.[129][130] Later that day, Golden Dawn members gathered in the building of state-owned television channel ERT3 and held a protest as they tried to stop the channel from broadcasting.[130] Police surrounded the building and arrested 48 Golden Dawn members.[129][130]
In September 2005, Golden Dawn attempted to organise a festival called "Eurofest 2005 – Nationalist Summer Camp" at the grounds of a Greek summer camp. The planned festival depended on the participation of the German National Democratic Party of Germany, the Italian Forza Nuova and the Romanian Noua Dreaptă, as well as Spanish and other European far-right groups, as European National Front's festival. The festival was banned by the government.[131][132]
In June 2007, Golden Dawn sent representatives to protest against the G8 convention in Germany, together with the National Democratic Party of Germany and other European far-right organisations.[133][third-party source needed]
In June 2011, Foreign Policy reported that in the midst of the 2010–2011 Greek protests, gangs of Golden Dawn members were increasingly being seen in some of the higher-crime areas of Athens.[134] In May 2012, the BBC reported on how Golden Dawn had become sort of a local 'Robin Hood' in some high-immigration areas of Athens,[135] since the party was developing a social program which included the delivery of food at minimal or no cost to the most unfavored strata of ethnic Greeks.[136][137] It was reported in 2012, at a time of acute social problems, that the party offered help to victims of crime, which gained it support; police even sometimes referred people who had issues with immigrants to Golden Dawn. Allegiance to the party was expected from those helped.[138]
Golden Dawn, as reported by Time in 2012, holds ceremonies at Thermopylae during which they chant "Greece belongs to Greeks" in front of the bronze statue of the Spartan king Leonidas, who fell at the eponymous Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC against the Achaemenid Persians.[139]
Youth Front
Golden Dawn's Youth Front has distributed fliers with nationalist messages in Athens schools and organised the concert series Rock Against Communism. It publishes the ultranationalist magazine Resistance Hellas-Antepithesi. The magazine is a sister publication of the United States-based National Alliance's Resistance magazine.[140]
Political representation
In May 2009, Golden Dawn took part in the European elections and received 23,564 votes, 0.5% of the total votes.[141] In 2010 it won 5.3% of the vote in Athens. In that election, the party won its first municipal council seat[142] and entered parliament for the first time in 2012. In the Greek parliamentary elections of May 2012, the party received 6.97% of the popular vote. In the rerun of the elections in June 2012,[143] their share of the vote was 6.92%.[144] This made them the third largest group from Greece to the European Parliament (the largest was Syriza's alliance).