No to Golden Dawn in Australia!

The working class must take the issue in its own hands!

During the last 3 years in Greece, savage austerity imposed by the Troika (International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Commission) has crippled the country’s economy. The austerity has led to a depression that is as bad, if not worse, as the Great Depression was in the United States. Enjoying the atmosphere of anguish and despair associated with economic depression, Golden Dawn has flourished, espousing an ideology of hate.

It is in effect a Fascist party that promotes anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant and misogynist chauvinism and has grown to become the third most popular political party in the country. It is this threat which led the Greek government to arrest the party’s leadership and dozens of its followers after a Golden Dawn member fatally stabbed anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas in September last year. Some Golden Dawn members (including senior leaders) have also been charged by police with bashing defenceless individuals, whom Golden Dawn deemed to be enemies, for causing explosions and for blackmail. A police investigation that has been launched into the party, but has failed to produce clear results. Beyond their racist, bigoted ideology, Golden Dawn draws inspiration from the violent methods of the Nazi German regime of the last century.

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NO TO GOLDEN DAWN IN AUSTRALIA!

The working class must take the issue in its own hands!

During the last 3 years in Greece, savage austerity imposed by the Troika (International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Commission) has crippled the country’s economy. The austerity has led to a depression that is as bad, if not worse, as the Great Depression was in the United States. Enjoying the atmosphere of anguish and despair associated with economic depression, Golden Dawn has flourished, espousing an ideology of hate. It is in effect a Fascist party that promotes anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant and misogynist chauvinism and has grown to become the third most popular political party in the country.

It is this threat which led the Greek government to arrest the party’s leadership and dozens of its followers after a Golden Dawn member fatally stabbed anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas in September last year. Some Golden Dawn members (including senior leaders) have also been charged by police with bashing defenceless individuals, whom Golden Dawn deemed to be enemies, for causing explosions and for blackmail. A police investigation that has been launched into the party, but has failed to produce clear results. Beyond their racist, bigoted ideology, Golden Dawn draws inspiration from the violent methods of the Nazi German regime of the last century. Its members and supporters routinely whip themselves into a frenzy of hate with torchlight rallies, demagogic rhetoric and stiff arm salutes.

Golden Dawn is promoting division between ethnic and religious communities in Greece. It also promotes hateful attitudes towards women and espouses the marginalisation and suppression of people who it deems to have an ‘unnatural’ sexuality. Tellingly, it denies the Jewish Holocaust during World War II.

It is no accident that Golden Dawn has arisen in Greece at the present time. Fascism is capitalism’s last line of defence, the refuge it seeks when all else fails and it needs to crush the working class. As workers in Greece mobilised against the Troika’s brutal austerity assault and the political establishment imploded, sections of Greek capitalists turned to Fascism in order to protect their wealth and privilege. If capitalist democracy cannot save Greek capitalism, Golden Dawn is in the background to impose capitalist dictatorship.

Golden Dawn was planning a visit to Australia in late November by Eleftherios Synadinos and Georgios Epitideios. They are former army generals and are Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) representing Golden Dawn.

This planned visit was cancelled after organising against it started to get up a head of steam and the Fascist MEPs’ visas were delayed. An antifascist group in Melbourne, centred on workers of Greek background, reached out to unions and to community groups and received a significant response.

In May this year, black-shirted Golden Dawn followers in Australia tried to hold a rally outside the Greek Club in Brisbane, supported by Fascists of the Australia First Party. They were successfully confronted by members of the Greek community, unionists and other antifascist protesters. They have also twice held similar rallies outside of the Greek Consulate General in Sydney. In Melbourne they have not organised similar rallies but they have been active through a front charity called “Voithame Tin Ellada” (“We Help Greece”).

The cancellation of the Golden Dawn visit is a victory, but we must not be complacent. In the event of Golden Dawn making another attempt to visit Australia, community groups, Left organisations and, most especially, the unions, must take the initiative to act in a united front against the Fascist scum. They must be stopped in their tracks by a massive mobilisation of the working class.

FASCISM – NO PASARAN!

This article was published in The Anvil, Vol 3 No 1: http://melbacg.wordpress.com/the-anvil/