Hrisi Avgi
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Hrisi Avgi (Greek:Χρυσή Αυγή English:Golden Dawn) is a Greek neo-Nazi party, espousing an anti-semitic, anti-capitalist and anti-immigrant philosophy. Hrisi Avgi is also the name of a newspaper and a magazine published by that party.
The leader of the party is Nikolaos Michaloliakos. The party's symbol was a red flag bearing a black meander pattern with white trim. Other symbols adopted by Hrisi Avgi members were the national emblem of Greece, the labrys and the Celtic cross. Hrisi Avgi openly espoused Nazi-like symbols and ideology, as well as putsch-style methods. The party also advocated much more radical policies in relation to immigration, irridenta and border issues.
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[edit] History
In December 1980, Nikolaos Michaloliakos and a group of supporters launched Hrisi Avgi magazine. Michaloliakos (a mathmetician and former commando) had been active in far right politics for years, and he had been arrested several times for politically-motivated offences.[1][2][3] While he was in prison, Michaloliakos met the leaders of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974, and he laid the foundations of the Hrisi Avgi organisation.[1] The characteristics of the magazine and the organisation were clearly National Socialist.[3]
Hrisi Avgi magazine stopped being published in April 1984, when Michaloliakos joined the National Political Union and took over the leadership of its youth section.[1] In January 1985, he broke away from the National Political Union and founded the Popular National Movement - Hrisi Avgi, which was officially recognised as a political party in 1993.[1]
[edit] 1991-1992
Hrisi Avgi had remained largely on the margins of far-right politics until the Macedonia naming dispute in 1991 and 1992.[3] According to Dimitrios Zaphiropoulos, a prominent Hrisi Avgi member (and later a leader of Patriotic Alliance), Hrisi Avgi entered the Greek political mainstream in the early 1990s.[4] The left-leaning newspaper Eleftherotypia reported that on October 10, 1992, about 30 Hrisi Avgi members attacked left-wing students at the Athens University of Economics and Business.[5] This reportedly occurred during a massive demonstration in Athens against the usage of the name Macedonia by The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, (also known as Skopje). 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 Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) during the 1980s.[3]
[edit] 1992 and later
After the events of 1991 and 1992, Hrisi Avgi had gained a stable membership of more than 200 members, and Giannis Giannopoulos rose in importance within the party hierarchy.[3] Hrisi Avgi ran in the 1994 European Parliament election, gaining 7.264 votes nationwide, 0.11% of the votes cast.[6]
A few Hrisi Avgi members participated in the Bosnian War in the Greek Volunteer Guard (GVG), which was part of the Drina Corps of the Army of Republika Srpska. A few GVG volunteers were present in Srebrenica during the Srebrenica massacre, and raised a Greek flag at a ruined church after the fall of the town.[7] However, it is not clear whether the GVG participated in the massacres or not. 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 Hrisi Avgi.[8] The cover of the June 2, 1995 issue of the party's newspaper featured the activities of its members alongside the Chetniks, and the July 28, 1995 issue quotes a GVG volunteer as saying Hrisi Avgi was represented more than any other organisation or party at the GVG.[8] Hrisi Avgi members in the GVG were decorated by Radovan Karadžić, however according to former Hrisi Avgi member Charis Kousoumvris, those who were decorated later left the party.[8]
In April 1996, Giannopoulos represented the party at a pan-European convention of nationalist parties in Moscow, where he presented Liberal Democratic Party of Russia leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky with a bust of Alexander the Great for his birthday.[3] Hrisi Avgi participated in the 1996 legislative election in September, receiving 4,487 votes nationwide, 0.07% of the votes cast.[9]
In October 1997, Giannopoulos published an article in the Hrisi Avgi magazine calling for nationalist vigilantism against illegal immigrants and left-wingers.[10] In 1998, a prominent party member, Antonios Androutsopoulos, assaulted left-wing student activist Dimitris Kousouris. The assault brought mainstream media attention to Hrisi Avgi. This attention, along with internal conflicts (after the non-satisfying results of the party in the 1996 elections), led some of its most extreme members (such as Giannopoulos) to gradually fade from official party affairs.[3]
Hrisi Avgi continued to hold rallies and marches, and it ran in the 1999 European Parliament election; in an alliance with the Front Line party, gaining 48,532 votes nationwide; 0.75% of the votes cast.[3][11] Hrisi Avgi was criticised by Eleftherotypia because, in 2005, members of the organisation distributed fliers with homophobic content during a 2005 gay pride parade in Athens.[12]
[edit] Disbandment
According to Hrisi Avgi leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos, the party ceased to exist after December 1, 2005, due to clashes with anti-fascists.[13] Hrisi Avgi members had been instructed to continue their activism within the Patriotic Alliance party, which was very closely linked to Hrisi Avgi.[14] [15] The leader of Patriotic Alliance, Dimitrios Zaphiropoulos, is a former member of Hrisi Avgi's political council, and Michaloliakos is a current leading member of Patriotic Alliance.[1] Anti-fascist groups have accused Patriotic Alliance of simply being the new name of Hrisi Avgi.[16] However, activities by Patriotic Alliance's members are often attributed to Hrisi Avgi (even by themselves), creating confusion.[15] As of 2007, the Hrisi Avgi newspaper and magazine continued to be published, and the organisation's website continued to be updated, mainly to support Patriotic Alliance's activities.[17]
[edit] Activities
The party claimed to have local organisations in 32 Greek cities, as well as in Cyprus.[18]
[edit] Rallies
Hrisi Avgi created the Epitropi Ethnikis Mnimis (Committee of National Memory), to organise demonstrations commemorating the anniversaries of certain Greek national events. Epitropi Ethnikis Mninis has organized annual marches on January 31 in Athens, in memory of three Greek officers who died during the 1996 Imia military crisis. According to the European National Front website, the 2006 march was attended by 2,500 people, although no neutral sources have confirmed that number.[19] Epitropi Ethnikis Mninis (now led by Patriotic Alliance) has continued its activities, and the January 31 march took place in 2007.[20]
Epitropi Ethnikis Mnimis has organized annual rallies on June 17 in Thessaloniki, in memory of Alexander The Great.[21] Police confronted the 2006 rally participants, forcing Hrisi Avgi and Patriotic Alliance members to leave the area.[21][22] Later that day, Hrisi Avgi members gathered in the building of state-owned television channel ERT3 and tried to stop the channel from broadcasting.[22] Police surrounded the building and arrested 48 Hrisi Avgi members.[21][22] According to a Hrisi Avgi press release, those members were found guilty of carrying arms and were fined €500.[23]
[edit] Eurofest 2005
In September 2005, Hrisi Avgi 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 NPD, the Italian Forza Nuova and the Romanian Noua Dreapta, as well as Spanish and American neo-Nazi groups. The festival was banned by the government, largely because of the reaction of anti-fascist groups.[24][25]
[edit] Violence by and against Hrisi Avgi
Members of Hrisi Avgi have been accused of carrying out acts of violence and hate crimes against immigrants, political opponents and ethnic minorities.[26] Hrisi Avgi's offices have been attacked many times by anarchists and anti-fascists.[25][27] Clashes between members of Hrisi Avgi and anti-fascists have not been unusual.[28]
In January 1998, Alexis Kalofolias, vocalist of the band The Last Drive, was attacked and suffered permanent damage to his right eye, losing 2% of his eyesight.[26][29] KLIK magazine and Eleftherotypia reported that members of Hrisi Avgi were responsible for the attack.[26][29]
In 2000, the Monastirioton synagogue of Thessaloniki, the memorial for Holocaust victims in Thessaloniki, and the Jewish cemeteries in Thessaloniki and Athens were all vandalized by unknown suspects.[30] According to anti-fascist groups, Hrisi Avgi's symbols were present at all four sites.[30] The KIS, the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, the Coalition of the Left, of Movements and Ecology, the Greek Helsinki Monitor and others issued statements condemning these acts.[31][32]
The Cyprus chapter of Hrisi Avgi has been accused of attacks against Turkish Cypriots.[33] One member of Hrisi Avgi was arrested for attacking Turkish-Cypriots and was released on November 4, 2005.[33]
In November 2005, Hrisi Avgi's offices were attacked by a group of anti-fascists with molotov cocktails and stones. Unknown perpetrators responded to the anti-fascists with gunshots, and two people (who testified that they were just passing by) were injured.[27] According to Hrisi Avgi, three suspects were arrested and set free.[25] During the subsequent police investigation, molotov cocktails were discovered in Hrisi Avgi's offices.[27] Hrisi Avgi has stated that this was the reason for the organisation's disbandment.[13][14]
In June 2006, three young members of Hrisi Avgi were attacked and severely injured by anarchists in Galatsi, Athens.[34][35] According to the police, at least one of the Hrisi Avgi members was known to the authorities because he had been involved in a similar incident a month earlier, in which he had injured a police officer who had tried to stop the violence. The same person had been reported by the police as a suspect in several cases of attacks against immigrants and anarchists in the area.[35] After being attacked, he was in a coma for three weeks.[35]
[edit] Football hooliganism
In 2000, Hrisi Avgi members formed the hooligan firm Galazia Stratia (Greek for "Blue Army"), which has described itself as a "fan club of the Greek national teams." It has been reported that following Hrisi Avgi's official disbandment in 2005, many former party members have put most of their energy into promoting Galazia Stratia.[36] Galazia Stratia was closely linked to Hrisi Avgi. Before Hrisi Avgi's disbandment, the two groups shared the same street address.[37] Hrisi Avgi made no attempt to deny the connections, openly praising the actions of Galazia Stratia in its newspaper, and accepting praise in return from the firm.[38]
Galazia Stratia and Hrisi Avgi have been accused of various acts of sports-related violence.[39][37] In September 2004, after a football match between Greece and Albania in Tirane (in which Greece lost 2-1), Albanian hooligans set fire on a Greek flag, and violence erupted against Albanian immigrants in various parts of Greece. Anti-fascist groups held Hrisi Avgi and Galazia Stratia directly responsible for the attacks.[39] According to Eleftherotypia, Galazia Stratia members severely beat a young Palestinian and an elderly Bangladeshi during celebrations following the success of the Greek national basketball team at the 2006 FIBA World Championship.[36]
[edit] The Periandros case
Antonios Androutsopoulos (better known as Periandros), a prominent member of Hrisi Avgi, was on the run from 1998 to September 14, 2005 after being accused of the June 16, 1998 attempted murder of three left-wing students — including Dimitris Kousouris, who was heavily injured.[40][41][42] Androutsopoulos had been sentenced in absentia to four years of prison for illegal weapon possession while the attempted murder charges against him were still standing.[43]
The authorities' failure to apprehend Androutsopoulos for seven years raised criticisms by the Greek media. A Ta Nea article claimed that Periandros remained in Greece and evaded arrest due to connections with the police.[40] In a 2004 interview, Michalis Chrysochoidis, the former minister of public order of PASOK, claimed that such accusations were unfounded, and he blamed the inefficiency of the Greek police. Some allege that Androutsopoulos had evaded arrest because he had been residing in Venezuela until he turned himself in 2005.[44] His trial began on September 20, 2006, and he was convicted to 21 years in prison on September 25, 2006.[45][46] Hrisi Avgi members were present in his trial, shouting neo-Nazi slogans.[45]
[edit] Allegations of connections to the Greek Police
In a 1998 interview with the newspaper Eleftherotypia, Georgios Romaios (the minister of public order at the time) alleged the existence of "fascist elements in the Greek police", and vowed to suppress them.[47] In a TV interview that same year, Romaios again claimed that there was a pro-fascist group within the police force although he said it was not organized, and was only involved in isolated incidents.[48] The same year, Eleftherotypia published a lengthy article called "The lower limbs of the police", which outlined connections between the police and neo-fascists.[49] Dimitris Reppas, the PASOK government spokesman, strongly denied such connections.
However, the article quoted a speech by PASOK Member of Parliament Paraskevas Paraskevopoulos about a riot caused by right wing extremists, in which he said:
In Thessaloniki it is widely discussed that far-right organisations are active in the security forces. Members of such organisations were the planners and chief executioners of the riot and nobody was arrested. A Special Forces officer, speaking at a briefing of Special Forces policemen that where to be on duty that day, told the policemen not to arrest anyone because the rioters were not enemies and threatened that should this be overlooked there would be penalties. [48]
Before the surrender of Androutsopoulos, an article by the newspaper Ta Nea claimed that the Hrisi Avgi had close relationships with some parts of the Greek police force.[40] In relation to the Periandros case, the article quoted an unidentified police officer who said that "half the force wanted Periandros arrested and the other half didn't". The article claimed that there was a confidential internal police investigation which concluded that:
- Hrisi Avgi had very good relations and contacts with officers of the force, on and off duty, as well as with common policemen.
- The police provided the group with batons and radio communications equipment during mass demonstrations, mainly during celebrations of the Athens Polytechnic uprising and during rallies by left-wing and anarchist groups, in order to provoke riots.
- The connections of the group with the force, as well as connections with Periandros, largely delayed his arrest.
- The brother of "Periandros", also a member of Hrisi Avgi, was a security escort of an unnamed New Democracy MP.
- Most Hrisi Avgi members were illegally carrying weapons.
The newspaper published a photograph of a typewritten paragraph with no identifiable insignia as evidence of the secret investigation.[50] In the article, the minister of public order, Michalis Chrysochoidis, responded that he did not recollect such a probe. Chrysochoidis also denied accusations that far right connections within the police force delayed the arrest of Periandros. He said that leftist groups, including the terrorist group 17 November, responsible for several murders, had similarly evaded the police for decades. In both cases, he attributed the failures to "stupidity and incompetence" on behalf of the force.[40]
Hrisi Avgi claimed that rumours about the organisation having connections to the Greek police and the government were untrue, and said that the police had intervened in Hrisi Avgi's rallies and had arrested some its members many times while the New Democracy party was in power (for example, during the rally in Thessaloniki, in June 2006, and in a rally for the anniversary of the Pontian Greek Genocide, in Athens, again in 2006).[25]
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ a b c d e 11/9/2005 article published in To Vima.
- ^ Article about Michaloliakos published on Hrisi Avgi's website.
- ^ a b c d e f g h 2/07/1998 article published in Eleftherotypia newspaper. (in Greek)
- ^ Hrisi Avgi's newspaper, 25/7/97
- ^ 27/9/1998 article published in Eleftherotypia. (in Greek)
- ^ Article published in "NIGMA" magazine about Hrisi Avgi. (in Greek)
- ^ Michas, Takis;"Unholy Alliance", Texas A&M University Press: Eastern European Studies (College Station, Tex.) pp. 22 [1]
- ^ a b c 16/07/2005 article in Eleftherotypia. (in Greek)
- ^ Results of the 1996 legislative election.
- ^ 1998 article in Eleftherotypia.
- ^ "Ta alla Kommata", Macedonian Press Agency information on the 1999 elections.
- ^ 27/06/2005 article in Eleftherotypia
- ^ a b 01/12/05 article in www.in.gr (in Greek)
- ^ a b Golden Dawn stops their activities, European National Front website
- ^ a b Article in the website of Patriotic Alliance, stating that "those who contributed mostly in our political campaign were the youth of Hrisi Avgi".
- ^ Article in Eleftherotypia.
- ^ 06/08/06 interview of Patriotic Alliance's municipal candidate posted 9 months after Hrisi Avgi's disbandment. (in Greek)
- ^ 11/5/2002 article in newspaper Ta Nea, about Hrisi Avgi's activities. (in Greek)
- ^ ENF gathers in Athens from the European National Front website.
- ^ Report of the 2007 march
- ^ a b c 48 Greek nationalists arrested from the European National Front website
- ^ a b c 18/6/06 article in newspaper Thessalia (in Greek)
- ^ Hrisi Avgi's press release (in Greek)
- ^ 22/12/06 article in in.gr (in Greek)
- ^ a b c d Hrisi Avgi press release (in Greek)
- ^ a b c Eleytherotypia's article about attacks by Hrisi Avgi. (in Greek)
- ^ a b c 20/11/05 article in in.gr (in Greek)
- ^ 17/09/05 article in in.gr (in Greek)
- ^ a b Article in magazine KLIK(in Greek)
- ^ a b Central European Review - "Anti-Jewish Attacks"
- ^ Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece press release (in Greek). Also contains photographs of the dececrations.
- ^ Greek Helsinki Monitor press release (in Greek)
- ^ a b trncinfo.com - "Fanatic Hrisi Avgi member released."
- ^ Assassination attempt against 3 young nationalists in Athens, European National Front website
- ^ a b c 04/08/06 Hrisi Avgi press release, contains an article from a Greek mainstream newspaper, Vradini. (in Greek)
- ^ a b 10/9/2006 article in Eleftherotypia (in Greek)
- ^ a b Nazis dressed up as fans, Eleftherotypia 1/12/2001
- ^ Galazia Stratia thanking Hrisi Avgi for the support
- ^ a b The Yale Hippolytic - "More Than Just a Game"
- ^ a b c d 17/04/2004 article in Ta Nea (in Greek)
- ^ 14/09/2005 article in newspaper Kathimerini
- ^ 14/09/2005 article in Eleftherotypia (in Greek)
- ^ 27/04/2004 article in Kathimerini (in Greek)
- ^ 14/09/2005 article in Kathimerini (in Greek)
- ^ a b 29/09/06 article in Eleftherotypia (in Greek)
- ^ 25/09/06 article in in.gr (in Greek)
- ^ Athens News Agency: Press Review in Greek, 98-06-29
- ^ a b Eleftherotypia's article part 3 (in Greek)
- ^ Eleftherotypia article part 1 (in Greek)
- ^ Image from the article of Ta Nea
