General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHave you guys seen the Greek Far-Right 'Golden Dawn' Party logo?!
Greek election polls are trickling in and one disturbing result is this: The Neo-Nazi 'Golden Dawn' party, whose logo is practically a swastika is likely going to get enough votes to win a few seats in parliament. Nothing is quite confirmed yet, but that's what exit polls show now.
They'll be tiny, but it's still a shock.
And furthermore, the relationship between depression, unemployment, and Nazis repeats again, as this famous chart from SocGen's Dylan Grice confirms.
UPDATE: It's official. The Neo-Nazi party will take about 22 seats.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/neo-nazi-golden-dawn-party-to-garner-seats-in-the-greek-parliament-2012-5#ixzz1uCbTW6fT
So Greece is now being run by Nazi's and Communists who, if I remember correctly, are arch-enemies. This should be interesting.
katsy
(4,246 posts)Golden Dawn received 7% of the vote. 7 out of 100. They are racists first and foremost.
cali
(114,904 posts)first of all, in the last election, Golden Dawn won under 1% of the vote and secondly, it wasn't the only far right party to do relatively well- and no party got over over 17%
katsy
(4,246 posts)Sorry. I understand and agree with your statement. But I disagree that the the Greek people, as a majority, have aligned themselves with neo nazis as stated in the op.
FarLeftFist
(6,161 posts)white_wolf
(6,238 posts)His attempt to take power by force ended with him in prison. His eventual rise to power was fully legal. He wanted to do a "march on Rome" like Mussolini did, but as I said he ended up in prison instead.
FarLeftFist
(6,161 posts)The Nazi delegates, recognized by their brown uniforms, acted more like bullies than legislators, and debates with opposing delegates usually turned into brawls. Meanwhile, the nation's political conflict poured into the streets as Nazi storm troopers engaged Communist paramilitary fighters in almost nightly battles. While his party was elected their tactics were anything but "legal", he abolished the office of president and with the cry One race, one realm, one leader! proclaimed himself der Führer the Leader.
katsy
(4,246 posts)I find this vile group offensive in the extreme. My uncle, a soldier in Greece in WWII, was beheaded by nazis. My father fought them there.
I cannot believe the people of Greece would sign on to their agenda.
Okay. I can smell my own denial now.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)he was ASKED to take the reigns of power by a power elite who thought they could control him. His power at Parliament was all but impressive when he was ASKED to do this.
I am serious, this is so basic history, I am amazed how many times people go into "Hitler took power by force," when his rise was very legal, and peaceful.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)white_wolf
(6,238 posts)his attempt to take power by force was an utter failure. Sadly, he learned from that lesson and went about winning elections.
TheWraith
(24,331 posts)That's a complete misrepresentation: the actual myth is the one which says that Hitler was elected. He wasn't, and the one round of elections that gave the Nazis a majority in the Reichstag was heavily rigged, with beatings and killings of political opponents, bans on opposition parties from participating, and generally forcing the election to come out the way they wanted through brute force thuggery.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)He was, to the Parliament.
He was asked to serve as chancellor by Hindenburg, thinking they could control him.
This is as basic as history as there is.
What happened later is what you are thinking, and it was not quite legal or peaceful.
sarisataka
(18,674 posts)The Nazis were elected as the largest party in the Reichstag with 37% of the vote. Yes there was violence at the polls and intimidation but it would be easier to name the parties that did not use such tactics...
As every other government fell due to political bickering the center-left consensus was to let the Nazis be embarrassed with the same fate.
The attacks continued, and reached fever pitch when SA storm leader Axel Schaffeld was assassinated. At the end of July, the Nazi party gained almost 14,000,000 votes, securing 230 seats in the Reichstag. Energised by the incredible results, Hitler asked to be made Chancellor. Papen offered the position of Vice Chancellor but Hitler refused.
*snip*
The Nazi party lost 35 seats in the November 1932 election but remained the Reichstag's largest party. The most shocking move of the early election campaign was to send the SA to support a Rotfront action against the transport agency and in support of a strike.
After Chancellor Papen left office, he secretly told Hitler that he still held considerable sway with President Hindenburg and that he would make Hitler chancellor as long as he, Papen, could be the vice chancellor. On 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of a coalition government of the NSDAP-DNVP Party. The SA and SS led torchlight parades throughout Berlin. In the coalition government, three members of the cabinet were Nazis: Hitler, Wilhelm Frick (Minister of the Interior) and Hermann Göring (Minister Without Portfolio).
There is a 'forgotten' quote made by Papen to his party about backing Hitler- "Now we have him right where we want him"
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)And hitter himself was elected to the Reichstag.
cali
(114,904 posts)peaceful. von Papen and other powerful pols and influential people lobbied von Hindenburg to appoint him. It didn't take long for that to change of course. The Reichstag fire occurred only a month or so after Hitler was sworn in.
tkmorris
(11,138 posts)Does this party claim the title "neo-nazis" for themselves or is it others that call them thus?
Another: What does "practically a swastika" mean anyway? Is it intended to look like a swastika by those who designed it, or not?
bluedigger
(17,086 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Beliefs aside, that is a classic Greek motif:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meander_%28art%29
I don't think the Greek pizza shops are embedding a hidden message in their coffee cups.
-..__...
(7,776 posts)they could have chosen a color scheme other than red, white and black.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)but the Neo Nazis are a tiny minority in Parliament, hope they stay that way.
And this is what happens, predictably like the sun rises in the East, with really dramatically bad economic times.
Why the GOP is playing with real fire here.
Oh and fyi, like the Swastika, that motif goes back a few thousand years.
FarLeftFist
(6,161 posts)nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)And he rose legally after Hindenburg asked him...to serve as Chancellor. I have my doubts they would have otherwise.
You believe Greek elites will ask these guys? That is a very serios question, by the way.
FarLeftFist
(6,161 posts)Hindenburg died and Hitler abolished the Presidency. He and his followers were brutally eliminating all who might oppose him politically and making friends with the rich industrialists whose support Hitler desperately needed.
As to your question, it seems that the conservatives in Greek Govt have already lost any hope of forming a coalition. Now the Leftists have 3 days to form one. Then it's the Nazi's turn. It's almost like WW2 scenario all over again.
Initech
(100,082 posts)EC
(12,287 posts)Greek Key pattern.
Erose999
(5,624 posts)So the mainstream parties will probably get some extra seats that will ensure they retain control.
Behind the Aegis
(53,961 posts)It is based on a very traditional Greek design, but the choice of colors is very telling. A black symbol, outlined with white on a field of red...yeah, I get the picture, especially given the party self-identifies as a neo-Nazi party. I doubt "Seig Heil!" will sound any better in Greek.
As for the "arch-enemy" thing, remember three words, "Hitler and Stalin." It is true Hitler betrayed Stalin, but there was and, even today, are common enemies to both parties, the biggest ones are immigrants and Jews. ""Jews" bringing political hatemongers together for centuries!"
cynatnite
(31,011 posts)It's hardly a takeover of the government. Having said that, I do hope the people of Greece keeps this party in check. They are still dangerous, IMO.
BOG PERSON
(2,916 posts)The vast majority of Greeks are probably not very happy to have witnessed the Golden Dawn party take as much of the Greek electorate as they did this weekend. But it happened.
No sense in pretending it didn't.
The irony is that while Golden Dawn is considered a hard-right, fascist party (as most Neo-Nazi movements are), the economic policies of the original Nazis were as far-left as anything imaginable in this day and age. TIME Magazine named Adolf Hitler their 1934 Man of the Year and a big part of their profile centered on the anti-capitalism of the Nazi party:
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Reformed-Broker/2012/0507/Greece-s-Golden-Dawn-Party-a-scary-development-for-Europe
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)If you make copies of the figure and then lay them side-by-side so that the vertical bars overlap, you get a common Greek border motif.
See http://www.buffaloah.com/a/DCTNRY/f/fret.html
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)I can't imagine there are a lot of aryan supermen among these swarthy mediterraneans.
trof
(54,256 posts)No way out.
Hmmmm.....
Prometheus Bound
(3,489 posts)...but not the Jewish people"
The leader of the other far-right party, LAOS, goes a step further:
"In 2000, for instance, Karatzaferis told the public to vote for his party because it did not include any Jews, communists or gay men and lesbians."
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=268884
Quite a vile bunch.