Golden Dawn

Greece for the Greeks

Golden Dawn is an extremist Greek party that has absolutely nothing to do with Nazism or fascism (in the same way Ted Haggard is completely heterosexual). The primary objective of the Golden Dawn is to "rid the land of filth." Of course, they assure the media that filth stands for the economic crisis, not non-Greeks (and non-sufficiently-Greeks), probably. After the 2012 elections, the party got 18 of 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament, the first time they'd ever been in it. After losing ground in subsequent elections, they fell below the 3% electoral threshhold in the 2019 election and lost their seats.

Anarchists have repeatedly tried to kick Golden Dawn's ass, and on some occasions succeeded in driving them away.

In October 2020, after a five year trial, seven Golden Dawn leaders were convicted of heading a criminal group. Leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos was convicted of murder, and fifteen other members of the group were convicted of conspiracy.

Their leader
The Führer president of Golden Dawn is Nikolaos Michaloliakos, a Holocaust denier and a fan of Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas, who was (ironically) simply disastrous for the Greek economy. He once met the leadership of Greek military junta, which probably inspired him to be such a gigantic authoritarian fuck. Michaloliakos is one of several Golden Dawn MP's arrested following the murder of anti-racist musician, Pavlos Fyssas, by a Golden Dawn supporter. On 14 October 2020, Michaloliakos and other members of Golden Dawn were sentenced to thirteen years in prison for being part of a criminal organization that ordered or encouraged violence.

The party also includes luminaries such as Ilias Kasidiaris, who actually slapped a woman live on national television. He then proceeded to sue her.

Violence
Take the life of a man who has something to say

You attack immigrants and the people who are gay

You attack Muslims and the people who pray

Bunch of fascists, that's why I gotta spit in your face! Since its foundation in 1985, the Golden Dawn has been associated with at least 5 acts of hate crimes against Jews, immigrants, and political activists. These attacks include the partial, permanent blinding of a singer from a socialist band; attacks on three different synagogues that Golden Dawn has claimed responsibility for; and possession of weaponry in their offices.

In 2013, the murder of anti-fascist rapper Killah P (Pavlos Fyssas) by Golden Dawn thugs was the final straw for the Greek government, and they began moving to ban Golden Dawn from politics. Whether or not this will lead to them becoming even more violent remains to be seen.

Blasphemy prosecution
Golden Dawn brought a young atheist named Filippos Loizos to the attention of the authorities, for publishing a Facebook page ridiculing a deceased Elder of the Greek Orthodox Church responsible for many alleged miracle claims before and after his death. This was considered an act of blasphemy, Loizos was prosecuted and received a suspended sentence to ten months in prison. Some Greeks, including several atheist groups, have come forward demanding repeal of blasphemy laws and the prison sentence was successfully appealed in 2017. In July 1st of 2019, the blasphemy law articles were abolished from Greece's criminal code.

England's Golden Dawn
There is a group in the United Kingdom which refers to itself as BNP UKIP England's Golden Dawn and has adopted the logo of its Greek counterpart. EGD is not a political party, however, but a small organisation which currently appears to exist as little more than a Facebook group founded in November 2012. Postings at this group are predictably dodgy: "Pity we cant [sic] just carpet bomb every Muslim area in the country I say," opines the page's administrator. The website EDLNews claims that the group is run by Eddie Stampton and that he uses the pseudonym of Mark Pringle on Facebook; Stampton denies this.

Der Untergang
On September 2019, two months after suffering a massive electoral defeat, Golden Dawn finally shut down its main headquarters in Athens –as well as its offices in most Greek cities– allegedly due to "financial struggles". The fact that they were repeatedly ransacked by Greek Antifa after the 2013 murder of Killah P probably had something to do with their not-so-golden downfall.