Back in July, I wrote about the descent into fascism in Greece (and Hungary). It seems like some recent events have finally awoken the Greek political class to the risk they face from fascism, and increasingly from the possibility of a fascist coup by the security services.
The AP is reporting that on September 23, 2013, five extremely high ranking police officers were reassigned from their posts, allegedly for links to Golden Dawn, the fascist political party in Greece. When you look at the branches of the police services that these five officers headed, the degree of infiltration by Golden Dawn has become extremely serious. These officers headed the Special Forces, Internal Security, Organized Crime, Firearms and Explosives and Rapid Response Motorcycle units. Obviously these are all very important divisions of the police.
Things have been brought to a head in Greece by the recent murder of a prominent anti-fascist rapper, Pavlos Fyssas. The police have taken into custody a man who, they say, has ties to Golden Dawn. At the same time that the five police officials were reassigned, the Greek armed forces have apparently begun an investigation into allegations that members of both the regular and reserve forces have been providing military training to members of Golden Dawn.
Clearly, Golden Dawn is engaged in a dangerous attempt to infiltrate the Greek state, and to gain contacts in the security services and the military. This looks disturbingly like preparations to seize power by violent means. The murder of Fyssas seems to have finally sparked an awareness of just how bad things are getting. Golden Dawn is now attacking not “just” immigrants, but Greeks who oppose them politically.
Hopefully, the Greek political class has woken up in time to avoid a putsch by Golden Dawn. There is now talk of banning Golden Dawn. What the Greek political class really needs to realize is that simply stamping on Golden Dawn will not be enough. Fascism is finding a grip for reasons I analyzed in my earlier piece. If Greece is to avoid a fascist seizure of power, it will need to address the underlying causes.
Image via Wikimedia, cropped by author.
