Golden Dawn: Lessons From Greece in Tackling Extremism

By Human Rights 360, Social Change Initiative SCI

Contents

Introduction

Golden Dawn was an extreme far right political party which rose to prominence during a period of economic crisis in Greece. At the same time that its politicians were elected to parliament, its armed gangs were attacking refugees, migrants and other vulnerable minorities.

The story of how the Greek courts ultimately unmasked Golden Dawn as being a criminal organisation followed years of activism led by civil society groups.

Some of the approaches used were:

Creation of civil society network
Recording and monitoring of incidents and attacks
Reporting and analysis of attacks – trends, patterns, areas
Maximising human rights reporting mechanisms and key institutions to initiate investigations and produce reports
Building strategic alliances with trade unions, anti fascist networks, migrant groups and victims of Golden Dawn attacks
Challenging state inaction and impunity • Supporting litigation and the provision of legal advice
Provision of practical support to victims and to communities targeted by Golden Dawn – pg. 8

With extremism on the rise internationally, Social Change Initiative has been honoured to draw out lessons from some of those involved in helping to defeat Golden Dawn in Greece. We were privileged to speak with activists and use their quotes, as seen throughout this document. This experience holds significant value to those facing similar challenges in societies around the globe.

Reflections

Social Change Initiative believes that it is important for activists to share their experience, tactics, and learning. Drawing lessons from the success of others, or finding out what they might have done differently with hindsight, is a valuable way of informing our efforts to ensure communities become fairer, more inclusive, and peaceful. The factors that led to the rise of Golden Dawn – historical roots, economic crisis, ‘othering’, a failure of politics, of the state and state institutions – are evident in many other societies.

Globally, we are witnessing the rise of groups that are deeply nativist, connected to politics and who openly use violence and the threat of violence to advance their objectives.

One of the key lessons of the Greek experience is that it is possible to defeat violent extremism. This was done successfully through the creation of vehicles for action that provided an outlet for victims’ stories, highlighted state failure, informed the public and pressed hard for accountability and justice.

But the defeat of Golden Dawn should not be read as meaning that its ideology has disappeared. Organisations wither, but their ideologies can remain.

The experience of Greece is that failure to deal with a society’s troubled history can sow the seeds for extremism to re-emerge in the future. Greece’s unsettled past included a history of occupation, civil war, and dictatorship, which affected every aspect of the state, including its politics and its police service.

Holistic change is required across a society and its institutions to deal with the past and tackle the root causes of extremism if it is to avoid storing up problems for the future.

The Greek experience provides important lessons for us all. – pg. 16