There is nothing golden about Greece's neo-fascist party Golden Dawn which won 18 seats in parliament last June. This party is black, ugly and dangerous. Like Hitler's Nazis before them, Golden Dawn is thriving on economic dislocation, widespread loss of income and rising unemployment. The party has one single clear policy - to blame foreigners for Greece's woes. While it holds Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Germans accountable for the tough economic solutions that have been imposed to fix the appalling consequences of extensive fraud in Greek public finances, its real venom is reserved for Muslims, black Africans and people from Southeast Asia. Attacks on foreigners or foreign-owned premises are now taking place almost daily. Young thugs in black T-shirts regularly barge their way along pavements, pushing everyone aside. However, when they see anyone they reckon is an immigrant, they will surround and curse and shove their victim. It is rare to see passing Greeks intervening. Perhaps they fear the Golden Dawn's bully boys or quietly sympathize with their denunciation of immigration. It is equally unusual to see the police intervene. Left wing groups have claimed that there are many policemen who have joined the fascist party. What is certain is that there have been few arrests of Golden Dawn members suspected of murder or intimidation. The violence appears to be mounting. Over and above the almost continual low level campaign of physical aggression, more serious incidents are taking place. There was an attack on the car of a Turkish diplomat last week and this week a Pakistani immigrant bicycling to work was stabbed to death by thugs on motorcycles. That man's coffin was used as a rallying point for a demonstration Wednesday in Athens, that was supposed to show the depth of public anger at Golden Dawn and what it is doing to Greece's immigrants, who by some estimates, make up around ten percent of the 11.4 million population. In the event, barely 3,000 people, many of them immigrants themselves, turned up for the demonstration. It is reported that passersby were largely indifferent to the protest and a few, who were not sporting Golden Dawn's black clothing, shouted abuse. Greece is the major entry point for illegal immigrants seeking to find their way further into the European Union. The majority of them arrive from Turkey, which itself does not wish to have a build-up of poverty-stricken foreigners in and around Istanbul. Golden Dawn has accused the Turkish authorities of facilitating the entry of illegals into Greece, something which Ankara has angrily denied. Making Greece's foreign population, both legal and illegal, a scapegoat for the country's woes is deeply cynical. In that Greeks face rising joblessness and sharply reduced incomes, it is to a degree understandable that cheap foreign workers are resented. However, the real cause of the country's economic mess lies in the hands of successive governments that have spent money like water. It is also a consequence of the traditional Greek refusal to pay taxes. Politically, Golden Dawn has put forward only the most simplistic remedies to bring about economic recovery. Yet it is seeking power by trying to convince Greek voters that if only all foreigners were expelled, the country's troubles would be largely solved. The alarming reality is that more and more Greeks seem to be listening to this poisonous policy.
