EUROPE'S NEW SLIDE TOWARD FASCIST AND ANARCHIST EXTREMISM

 


All around Europe, the signs are unmistakable.  Neo nazi groups and fascists organization are teaming up to create what is a push toward all out conflict in countries that are beleaguered by a stalled economy and high numbers of migrant and illegal workers.

Countries like Greece, Italy, France and the Balkans have situations that are ripe for a civil unrest.  People in these countries, and even in wealthier Germany, are frightened by the economic uncertainties of the Euro Zone collapse, and blame most of their woes on immigrants, who have in their minds 'squatted' in their country, making away with valuable social resources and clogging the streets with vagabonds, drug dealers and prostitution.

The malaise of the Euro Zone is a self inflicted one: the mirage of wealth and strength in numbers has given way in some of the countries to government malfeasance that has exacerbated the already unstable conditions of some of the weaker economies.  Given that, the incredible numbers of immigrants, from seemingly every corner of the world, to countries like Greece, Italy and Spain, where unemployment was already high, has created an explosive condition.

In some Italian cities, petty crime has taken over once tony suburbs and central avenues.  Prostitution and drug dealing have become open air activities often conducted in broad daylight.  The numbers of petty criminals on the streets are so staggering that police forces are no longer able to contain their activities, and a clogged judicial system cannot process the myriad criminal complaints that file in every day, causing most of the offenders to be released on the same or next day, free to continue their activities. 

This level of disorder, in countries where the unemployment rate has skyrocketed to almost 25% and in some cases even 30%, is a fertile ground for racist and extremist groups.  The unfettered movement of people in the Euro zone has meant that not only there has been a shift in the general European population, but that the lax attitude toward migrants has been noted in foreign countries, causing millions to take to the sea and land to try their luck on what they believe are better shores.  

That the national identity has changed in many European countries no one doubts.  But there are also many people who do not accept such a radical shift in the composition of their country's societal structure.  Those people now want a return to a pre Eurozone state, which is ridiculous and impossible, and they are willing to use violence to do it. They claim they are losing their national identity and their well being, and are not willing to stand by and do nothing.

In Italy as in other European countries, the support for these extremist neonazi and fascist groups is staggering: in some cases it is as high as 40%.  In Hungary, these groups are represented in the government, and they will soon be represented in Greece too.  

To compound the problem, in Greece, there are many disenfranchised youths, who cannot find work, who are grouping together in anarchist groups whose ideal or aim is either completely undefined or a complete refusal of the governing status quo, and whose sole purpose seems to be violence. 

These groups however, might as well be the shadow of the Golden Dawn, the established neo nazi group that already enjoys a presence in Parliament and a support rate of nearly 30%, in terms of their ability to destabilize the country

The Anarchists say they want a revolution, one that will detach Greece from the Eurozone and spread whatever wealth is left of the Greek economy to its impoverished citizens.   Surprisingly, there are old communist guard members, people in their 50s and 60s,  who are joining in. 

On June 7th, a bomb went off in the Athens neighborhood of Dafni.  A BMW was used to conceal a 2 pound pack of dynamite.  The 'Conspirary of Fire' anarchist cell claimed responsibility a day later. 

These attacks are not sporadic.  As many as 254 arson and bomb attacks have already occurred since January.  Last year tallied 527 cases. 

This period is reminiscent of the years of 'fire' in Greece, from 1974 to 1986, in which left wing militants attacked the military junta then in power.  

Most of the anarchists come from wealthier families, and are well educated.  But they are jobless.  The disaffection and alienation their joblessness engenders has created an emotional vacuum, best described as nihilism.  

Just like Anonymous, the anarchist groups do not have a top down structure, rather a lateral one.  The anarchists consider themselves the opposite side of the coin politically, vis a vis the Golden Dawn.  They claim to want to contrast police oppression, among other things, who they see as being in cahoots with Golden Dawn, the neo nazi group, and evidence is increasingly proving that they are not wrong.

Greece seems to be at a pivotal point in its history.  With people equally split along the extreme political lines of the anarchists and the neonazis, the situation could not be more dangerous.  Economic instability and a crushing recession can only worsen the situation. 

The Anarchists, unlike the Golden Dawn members, are considered terrorists and are processually managed through secret and special courts.  

Greece, the cradle and birthmother of democracy is now in a downward spiral of weak power structure unable to govern itself, or to do so by respecting its citizens and democratic principles.

Op-Ed

Partial Source : France 24/ 8.14.13 

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