Greece has taken advantage of every possible and impossible scenario of bursting out against scapegoats and minorities in the recent past of the crisis scape. Neonazis until recently allegedly could not be controlled. The greek state was backing them by targeting all those that ‘could not fit’ in the greek success story. The greek mob was setting up its racist fests every now and then in neighborhoods and alleys. Before the elections of 2012 it was the HIV positive sex workers, then the transsexuals in Thessaloniki, then the Jews of the ‘Lagarde List’ and, always, the immigrants, Muslims mostly. All this chasing was taking place in favor of the ‘foreign economy supervisors’ (E.U. etc.) as well as the local society. The first ones were meant to be touched and loose their financial stripes, the second ones were to meant to be rewarded emotionally for their ‘financial sacrifices’ (e.g. that now they have to get used to one car for the family instead of two or three).
Now it was the Roma’s time and the awakening of the ancient myth of ‘child abductors’. For one week the media asked intensely for police searches in the Roma camps and spread everywhere the photos of ‘little Maria’. And all these for the protection of the white greek families’ children since no one could understand – based as they were in their racist eyes – how the hell a blonde girl would end up in a Roma family. It was a matter of ignorance, the progressive intellectuals suggested: greeks do not know that there are blonde Roma people. As if it wasn’t an exercise and, in parallel, a celebration of national homogeneity; everything was a misunderstanding. But we weren’t persuaded. From the beginning of 2013, in early January, and without any misunderstanding, 1.130 Roma camps were searched by the police countrywide. 20.000 Roma were dragged into the police stations and 1.300 of them were arrested and charged with various crimes. This means that Roma in Greece, although they are considered Greeks themselves, remain second class citizens, a long ago before the ‘little Maria’ racist campaign, since they belong among the poorest of the country, the most uneducated (in a 95% percent of the population) and their daily encounters with the police have become a routine.
However, the greek state’s strategy towards the financial supervisors from the EU still takes advantage of every incident available. The latest argument is that “the stork of crisis brings extremists”, except for simple neo-Nazis. The recent execution of the two fascists must be interpreted as a result of uncontrollable ‘civil war’ type burst-outs. In this way, the state tries to pass the message to its exterior allies that there is a danger of political instability in the country while in its interior looks forward to strengthen security measures. As greek society feels happy with the latter, once more we realize a complete identification of intentions and interests among the greek mob and its state. The murderers with the swastikas grab the chance to present themselves as ‘victims’ and ‘nice guys’ while all the stabbed, chased or threatened by the fascists during all these years just count on simple mathematic calculations: 425.980 (neo-Nazis in the last elections) – 2 = 425.978. Far away from feeling of happiness and relief, right and left speculators bother themselves and everyone else with the hot topic of the week: a provocation or left-wing terrorism?
Antifa Negative, November 2013.