Greek Debt Crisis Is Providing Fuel for the Country’s Neo-Nazi Movement Golden Dawn

Corrupt and inept management for Greece later forced a need for austerity measures, which in turn lead to politics of resentment – emboldening neo-Nazi parties like the Golden Dawn in Greece where the unemployment rate is 25 percent. Riots have broken out in Athens after the parliament had little choice but to approve strict reforms and exit the European Union. “Against this backdrop of declining living standards and acute uncertainty about the future, Greece is also facing relentless waves of immigrant arrivals by sea,” writes international relations lecturer Nick Apoifis for the Sydney Morning Herald. Frustration runs high over the government’s inability to solve pressing problems; radical groups are winning over popular support and gaining traction among Greek security forces. “Extreme right-wing movements, however, less interested in popularity than in stoking the kind of civil unrest that might offer the security forces a pretext to step up or step in,” Apoifis writes, describing how Golden Dawn divides communities by running charities limited to “Greeks only.” EU monitors should extend their review beyond the budget to politics. – YaleGlobal