From Kevin Ovenden: Very important step forward in the anti-fascist struggle in Greece: Many friends read with alarm, rightly, the excellent piece by Helena Smith of the Guardian in Britain at the weekend about the serious threat posed by the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn in Greece. Today, activist-antifascist lawyers have released a stock of previously unseen photographs of the GD pogrom against people of black and brown skin just south of Athens main square in May 2011. Pogrom is precisely the right word and is no exaggeration. I happened to be in Greece, but outside of Athens at the time. Having poured over the pictures, the lawyers have identified four Golden Dawn MPs participating in and directing the organised assault. Many other leading Nazi members, candidates and public faces are also now firmly linked to a case which the authorities largely ignored. Only one person was sentenced at the time - for just one year - for the outrage. More photographs are due to come to the lawyers imminently. The case will now be a part of the major legal-political action against GD, which the lawyers acting on behalf of the anti-fascist movement and of victims of the Nazis will play a direct part in, independent from and prepared to challenge the state and all aspects of complicity with GD. There have been 10,000 hits in just a few hours on the webpage below. The forensic investigative work by skilled and committed activists is boosting the movement as a whole in Greece. But they are going to need every bit of support the international movement can muster. A small group of lawyers, with no paralegal support, is wading through what is already three terabytes of information, tens of thousands of pages. More is to come as they pursue the evidence trail. There is no legal aid (public funds) for the victims of the fascist violence nor for the civil actions of the movement opposing racism and fascism. The lawyers representing them are far from prima donnas they march in the same ranks as everyone else on the anti-fascist protests, link arms with everyone else to push the fascists out of public space and serve the social movement. They have already scored considerable success. An appeal will shortly be launched outlining how you can help this work, governance lying with a transparent, properly constituted body. When it arrives in your inbox, please give it full consideration.
Posted on: Wed, 11 Jun 2014 13:55:16 +0000
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