Watching Fascism On the Rise, From Greece to America

Not more than a month ago in Greece, a 19 year-old Guinean asylum seeker named Tupac, along with other black and Asian passengers, was forced out of a bus by police saying, “All blacks out,” while bystanders cheered and applauded. Then, without even asking for information, police began hitting the black and Asian passengers with batons.

Tupac and anywhere from 60,000 to 85,000 others have been detained by Greek police based on their looks since the launch of the ironically-named “Operation Xenios Zeus” in late 2012. Even a South Korean tourist was handcuffed and beaten by Hellenic Police for his appearance.

The name is ironic because the ancient Greek god from which the program derives its name is the god of hospitality. Only 6% of those detained were found to not have immigration papers. The Greek government has blamed high crime rates on undocumented immigrants and designated 30 unused military bases to be used as prison camps for “undesirables,” of which are immigrants, sex workers, addicts, transgender men and women, and even poor people (There's a Watchdog petition calling for EU member states to condemn Greece's internment practices).

Operation Xenios Zeus comes on the heels of the openly fascist Golden Dawn party winning 18 out of 300 seats in Greek Parliament in the most recent elections. Golden Dawn’s symbol is very similar to a swastika, and their members regularly commit random acts of violence, blaming rising poverty and crime on immigrants.

A chilling video of one of their marches in February shows Golden Dawn members burning flares, waving flags and singing anti-immigrant songs in eerie unison. Their lawmakers even speak out against teaching children about the Holocaust. Golden Dawn’s prominence is proof that Greece is on the slide to becoming the next Nazi Germany, and proof that those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Those who have studied history know that Weimar Germany, like Greece, was once a pillar of European Democracy. But the country began sliding into peril when its leaders implemented job-killing austerity measures, putting public workers out of jobs, thus depriving businesses of customers, thus leading to the exacerbation of joblessness and poverty. When the economy continued to sink, fascist leaders blamed the increasingly dire situation on unions and ethnic minorities.

The Nazi Party gained enough seats in German Parliament and eventually got one of their own elected as chancellor. And once Germany’s president died, the Nazis seized power and implemented their fascist agenda not only in Germany but around the rest of Europe. They not only put Jews in prison camps, but also ethnic Poles, Russians, gypsies, homosexuals, trade unionists, and countless others. Instead of immediately condemning Nazi Germany’s acts, FDR insisted that William Dodd, the American ambassador to Nazi Germany, to not openly condemn Hitler's anti-semitism. There’s no telling how many lives could have been saved if the United States and other world governments were to immediately and strongly condemn Hitler’s regime rather than appease him and allow brutal fascism to reign unchecked.

Likewise, the European Union, the United Nations and the United States should strongly condemn the wave of fascism sweeping Greece before it turns even uglier. While Golden Dawn, which wants to deport all immigrants, is still a minority party, they’re organizing to take over more of Greek Parliament in the next election cycle. Golden Dawn is even teaching racist seminars to children as young as 6. And if citizens are applauding the racial profiling and beating of ethnic minorities on public transit, like the kind experienced by 19-year-old Tupac, it may not be long before Greece elects a Golden Dawn president.

Americans should also be wary of our own government’s slide toward fascism. We’re following the Greek pattern of crushing austerity measures as seen in the sequester, which continues to exempt corporate tax breaks and bank bailouts while punishing the poor. Just as Greece is privatizing public assets, so are state governments all over the US. While legislatures in several US states are cracking down on workers' rights, 200 strawberry pickers protesting 6 months of unpaid wages were shot at by their bosses, wounding 28 of them.

While Greece is ignoring tax dodging of its richest citizen that bleeds $20 billion euros each year, their government is jailing an investigative journalist that published a list of 2,000 Greeks who have holdings stashed in Swiss bank accounts. Likewise in the United States, legislation aimed at closing corporate tax loopholes is constantly voted down while our government is judicially lynching Pfc. Bradley Manning for exposing war crimes, and even hinting that journalists who publish leaked information from Wikileaks are “aiding and abetting the enemy.” While the Hellenic Police are violently beating peaceful anti-austerity protesters in Syntagma Square, Wisconsin State Capitol police are arresting veterans in the capitol rotunda for singing, and even warning spectators that they will be subject to arrest just for watching.

Just as America’s government has an obligation to condemn fascism, Americans have an obligation to condemn fascist elements in their government. The human race can’t afford to repeat the history that led to the Holocaust and a subsequent world war.