Recent waves of violence against austerity measures in Greece have culminated in the killing of a left-wing rapper and has raised concerns of civil unrest in the country. The killer was a self-proclaimed member of the Golden Dawn party. Golden Dawn is a fascist neo-nazi political party which has seen its popularity soar in the wake of the austerity program in Greece. The group eschews these labels but its iconography is an homage to the swastika and its members have praised nazi members in the past. Germany was in a similar position to Greece before the rise of the Nazis. A weak government under the influence of international powers created the ultranationalist nazi party as German's clamored to restore there national identity. Much like the Nazis the Golden Dawn party hold racist and xenophobic ideals. These ideals are manifest in the stabbing to death of the rapper, Pavlos Fyssas the anti-facist rapper. Greek politicians have used the murder as proof of Greece being pushed to the brink by external creditors and asking for leniency. The Greek supreme court has since ruled Golden Dawn to be a criminal organization and arrested senior members of the party. It is currently uncertain what this means for the Greek parliament. Whatever the future of the party may be it is clear that Greece is falling into a state of civil unrest of dangerous proportions. Similar to the situation of border towns in Mexico as mentioned in the textbook, when an area has high unemployment (especially among young men) there is the danger of violence and crime. As young Greeks become increasingly disillusioned with their government it is likely that the unrest will only become worse.
Sources:
http://blogs.wsj.com/eurocrisis/2013/09/19/greece-extremism-and-austerity/
http://www.theguardian.com/world/golden-dawn
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