Introduction
- Increase in far-right communication efforts, owing both to rumours about upcoming snap elections and the continuing Russian invasion in Ukraine.
- ELASYN (party founded by former Golden Dawn leading member Ioannis Lagos) participates in the Alliance for Peace and Freedom (APF) conference in Madrid.
- A message in Greek from notorius Russian neo-Nazi Nikitin, now fighting with Azov Battalion in Ukraine, appears to be primarily aimed at ProPatria group.
- International connections of Greek far-right actors continue to appear fragmented, irregular and interpersonal, rather than systematic.
Updates in the National Landscape
Following some articles in mainstream media regarding the possibility of snap elections [1], the main opposition and smaller parties, including the far-right, have increased their communication efforts, mainly on social media platforms. The relaxation of measures against the COVID-19 pandemic is also a factor, allowing for events in physical spaces to be organized.
Apart from that, the Russian invasion in Ukraine is creating a new field of political discussion. The two larger parties have taken a position condemning Russia for the invasion. The governing party, New Democracy, openly supports the Ukrainian government and has sent military aid [2]. The main opposition, SYRIZA, has condemned the Russian invasion and supports de-escalation [3]. The Communist Party [4] and DiEM25 [5] have declared their opposition to the war, condemning the invasion, asking for an immediate ceasefire and opposing NATO expansion in Ukraine.
On the issue of the invasion, the far-right parties openly and unanimously support Russia. “Greek Solution” has condemned the Greek government’s response to the invasion [6], calling it “part of the problem” and “threatening” against Russia.
Golden Dawn [7], as well as its spin-off party, ELASYN [8], stated their support to Russia, while Ellines [9], the other GD spin-off is more cryptic regarding its position, as it is for “independance of Greece from both camps of the war” but underlines the “crimes of NATO” and focuses on the perceived need for the Greek nation to define its foreign policy against that of Turkey.
Transnational Activities & Group Interactions
ELASYN participation in APF Congress in Madrid
The “Alliance for Peace and Freedom” (APF) held a congress in Madrid on 26 March 2022 [10]. The main event was the closed political meeting, with the following participants:
- Yvan Benedetti / Parti Nationaliste Français (PNF) / France
- Yiannis Zografos / National Popular Consciousness (ELASYN) / Greece
- Misa Vacic / Serbian Right / Serbia
- Claus Cremer / NPD / Germany
- Gonzalo Martín / Democracia Nacional (DN) / Spain
- Manuel Andrino / La Falange / Spain
- Stefano Saija / Forza Nuova Italia / Italy
- Alexandre Santos / Força Nova Portugal / Portugal
- Tudor Ionescu / Noua Dreaptă (The New Right – ND) / Romania
- Nick Griffin / Former MEP / UK
Apart from the participation in the political meeting of the APF, ELASYN was also central in a small public demonstration [11] held by the APF Congress participants in front of the Greek embassy in Madrid, protesting the current incarceration of I. Lagos.
Message in Greek by Kapustin and possible connections
A message in Greek has been posted by notorious Russian neo-Nazi Denis “White Rex” Kapustin, also known by the nickname Nikitin, on his Telegram channel, regarding the invasion of Ukraine. Kapustin lives in Ukraine and is said to be fighting alongide of – or at least supporting – Azov Movement.
In this message (see attached image), Kapustin is explaining that the nationalists who support Russia are in error, because “It’s not a civil war between Whites […] Here, we are facing the multi-national hordes that Putin sends against us”. It is possible that this message is aiming to be read by members or supporters of ProPatria, a Greek neo-Nazi group focusing mostly on Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). ProPatria has participated in international MMA events organized by Kapustin, and Kapustin himself was present in a festival organized by ProPatria in Athens in 2015. (See attached images)
Transnational Developments on Discourse in Mainstream Media
The pillars of the far-right media discourse in Greece are:
- “National issues”: Predominantly content on foreign policy and the military. The relations with Turkey are a large part of this, always presented in a warlike fashion, because of the perceived “existential threat to the Greek nation”. Turkey is also portrayed as having total control over migration and using it either as a weapon to either exert pressure over Greece, or as a means of “islamization” of the country.
- “Criminality”: Reports on real or fake criminal activities are also a big part of the content in all far-right media in Greece. Using sensationalism, those outlets exploit the attention generated by glaring headlines to communicate their racist agenda, typically blaming migration, religion, ethnic background and/or nationality as the roots of all crime.
The above is more and more complemented with the reproduction of international far-right themes, such as anti-feminism, anti-LGBTQI+ and anti-semitism.
The rhetoric used is increasingly that of the international “Alt-Right”, as the far-right media in Greece reproduce content from larger international far-right media, sometimes verbatim.
During March 2022 the developments on the Russian invasion in Ukraine were reproduced by Greek far-right media from sources mostly in English. The main distributor of information and disinformation, always in support of Russia, is the nationalist website “ProNews”, supposedly focused in military and foreign policy affairs.
Transnational Social Media Activity & Propaganda/Narratives
Far-right social media activity in Greece is intense but not particularly thriving. The networks of accounts propagating nationalist, racist and other far-right material are frequently broken as central accounts are often suspended as a result of violations of content policies on each platform.
While Golden Dawn, Ellines, Sacred Band and some other minor groups have an official presence in social media, particularly on Twitter, and some unnofficial accounts are propagating content such as racist, anti-feminist and anti-LGBTQI+ video and image memes, members of the Greek far-right are not posting calls for actions or news from the activities of their groups as they did in previous years. This is in part due to the fact that Golden Dawn members were convicted in 2020 for participating in a criminal organization, and the other evidence in the case file was corroborated with material collected from public posts in their social media accounts.
Transnational Political and Financial Cooperation
As a general rule and as we have seen in previous reports, Greek far-right parties and groups remain mostly isolated, with their international connections based either on casual interactions and personal interrelations with far-right figures from other countries or on typical statements of support or solidarity based on issues or specific ideological alignments.
While Golden Dawn remains the longest-lived far-right party in the country, it seems that its spin-off, ELASYN, is consolidating the international connections owed to the position of its founder and informal leader, Ioannis Lagos – currently in prison as a leader of the criminal organization “Golden Dawn” – who holds a seat in the European Parliament. ELASYN is accepted as a member of the European far-right coalition “Alliance for Peace and Freedom” (APF) [12], presided by Italian self-identified fascist Roberto Fiore, leader of Forza Nuova (Italy).
Citations:
[2] in.gr (Greek)
[4] KKE.gr (Greek)
[6] Flash.gr (Greek)
[7] TaNea.gr (Greek)
[8] Archived page from ELASYN website (Greek)
[9] Archived page from Ellines website (Greek)
[10] Archived page from ELASYN website (Greek)