What happened to Greece?
Norwegian documentary filmmaker Håvard Bustnes examines the rise of far-right nationalist party “Golden Dawn”
The key male members of the far-right political party Golden Dawn are imprisoned accused of carrying out organized criminal activity. To maintain Golden Dawn’s position as the fifth largest political party in Greece, their daughters, wives and mothers step up to the task of leading the party through the upcoming elections. As the elections and trial unfold, the Norwegian film crew gets access to secret chambers and witness the family dynamics of one of Europe’s most notorious nationalist parties. This documentary exposes the mindset, values and personalities of the people on the front lines of modern nationalism.
This is filmmaker Håvard Bustnes’ impression of this disturbing documentary. In recent years, Greece - with its sunny beaches and friendly people has been overshadowed by political ideologies that are close to Nazism. In this documentary, Bustnes leaves the camera running, revealing not only the depraved side of this political party but also revealing an ever-widening gulf between facts and political image-making. While it’s frustrating that the women are so inflexible in their views, it illustrates how wearing blinders can derail an entire society.
ABOUT GOLDEN DAWN
Golden Dawn, also known as Χρυσή Αυγή or Chrysí Avgí, is an ultranationalist, far-right political party in Greece, led by Nikolaos Michaloliakos. Scholars and media have described it as neo-Nazi, fascist, hard eurosceptic and anti-globalist, though the group rejects these labels. Michaloliakos began the foundations of what would become Golden Dawn in 1980, however Golden Dawn first received widespread attention in 1991, and in 1993 registered as a political party. By this time Golden Dawn had adopted several southern Balkan focused regional objectives as its main program: to promote the idea of a Greater Greece through the expansion of Greek territory through war with Turkey and to combat Islam in the region. By the mid-2000s, Golden Dawn had redirected its attention to opposing non-European, and particularly Muslim, immigration into the mainly Greek areas of southern Greece and Athens.At local elections on 7 November 2010 Golden Dawn got 5.3% of the vote in the municipality of Athens, winning a seat at the City Council. In some neighborhoods with large immigrant communities it reached 20%. The party ran a campaign during the May 2012 Greek national elections based on concerns about unemployment, austerity, the economy, and immigration, which gained a large increase in support from the Greek electorate. It received 7% of the popular vote, enough for the party to enter the Hellenic Parliament for the first time with 21 seats. Following a second election in June 2012, this was reduced to 18 seats. As a result of the January 2015 Greek national elections, the party became the third largest in Parliament, despite winning only 17 seats.
Following an investigation into the murder of anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas in September 2013 by an alleged supporter of the party, Michaloliakos, and several other Golden Dawn MPs and members, were arrested and held in pre-trial detention on suspicion of forming a criminal organization. The trial began on 20 April 2015 and is ongoing as of 2017.
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