Greeks for the Fatherland

Greeks for the Fatherland (Greek: Έλληνες για την Πατρίδα, romanized: Éllines gia tin Patrída) is a Greek extreme-right[7][8][9] political party founded on 4 June 2020, by Ilias Kasidiaris, who is currently serving a 13-year prison term for his involvement in the criminal organisation of Golden Dawn.[10] He previously served as MP and spokesperson of Golden Dawn for eight consecutive years 2012 to 2019.

Greeks for the Fatherland
Έλληνες για την Πατρίδα
PresidentIlias Kasidiaris
FounderIlias Kasidiaris
Founded4 June 2020 (2020-06-04)
Split fromGolden Dawn
HeadquartersKlisthenous 17, Athens
Youth wingHellenes Youth
IdeologyNeofascism
Right-wing Populism
Ultranationalism
Euroscepticism
Anti-immigration
Anti-globalization
Islamophobia
Russophilia
Political positionExtreme-right[1][2][3][4][5][6]
ReligionGreek Orthodox Church
Colours  Blue
Hellenic Parliament
0 / 300
European Parliament
0 / 21
Regional Governors
0 / 13
Regional councils
17 / 703
Mayors
0 / 332
Municipal councils
37 / 12,978
Website
ellhnes.net

History

After Golden Dawn's failure to secure seats in the 2019 Greek legislative election,[11][12][13] prominent members of the party stepped down from their positions and distanced themselves from leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos.[14] Noticeably, Giannis Lagos MEP announced his departure from Golden Dawn, along with Giorgos Germenis, Nikos Kouzilos and Panagiotis Iliopoulos to start a new party called National Popular Consciousness.[15][16][17] All of them were later sentenced to lengthy prison terms as a result of their involvement in running a criminal organisation.[10]

Similarly, on 21 May 2020[18] and after much speculation, Ilias Kasidiaris announced his resignation from Golden Dawn via YouTube, and the creation of a new party led by himself, under the name Greeks for the Fatherland.[19][20] However, he was arrested in October 2020 right after the announcement of his convinction.[21] In May 2021, the Greek Parliament voted to impose partial bans on all convicted members of Golden Dawn, including Ilias Kasidiaris, which stripped them of their political rights.[22] As of 2022, Kasidiaris remains in prison and thus is not allowed to stand for election.[23]

Ideology and ties to Neo-Nazism

During his first statement as the leader of Greeks for the Fatherland, Ilias Kasidiaris did not discuss his previous involvement with the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn[24] and avoided to go into much detail about the ideological aspects of the new party. Academics and Greek press describe Greeks for the Fatherland as extremist[7][8] and far-right,[25][26][27] whilst as an offspring of Golden Dawn the party appears to share similarities with its core ideology,[24] mainly in terms of Islamophobia, anti-migration and rejection of globalisation. Although the party has not openly embraced neo-Nazism and Kasidiaris' statement in 2020 rejected Nazism,[28] its political ideology is being questioned in relation to the past events and recent split from Golden Dawn.[25][24][29]

In 2021 and 2022, Ilias Kasidiaris expressed pro-Russian views[30] and supported[31] the invasion of Ukraine. He also promoted anti-vaccination disinformation[32][33] during the COVID-19 pandemic[23] and called his supporters to resist mandates.[34] Many Greek media sources have described his frequent interventions and public announcements from prison as propagandistic and hateful.[35][36][37][38][39][40] Several Greek MPs and journalists questioned the reasons behind Kasidiaris' access to internet and also his frequent broadcasts while in prison.[41][42] His activity caught the attention of Greece’s general secretary for anti-crime policy, Sofia Nikolaou, who told the prison administrators Kasidiaris should not be allowed to use the prison’s phone to make political statements “that go as far as inciting hatred."[43]

Members of Greeks of the Fatherland are associated with the fringe antivax group Thematofylakes tou Syntagmatos (Greek: Θεματοφύλακες του Συντάγματος). Most notably, one of them was among a group of core members that was arrested for insurrection, violence against public workers, and the kidnapping of a school headmaster in Pieria.[44]

Polling

Recent analyses show that the party is currently polling between 1.5% and 3%.[45][46][47][48]

References
  1. "In Greece, a new far right movement is taking the stage". Archived from the original on 13 September 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  2. ""Greeks for the Fatherland": Ilias Kasidiaris and Greece's New Far-Right Party". foiaresearch.net. FOIA Research. Archived from the original on 25 June 2021. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  3. "Greeks for the Fatherland Looks Like Golden Dawn Remake". thenationalherald.com. New York City: The National Herald. Archived from the original on 25 June 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  4. "Ο Κασιδιάρης, οι "Ελληνες" και τα "ορφανά" της Ακροδεξιάς". in.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  5. "Ακροδεξιά βαφτίσια: "Ελληνες", το νέο μόρφωμα (δήθεν κόμμα) του Κασιδιάρη". huffingtonpost.gr (in Greek). HuffPost. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  6. ""Greeks": Kasidiaris presented the name of the new far-right party [video]". thetoc.ge (in Greek). TheToc Team. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  7. Karakatsouli, Anna (2021). "Conflicting Claims over the Legacy of 1821: The Case of the Far Right in Greece". Journal of Modern Greek Studies. 39 (1): 71–91. doi:10.1353/mgs.2021.0004. ISSN 1086-3265.
  8. Boukala, Salomi (9 December 2021). "Far-right discourse as legitimacy? Analysing political rhetoric on the "migration issue" in Greece". Studies in Communication Sciences. 21 (2): 329–341–329–341. doi:10.24434/j.scoms.2021.02.014. ISSN 2296-4150.
  9. Samaras, Georgios (22 September 2021). "Golden Dawn's Visual Diary: An Analysis of Content Shared by Greek Extremists on Youtube from 2012 to 2019". Rochester, NY. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3873562. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. "Greek court imposes jail terms on far-right Golden Dawn leaders". Reuters. 14 October 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  11. "Neo-fascist Golden Dawn party crashes out of Greek parliament". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  12. "After murder, defections and poll defeat: the sun sets on Greece's Golden Dawn". the Guardian. 2 September 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  13. "The dusk after the dawn: fall of a Greek Neo-Nazi party". openDemocracy. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  14. "Δημήτρης Ψαρράς: "Δεν νοείται Χρυσή Αυγή χωρίς τον Αρχηγό της"". LiFO (in Greek). Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  15. "Ο Λαγός έριξε τη Χρυσή Αυγή στον... Καιάδα". Η Εφημερίδα των Συντακτών (in Greek). Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  16. "Υπό διάλυση η Χρυσή Αυγή – Ανεξαρτητοποιήθηκε ο Λαγός". www.sofokleousin.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  17. Publisher, Aftodioikisi (1 July 2019). "Μετά από Λαγό Ηλιόπουλο, φεύγουν Γερμενής, Κούζηλος". Aftodioikisi.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  18. "Νέο κόμμα ανακοίνωσε ο Ηλίας Κασιδιάρης". ProtoThema (in Greek). 2 May 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  19. "Ο Κασιδιάρης γυρνά την πλάτη στο Μιχολολιάκο και ιδρύει με βίντεο νέο κόμμα". ΣΚΑΪ (in Greek). Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  20. "Χρυσή Αυγή: Η αποχώρηση Κασιδιάρη είναι το κερασάκι στην "τούρτα" της αποσύνθεσης". Έθνος (in Greek). 2 May 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  21. "Convicted leader of Greece's far-right Golden Dawn hands himself in". Reuters. 22 October 2020. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  22. Γεωργιοπούλου, Τάνια. "Στέρηση πολιτικών δικαιωμάτων για τους καταδικασμένους της Χρυσής Αυγής | Η ΚΑΘΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ". www.kathimerini.gr. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  23. "Προβληματισμός για την αύξηση των ποσοστών του Κασιδιάρη - Γιατί δεν μπορεί να είναι υποψήφιος πρόεδρος στις εκλογές". The TOC (in Greek). 13 March 2022. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  24. "Κόμμα Κασιδιάρη: Νεοναζισμός με πατέντα". HuffPost Greece (in Greek). 6 June 2020. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  25. Σ, Κανέλλης Βασίλης (24 March 2022). "Οι ακροδεξιοί του Κασιδιάρη ξανά στη Βουλή;". Ειδήσεις - νέα - Το Βήμα Online (in Greek). Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  26. "Ακροδεξιά βαφτίσια: «Ελληνες», το νέο μόρφωμα (δήθεν κόμμα) του Κασιδιάρη". HuffPost Greece (in Greek). 4 June 2020. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  27. Newsroom. "Το τελευταίο (;) τανγκό της Χρυσής Αυγής | Η ΚΑΘΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ". www.kathimerini.gr. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
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  29. Κανέλλης, Βασίλης Σ (8 October 2021). "Ο οργασμός της σκύλας, ο νεοναζί Κασιδιάρης και οι φασίστες συμπολίτες μας". in.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  30. "«Ειρηνόφιλοι» οι Έλληνες νεοναζί". HuffPost Greece (in Greek). 3 March 2022. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
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