The anti-racist website Imagine 2050 recently posted a useful article about the Greek neonazi party Golden Dawn. Author Aaron Patrick Flanigan warns that GD’s newly formed New York City chapter may try to build connections with North American white nationalist, anti-immigrant, and Islamophobic groups. I agree that this type of networking seems likely and it is one of the main reasons that Golden Dawn’s North American venture is dangerous. For much of the far right, the flip side of nationalism is an emphasis on international solidarity with like-minded groups.

Here are some examples of praise for Golden Dawn on North American white nationalist websites:

Faith and Heritage (“a webzine presenting the views of Occidental Christians who are determined to preserve both Western Civilization and Western Peoples”) recently posted a videotape of a Golden Dawn meeting with the comment, “Hopefully this is a foretaste of a greater nationalist awakening that will sweep the West in the wake of this global economic crisis.” (The Council of Conservative Citizens, probably the biggest white nationalist organization in the U.S., lists Faith and Heritage on its homepage blogroll.)

White Reference, in a September 9 post about a Golden Dawn attack on immigrant street traders, comments, “Golden Dawn shows us what can happen when suits and boots decide to work together as one. And since Golden Dawn considers it just as important to be effective than [sic] it is to be respectable, they're winning over more support with each passing day.” (White Reference is a blog that offers “reports of crime and oppression against White people worldwide, as well as accounts of White resistance.”)

Renaissance Vanguard (also known as Renaissance Party of North America) issued a September 23 press release welcoming Golden Dawn to North America, and applauding Golden Dawn’s “efforts to resist and overcome the genocidal multi-culturalist, and anti-Hellenic agenda of the New World Order.”
 “‘We welcome the presence of Golden Dawn in NAmerika to encourage and support the development of an adolescent nationalist movement here and to build bridges where bridges may be built,’ said Sebastian E. Ronin, Chairman of the RPN [Renaissance Party of North America]. ‘We look forward to a possible opening of a Golden Dawn office in Toronto which also has a large Greek population.’” (Renaissance Vanguard describes itself as “a nascent Canadian federal political party that advocates the political synergy and recognition of Peak Oil, Ethno Nationalism, and Regional Secessionism on the NAmerikan continent.”)

Jim Goad, editor of the paleoconservative Taki’s Magazine, concedes in a May 14 article that Golden Dawn “play[s] the role of fascist street goons con mucho gusto,” but defends the party’s nativism as a natural response to the “mass immigration of mostly unassimilable and often culturally hostile foreigners.” “Only a deluded leftist ideologue or a media-brainwashed useful idiot would keep scratching their head at the persistently stubborn resurgence of nationalism without pausing to ponder that perhaps tribalism is an ineradicable human instinct rather than a sinister psychological aberration.”

Goad also highlights Golden Dawn’s proclaimed hostility to globalist elites. “Although media outlets cast a harsh spotlight on Golden Dawn’s immigrant-bashing, they don’t focus nearly so much attention on their fervid criticism of ‘global loan sharks,’ ‘bailout dictators,’ and ‘international speculators’ who are ‘selling us out and looting the sweat of the Greek people.’ For some Greeks, it seems to have come down to a choice between Golden Dawn and Goldman Sachs.”

The anti-immigrant VDare.com is more guarded in its comments about Golden Dawn. Contributor Brenda Walker both minimizes and excuses Golden Dawn’s extensive violence against immigrants, claiming: “The tribal violence is regrettable, but predictable. The Greeks are acting like typical humans, hard-wired to protect their group’s interests.” Walker also highlights the August firebombing of Golden Dawn's offices in Athens, implying that the party is more victim than victimizer.

VDare founder Peter Brimelow cites Greece as a model for the United States on “how to handle illegal immigration,” citing measures such as randomly grab[bing] illegals off the street and deport[ing] them,” which the Greek government has implemented largely in response to Golden Dawn’s rise. Brimelow euphemistically refers to Golden Dawn as an “insurrectionary Right-wing party.” (Interestingly, the other model of anti-immigrant toughness that Brimelow cites is Israel, highlighting the pro-Zionism that sets VDare apart from most U.S. white nationalists.)

Related posts on Three Way Fight:
Golden Dawn's fascist ideology, 24 October 2012
Golden Dawn violence and police collaboration, 12 October 2012