Antifascist action isn’t a crime
The fascist party Golden Dawn last year won 7 percent of the vote and 18 seats in Greece's 300-member parliament. In the wake of their election victory, Golden Dawn members went on the offensive, using violence in the streets to terrorize immigrants, left-wing activists and anyone else they consider an opponent of their far-right agenda. But the rise of Golden Dawn, among the most violent of Europe's Nazi groups, has not gone unopposed--which has led the fascists to attempt to use the courts to sue activists leading the resistance against them.
When thugs surrounded and stabbed to death the popular anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas in September, police stood by and watched as the outspoken singer bled to death. But in response, thousands spontaneously took to the streets to angrily denounce Golden Dawn's violence and the government's passive support for the group's agenda. Even before Fyssas' murder, 50 Golden Dawn thugs attacked members of the Communist Party with bats and crowbars as they distributed posters for a youth festival. The attack put nine people in the hospital and likewise sparked spontaneous protests against fascist violence.
Under pressure from the antifascist movement, some of Golden Dawn's leaders and members of parliament have been arrested or faced police questioning in connection with murder, assault, extortion and money laundering. The Greek parliament voted to suspend state funding to Golden Dawn in September. An inquiry into Golden Dawn's infiltration of the police department found that 10 police officers had "direct or indirect involvement with the criminal activities of Golden Dawn" and cited the department for "inadequate supervision," according to the New York Times.
The backdrop to Golden Dawn's rise is the worst economic depression of any country in Europe following the global financial meltdown of 2008. History has demonstrated that fascist organizations and parties have flourished under such circumstances--and that the key to fighting back is to mobilize mass opposition before they can achieve wider influence.
Golden Dawn is now trying to use the courts to sue anti-fascist activists, in an attempt to deflect mass opposition. One recent target is Thanasis Kourkoulas, a member of the Expel Racism organization. In response, Greek antifascist organizers have issued the following petition in his defense. More than 1,000 people from Greece and around the world have already signed, and more are adding their names every day.
Justice for Thanasis Kourkoulas!
We demand the acquittal of antifascist activist Thanasis Kourkoulas. No to the criminalization of antifascist/antiracist action!
ON DECEMBER 16, 2013, Thanasis Kourkoulas, a member of the "Expel Racism" movement and militant in the antifascist and antiracism movement, will be tried in the Fourth Single Judge Misdemeanor Court of Athens, as a result of the slanderous lawsuit of a right-wing extremist who says Kourkoulas ordered "a group of men bearing bats" to attack him in 2009.
This trial is part of a larger strategy by neo-Nazis in the last few years to use prosecution in the courts as a means to intimidate and target people and organizations willing to fight openly, collectively and in broad daylight in order to bring down the Golden Dawn gang, as well as their collaborators in the state machinery. We condemn this unprecedented attempt to criminalize antifascist action, and we demand that Thanasis Kourkoulas be acquitted. The people who belong in prison are the neo-Nazis of Golden Dawn, not militants from the antifascist movement.
Fascism never again!
