Golden Dawn set for Australia visit
MEMBERS of Golden Dawn, the far right Greek political party which openly admits admiration for Adolf Hitler and has been listed as a criminal organisation in its home country, are headed to Australia to raise awareness and funds.
MEMBERS of Golden Dawn, the far right Greek political party which openly admits admiration for Adolf Hitler and has been listed as a criminal organisation in its home country, are headed to Australia to raise awareness and funds.
While the socialist nationalist group denies it is a neo-Nazi offshoot, its rise to the Hellenic Parliament in 2012 came on the back of a virulent anti-immigration campaign, which saw it secure seven per cent of the national vote.
Nikolaos Mihaloliakos, the party’s leader, along with two other MPs, were charged with founding a criminal organisation after a party member stabbed a left-wing activist to death outside a cafe last year.
Despite this, a spokesperson for Immigration and Border Protection Minister Scott Morrison said, “The Minister has been advised that the individuals currently have no matters before the department”.
But Executive Council of Australian Jewry’s Peter Wertheim said Golden Dawn delegates should not be allowed to enter Australia.
“Golden Dawn’s xenophobic and anti-Semitic ideology, and violent methods, have no legitimate place in contemporary Australia,” Wertheim said. “It would be disappointing if its representatives were allowed to enter Australia and, in the name of free speech, to spread their hateful message.
“One hopes that these people will not be granted a visa but if they are permitted to visit Australia it should be on the strict condition that they obey Australian laws while they are here, including Part IIA of the Racial Discrimination Act. If they commit a breach, they should be ejected from Australia forthwith.
In an interview with the ABC, Golden Dawn’s Australian spokesperson Ignatius Gavrilidis said Members of the European Parliament Eleftherios Synadinos and Georgios Epitideios were planning a trip to Australia in October.
The group gained 21 seats in the Greek parliament in 2012 after a campaign in which it blamed immigrants for the country’s catastrophic economic collapse and raged against the ensuing austerity measures.
In April a Golden Dawn MP said Hitler was a “great personality, like Stalin”, claimed homosexuality was a “sickness” and supported the idea of a one-race nation.
ADAM KAMIEN
Golden Dawn leader Nikolaos Mihaloliakos.
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