Fascism is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society. Fascism is the forcible arrest of someone, simply for opening up a banner in public, expressing the view that a political prisoner on hunger strike for 58 days should not die in the hands of the government, especially when the hunger striker’s only demand is not to be treated as a political prisoner. Fascism is the image of a woman carrying a banner being dragged by a dozen cops at a farmer’s market at Chalandri, Athens on Saturday 6 March 2021.
But it’s not just that banner and the freedom of expression that is constantly being wounded lately in Greece. The vast majority of the protests all over Greece during the last 6 weeks have been attacked, without even an excuse, as soon as people started to gather. Even a mention of Koufodinas name on Facebook and you get a ban or your FB page is taken down. This has even happened to politicians, lawyers, scholars and academics. Widespread censorship, brutal police attacks and government propaganda through the mass media -acting like the government’s puppets- form a harrowing view of the current state of affairs in Greece.
The prime minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, angered by the fact that for 4 consecutive days thousands of people defied the reign of fear, censorship and terror imposed by the greek government on any protest or voice in solidarity to the simple demands of Dimitris Koufodinas, decided like any delusional head of a totalitarian regime would do, that protests in solidarity to Koufodinas should be attacked and dispersed, but that wasn’t enough. Any kind of a different opinion should be quelled, like the one expressed in the banner at the farmer’s market in Chalandri.
Dimitris Koufodinas, now 63 years old, is on hunger strike for the last 58 days. His current demand is to be transferred to Korydallos prison, as well as, an end to the arbitrary political interventions against him.
Even after 58 days without food, the greek government refuses his right to equal treatment.
– The rise of right-wing fascism within the greek government
– Even by the elastic standards of what was used to be known as a parliamentary democracy in Greece, the right-wing regime that governs Greece has gradually turned, in just one year and a half in power, into a neo-fascist state.
While Athens is still on lockdown for the last 4 months, the right-wing government of “New Democracy” has used that time to act like a mafia organisation, settling scores with its perceived enemies, the greek people, human rights, and freedoms.
In a violent legislative crescendo, the government has managed to establish a junta-like police State, using the pandemic lockdown as a period to quash rights and freedoms with no resistance by the people, (since the right to protest has been indefinitely revoked), that no other greek government even thought to destroy, since the military junta regime was overturned in Greece back in 1974.
From establishing police stations inside the greek universities to the banning of gatherings and protests above a certain number of people and the ban on the freedom of journalists to move freely and report the news, and their plan to criminalize anti-establishment speech and lyrics in songs and art, the ironically self-proclaimed “New Democracy” governing party has decided the hiring of thousands of new policemen as the answer to everything, even the pandemic.
[Videos posted on Twitter by @GellyKonst and on Facebook by Christina Christidou]