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Boyan Stanislavski
- Greece
- 0 Comments
On 7 October, the day of the court ruling to decide the fate of the fascist organization Golden Dawn and its leaders, a mass demonstration of 50,000 protesters gathered outside the Athens Court of Appeals. If it wasn’t for the pandemic, the demonstration would undoubtedly have been larger. The protesters demanded the exemplary punishment of Golden Dawn as a criminal gang, and the condemnation of its leaders.
The verdict comes after a trial lasting more than five and a half years – which, by itself, constitutes a major achievement. Throughout the course of the procedure, the lawyers and the families of the victims – supported by a wide anti-fascist movement – had to overcome countless obstacles, endure provocations by the defendants, and present endless pieces of evidence and testimony in court in order to substantiate the accusations.
The decision was not a foregone conclusion, despite the plethora of evidence. A few months earlier, the prosecutor’s recommendation was for acquittal for the leadership of Golden Dawn. Many activists argue that it was only the pressure of the anti-fascist movement and fear that such a decision could spark a mass movement that forced the judges to condemn the fascists. Thousands of young people and workers rightly saw this as their victory.
Boyan Stanislavski talks to Eleftheria Angeli who is a left activist, economist and researcher at the Nicos Poulantzas Institute in Athens, Greece.
Watch the entire conversation on our YouTube channel and don’t forget to subscribe to and like the video. This will help us make our analysis more popular, and more people will have the chance to become familiar with the political, social and economic problems in Eastern Europe.
Photo: On The Barricades is the name of the video podcast of The Barricade (source: The Barricade)
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