Across southern Europe resistance is taking on a new urgency. In Spain people are speaking of the start of ‘the real struggle’, while in Greece the term ‘civil war’ permeates the political climate. In both countries a frightening re-emergence of a dictatorship past seems to characterize the current historical moment as fascist ideologies become more acceptable and police tactics become more pre-emptive and militarized. These two trends emerging together, the rise of far right ideologies and pre-emptive militarized policing, indicate a shift in the discourses of legitimacy used by the state.

The tone has changed on the streets of southern Europe. People are growing increasingly impatient with the failure of their governments in the face of an ongoing economic crisis. For more than a month people have been organizing massive street protests outside the National Congress in Madrid. The “rodeo el congresso” actions began on 25th September 2012 and were quickly met with police brutality and a police force that clearly felt entitled to act some ways which were shocking even the veterans of the struggle against Franco’s dictatorship (for example, entering a public train station in full riot gear and beating random passengers – see video). The images of police violence went viral with millions of hits in just a few days. Instantly, plans were hatched for a strong response and the following day tens of thousands of people flooded the streets in front of congress and across Spain. A call went out for a national day of action on 29th September. The national day of action quickly turned into an international day of action as people all across Europe took to the streets. Read the rest of this entry »

Case file against Golden Dawn MP to be submitted to parliament

The public prosecutor’s office is to forward to parliament a case file against Golden Dawn MP Yiorgos Yermenis following an attempted assault on Athens Mayor Yiorgos Kaminis. The Golden Dawn MP’s parliamentary immunity must be lifted before he can be charged with verbal assault and attempted bodily harm. Yermenis – also known as Kaiadas – on Thursday attempted to assaulted Kaminis inside a municipal stall, after the mayor successfully stopped a Greeks-only food handout on Syntagma square by the extreme-right party.

Kaminis’ bodyguards intervened to block the punch but a 12-year-old girl was injured in the stall, which was located around 100 metres from the Golden Dawn headquarters. Yermenis also reached for a gun in the incident.

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