Greece

NOVANEWS Dimitris Avramopoulos blames ignorance, despair, anger and disillusion with the political system for rise of Golden Dawn party JTA The Greek foreign minister told an American Jewish audience that his government would “never allow hate to grow and spread,” but did not address specific calls to marginalize the ultranationalist Golden Dawn party. “Let me state from this forum, in the most determined and compelling manner, that Greece will never allow hate to grow and spread,” Dimitris Avramopoulos told the American Jewish Committee’s annual Global Forum in Washington on Monday. “Hate will be confronted and stopped.” A number of Jewish and international civil rights groups have pressed the conservative New Democracy government led by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to take steps to m...

NOVANEWS Bill outlaws Holocaust denial and clamps down on racist attacks; could threaten members of anti-Semitic Golden Dawn party. ed note–one of the reasons we are constantly chiding the ‘nationalists’ of whatever group to drop the anti-Islamic/anti-immigrant rhetoric & violence, as it only gives the Jews the pretext they need to paint them all as irrational ‘haters’ and then to pass laws that castrate and silence them.  JTA Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and his conservative New Democracy party dropped their opposition to a new anti-racism bill that outlaws Holocaust denial. The about-face on Thursday apparently was in response to widespread condemnation over the party’s stance from the European Union, as well as Greek and international Jewish groups that had urged Athens to...

novanews Two junior MPs vow to defy the prime minister and vote to send bill parliament to curb anti-Semitism Times of Israel The World Jewish Congress joined the Greek Jewish community in urging the Greek government to implement an anti-racism bill in the face of rising hate crimes. On Tuesday, two junior members of Greece’s ruling coalition said they would defy Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and vote to send the bill immediately to Parliament. Samaras’ conservative New Democracy party believes that existing legislation is sufficient to deal with racist attacks that have been spawned by the ultranationalist, neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party. “We call upon the government and the democratic political forces to overcome their differences and shield democracy in our country with appropriate legis...

NOVANEWS Bill is designed to criminalize incitement to commit racial violence and any denying of Nazi crimes   ed note–exactly why we are suspicious of any ‘nationalist’groups who engage in violence against immigrants or Muslims, as it gives organized Jewish interests all the ammo they need in passing laws curtailing genuine freedom of speech and political activity they do not like.  Times of Israel Parties in Greece’s coalition government disagreed Monday over proposed anti-racism legislation designed to fight a surge in anti-immigrant violence amid the nation’s severe economic crisis. Conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and his two center-left minority partners failed to strike a deal while meeting about the bill, which is designed to criminalize incitement to commit racia...

NOVANEWS By R. C. Camphausen A new and very cheap drug is killing Greek youth who no longer can see a future for themselves. Sisa is a form of crystal meth being mixed with filler ingredients such as battery acid and engine oil. It makes users violent and kills within six months. Ever since the austerity crisis has hit Greece, drug use and alcohol abuse have been rising sharply, as have suicides. The larger cities, and especially Athens, are filled with homeless and impoverished people who often seek to escape their misery by taking refuge in drug induced stupor. Enter the relatively new drug called sisa (pronounced as shisha) that arrived on the scene about two years ago and soon became the drug of choice because it's the cheapest of them all -- a hit costs less t...

NOVANEWS ed note–since publishing the story this morning concerning the threat supposedly sent by Greece’s Golden Dawn political party, we here at TUT have been inundated with complaints, asserting that the story had to be a fraud as well as the usual complaints that it is just more if the same ‘anti-whiteism’ that ‘prevails’ on this website. Our response to these complaints has been that there is more than a smidgeon of circumstantial evidence that would lend some credibility to this story, given actions by similar nationalist-minded groups such as the English Defense League, etc. The following is a piece that appeared in the NYT dealing with the violence that has been attributed to members of this party. Granted, it is NYT and it was written by someone with a name like Alderman, but no...

NOVANEWS RT Bangladeshi workers receive first aid at the Medical Center of Varda near the southwestern Greek town of Manolada April 17, 2013, following a shooting incident. (Reuters/Eurokinissi) Greek police are hunting three strawberry plantation foremen, who are suspected of shooting nearly 30 workers, mostly Bangladeshi, after immigrants demanded wages they had not been paid for six months. Officials have promised “swift and exemplary” punishment for the three foremen who disappeared after the incident that took place on April, 17 in Nea Manolada, about 260km (160 miles) west of Athens. So far police arrested the owner of the farm, in the rural south of the country and a local man on suspicion of hiding the three foremen. The violence allegedly occurred when one of the supervisors ...

NOVANEWS Popular outrage forces shift on 'deposit tax' By Walter Smolarek Mass protests in Cyprus derailed initial bailout deal.   As the global economic crisis—now in its sixth year—drags on, the rich and powerful are still sticking with the same old formula: Do whatever is necessary to save the banks and make poor and working people pay, one way or another. In recent days, a looming financial collapse in the Eastern Mediterranean island country of Cyprus emerged as the latest flashpoint. In February 2012, a second bailout for Greece included a partial default of the country's debt, called—euphemistically—a "haircut" and also "private sector involvement." This was supposed to help make the debt sustainable and avert Greece's exit from the Eurozone, which would likely have far w...

NOVANEWS sofiaglobe.com World Jewish Congress leaders sent a strong message of solidarity to the Jewish community of Greece as they gathered in Thessaloniki on March 17 2013 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the roundup and deportation of the Jews from this northern Greek city to the Nazi death camps, the European Jewish Press reports. In presence of Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras and Holocaust survivors, WJC President Ronald S. Lauder urged Greece to take decisive action against the growing neo-Nazi movement Golden Dawn which he called “the new Nazis” and “a threat to democracy.” On this occasion, Samaras became the first sitting Greek prime minister of the past 100 years to visit a synagogue, the Monastiriotes synagogue of Thessaloniki, as he pledged that his government woul...

NOVANEWS By Jerome Roos  In the face of massive popular outrage, Cypriot MPs spectacularly vote against a bank deposit tax imposed by the Troika, leaving the eurozone reeling.   We almost stopped believing it was possible, but apparently some lawmakers in European debtor states still have the guts and ability to stand up to their cocky, greedy and reckless foreign creditors. On Tuesday, an overwhelming majority of Cypriot MPs spectacularly voted against a bank deposit tax imposed by the Troika of lenders — with not a single MP voting in favor, despite the President’s warning that a no-vote would lead to financial armageddon. The tax was a prerequisite for Cyprus to receive its 10 billion euro EU-IMF bailout; the country’s dramatic act of defiance now leaves the eurozone reeling in gr...