Patriotic rebirth in Greece
Helena Smith in Athens
Of all the political party stands on Panepistimiou, the boulevard that runs through central Athens, there is one that stands out as the country prepares for general elections on Sunday. Oddly, it the smallest of all the stalls: a cubicle next to a white plastic table with three plastic chairs. Only an umbrella, adorned with the insignia of the far-right Popular Orthodox Alarm (Laos) and the posters of its leader, Giorgos Karatzerferis, promising to throw “a punch at the status quo”, indicate that it is a political stand at all.
But it is here that the crowds have stopped – either to glance over leaflets excelling the glories of Greece or to wish its youthful attendees “good luck”. In an election palpably denuded of the passion of previous campaigns, supporters say the party’s programme outlining “clear alternatives to rusty policies” cannot be given away fast enough.For almost the first time since the collapse of military rule 33 years ago, a group that has been internationally denounced for supporting “virulent nationalism, anti-semitism, racism and xenophobia” appears set to muster enough votes to enter the Greek parliament.
“We offer something different to the decadence and corruption that has rotted our state,” says Lefteris Liviaratos, a student radiologist and member of the party’s youth wing. “Since [the return of democracy in 1974, Greeks have been held hostage to a two-party system that works on the exchange of votes for jobs, and that has to change. Laos is not here for money, it’s here for ideas.”
Those ideas, which range from “respect for our history, heroes, religion and traditions”, to “no more immigrants”, have gained strength among an electorate suspicious of globalisation and infuriated by the governing conservatives’ inept handling of the forest fires that left 65 dead after raging across the country last month.
The party also has a special appeal to the 20% of the population who live below the poverty line, with its straight-talking former body-builder leader being particularly popular among working-class men.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/farright/story/0,,2167883,00.html