Introduction

• Increase in far-right communication efforts, owing both to rumours about upcoming snap elections and the continuing Russian invasion in Ukraine.
• ELASYN (party founded by former Golden Dawn leading member Ioannis Lagos) participates in the Alliance for Peace and Freedom (APF) conference in Madrid.
• A message in Greek from notorius Russian neo-Nazi Nikitin, now fighting with Azov Battalion in Ukraine, appears to be primarily aimed at ProPatria group.
• International connections of Greek far-right actors continue to appear fragmented, irregular and interpersonal, rather than systematic.
   
  Updates in the National Landscape
  Following some articles in mainstream media regarding the possibility of snap elections [1], the main opposition and smaller parties, including the far-right, have increased their communication efforts, mainly on social media platforms. The relaxation of measures against the COVID-19 pandemic is also a factor, allowing for events in physical spaces to be organized.
  Apart from that, the Russian invasion in Ukraine is creating a new field of political discussion. The two larger parties have taken a position condemning Russia for the invasion. The governing party, New Democracy, openly supports the Ukrainian government and has sent military aid [2]. The main opposition, SYRIZA, has condemned the Russian invasion and supports de-escalation [3]. The Communist Party [4] and DiEM25 [5] have declared their opposition to the war, condemning the invasion, asking for an immediate ceasefire and opposing NATO expansion in Ukraine.
  On the issue of the invasion, the far-right parties openly and unanimously support Russia. “Greek Solution” has condemned the Greek government’s response to the invasion [6], calling it “part of the problem” and “threatening” against Russia.
  Golden Dawn [7], as well as its spin-off party, ELASYN [8], stated their support to Russia, while Ellines [9], the other GD spin-off is more cryptic regarding its position, as it is for “independance of Greece from both camps of the war” but underlines the “crimes of NATO” and focuses on the perceived need for the Greek nation to define its foreign policy against that of Turkey.
  Transnational Activities & Group Interactions
  ELASYN participation in APF Congress in Madrid
  The “Alliance for Peace and Freedom” (APF) held a congress in Madrid on 26 March 2022 [10]. The main event was the closed political meeting, with the following participants:
• Yvan Benedetti / Parti Nationaliste Français (PNF) / France
• Yiannis Zografos / National Popular Consciousness (ELASYN) / Greece
• Misa Vacic / Serbian Right / Serbia
• Claus Cremer / NPD / Germany
• Gonzalo Martín / Democracia Nacional (DN) / Spain
• Manuel Andrino / La Falange / Spain
• Stefano Saija / Forza Nuova Italia / Italy
• Alexandre Santos / Força Nova Portugal / Portugal
• Tudor Ionescu / Noua Dreaptă (The New Right – ND) / Romania
• Nick Griffin / Former MEP / UK
   
  Apart from the participation in the political meeting of the APF, ELASYN was also central in a small public demonstration [11] held by the APF Congress participants in front of the Greek embassy in Madrid, protesting the current incarceration of I. Lagos.
  Message in Greek by Kapustin and possible connections
  A message in Greek has been posted by notorious Russian neo-Nazi Denis “White Rex” Kapustin, also known by the nickname Nikitin, on his Telegram channel, regarding the invasion of Ukraine. Kapustin lives in Ukraine and is said to be fighting alongide of – or at least supporting – Azov Movement.
  In this message (see attached image), Kapustin is explaining that the nationalists who support Russia are in error, because “It’s not a civil war between Whites […] Here, we are facing the multi-national hordes that Putin sends against us”. It is possible that this message is aiming to be read by members or supporters of ProPatria, a Greek neo-Nazi group focusing mostly on Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). ProPatria has participated in international MMA events organized by Kapustin, and Kapustin himself was present in a festival organized by ProPatria in Athens in 2015. (See attached images)
  Transnational Developments on Discourse in Mainstream Media
  The pillars of the far-right media discourse in Greece are:
• “National issues”: Predominantly content on foreign policy and the military. The relations with Turkey are a large part of this, always presented in a warlike fashion, because of the perceived “existential threat to the Greek nation”. Turkey is also portrayed as having total control over migration and using it either as a weapon to either exert pressure over Greece, or as a means of “islamization” of the country.
• “Criminality”: Reports on real or fake criminal activities are also a big part of the content in all far-right media in Greece. Using sensationalism, those outlets exploit the attention generated by glaring headlines to communicate their racist agenda, typically blaming migration, religion, ethnic background and/or nationality as the roots of all crime.
   
  The above is more and more complemented with the reproduction of international far-right themes, such as anti-feminism, anti-LGBTQI+ and anti-semitism.
  The rhetoric used is increasingly that of the international “Alt-Right”, as the far-right media in Greece reproduce content from larger international far-right media, sometimes verbatim.
  During March 2022 the developments on the Russian invasion in Ukraine were reproduced by Greek far-right media from sources mostly in English. The main distributor of information and disinformation, always in support of Russia, is the nationalist website “ProNews”, supposedly focused in military and foreign policy affairs.
  Transnational Social Media Activity & Propaganda/Narratives
  Far-right social media activity in Greece is intense but not particularly thriving. The networks of accounts propagating nationalist, racist and other far-right material are frequently broken as central accounts are often suspended as a result of violations of content policies on each platform.
  While Golden Dawn, Ellines, Sacred Band and some other minor groups have an official presence in social media, particularly on Twitter, and some unnofficial accounts are propagating content such as racist, anti-feminist and anti-LGBTQI+ video and image memes, members of the Greek far-right are not posting calls for actions or news from the activities of their groups as they did in previous years. This is in part due to the fact that Golden Dawn members were convicted in 2020 for participating in a criminal organization, and the other evidence in the case file was corroborated with material collected from public posts in their social media accounts.
  Transnational Political and Financial Cooperation
  As a general rule and as we have seen in previous reports, Greek far-right parties and groups remain mostly isolated, with their international connections based either on casual interactions and personal interrelations with far-right figures from other countries or on typical statements of support or solidarity based on issues or specific ideological alignments.
  While Golden Dawn remains the longest-lived far-right party in the country, it seems that its spin-off, ELASYN, is consolidating the international connections owed to the position of its founder and informal leader, Ioannis Lagos – currently in prison as a leader of the criminal organization “Golden Dawn” – who holds a seat in the European Parliament. ELASYN is accepted as a member of the European far-right coalition “Alliance for Peace and Freedom” (APF) [12], presided by Italian self-identified fascist Roberto Fiore, leader of Forza Nuova (Italy).
  Citations:
  [1] Kathimerini (Greek)
  [2] in.gr (Greek)
  [3] SYRIZA.gr (Greek)
  [4] KKE.gr (Greek)
  [5] MERA25.gr (Greek)
  [6] Flash.gr (Greek)
  [7] TaNea.gr (Greek)
  [8] Archived page from ELASYN website (Greek)
  [9] Archived page from Ellines website (Greek)
  [10] Archived page from ELASYN website (Greek)
  [11] Archived page from ELASYN website (Greek)
  [12] Archived page from ELASYN website (Greek)

Key developments:

• Main issues in the Greek far-right agenda, as expressed in their public media, continue to be anti-vaccination, anti-immigration, as well as anti-feminism and anti-LGBTQI+.
• No notable public events with the participation of far-right groups, parties, or persons, on a national or international level, have taken place during this month.
• The beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine has stirred far-right activity in the social media sphere. The overwhelming majority of far-right opinions voiced, including “Golden Dawn” and its two offsprings (“Ellines” and “ELASYN”) are in support of Vladimir Putin.
  Background:
  Greek far-right has had always a limited international reach as it always focused on the national level, as a result both of their inherent ideological isolationism and the language barrier making international communications difficult. At this time, the most internationally active entities seem to be ELASYN (utilizing Ioannis Lagos’s connections in the EP) and ProPatria [participating, from time to time, in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) events with other groups]. Still, these international connections are very limited and they rarely produce visible events.
  The known groups and parties of the Greek far-right remain in a general state of disarray, despite a general tendency in the public discourse to be shifted more to the right. Some further clarification is needed here, as this phenomenon is the result of (mainly) two factors:

1. The heads of the organizational structure of Golden Dawn remain in prison. While Golden Dawn was a party modelled after and inspired by NSDAP, seeking to create a National Socialist movement to ride on and realise its ultimate goal, a Nazi regime, it also was the major actor in Greek far-right politics outside of the mainstream right-wing party (New Democracy) from 2012 until 2019. As a result of this, other groups thrived by either operating in GD’s shadow or cooperating with GD members and leaders in the local level. This ecosystem of interrelations was disrupted by a) infighting, as the Golden Dawn Trial was reaching its end and prominent members blamed each other for the expectedly disfavourable outcome of the trial, and b) the broken chain of command after the imprisonment of GD leaders as well as the dissolution of networks resulting from the split among the three prominent leading figures of GD.
2. The far-right finds expression under the ruling party. As the single-party government of New Democracy implements more and more of the policies favoured by the far-right, and prominent cabinet and party figures publicly embrace nationalist, law-and-order, racist, and anti-immigration rhetoric, the people who would fuel a far-right movement with their participation are content with the current political situation. Moreover, the integration of prominent far-right figures (Voridis, Georgiadis, Plevris) amplifies this effect. The far-right views this situation as “winning the cultural hegemony” in the country.
   At the same time, the still recent experience of the Golden Dawn Trial has taught a lesson to violence-oriented far-right groups: they rarely publicize or declare ownership of their actions in order to avoid criminal law consequences. This tendency seems to push far-right activities below the visible line of public sphere, which also limits their impact.
   The ultra-nationalist party “Greek Solution” that sits in Parliament has also not produced any significant political activity for months. Its main platform for gathering support is the broadcasts of its founder and leader (Kyriakos Velopoulos) in regional TV stations in Northern Greece.
   *New and emerging actors: *
   • There has been no significant activity by new or emerging actors during this month.
   International links:

• There has been no significant activity on the international level for Greek far-right parties, groups, or key persons during this month.
• The far-right in Greece is strongly supporting Putin on the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

Overall far-right activity remains limited, possibly because of arrests made in December 2021, related to the “Trustees of the Constitution” group.
Two events of far-right violence that happened in January 2022 highlight two different aspects of the far-right networks:
*Bombing outside a makeshift mosque in Athens *
The event of a bombing outside a makeshift mosque of the local communities of Bangladeshi and Pakistani migrants in Athens (23 January 2022 ) is an alarming development, as this attack continues an older line of attacks against local mosques and community centres of migrants’ communites. Some of those attacks were well-documented and presented as evidence at the Golden Dawn trial.
Meanwhile, the composition of the makeshift bomb, which included screws and bolts to maximize damage and possible injuries, seems to be an influence from practices seen in terrorist attacks by the NSU, especially the 2004 Cologne bombing.
*Attack against a high school sit-in in Voula *
A fascist attack against a high school sit-in in the southern suburbs of Athens (19 January 2022), while it had minor impact, is adding another point to an emerging pattern of far-right street groups approaching or influencing high school students. This is a field not well documented in Greece, despite outbreaks of serious and organized violent attacks, such as those seen in Thessaloniki at the end of September and beginning of October 2021.

Key developments

• A new far-right organization has emerged: “Thematofylakes” (meaning “Trustees” or “Fiduciaries” – full title “Trustees According to Article 120 of the Constitution”. An organized group of its members “arrested” by force the principal of a high school in Northern Greece, because he implemented anti-COVID-19 measures at the school.
• “Thematofylakes” is structured as a network of local groups under a single leader. The organization is mostly active in Northern Greece. Its members are sworn-in, accepting a text called “Holy Declaration”. Their ideology is religious fundamentalism and radical nationalism and they are also deniers of the COVID-19 pandemic itself as well as anti-vaxxers. They wear military/police-like uniforms and use cars with the group’s insignia on them. A paramilitary structure is evident in the organization’s public appearances. The organization justifies its actions by claiming that Article 120 of the Greek Constitution (referring to the right of the citizens to resist by any means necessary in case of a violent coup) gives them the right to act according to their own selective interpretation of laws.
• Members of “Thematofylakes” include members of other far-right, fascist and neo-nazi groups, such as from Kasisdiaris’ party “Ellines” and other former Golden Dawn members.

Key Developments

• No significant events of far-right presence took place during this month.
• Most far-right groups in Greece focus on pandemic denial and/or anti-vaccine propaganda online.

Key Developments

• Escalation of far-right violence both in Thessaloniki and Athens:
  • Attacks by an organized fascist group against antifascists continue in Thessaloniki, using as a base a Vocational High School in Stavroupoli, continue for four days in a row.
  • Another attack against members of the Communist Party of Greece takes place in another part of Thessaloniki.
  • A group of 10-15 persons wearing black outfits and armed with bats, attack an open discussion of antifascist organization KEERFA in Neo Iraklio, Athens. A member of “Golden Dawn”, with connections to “Propatria” was recorded on video and convicted for the attack.
  • Racist attack against Pakistani workers by a group of 30 persons shouting racist slurs in Palaia Kokkinia, Piraeus.
• Court decides to suspend the sentence of prominent Golden Dawn member, Giorgos Patelis, leader of the local “Storm Battalion” of Nikea, convicted as an accessory to the murder of Pavlos Fyssas. The Prosecutor of the Supreme Court intervenes to investigate whether the suspension is subject to annulment.