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Golden Dawn: five things to know about Greece's 'neo-Nazi' party

Golden Dawn, a far-right, racist political party in Greece, has been the target of a major crackdown by the Greek government. Why?

What does Golden Dawn say for itself?

The party vehemently denies being neo-Nazi, writing on its website: "The only reason they call us 'Neo-Nazi' is because we are a country in Europe, the Occident, and they know if they use that term, they can get other Europeans to think we are crazed lunatics rather than normal people with families and a culture we want to protect."

It says it is a Greek nationalist party with ideals "based primarily on that of ancient Sparta," the ancient Greek city-state known for its military prowess. The party pours scorn on the idea of Greece being the cradle of democracy, noting only ancient Athens was a democracy and citing Plato's opposition to democracy. 

Party MP Artemis Matthaiopoulos told London's Independent newspaper the charges against his colleagues were "baseless and built on rumors."

Golden Dawn did not immediately respond to inquiries from The Christian Science Monitor.

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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