AYS Weekend Digest 5–6/12/2020 Greek (new) Democracy?
By: Are You Syrious
Tags: Refugees, Digest, Alexis, Illiberalism, Jamaica50

It is well documented that fascist and Nazi ideology is widespread among the Greek police. High ranking members of the police were actively involved in the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, and on Sunday a policeman in Athens was spotted wearing a helmet with a symbol of XXXI Army Corps of the Wermacht. Among the arrestees were two lawyers who were working in the civil court case against Golden Dawn, arrested while trying to reach their client; Petros Konstantinou, head of anti-racist organisation KEERFA and member of Athens city council; members of the Rosa Luxemburg foundation; plus scores of anti-fascists.

According to observers, the very deployment of thousands of police in these last few weeks has already caused a spike in positive COVID-19 cases among the security forces and their families, and risks becoming a super-spreader in a country with a health system already under extreme pressure.

Press Freedom

Furthermore, videos show riot police charging journalists in the Exarchia neighbourhood in Athens. This is a highly symbolic ‘picture’ of the freedom of Greek press under this new government. The public press agency and public television have been brought under direct control of the Prime Minister office. Coverage of the pandemic is kept under close control, with health workers prevented from speaking to the media without official authorisation. During the pandemic, many media outlets “have become fully dependent on large grants that the Ministry of Information (Orwell lives!) dispenses at the minister’s whim.” As we have reported previously, this has lead to repercussions for those journalists covering the situation of refugees in the country. As Franziska Grillmeier stated on twitter:

After the fire in #Moria, we have been intermittently restricted from reporting (for over 5 days starting on 9 September 2020), especially inside the area where over 10.000 people had been stranded on the roadside without accommodation or sanitation.

In October, a German crew was detained and strip-searched without charges on the island of Samos. They were making a documentary on climate-induced migration. On the 17th of November, journalists were arrested in Athens while covering the demonstrations, and on Lesvos, “while trying to report on the landing asylum seekers & possible illegal “pushbacks” by Greek authorities.”

Right now, press is not allowed to report inside the Aegean camps without a special permission, that is very hard to obtain (including the new site of #Moria2). In order to avoid their contacts with #refugeesgr, police has limited the movement of journalists on Lesbos.

Over the weekend, one of the few twitter accounts held by a resident of Moria 2.0, on which they had been posting photos and videos regarding the situation inside the facility, was suspended.

Government Propaganda

The government carries on with its policies, unperturbed by the accusations of violence within the country and at its borders. Documentation on pushbacks piles up on a daily basis, involving — in a number of cases — the EU agency Frontex. On Saturday, 29 people were reportedly rescued by the Turkish coast guard on a life raft off the coast of Izmir, after being pushed back by Greek authorities.

In less than two years, the right-wing government have pursued the criminalisation of solidarity organisations and NGOs, have tightened the laws on asylum, have further militarised the borders, have provided de facto impunity for crimes committed in the Aegean and in the Evros region, have restricted access to camps and hotspots, and are now turning reception centres in unofficial detention sites. Officials have so far denied all such accusations, labelling them Turkish propaganda, and trying to shift the blame on to the NGOs and grassroots groups documenting these crimes. Greek authorities have pressured Frontex and the EU to include “hybrid threats” within the realm of the latest internal investigating sub-group on Frontex complicity in pushbacks.

While Greece descends into authoritarianism, EU institutions watch and applaud the country’s role in defending the Union’s external borders. Liberal values come in handy only when needed. Criticisms against Hungary and Poland, who now are vetoing the new EU budget, are rarely heard about Greece, a modern Cerberus at the EU’s gates.