Two years ago, Golden Dawn of Greece announced an ambitious program to create a support network in the United States that would be headquartered in the Astoria district of New York City. The nationwide response of Greek Americans has been negative, beginning with a harsh denunciation of Golden Dawn by the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA), the largest Greek fraternal society in America. Since that time, there have been no Golden Dawn public events in any of the cities of the United States.
Golden Dawn’s presence is pretty much limited to their website, which spews anti-Semitism and other fascist drivel. There is no office and no representatives available to the public. Golden Dawn will sometimes answer phone calls, but will not consent to formal interviews or in-person communications. They remain a clandestine organisation operating through anonymous threats against events and persons they consider hostile.
A rare public moment for Golden Dawn in New York involved a handful of younger members sent to ‘watch’ the Greek Day parade from the sidelines. Earlier, Golden Dawn sent people to a fraternal organisation sending assistance to Greece. Their objective was to get their photo taken as if the effort were theirs.
They were expelled from the building and told not to return. Their attempt to celebrate the junta of 1967-74 in Astoria drew such a large, hostile crowd that Golden Dawn did not appear.
This past June 10, Richard Ledes, a Greek American, released Golden Dawn, NYC, a video available gratis on YouTube. The video features a wide variety of community voices. As recorded in the video, Ledes’ offered to give Golden Dawn the opportunity to speak for itself, but the invitation was declined. Nor was Ledes able to find a single prominent Greek American to speak on behalf of Golden Dawn.
In contrast, Father Alex Karloutsos, one of the most powerful clerics in America, condemns Golden Dawn as “barbaric, uncivilised, and criminal”. Nicholas Karacostas, the chair of AHEPA, describes them as anti-Hellenic. Federal Judge Nicholas Tsoucalas is infuriated that they honour the fascists who brought havoc to Greece in World War II. Eric Poulos, a prominent civil liberties attorney, speaks of Golden Dawn’s assault on human rights.
Academics from Columbia University, the Graduate Centre of the City University of New York, New York University and Queens College assail Golden Dawn’s agenda and place its program in a broader European context. I was among that group. Dean Sirigos of The National Herald, the largest circulating Greek American newspaper, denounces them as racist anti-Semites. Ledes ends and begins his video with scenes of the beaches of Normandy to visually underscore the cost of appeasing fascism.
Golden Dawn responded with its own video of mini-biographies of many of its critics. These ‘bios’ are often pure fiction and would be laughable if Golden Dawn had not hinted on where to harass its critics. Subsequently, three of the video speakers have received middle-of-the night hang-up calls. These and similar actions have been reported to the FBI and other security agencies. Photos of Golden Dawn activists have been taken to establish their identity for the police and others.
A variety of cultural factors account for the reaction of Greek Americans to Golden Dawn. A fundamental aspect is that aside from the usual lunatic fringe, Greek Americans are not anti-Semitic and consider attacks on American Jews as unacceptable, regardless of how they might feel about the politics of the state of Israel. In New York, in particular, the largest Greek community in America, relations with Jews are very congenial. Due to shared economic status and cultural values, there is considerable contact in business, mass media, academia, fine arts, and other professional venues. In the political sphere, Jewish politicians are working with Greek Americans to promote gas projects in Cyprus involving Israel and to critique Turkey’s treatment of its Greek Orthodox citizens and other religious minorities.
A unique factor is that New York is home to the only active Greek synagogue outside of Greece and Israel. This synagogue is located on the lower east side of Manhattan and is part of history tours given by various groups. The synagogue’s museum stresses the historic connections to Greece that go back to the time of Alexander the Great. The New York Greek Film Festival, sponsored by the Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, regularly shows films about Greek Jews that not only deal with the Holocaust in Greece but also celebrate cultural figures such as the legendary Rosa Ashkenazi. News about Greek Jews appears regularly in the Greek American press.
The Greek Orthodox Church in America, under the current archbishop, is not particularly active politically. Nonetheless, there is an annual celebration of Greek Jews sponsored by and attended by the archbishop. He speaks often of his fond relations with Jews when he resided in Thessaloniki, and his wider teachings stress a humanistic approach to social diversity.
Greek America is shaped by a relatively recent immigrant experience. From the major Greek arrival at the onset of the twentieth century through 1940, Greeks frequently had to deal with hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Since that time, discrimination has been more subtle, but still evident, even in the failed presidential campaign of Michael Dukakis. Scholars, novelists, museums and newspapers have been successful in not allowing cultural amnesia to erase the memory of the discrimination Greek Americans faced for decades.
Another cultural dynamic is that 80 per cent of all marriages by Greeks, even in the Orthodox Church, are to non-Greeks. The policies of all Greek organisations, including the Church, are focused on Hellenising non-Greek spouses and children of mixed ethnic heritage. Hellenism is defined as cultural rather than genetic. Such sentiments make Greek Americans hostile to simplified anti-immigrant rhetoric and the notion of a pure Greek ‘race’.
Greek Americans are very proud of how heroically the Greeks fought in World War II and their own successful efforts to provide massive war relief. They do not understand how any normally intelligent Greek could be attracted to a cult that gives Nazi salutes, adapts Nazi-style symbols, and advances the ideology that led to the death of 10 per cent of the Greek population during World War II.
The ability of Golden Dawn to achieve third-party status in Greece is puzzling, embarrassing, and even infuriating to Greek Americans. They understand the need to protest the loathsome demands imposed by the foreign troika and the legitimate problems involving illegal immigrants who now make up more than 10 per cent of the national population. Greek Americans think there surely must be a healthier way to register an electoral protest vote.
Greek Americans are determined that the American public never accepts the idea that Golden Dawn is a legitimate voice of their community. Although often depicted by other Americans as a model immigrant community, Greek Americans realise they are less than 1 per cent of the total American population and their major religious institution does not attract many converts. For decades, Greek Americans have consciously presented themselves as dedicated to the Rule of Law and acceptance of ethnic diversity. Golden Dawn is the antithesis of that perspective. The major political challenge facing Greek Americans is to steadfastly reject and rebuke Golden Dawn without bringing it the publicity and notoriety it craves.
*Dr Dan Georgakas is a Greek American historian, author, art critic and activist. He is editor of the policy journal of the American Hellenic Institute.