Domestic Extremism in Europe - Athena Institute

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gain them popularity they will run with them. So, when extremist groups conduct successful securitizations on a large level against certain communities within a society, they also push mainstream politicians towards the far- right or the far-left. Probably the best example comes from Greece, a country ridden with political and economic crisis. Both far-left and far-right movements, extremists and parties are gaining ground with Golden Dawn (GD) amongst them. Golden Dawn had used to be a tiny party on the fringes with no real electorate support whatsoever. The political and economic crises changed that however and right now GD is the 5th biggest party in the Greek Parliament. It is also very likely that they will become the 3rd biggest after the next general elections (CIA, 2012). GD is a deeply racist, xenophobic and anti-immigrant party. Their policy’s main focus is on pushing out both legal and illegal immigrants from the country at any costs and they have no real scruples when it comes to the methods they are willing to use. They organize neigh- borhood watches that challenge the monopoly of the state to use violence and regularly intimidate immigrants. For instance, they harass immigrant shopkeepers and vendors by going to marketplaces and act as authori- Domestic Extremism in Europe - Threat Landscape 46
ties, demanding their papers, and if they cannot show any, they force them to leave (Alderman, 2012a; 2012b). A couple of months after GD got into parliament and the mainstream political parties who govern the country real- ized the rapidly growing popularity of GD and its mes- sage, they commenced a huge nationwide crackdown on illegal immigrants and started “repatriating” them (Smith, 2012). In the meanwhile, several human rights NGOs (Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, etc.) warn that racially aggravated assaults have started to become common place and the police are turning a blind eye to them. The situation in Greece shows how, especially in difficult times, extremist groups and far-right/left parties can gain popularity via securitizing issues, creating moral panics and thus pushing centre-left/right parties more and more towards the radical. Other fairly successful instances of securitization come from the United Kingdom where more and more extremist groups try to portray the alleged Islamization of the country or the introduction of Sharia Law to the British legal system as a real and present danger that threatens the majority culturally, morally and physically. They also try to reify and depict pedophilia as a Muslim crime. Domestic Extremism in Europe - Threat Landscape 47
Page 1 and 2: Tamás Berecz - Kristóf Domina Dom
Page 3 and 4: Tamás Berecz - Kristóf Domina Dom
Page 5 and 6: Table of Contents FOREWORD 7 EXECUT
Page 7 and 8: Foreword Rather than consolidation,
Page 9 and 10: level of constitutional freedoms an
Page 11 and 12: Executive Summary This paper is an
Page 13 and 14: Countries in Western Europe still c
Page 15 and 16: 1 Domestic Extremism - Emerging Def
Page 17 and 18: vide a more detailed and in-depth a
Page 19 and 20: groups. There are 18 level 6 groups
Page 21 and 22: gerous via radicalization through h
Page 23 and 24: tified extremist groups have some k
Page 25 and 26: ism, Maoism or Anarchism for instan
Page 27 and 28: an unknown year of establishment, b
Page 29 and 30: threats and challenges these groups
Page 31 and 32: level 4 or higher threat level base
Page 33 and 34: The number of victims (people murde
Page 35 and 36: nomenon more and more seriously. Th
Page 37 and 38: On the other hand, the effects of t
Page 39 and 40: Iron Curtain developed some kind of
Page 41 and 42: Manuel Mireanu, Athena Institute No
Page 43 and 44: society, they attempt to securitize
Page 45: munities in post-communist countrie
Page 49 and 50: where human rights, civil liberties
Page 51 and 52: However, based on the Institute’s
Page 53 and 54: Strikes, protest and riots have bec
Page 55 and 56: Greece is, however, a ‘not so spe
Page 57 and 58: threat levels, while this also high
Page 59 and 60: Capitale Carcere e i suoi Carcerier
Page 61 and 62: hacker group target governmental co
Page 63 and 64: party also has close ties to other,
Page 65 and 66: THE MYTH OF THE LONE WOLF As it has
Page 67 and 68: Islam (“counter-jihad”) writers
Page 69 and 70: sympathizers. This poses a special
Page 71 and 72: elty 15 (SHAC), etc. are all groups
Page 73 and 74: archist Federation 17 , The Revolut
Page 75 and 76: Moreover, they can utilize this tec
Page 77 and 78: hostility. The New Hungarian Guard
Page 79 and 80: criminal problems, not as socioecon
Page 81 and 82: Alderman, L., 2012b. Right-Wing Ext
Page 83 and 84: Guest, T., 2009. Fight for the Righ
Page 85 and 86: Smith, H., 2012. Greek Crackdown on
Page 87: About the Athena Institute The Athe

Domestic Extremism in Europe - Athena Institute

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