THE PLATFORM OF THE ANTI-NAZI INITIATIVE
We, who adopt this
text, unite our efforts in order to prevent the development of the neo-Nazi
political current in Greece and in order to enforce the basic democratic principles,
so as to have every Nazi activity banned and every Nazi organization officially
declared illegal.
The fact that only our country from all the countries in the European Community,
allows the legal function of an organization which openly declares to be a supporter
of Hitlerism, as "Chrysi Avgi" does, is one of the greatest political
scandals and an unprecedented provocation against the democratic achievements
not only of the Greek people, but of all European peoples.
The peoples of Europe have acquired knowledge of Nazism and fascism through
the highly painful experience of the Second World War, and in no case would
they accept to give to the Nazi once again the opportunity to poison the masses
and to use them for their wars and their monstrous dictatorships.
This is why, after they punished the Nazi murderers when the Second World War
was over, they prevented with strict laws the reappearance of all kind of propaganda
supporting directly or indirectly the political and ideological beliefs, as
well as the symbols, of the ones responsible for that war.
The Nazis and fascists of every kind, in order to assure freedom to organize
themselves and to spread their beliefs, are referred to the democratic and human
rights that are generally in force for citizens and persons, individuals and
groups of every country.
But the legislation of the most democratic countries and the conscious citizens
has denied this fraudulent reasoning. Because it is the very same organization
and the declarations of Nazism that consist directly, actually and in concrete
a violation of every democratic principle and infringement of every individual
and collective right, of any kind of individual and collective dignity, and
even of their existence.
This is historically proven, it has been verified to the consciences of billions
of people, and it is verified every time the enemies of democracy allow the
Nazis to organize, talk and act.
This happens now in Greece, where Nazi have the monstrous convenience to form
a political party, to issue newspapers and magazines, to participate to the
elections, and even to take part to the Electoral Committee of all parties invited
by the competent ministers and with the consent of all parliamentary parties,
and, finally, with the same general consent to talk on TV.
Consequently, in our country, the Nazi have acted accordingly to the immediate
consequences of their beliefs and according to the iron law of their same existence.
They beat up systematically foreign workers, especially those of different colour,
as well as young people whose appearance suggests democratic ideological attitude,
they campaign against ethnic minorities and they have repeatedly and seriously
injured members of anti-nationalist organizations.
In the area where the center of their activities is found, at schools, where
they are developing alarmingly, the Nazis form their troops on violence. The
physical violence and the threat of exercising physical violence on unorganized
easy targets are the main form of their propaganda.
Therefore, based on these grounds and on these facts we as democratic people,
residents of this country, of Greek or other nationality and irrespective of
any other political and ideological belief, consider as the main question of
political democracy to have the Nazi organizations declared officially illegal
and to have every Nazi activity banned.
This demand has arisen not only from the need to prevent the development of
Nazism as a political current, but even more from our concern about the fact
that there are today such political and ideological conditions that allow the
Nazi to be legal and to have increased opportunities to influence people, especially
young people. Nazism, is onto only, and actually, is not mainly, the reference
to Nazi history, to Hitler, and to the Second World War. Nazism is a series
of several ideas more or less stable in time, which, nevertheless, get a completely
new and specified content, varying from country to country, and from time to
time.
Thus, while the first goal we set ourselves is to have every Nazi activity banned,
the second goal is the political accusation of the general conditions allowing
the ideological and political influence of the Nazi ideas and the political
accusation of their ideas.
The ban alone can never fight succesfully against ideas. On the contrary, the
ban alone can even help these ideas spread. For this reason, we are resolutely
opposite to all these attempts which have been made until now to prevent the
activity of the Nazi by exercising individual or organized violence, resulting
to be the same as the violence of a terrorist gang, that is, violence that does
not have the approval of the democratic public opinion, violence exercised in
the dark, while the question of the Nazi is not presented as a political question
and especially, without enlightenment of the people on what the Nazi say, believe
and do.
The need for ideological and political struggle against Nazism lead us to an
agreement on the following minimum points answering to the corresponding minimum
points answering to the corresponding minimum positions of the Nazi, and especially
of their most organized political group, which is, "Chrysi Avgi".
These points are, at the same time, an answer to the prevailing positions of
a whole emerging reactionary system, diffusing to the official political world
and affecting large parts of the population. It is not a random fact that the
political legality of the supporters of the dictatorships of the 21st of April
and of the 4th of August is accepted as something normal and that lately a current
has been developed in favour of the release of the dictators of the 21st April.
Consequently, in accordance with above grounds, we state the following points
of ideological struggle against Nazism and fascism:
For "ethno-racism"
and racism
There is no biological and no physical mental difference between people of different
colour, nation and religion. There is no nation physically superior to another.
There is no nation and no people superior to any other nation and any other
people on the basis of any historical and cultural heritage. Especially for
the great civilizations of humanity, no nation can be self-determined as their
special heir. The historically great cultural, technical and scientific achievements
of the peoples belong to all humanity.
From this point of view, we condemn the belief for the so-called "cultural
superiority of Hellenism" as well as the same perception and term of "Hellenism"
when this means or suggests some special "Greek ideology" or some
civilizing or other "historical mission" of the modern Greeks and
of the Greek nation.
For the ethnic state, the citizenship, the ethnic minorities and the immigrants
We condemn as barbarity the perception and the practice of the violent ethnic
homogenizing on the grounds of the ethnic state. Such practice is the one considering
the concept of nationality to be the same as the concept of citizenship. We,
therefore, demand the immediate recognition of the separate ethnic character
and of the individual and collective rights -arising from this character- of
the brutally oppressed ethnic minorities in Greece as well as their recognition
in the way they are self-determined. We, furthermore, demand the granting of
the Greek citizenship and the granting of full political rights and any other
individual and collective- whereas and ethnic minority- right to the immigrants
of any nationality and of any kind (political and economical) who have made
homes, have worked for a long time in our country. Especially for the foreign
workers we demand, towards, every direction, the enforcement of the principle
"equal pay for equal work". This is a necessary precondition in order
to fight ethnic racism, which is promoted by Nazism through the separation of
workers.
For the self-disposal of nations and states, for the Europeanism and for peace
The nations have the right of self-disposal and the states the right of independence.
Such is the right to form unions, political, economical and social, which may
reach the point of a union into one state. We are, therefore, opposite to any
perception and any practice that denies the free union of nations and states
in the name of national exclusivity and national isolationism.
Therefore:
We consider the present European Community a great democratic achievement of
the European nations and people, resultant from their anti-fascist experience.
The Community of European States –to the extent it has been constructed- is
an actual condemnation of chauvinism and nationalism, the condemnation of the
logic war alliances on the basis of national, religious or cultural coalitions
of any kind and correspondingly, the respect of individual and ethnic rights.
It is therefore natural that the conditions that made possible the formation
of a very developed cooperation on states level, have made simultaneously the
European Community the ground of the most developed political democracy within
the whole of the greater European and Mediterranean area. We, thus, condemn
the systematic anti-Europeanism based on nationalism and even more the one referring
to the orthodox and religious backwardness and byzantinism in order to make
an overall attack to the Western Enlightenment and to democracy and in order
to revive the barbaric logic of religious alliances. The same logic in our country
leads to the abolishment of individual and collective religious freedom.
We have to construct democratic peaceful relationships with all the neighboring
countries with no exception on the basis of the principles of the recognition
of the recognition of national sovereignty, of their territorial integrity,
and of the non-interference in their internal affairs. In the same way we want
our neighbors to respect these principles for our country, in the same way we
must respect these principles for them. As a result, no interference in the
internal affairs of another country is justified in order to make this country
change the name of neither the state, nor any interference in other countries
is allowed in the name of the protection of the Greek ethnic minorities living
in these countries.
Especially, regarding Turkey, the cultivated perception about the “eternal enemy”
has to be overturn and the position that our differences with this country can
and must be solved peacefully must be promoted. At the same time, for the benefit
of both people, we have to condemn the present policy of alliances with the
greatest fascisms in the Balkans, in Middle East and all over the world in the
name of the given “Turkish danger”.
For the anti-semitism and the anti-capitalism of antisemitic type
Nazism is always an antisemitism (antihebrewism). The modern antisemitism is
covered behind anti-zionism. But the Nazi antizionism is not condemnation of
the Hebrew zionism as it would be for any other kind of chauvinism, but the
elimination of the state of Israel and of the Jewish in general. This is the
antisemitism, which is actually the racist form of the reactionary anticapitalism.
For Nazism the Jewish is above all the personification of the capital and of
capitalism in general.
The Nazi anticapitalism does not result to a struggle against the merchantable
character of human labor and it exploitation but to the destruction of every
productive and social progress in the name of the preservation of the small
production, of the patriarchal economy and, mainly, in the name of the deification
of the state war- bureaucratic economy.
We are, therefore, resolutely opposite to any sense of National Socialism, that
is, to any sense of nationalism that is connected to a social program of reactionary
anticapitalism. The National Socialism is really the power of the most reactionary
capital that through this ideology assures the absolute and fascist power in
the state, in the economy and in society.
Our ideological and political struggle against the positions of the Nazi, which
are at the same time positions spread in the society, is obviously separate
from our demand for the Nazis to be declared illegal and for the Nazi activities
to be banned. The Nazis must be declared illegal only for these positions which
have been identified, to the conscience of all people, with the barbarity of
Hitlerism, of the Third Reich, of vassalage and of tribal racism. The other
are positions of modern Nazism in their “improved” form, which need a long time
of patient work to be revealed.
This is the last and more difficult of our duties. It is, nevertheless, a matter
of life and death for the political democracy and for peace in this country.