A deeper look at the fascist pogromme in Limassol and the far right
Article by AKEL Political Bureau member Christos Christofides
4 September 2023
What unfolded on Friday night in Limassol was not hooliganism. It was an organised fascist campaign that had all the basic characteristics of such behaviour. The following represent some key characteristics of the fascist campaign which are fundamental features of fascism’s ideology and the actions of the far right since the time of Hitler until today and which make what took place last Friday particularly dangerous for democracy and our country:
● The use of violence to enforce their views
● The use of force to impose their will as the law.
● The theory of “collective responsibility”.
During the pogrom, people belonging to the category of “foreigners” were indiscriminately beaten, from immigrants to ‘dark-skinned’ tourists, even the Cypriot ‘dark-skinned’ Chairman of the Port Authority! This “guilt by association” of categories of people and the creation of “enemies” for the fascist far-right is a key characteristic of Hitler’s inhuman and dangerous ideology who “declared” all Jews were enemies and guilty simply because they were Jews up to the racist Apartheid regime in South Africa to the behaviour of fascist, far-right groups here in Cyprus.
The traitorous armed underground ultra-nationalist and anti-communist EOKA B organisation considered all left-wing and Makarios supporters as enemies a priori, resulting in the murder of innocent civilians. Furthermore, we saw what unfolded against Turkish Cypriots, in the Turkish Cypriot villages of Santalari, Aloa, Maratha and elsewhere where Turkish Cypriot women, children and elderly people were slaughtered indiscriminately simply because fate brought it upon them that they spoke Turkish.
The same and worse was done by fascist Turkish Cypriot extremists who proceeded to commit mass executions of Greek Cypriot prisoners simply because they were of Greek descent. Similar behaviour was displayed on many occasions by the Turkish occupation army, either autonomously or by supporting Turkish Cypriot extremists. The outcome of course of these behaviours is well known. We see the result of their actions every day and every time when we stare at the occupied Pentadactylos mountain range in Nicosia.
● The far right embraces criminal elements within its ranks. The far right from Hitler to EOKA B has always recruited criminal elements from the underworld who could behave in this unacceptable manner. It is no coincidence that the attempt to supposedly “defend Cyprus from foreigners” ended up in joint robberies of kiosks and other commercial establishments being committed or the fact that convicts were among those subsequently arrested. The underworld uses the far right and the far right uses the underworld. The security authorities know this as well, but are silent and do nothing.
● The far right, apart from its obvious activity, serves a more complex role as the “useful idiot and servant” of the system and establishment. They primarily target people who are suffering and facing problems, essentially telling them that foreigners are to blame for everything. This simplistic “solution” to people’s problems has another objective, apart from playing on racism and intolerance. In doing so all the factors responsible for the difficult social and economic situation of the people are covered up and exonerated.
According to the far-right’s policy, for example, it isn’t the government’s fault that action isn’t being taking to confront expensiveness and the high cost of living.
It isn’t incompetence and political decisions that are to blame for the price of electricity.
The increase in fuel taxes isn’t to blame.
The inadequate welfare policy being perused isn’t to blame.
It is not the fault of the banks that people are being evicted because of foreclosures.
It’s not hedge funds that are to blame for their aggressive arbitrariness.
It isn’t the fault of those political parties that back the government’s policies.
It is not the government’s fault, which unfortunately these right-wing extremists elected in Cyprus, but foreigners in general are to blame.
In this way, the far right is fulfilling a deeper role: acting as the servant of the establishment and those who are enriching themselves at the expense of the Cypriot people.
● Social media and the way the fascist far-right handles them (with great success, we must admit) “normalizes” a rhetoric and approaches that were unthinkable a few years ago. More specifically, the far-right has targeted the Left and other key opponents through this rhetoric. People with the greatest of easy are labelled as “Turks”, even though we know that it is the fascist far-right that collaborated with Turkey in 1974 to invade our homeland. Today they meet covertly to lead us to a two states solution, which is Turkey’s strategic goal. People are being labelled as “Anti-Greek”, while the only ones who cannot have anything to do with Greek culture are these very barbaric creatures who behave just like the orcs in the famous ‘Lord of the Rings’ movie. News is being distorted, non-existent facts are presented as facts and hate rhetoric is the protagonist, while the state follows in apathy the far-right’s actions.
● Worst of all is that ELAM and the fascist far right in Cyprus have been completely “normalised” by the majority of the political system. It is with ELAM’s votes that the President of the Republic and Speaker of Parliament were elected. In fact, they are the very same people who boast that between the 1st and 2nd round of the presidential elections Christodoulides called them dozens of times to secure their support.
A new special Parliamentary ad hoc Committee has been formed to give its Chairmanship to ELAM and by doing so ELAM can have a permanent platform. On the other hand, of course, ELAM portrays itself as a militant and anti-systemic force, but the truth is that they are the loyal servants that have elected and supported the last three right-wing governments. The absurd thing is that they are shouting about the handling of the immigration issue by the governments they themselves have elected.
While there are countless statements made by the President of ELAM and other leading officials that ELAM is the “Golden Dawn” party of Cyprus and that their real leader is the convicted criminal “Golden Dawn” leader Michaloliakos, here in Cyprus, the establishment, the government and the rest of the political parties turn a blind eye to their actions in order to gain their support.
Obviously there is a problem with the issue of immigration that needs to be handled, with the government ruling forces bearing the primary responsibility.
However what we saw on Friday is a prime example of what the fascist far-right really is and what kind of country we will be living in in a few years if everyone does not realise and assume their responsibilities.
