Papoulias Condemns Politics of Hate

Greek President Karolos Papoulias, who fought the Nazis in World War II,  said in his annual statement marking the return of  democracy to Greece after the collapse of the military dictatorship in 1974 said the worst tangent of the economic crisis gripping Greece is how it has polarized people and parties and brought out “hate and violence” he said is one of the “darkest” aspects.
He didn’t mention by name the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party that won 18 seats in Parliament last year with 6.97 percent of the vote but has soared as high as 13 percent on the back of an anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic, anti-gay, anti-banker, anti-American, anti-Capitalist, anti-European agenda and a platform of wanting to rid Greece of anyone who isn’t 100 percent Greek.
Golden Dawn has been accused of conducting attacks on immigrants, which it has denied, and a number of its lawmakers have had their immunity stripped so that police can investigate allegations they’ve been involved in crimes.
In his annual statement marking the , Papoulias stressed the need for a constant effort to “protect and deepen” democracy in the wake of the debt crisis. He didn’t mention that he has backed every pay cut, tax hike, slashed pensions that have created a record unemployment rate of 26.9 percent and that he supports the coming firing of as many as 40,00 public workers that has created the social unrest he decried.
“The economic collapse was quickly followed by a political, institutional and cultural one, a whirlwind that took everything with it,” he said. “Hate and violence are not the solution or answer. They are perhaps the darkest part of the problem.”