I want to ask Greek people?

[Bella]

im from Sweden ive been to Greece many times i spend every single summer in Greece with my family ever since i can remember myself.I also speak a few greek.I generally admire and love your country and its people but still there are some things that i dont understand.
I would like to ask you Greek people what do you think about the party of Golden Dawn and about that Kasidiaris attack to Kanelli.That footage was a big deal here in Sweden what i dont understand is why the majority of greek people congratulated directly or indirectly that guy.Im asking this now that 7 months have passed and i believe that people have more sober minds.That summer was very intense for Greeks so i can understand that maybe peoples reactions was due to pressure.I also would like to ask you what you think of Voula Papachristou'selimination from the olympics.In that case again the media condemned her "joke"but people supported her.Why do you react like that?

[James]

I also condemn his violent attack against Kanelli. I would never approve it or accept such an action whatever the problem. I'm also sure that the vast majority of my compatriots agree with me. There are a few things that will help you understand the image that was transmitted about us. First of all Liana Kanelli belongs to the communist party which is equally extreme with golden dawn. Their goal is to make Greece N. Korea! Seriously! The only regime that they ever agreed with was the N. Korean! They also sent their condolences when their leader died and it was the first time that I (all the Greeks actually) have heard them saying something positive about a foreign leader! Specifically Liana Kanelli is very provocative when she's talking. She's constantly swearing, shouting and smoking. All these things are making her very disagreeable, distasteful, hateful! Most of the times she's claiming that what she's saying can't be wrong or doubted and she's imposing it by screaming. If you saw the video and you could understand what they were saying, you could see that she stood up to hit him first, after he threw water against another woman (politician). In my opinion, if he had waited a couple of seconds, nobody, not even you foreigners, would have blamed him if he had slapped her in order to defend himself. Now after what happened, it is natural to be treated as women-beater.
You're right about being more sober now because at that time, everybody was mad at her. Now she's acting a little bit more sober too. Also, do not forget that the media can present an incident, however they like! No swedish journalist ever asked me what are my feelings for that incident. Who can tell if they asked ten people on the streets, maybe 3 said they approve what he did and they chose to show only those. 5, 10 or even 100 people cannot prove a whole nations beliefs. The incident can be easily manipulated and presented in such a way that will be useful to the people who manage it.

[Airpole.]

Apart from the political view of the incident the fact that a much younger man struck a certainly older than him woman is despicable and highly condemnable.

The fact that both of them are really very irritating and in fact bad speakers as they both want to enforce their own political views at all costs.Some may say she was asking for it, but that does not mean she has to be treated like that. Especially on camera. He on the other hand, as spokesman of his party should be more controlled and able to face situations like that. The fact that he did not controlled his anger is indicative of the way he believes things should be faced.

Regarding Papachristou she was the victim of circumstances and the specific atmosphere at the given time.I believe she just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and said the wrong thing.Her punishment was far too harsh for the specific action but when you play the game both the good and the bad are present. Racism in Athletics is just as bad as doping.
The fact that she admitted she is friendly towards GD did not help her at all.

[Andreas]

Dear Bella

Let me try and illuminate you a little bit on the social-political situation back home. I will talk about the slap and Voula in the end because I think your question is more about the rise of the golden dawn in Greece. If you do not want to read this just go towards the end and skip the main body.

I follow the international press and I know that they portray us as a bunch of nationalistic butt holes but that is far from the truth. You see the main issue is that the people are frustrated with the politicians because they are ABOVE the law and NOBODY can touch them. Even the constitution contains an article that prevents ministers from being held accountable for their actions. Only the parliament (their colleagues) can judge them and not the judiciary system. And since all of them are in the same doo doo pot, they cover each other and that is why nobody has been arrested/convicted for leading us to this financial mess. This had led the public to lose faith in the whole political system. Golden dawn is trying to fill up this gap and that is why it is becoming more popular. Now pay attention, during the last elections, more than 40% of Greeks did not vote at all (who can they trust?) and those that did voted the other small parties (SIRIZA and golden dawn) out of desperation and indignation, not because they believe in their ideas.
Another problem is that the current order of things is very anti-Greek and you can see this in our education system where everything that is Greek or promotes Greek culture is being considered nationalistic, racist and intolerant towards the minorities and neighbors. Screw our philosophy, screw our religion (foremost) screw our language, screw everything since it is against secularism and political correctness. All this is angering people who once again see (our of desperation and indignation again) the golden dawn as the only defender of our culture.
Also keep in mind that the high numbers of ILLEGAL immigrants is not helping the situation either because they are burdening not only the economy, but also the health system as well (our public doctors are so "racist" that they treat ILLEGAL immigrants for FREE) as the way of life because there are areas in Athens now that are complete Ghettos and you cannot even walk through them without fear for your life (that is basically where golden dawn is getting most support from).
By the way these immigrants want to move to the richer countries of Europe but they are stuck in Greece (the "dumpster" of Europe as they themselves call it) due to the immigration laws (when they are arrested in France Germany etc, they are sent back to Greece since it is the first country of entry and the one that issues them basic paperwork). Their plight is beyond belief as they are stuck in this "dumpster" where there are no jobs and they are often forced to resolve to crime (drug traffic mostly) to survive. It is truly heart breaking for both them and us.

In a few words golden dawn is a byproduct of the political system and it will not go away-unfortunately-while things continue the way they are.

Personally the slap means nothing to me, and most Greeks I believe, because both of them are political donkeys, and they both acted as the donkeys they are (actually they have been doing it for the entirety of their lives). You are wrong however, the majority of the Greeks did not congratulate or side with him on this matter. Golden dawn is doing way worse things than slapping people.The only reason this took publicity is because he is part of a fascist party. In other countries you see people throwing shoes and pulling guns on TV (middle east) but you never hear about it on the news.
Golden dawn hates the communist party with a passion because they see them as "traitors" and let me tell you the communist party is not the most logical entity in the world. Imagine that when Sept 11 happened, the first thing their general secretary said was that "we stand behind the oppressed Palestinian people". In a few words exactly what Bin Laden later said for the cause of the attack.

As for Voula, she was just another sacrifice to the altar of political correctness. Nothing more, nothing less. Greece is doing a lot to catch up to our American "masters" and "examples of conduct" on this matter. I do not know if that girl is a racist or not but I know from what I read that black people did not find it racist.

Let me tell you my dear, political correctness is a cancer on humanity because it prevents a very important thing from happening: OBJECTIVE RATIONAL CRITICISM

I apologize for the long post. I hope this covers everything

[leonidas]

I personally do not condone any violent acts. He could and should have handled it better, that is what I thought then and what I still think now. But to be fair they knew that he wasn't the... stablest of people and they basically framed the entire incident forcing him to either act as he did or take it and say nothing, both of which would harm the parties reputation. He acted as predicted but instead the people congratulated. This might be because they realized the situation or because they just thought she deserved it, it doesn't make much difference. To be truth, I do believe he didn't handle it as he should but it is not like she didn't deserve it... She is manipulative and offensive and honestly what she sais in public offends me. He shouldn't have hit her but I admit I am kind of glad that someone did something about her. And may I add here that she also hit him first which should put the blame on to her, I wonder why everyone talks about him and not about her. Yes he hit her and he shouldn't but she also hit him and she was first and she was also offensive to him in the entire conversation and ganged him with the rest of the speakers, someone should talk about the others as well... To sum up, he shouldn't have done it but unfortunately I admit that I kind of liked it because someone had to. It wasn't a real hitting no matter what they said later, it was just to shut her up more to make her feel ashamed than anything else. She does not have what we say "iera kai osia". I am against violence but I also believe that a person gets what he gives, she showed respect to no one, I can't blame someone for not respecting her back... And may I add here that what I said above was my general belief, not influenced by my own political views and that I generally I am against any form of violence, it is just that some times I embrace the essence of the movie "το ξύλο βγήκε από τον παράδεισο".. Sorry if I offended anyone but we can't be goody goodies all the time someone has to stand some time and apparently that was the time. Others might have changed their mind about seven months ago but I stand my ground, he did it, he shouldn't have, she deserved it... Violence is bad but you can't exactly blame someone for using violence to defend against violence even if it is of a different form, if that wasn't the case we wouldn't have soldiers fighting would we?..