Is the specter of the Far Right hanging over Greece? Well, no–what we need is a little perspective.
The political wing of the Far Right may be making advances in parts of Europe (Portugal, France, the Netherlands, Spain or Italy).
But in Greece it remains fragmented and disreputable, consigned to the lunatic fringe. It might be polling slightly higher now, but only because right-wing voters are using it to express their discontent in the run-up to the European elections.
In any case, the Far Right tends to make more of an impression that it warrants or deserves. Why? Because of an insidious confusion that christens everyone who votes, or says they’ll vote, for them right-wing extremists.
No, the real specter that’s looming over Greece is the attack on the constitutional framework of our democratic polity.
An attack fueled by an explosive but far from innocent or selfless mistrust.
A mistrust which is in turn inflamed by suspicions, complexes, prejudices and stereotypes. It is the lynch mob maintained by political parties, vested interests and a section of the Press both unconsciously and to serve their own malicious goals.
It is the local sheriffs who covet the district attorney’s office.
A mixture of distrust and intolerance that turns on the final bastion of Democracy—and of Justice—at every opportunity and on every pretext.
Common or garden criminal cases, party political clashes, scandals alleged or real, and behind-the-scenes shenanigans are used both as ammunition and as a battlefield in an undeclared war in which there can only be losers.
This is the real Far Right. The dangerous Far Right. The social Far Right. The Far Right of vigilante justice and of blackmail. The Far Right that has set out to replace every institution in our constitutional state, one by one.
The Far Right whose key figures include many who make a show of protesting against it.
A Far Right chameleon that is forever changing its spots. Which goes from black to red and back again. Something between a specter and a serpent’s egg.
This Far Right is a cause for concern, because it’s not only far-right.
It’s violence next door. It’s intolerance and people taking the law into their own hands in court and in the playground. It’s trampling boundaries and rules underfoot, and calling justice into question.
It is the legitimization of a brutal anger and emotion devoid of reason. It is intolerance of difference and in our discourse. It is discontent with the law being enforced and disobedience before the law.
And this Far Right, which isn’t just far-right, is the real specter that looms over our constitutional state.
Because outside democracy and the Rule of Law, there is no life.
