The journalist Angelique Kourounis (best known for her work in French in mediums such as Charlie\u00a0Hebdo, TV5 Monde, Group Radio France), and a Greek resident since 1985, presented at this year’s\u00a0Documentary Festival of Thessaloniki the film “Golden Dawn: A Personal Affair” dealing with the rise\u00a0of the Greek fascist party.<\/p>\n
With regard to what motivated her to make this documentary, she said: “I have had an obsession\u00a0with the fascist movements and totalitarian regimes for years. I grew up in a family where it was my\u00a0grandmother who started the stone throwing against the Italians in Kalymnos, whilst my father in\u00a0law was a member of the French resistance; he preferred to take up arms rather than to wear the\u00a0yellow star. My partner is Jewish, my son is gay. I am a feminist, and a daughter of immigrants.\u00a0When I returned to Greece I immediately became interested in the case of Golden Dawn. I could not\u00a0understand how it is that this so-called political party existed, and how a well-known newspaper\u00a0could circulate with racist headlines. I could not understand how in Greece, which paid such a heavy\u00a0price during the Occupation, that this party could exist openly since 1996. I also wanted to\u00a0understand how Golden Dawners think, but also why there are two categories amongst their\u00a0supporters: those who genuinely espouse GD beliefs, and those who voted for them because of the\u00a0crisis. “<\/em><\/p>\n Asked about the political developments in Europe and the rise of far-right parties, the director\u00a0replied: “I work in the magazine Charlie Hebdo, and from the beginning we knew that if these people\u00a0and those that think like them seize power, exile and persecution would follow for some categories\u00a0of the population, which is why we started collecting signatures for a ban of the French nationalist\u00a0party. I am worried about the rise of the far right because they are a threat to democracy, which\u00a0perhaps is not the best system, but it is what we have. There is no counterweight to the extreme\u00a0right, on the contrary we see their ideas being adopted by Europe, with no one reacting. On the\u00a0refugee issue, we have adopted extremist views and we\u2019re losing the concepts of asylum, human\u00a0rights and equality, which should be the basis of Europe. In 2017 in the second round of presidential\u00a0elections in France we will probably have as frontrunner rivals Le Pen and Hollande. In this case, the\u00a0vote should be “No to Le Pen. “<\/em><\/p>\n