Youth vote for Golden Dawn for racist/supremacist reasons, study finds

EnetEnglish.gr, Monday 20 October 2014

Economic crisis is not the main reason why youth vote for neonazis

Debunking myth that the swing to Golden Dawn is due to exclusively to the economic crisis, researchers at Athens Panteion University show that young voters agree with racist-supremacist position of the neonazi party

A boy shout slogans with supporters of the neonazi Golden Dawn party during a rally commemorating the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, in Athens, 29 May 2014 (Photo: Reuters)

Young people who voted for Golden Dawn in 2012 did so out of ideological conviction and not for reasons stemming from the economic crisis, a new study from a leading Athens university shows.

Conducted by researchers at the Panteion University, the study also found that the level of identification among Golden Dawn’s young voters with its aims was higher than for youth who backed other parties. These voters generally view Golden Dawn as a “nationalist party”, rejecting as “despicable” its description as “fascist” or “neonazi” even though they recognise that there are ideological affinities between it and fascism.

For them, Golden Dawn is a “patriotic-nationalist” party, which “puts the Greeks above everything else”. The almost total identification with the party’s “nationalist” ideology, expressed through the pride these young voters feel as Greeks pride, stems from the belief that Greeks are superior to other people historically and culturally.

“When we had civilisation, others were living in trees,” one male voter aged 24 told the researchers, repeating a phrase often found in Golden Dawn’s “theoretical” texts.

In the June 2012 elections, Golden Dawn was the second most popular party in the 18–34 age group.

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