Greece: Racist violence in 10 cities; 1 dead
international |
miscellaneous |
news report 
Tuesday September 07, 2004 16:36
by xx
- sports and nationalism -
The lights of the Olympic Games are off now in Greece. All the world is happy with the success of the Games. However, only a week after the closing ceremony racist violence against Albanian immigrants was spread around the country, following the defeat of the Greek by the Albanian national soccer team.
Before the soccer match between Greece and Albania in Tirana mass media in Greece made an effort to provoce racism. Images of crazy Albanians ready to kill all Greeks appeared in the TV news. Before and during the game there were also several acts of provocation from Albanian nationalists in Tirana.
After the match thousands of Albanian immigrants went to the streets of Greek cities to celebrate peacefully the victory of the Albanian team by 2-1 (exactly like the Greeks in Portugal when Greek beated Portugal in the final of the EURO 2004). The reaction of Greek nationalists was immediate: they organized themselves into groups and they start beating every Albanian they found. This happened in more than 10 cities of Greece. The result: 1 Albanian immigrant (Gramos Paluci) murdered by a Greek - american (Panagiotis Kladis) in the island of Zakinthos and at least 50 others wounded in several incidents on Saturday evening!
Comments (9 of 9)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9Left and antiracist groups are organizing antiracist demos in Thessaloniki today and in Athens on Thursday.
Football huliganism and street violence in general is serious problem. However i think it is verry narrow-minded to imply that those who are involved are all right wing nationalists. This is not issue of left vs right. Football hooligans come usually from working class enviroment. The only thing they have common is that they enjoy creating disturbance and violence. This seems more like anarchist action, rather than true nationalist football fans who just want to support their team.
Shalom, you've only just arrived and you've already managed to litter the site with some of the most closed-minded and uninformed prejudices that we've had the misfortune to read.
Anarchist football hooligans? Are you mad? I bet you're quite the authority on anarchism aren't you?
i looked around the other indymedia there a small english translated feature on indymedia.org but it doesn't give very much background... obvioulsy there a back story to tension towards immigrant albanian workers that goes far beyond any sporting game
Yes, why not. Their goals are the same, create as much chaos and disorder as possible. If you look at violent anticapitalist demonstrations or violent riots by football hooligans there is really not that much difference. Motivation is the same: to feel adrenalin in you veins. It's like a drug, you do it once, you always have to get some more. It's like a video game put into reality. All political claims are just delusion, a lie you tell yourself to justify your actions, just like football holigans justify their actions by saying we hate those supporters of another club. Why? It doesnt matter! Number one priority is to get that adreline streaming in your veins. You can fight either against police, supporters of another football club or anyone who comes into your vain. It doesnt really matter.
please stop your stupid comments - you compare hooligan-violence to anticapitalistic demonstrations!
By the way: in Greece it were not hooligans - there were hundreds from well known fascist organizations like e.g. "golden morning" on the streets who shouted "nationalism - now!" and "Foreigners: leave!". these are not hooligan-slogans. they were even protected by the police and the police arrested beaten albaniens!
if you use indymedia just for anarchist- or socialist - bashing: please leave it.
Belonging to a racist group and being a football hooligan aren't mutually exclusive, as anyone with a knowledge of english hooliganism will tell you. After all, do you think there are many politically correct hooloigans out there? And if so, does it make them any less loathesome?
People who enjoy violence also like a bit of racism to help them stoke their hate-frenzy. In that regard, what happened the other day is no different to other football-related violence.
And what Shalom says is true in theory, though I wouldn't venture to say if it's true in practice. Violent people like having someone to hate. If that someone happens to be the police and the representatives of capitalism, then so be it. There's nothing special about the anti-capitalism movement that immunises it from mindless thugs. The only difference is that at least it doen't cultivate a thug following, as does the far right. But one still has to resognise that a punch in the face hurts, whether it's thrown by a racist or by a protestor. Unless you're explicitly in favour of a violent class war, I don't think you can make a case for one being any more excusable than the other.
Why don't you look up the word anarchism in any encyclopaedia before you give your interpretation of it? (The Sun is not a legitimate source)
"This seems more like anarchist action, rather than true nationalist football fans who just want to support their team."
Anarchists are not well known for their love of football a sport that encourages nationalist agression and separatism. However Football hooligans are well known for their love of nationalism.
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