What could be worse than Doomsday?

I would like to ask: are you worried that next Friday will be the end of the world according to the Mayan prophecy? If yes, even the NASA has a specific page responding to our fears. But really, from what I have heard here and there, there is nothing to worry about – if it happens it would be a quick and clean death. Nothing to prepare, to think about, no real moral challenge to be addressed (or they would not last very long anyway: a day or so), no action to be taken, no personal responsibility to be engaged. What for! The world would be simply wiped out! Certainly sad but we all can always say “what can I do about it?”

I don’t want to ruin the party a week ahead of seasons’ greetings for those who will exchange them, but unfortunately there is a much worse scenario than Doomsday.

In six weeks time, it will be the 80th “anniversary” of Hitler’s access to power and the Nazi rise to power. Mark Twain said that “history does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme”.

Last Saturday, hundreds of protesters from 20 EU countries and under the banner “Europe against neo Nazism” felt the necessity to demonstrate in front of the Acropolis, the cradle of democracy. Last week, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) expressed in a statement its “deep concern” about the rise of the Golden Dawn party (extreme right), which is represented in the Hellenic Parliament. “Members of Golden Dawn have systematically carried out acts of violence and hate crimes, at times tolerated by the police, against immigrants, political opponents, ethnic minorities and those who express concern about the situation”. At a meeting in Brussels a month ago, an NGO activist reported that flyers stating “after the immigrant you’re next” were disseminated outside gay clubs in Athens. And this is happening in front of our own eyes. But as Human rights Watch reported already last July, “preoccupied by the economic crisis and concerned with control of irregular immigration, national authorities—as well as the EU and the international community at large—have largely turned a blind eye”.

Fear. This is what comes to my mind when I read those reports. Fear from immigrants, minority groups, of stabbings, beatings and motorbike attacks in many parts of Athens. Comfortably seated in Brussels, I found the question asked during a conference I attended a month ago relevant: “why don’t people report it? Why they don’t rise against the mobs?” But then a reminder – fear. Would I report to the police if I feel that my life is in danger and that the police are very lenient towards offenders and Golden Dawn members? What I would or should do in this case is certainly a lot more challenging than thinking about a meteor destroying the earth. Why? Because I know that I should do something about it.

Fear is a powerful emotion that can get the worst of us. Two researchers have demonstrated the role of fear in the rise of the extreme rights. They “send strong and robust evidence that job loss fears foster affinity for parties at the far right-wing of the political spectrum”. At a time when unemployment and precariousness on the labour market are on the rise throughout Europe, that’s extremely worrying.

If history rhymes, then I always try to learn from our past. Here are the famous words from Martin-Niemöller about the inaction of the intellectuals and others at the time of the Nazi rise to power in Germany. What happened at his time has some similarities with the Greek extreme right messages in its flyers “after the immigrants, you’re next”:

First they came for the communists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the socialists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Catholic. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.

Looking towards the new year with hope and expections, I wish that we can all engage together in taking actions that are clear answers to “what we should do about it”.

Pierre Baussand Director