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The foundering Greek government, in a state of disastrous financial decay, has begun referring victims of crime to the fascist Golden Dawn party for protection.

The Guardian reports on the experience of a civil servant who went to police with complaints about immigrant neighbors from Albania:

"They immediately said if it's an issue with immigrants go to Golden Dawn," said the 38-year-old, who fearing for her job and safety, spoke only on condition of anonymity. "We don't condone Golden Dawn but there is an acute social problem that has come with the breakdown of feeling of security among lower and middle class people in the urban centre," she said. "If the police and official mechanism can't deliver and there is no recourse to justice, then you have to turn to other maverick solutions."

The Guardian also reports that Golden Dawn, which recently opened a New York office only to immediately have its website and phones attacked by Anonymous, also assists the poor and infirm with social outreach, providing food and clothing--in return for loyalty to the party.

Golden Dawn's savvy in capitalizing on widespread anger at Greek austerity measures has led to a recent 10 percent rise in the positive opinion about the party, which currently holds 18 seats in the Greek parliament.

The rise of a formerly fringe far-right nationalist party in an economically devastated European nation is not new; it happened in Germany after World War I.

Financial writer Robert Gottliebsen noticed this parallel in May and published "A Weimar warning for Greece" in Australia's Business Spectator. Mr. Gottliebsen didn't mention Golden Dawn but he didn't need to. Referring to the economic devastation across the country he noted that "[out] of such chaos comes political political movements of the extreme left or extreme right."

Mr. Gottliebsen noted that 1920s Germany flirted with the extreme left, but ultimately chose the opposite. He concluded with a warning:

Greece has all the ingredients for a Weimar Republic if it exits the euro and its new currency becomes worthless... then Weimer Republic style chaos will be its destiny.

American neo-nazis are watching the rise of Golden Dawn. The following video was recently posted in a discussion of the party on the white supremacist message board Stormfront.org. It was posted on YouTube in late July by "Race Realist GR," who wrote that the video was from a "closed meeting of Golden Dawn."

We can't be certain of the validity of the translation, but the first speaker appears to call Golden Dawn 'a flaming river' which will sweep away 'whatever has deprived us from dignity, freedom and the Greece of our dreams.'

The uploader, whose full description of the video appears supportive of the neo-nazis, continued, "I translated one of these to show you the booogie-men who will destroy Greece and Europe lest we stick to the EU-ECB-IMF-MULTI-CULTI-GOD-SAVE-THE-BANKERS plan."

Even if the English subtitles are inaccurate, the red and black flags, the swastika-like symbol and the stagecraft speak louder than words.

On AntiRacistAction.org, the group stated the alleged motivation behind the incident:

On Saturday, May 19th a group of 30 anti-fascists descended upon Ashford House restaurant in the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park where the 5th annual White Nationalist Economic Summit and Illinois White Nationalist Meet-and-Greet was taking place. The White Nationalists were targeted inside the restaurant and physically attacked, causing several injuries and completely shutting down their meeting. The anti-fascist group was privy to anonymous inside information. This fascist event had been in secret planning for six months. The attendees have attempted to cover up the true intent of the event with mainstream media reports initially reporting the white nationalist conference as a wedding party and then as an Irish heritage meeting. The event was advertised on www.stormfront.org, an established white nationalist fascist internet forum.

The apparent other side of this story developed in the comments section of an article by the Tinley Park Patch, one of AOL's subsidiary websites devoted to "hyper-local" news. The attack was reported there (and elsewhere) as a strange, random incident possibly linked to the Occupy-associated anti-N.A.T.O. protests that have been revving up in downtown Chicago since mid-week.

A message thread at Stormfront.org dating back to April matches Anti-Racist Action's statements regarding the date and nature of the meeting. User "Sgathaich" posted about the event on April 3 and added, "If you are a business owner/self employed bring your info. All ideas are welcome. White's working for White's [sic]. White's supporting White's [sic]. We are taking back what is ours."

Tinley Park Mayor Ed Zabrocki told the Chicago Tribune late Saturday that authorities were not certain about connections between the groups or the attackers' motivations.

The Tribune reported three of the injured were taken to the hospital. Others refused medical attention.

The Chicago paper also reported that one of the three vehicles that fled the scene was pulled over on W. 159th and five people were taken into custody.

Tinley Park's Patch quoted an employee inside Ashford House when the attack took place. "Tables were being thrown and chairs were broken," said the employee. Unknown words were also spray-painted on a wall during the melee.

The same unnamed employee told Patch that the woman who made reservations for the group that was attacked claimed they travel the country touring 'Irish festivals.'