In case you doubted the inevitable rise of nationalism, the fact that the EU states are resorting to legal charades and Soviet-style show trials to keep the nationalist opposition out of electoral office should suffice to prove otherwise.
Multiple European Union states are breaking with post-war liberal conventions and openly imprisoning prominent political opponents and intellectuals for ideological crimes.
The tactic being used by these governments is “rule through law,” as opposed to rule of law. The strategy is commonly deployed in nations like Saudi Arabia against journalists, intellectuals and opposition figures who are targeted for repression first, then selectively prosecuted using often vaguely defined existing laws after.
Greece
Earlier today a judge in Athens condemned almost all of Golden Dawn’s elected officials, including sitting European parliament member Ioannis Lagos, to years in prison. Nikos Michaloliakos, Golden Dawn’s General Secretary, was given 13 years for a RICO-style charge that alleged his patriotic Greek party, which until recently was the third most popular in the country, is a criminal organization.
Michaloliakos was not tied to any specific crime, but prosecutors used editions of his group’s magazine featuring articles about Germany during World War II from the 1980s and 90s to argue that their political ideas were a form of violence in and of themselves.
In a public statement published to the Golden Dawn website Michaloliakos blamed the court’s ruling on Golden Dawn’s sudden electoral rise in 2013, stating “They say we are a criminal Nazi organization. [If that’s true] why did they wait 30 years to charge us?”
He accurately pointed out that Golden Dawn was never accused of being a criminal organization since its founding in the 1980s. It was only after May 2012, when the party achieved 7{5c1a0fb425e4d1363f644252322efd648e1c42835b2836cd8f67071ddd0ad0e3} of the vote, that the Greek state decided it was time to arrest them in 2013.
All that the neoliberals will accomplish is to reveal their own fascism and democratic illegitimacy. These are acts of desperation and fear, they are indications that the neoliberals know the end of their era is rapidly approaching.