TheCopenhagenPost
June 13th, 2015

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Georgios Epitideios, from the Greek ultra-nationalist party Golden Dawn, was on Bornholm this morning (photo: Ray Weaver)

It would be a stretch to call this morning’s meeting at Folkemødet featuring Daniel Carlsen from Danskernes Parti, Georgios Epitideios from the Greek ultra-nationalist party Golden Dawn and Yvan Benedetti – whose organisation, l’Œuvre française, has been banned in France – a debate.

It was more a collection of like-minded men promoting their brand of exclusionary policies for their respective countries and patting each other on the back for doing so.

Carlsen, the party leader for Danskernes Parti, invited the other party bosses to Folkemødet to discuss nationalism.

The crowd of about 50-60 people consisted mostly of journalists, photographers and other members of the media, with only a few obvious supporters in attendance.

“We need a strong Europe, a co-operating Europe, but not as we see it today,” said Carlsen. “We want to promote nationalism in every single European country.”

Send them back
Much of the talk centred around the mass influx of refugees being rescued from the Mediterranean. All three on the panel were in agreement that the current idea of finding a way to divide the refugees between European countries was exactly the wrong way to go.

Epitideios said every nation in Europe is facing a problem with illegal immigrants from non-European countries.

“Europeans share the same values and ethics and we must protect those values,” he said.

Carlsen said that the people from the boats should never touch European shores.

“Europe doesn’t have a common responsibility to share the immigrants,” said Carlsen. “We have a common responsibility to stop the immigration and send the immigrants back.”

Benedetti, the day’s most passionate speaker, said that wars in Africa were at least partly the result of American imperialism in the region that “supported Islam” and that Europe was paying the price.

“We don’t call them immigrants anymore,” he said. “They are invaders that can go anywhere they want once they arrive at a Mediterranean coast. Europe’s door has been destroyed and we need to fix it.”

Carlsen called on European nations to quit squabbling over territory and focus on what he and his partners on the dais saw as the larger problem of multiculturalism.

“European people will be extinct if we do not do something now,” he said.

False accusations
Criminal charges, including murder, have been filed against Golden Dawn in Greece. Epitideios said they were nothing more than bogus attacks created by his opponents.

“One way that all totalitarian regimes try to eliminate their opponents is to make false accusations,” he said. “We are waiting for the trial so we can disprove these baseless accusations.”

Epitideios said the government in Greece was afraid of the power that Golden Dawn is gaining in his country.

Carlsen said is was “scary” that a legal political party in a European country would be “persecuted” in such a fashion.

“Amnesty International has their tent right over there, but you don’t see them standing up for the rights of Golden Dawn despite the fact their members are being put in jail without any charges,” he said.

“Nothing”
Benedetti also supported Golden Dawn in their struggle against “the totalitarian regime” in Greece and renewed his call for closed borders.

“If you have an apple tree, but do not know whose land it sits on, neighbours will fight over the apple,” he said. “If there is a border, and you know which side the apple has fallen on, then there is no argument.”

In his most direct statement, Benedetti said that an immigrant who arrived in Europe from his home country with “nothing” will always be “nothing”.

“He has nothing to go home to, and he will never be accepted here. He is nothing.”