Whilst Greece might be making the news concerning Golden Dawn, here in Spain, neo-nazi groups are growing, none more so than in Madrid.
One town in particular, within the Comunidad de Madrid, is Alpedrete in the sierras to the north of the city. Here, reportedly, townsfolk are being terrorised by neo-Nazi groups, who have made the town their own.
The town is littered with Nazi-apologist stickers; road signs, lampposts and park benches. However, the Town Hall, in the hands of the PP, does not even acknowledge that there is a problem – it is as if this very-present neo-Nazi group didn’t even exist there.
The internet blog for this alarming group, Orgullo Cantero, sports such comments as “One day he will find himself with a knife in his throat and bleeding like the pig that he is,” referring to a left-wing councillor.
Furthermore, Alpedrete had the only candidate for Alianza Nacional in the area – a right-wing-extremist group, whose outlawing is being considered by Tribunal Supremo.
On the 28th of September the conservative Mayor authorized a market with stalls in the local junior school after classes. The stalls sold neo-Nazi and Franco regalia, which caused a scandal right across Spain. The conservative Mayor defended her decision to give permission for it to take place. No admonishment was sent down from the regional PP headquarter and much less by the PP Central Government.
As if that were not enough, when the extreme-right, sporting all the flags and emblems organized a party to celebrate Spain’s victory in the Eurocopa in Alpedrete, the Mayor attended and actually danced in the square with them.
The said Mayor, Marisol Casado does not recognize that there are any such organizations in the town and bases this assessment on reports issued by the Guardia Civil and the Policia Local.
“If an ecologist group sticks a poster up, they are fined; what we have here is a double standard. Two members of the 15M protest group were fined 700 euros for sticking up a poster, yet with these extremists groups, they never have any problems,” complained one local who preferred to remain anonymous.
Juan Carlos Monedero, who is a university professor of Political Science at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, says, “Fascism is a growing problem nowadays,” adding, “In Spain there is a double standard used by security forces (police) which affects how they act as public-order forces; there is tolerance for fascists symbols and behaviour within the police, well known amongst the anti-riot police. The difference between how students protesting over increased university fees are treated and how pro-Franco or fascists are, is evident. The friendliness towards skin-head football fans or the links between the Partido Popular and Francoism are worrying elements.”
He finished by saying that in times of crisis, fascism grows and that being tolerant with fascism within democracy, as was the case in the 1930’s, only encourages it.
(News: Spain)