Described by the press in Europe as violent neo-Nazi thugs, Golden Dawn’s closest ideological allies are those of Marine Le Pen’s French National Front. The media the world over has labeled them fascists, whatever that is. They are anti-immigrant”€”an estimated 10 percent or more of the Greek population is from Africa and the subcontinent and subsists off the state”€”and they are anti-EU. That is it.

Athens needs to clean up the corruption and crony capitalism that have been at the root of the country’s problems. This is not being done, no matter what the present government says in order to keep the vultures of the EU coming up with the billions needed to pay the nation’s debts. The last five years have seen the EU impose austerity measures that hurt mostly the poor. And just to show the extent of the government’s lies, if Greece got into trouble by owing 113% percent of its GDP back in 2008, after five years it now owes 170% of its GDP, but the government calls that an improvement. (Again, where is Kafka?)

Such shenanigans are nothing new for Greeks. The public has always been deprived of real information, as the economic and political elites control television, newspapers, and news sites. The latest news I”€™ve had from my birthplace is a campaign by the left against yours truly, naming me as a big financial supporter of Golden Dawn, a party to whom I have never given a penny. Using the yellowest press in Europe against an individual is nothing new. Thirty years ago, I was described as a tool of the CIA maligning my birthplace and the anti-Americanism that was then prevalent among Greeks. Now I”€™m financing thugs against the ruling elite. It’s par for the course. The Greek people should demand an end to deception and corruption. Instead, journalists are looking for scapegoats and killing the messengers.