Popular Orthodox Rally

Infobox Greek Political Party
party_name = Λαϊκός Ορθόδοξος Συναγερμός
"Laïkós Orthódoxos Synagermós"
Popular Orthodox Rally
party_articletitle = Popular Orthodox Rally
party_
leader = Georgios Karatzaferis
foundation = 14 September 2000
ideology=National conservatism,
Populism,
Euroscepticism,
Social conservatism,
National liberalism,
Greek nationalism,
Christian democracy,
Law and order

position = right-wing
international =
european = AIDE
europarl = IND/DEM
colours =
headquarters = 1, Eratosthenous & Vas. Konstantinou
116 35 Athens
website = [http://www.laos.gr/ www.laos.gr] (in Greek)

The Popular Orthodox Rally or "The People's Orthodox Rally" (Greek: Λαϊκός Ορθόδοξος Συναγερμός, "Laïkós Orthódoxos Synagermós"), often abbreviated to ΛΑ.Ο.Σ. (LA.O.S.) as a pun on the Greek word for "people", is a Greek right-wing populist political party, founded and led by journalist Georgios Karatzaferis. Karatzaferis formed LAOS in 2000, a few months after he was expelled from the centre-right liberal New Democracy.

In 2004, LAOS secured support from the Party of Hellenism and the Hellenic Women's Political Party. In 2005 LAOS absorbed the nationalist Hellenic Front [ [http://www.e-grammes.gr/article.php?id=1797 Decision of Hellenic Front, 15 May 2005] ] .

The youth branch of LAOS is the Youth of the Orthodox Rally (NEOS). The "Popular Orthodox Rally" is a member of the Independence and Democracy group (IND/DEM) of the European Parliament.

The party received 3.8% of the vote in the 2007 elections, electing 10 members of parliament. Previously, the party failed to reach the 3% threshold of the popular vote in the 2004 elections, with 2.2%; three months later it gained 4.12% of the vote and one seat in the 2004 European Parliamentary Elections.

Ideology

According to the Popular Orthodox Rally, "the demarcation of the political world in the Right Wing and the Left Wing is not relevant anymore after the end of the Cold War. Nowadays, everyone in every aspect of his or her everyday life is either in favour or against Globalization". The party consists of radically diverse groups that span the entire Left-Right political spectrum. Party president Karatzaferis, speaking on the 6th anniversary of the party's creation, stated "We are united in the only party that has in its ranks labourers and scientists, workers and the unemployed, leftists and rightists". [ [http://www.e-grammes.gr/article.php?id=2256 Georgios Karatzaferis, "6 Years Popular Orthodox Rally", 14 September 2006] ]

Karatzaferis has described Popular Orthodox Rally as "a profoundly democratic party", consisting of everything from a "pre-dictatorship Right" to a merger of Left and Right to a "Popular Liberalism" in official party literature. He has also stated that he supports "patriotism and social solidarity, taking from all ideologies and personalities I like. I don't care if it's called communism, liberalism or socialism." [http://www.athensnews.gr/athweb/nathens.prnt_article?e=C&f=13237&t=01&m=A03&aa=1 ND's nemesis is named Karatzaferis, 1 June 2007] ]

The Popular Orthodox Rally has been characterized as "far-right" [ [http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/content.asp?aid=64795 ‘French-Greek axis’ with the same extreme views, 4 January 2006] ] [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/farright/story/0,,2167883,00.html September 18 2007, The Guardian] ] [ [http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/greeks-return-firedamaged-conservatives/2007/09/17/1189881430865.html September 18 2007, The Age quoting Los Angeles Times, Reuters] ] [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/17/world/europe/17greece.html?em&ex=1190260800&en=2f5f4e0b7be1c034&ei=5087%0A September 17 2007, New York Times] ] [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/16/AR2007091600085.html September 16 2007, Washington Post] ] , "populist", "right-wing" [ [http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_columns_100032_10/08/2007_86656 "First term judged by second," 10 August 2007] ] [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2332345.ece "Wall of flame threatens to engulf birthplace of the Olympic Games," 27 August 2007] ] and "nationalist". There have been claims that Popular Orthodox Rally began as a nationalist party with an Orthodox Christian religious identity, but has steadily broken with this image since 2002. More radical nationalists, such as Konstantinos Plevris, have since then left the party, with some of them having joined Patriotic Alliance or other minor political organizations.

Of the ten Popular Orthodox Rally candidates who entered the parliament in 2007, two are considered to be part of the "nationalist bloc", Makis Voridis and Thanos Plevris. Some media raise the number of the "nationalist bloc" to four, also including: Adonis Georgiadis and Kiriakos Velopoulos. [ [http://www.ethnos.gr/article.asp?catid=5347&subid=2&pubid=133138 With Α Hard Group of Five on National Issues, 18 September 2007] ]

Platform

The main points of the Popular Orthodox Rally platform are as follows: [ [http://www.laos.gr/PROGRAM_LAOS.pdf LAOS Program, August 2007] ]

* No accession of Turkey into the European Union
* Opposition to the European Constitution and the Lisbon Treaty
* Drastic tax cuts for both individuals and small businesses
* No recognition of FYROM under any nomenclature that includes the term Macedonia.
* The formation of a realistic immigration policy based on the number of foreign immigrants Greece can welcome.

Controversy

Allegations of anti-Semitism

The now MP, Adonis Georgiades, has been accused of marketing a controversial book by far-right author and Supreme Court lawyer Konstantinos Plevris entitled "Jews: The Whole Truth" on his program on Teleasty. For this book, Plevris was indicted by the Greek District Attorney on charges of inciting racial violence [ [http://www.e-tipos.com/newsitem?id=7506 e-tipos.com - "The trial of Plevris upsets LAOS," 21 August 2007] ] . Georgiades has countered the accusations against him by saying that he sells these books like any other Greek bookstore, saying that he disagrees with the content of the book and that he has not mentioned their title or controversial content in his program. [ [http://www.iospress.gr/letters/letter20060805.htm LAOS and the Nazism of Mr. Plevris] (Ios Press, in Greek)]

According to the leftwing Ios Press, in 2001 Karatzaferis had challenged the Israeli ambassador in Greece to come and discuss the "Auschwitz and Dachau myth" with him [ [http://www.iospress.gr/mikro2001/mikro20010929.htm Ios Press - "The Karatzaferis Plan"] ] . He had also stated that the Protocols of Zion are being put into effect, [ [http://www.enet.gr/online/online_fpage_text/dt=20.10.2002,id=76848240,84927984,19454128,98978672,11563824 Eleftherotypia - "George Karatzaferis, His Struggle!," 20 October 2002] ] claimed that "the Pope and the Jews are conspiring against Greece" and suggested that "the Jews" were responsible for the 11 September, 2001 attacks.

Karatzaferis has recognized the killing of six million Jews by Nazi Germany [ [http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+CRE+20051213+ITEM-055+DOC+XML+V0//EN European Parliament debate (Tuesday, 13 December 2005 - Strasbourg)] ] and has signed a motion for a resolution against anti-Semitism and racism. [ [http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+MOTION+B6-2005-0079+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN European Parliament resolution on anti-Semitism and racism] ] . According to official party literature which Karatzaferis read before a press conference in 2007, the party "objects to every type of social marginalization, to every phenomenon of racism, intolerance, and anti-semitism and fully respects all nations and religions" [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y48TC8LAS60 "Karatzaferis' Response Regarding K. Plevris and Anti-Jewish Sentiments", Antenna] ] . During the same press conference Karatzaferis stated that he had received an invitation from the World Jewish Council to one of their events but, as the event was eventually cancelled, he was not able to attend.

Jewish candidate Mihail Gkiolman ran on the party's ticket in both the Greek local elections, 2006 and the Greek legislative election, 2007. [ [http://www.e-grammes.gr/article.php?id=2743 "The Candidates of Popular Orthodox Rally in All of Greece," 28 August 2007] ]

Position on homosexuality

According to Ios Press, Karatzaferis had related through his television broadcast in 2002 his conviction that "1/3 of Greek congressmen are passive homosexuals with Albanian stallions"." [ [http://www.iospress.gr/ios2006/ios20060325.htm Ios Press - "The Karatzaferis Plan"] ] Later on, Popular Orthodox Rally saw criticism both internally and from its voters over an apparent reversal of its stance with regards to homosexuality. Along with voting for the "European Parliament resolution on homophobia in Europe," Karatzaferis has himself met with homosexual activists and given interviews to homosexual magazines in which he said that "two adults should be able to freely live together and their relationship include certain legal recognition" and that "homophobia must be fought". [ [http://www.karatzaferis.gr/2005/april/press_220405_2.html Press Release: The President of LAOS Mr. G. Karatzaferis accepted the presiding chairs of Greek homosexuals, 22 April 2005] ]

Karatzaferis has claimed that the only internal disagreement came from the leftist Efthimios Droulias, though it is believed that such positions are partly responsible for the exodus of nationalists and conservatives from the party. Another controversy erupted when singer and LAOS candidate Efi Sarri stated "I want all the young sexy girls and boys, foreigners, and homosexuals with me. Specifically for my gay friends, I will try to guarantee safeguards of their property, when one of the two dies, through the achievement of civil marriages or some contract". According to sources with "Eleftheros Kosmos", the telephone centers of Teleasty and LAOS were flooded with thousands of indignant callers. [ [http://elkosmos.gr/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=695&Itemid=1 Eleftheros Kosmos - "Efi Sarri Divides LAOS", 31 August 2007] ]

During the 2007 elections, Vaitsis Apostolatos, a sex-therapist and TV personality who has repeatedly expressed his tolerance and open-mindedness vis-a-vis homosexuality was elected as a LAOS MP for Piraeus.

LAOS continues to support a “legal recognition” for homosexual couples but not in the form of “marriage”. When the mayor of the Greek island of Tilos presided over the first homosexual civil marriages the party released a statement deploring "the cruel reality that we are living in the society of HOMOS" (sic) and stated that the way things were going “the next step is the prohibition of heterosexual marriage for being racist and a tool for the subjugation of one sex to the other". [ [http://www.e-tipos.com/newsitem?id=38768 Eleftheros Tipos, 3 June 2008] ]

Extended arm salute

During the LAOS party convention of 2006 in Thessaloniki, presided by Georgios Karatzaferis, a participant gave an extended arm salute (resembling the Nazi salute) while the national anthem was being played, in presence of the full assembly at the closure of the conference. This motion, videotaped by a television station, predictably caused a stir in Greek public discourse and the media. Though some have made light of the fact that neither Karatzaferis nor any of the other participants in LAOS's convention "displayed the slightest reaction" at the gesture, the fact remains that there were 2,500 individuals present during the convention and no other such salute was given.

Later on, Karatzaferis claimed that he had not seen the Roman salute, and accused rival parties (specifically, New Democracy) of "planting" the person in order to discredit his party. Given that registration was open to the general public there is no conclusive evidence that the individual in question was a member or even supporter of the party.

Furthermore, even political analysts who regard the party as "far-right" acknowledge that there is "no Nazi or fascist culture here, so it is not in the mould of Jean-Marie Le Pen's party, but more populist in character". [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/farright/story/0,,2167883,00.html Far-right movement gathers strength as Greek election nears, 13 September 2007] ] In addition, throughout its entire history, the party has consistently denounced fascism. Makis Voridis has stated that Fascism and Nazism are responsible for "wantom and monstrous crimes against humanity". [ [http://www.e-grammes.gr/article.php?id=2031 Makis Voridis, Those Who Call Us Fascists are Abusive and Calumnious, 5 March 2006] ]

Popular support

Representation

LA.O.S members in the European Parliament

*Georgios Georgiou [ [http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/archive/alphaOrder/view.do?language=EN&id=39320 European Parliament archive entry for Georgios Georgiou] ]

LA.O.S members in the Hellenic Parliament

Notes

ee also

*List of political parties in Greece

External links

* [http://www.laos.gr/ Official website (in Greek)]
* [http://ekloges.ypes.gr/ Greek Ministry of Internal Affairs - Greek Election Results]