Tackling Extremism

A major civil society campaign in Greece, allied to a successful legal strategy, saw the far right Golden Dawn party declared an illegal organisation and its leaders jailed.

This audio package, drawn from an SCI study visit to Greece, features two of the lawyers from the landmark case: Chrysa Papadopoulou & Thanassis  Kampagiannis.

For more on the Greek experience, see the next entry on this page. Below it, see our global lessons on tacking extremism.

Golden Dawn was an extreme far right political party which rose to prominence during a period of economic crisis in Greece.

At the same time that its politicians were being elected to parliament in 2012, its armed gangs were attacking refugees, migrants and other vulnerable minorities.

To find out how the courts eventually branded it a criminal organisation after years of activism led by civil society groups, read our report here Golden Dawn - Lessons From Greece in Tackling Extremism..pdf

Below, we also summarise the civil society campaign, the lessons for activists, and the successful legal strategy.

SCI brought activists and funders from around the globe to Greece to learn how Greek civil society successfully responded to the violence of the far-right Golden Dawn party.

We also drew on the experiences of participants on our Greek study visit to identify 12 key lessons on combating hate and extremism. Find it here Global lessons on tackling othering.pdf

Hope Not Hate in Britain and the Hope and Courage Collective (formerly the Far Right Observatory) in the Republic of Ireland, challenge the promotion of far-right ideology in communities.

We asked them to define the far-right, to explain how it operates today and to advise on how it should be challenged. Find the answers to those questions here:

Disinformation is costing lives and undermining democracy around the globe, but there are steps we can take to address it.

Social change activists and funders are seeing a significant rise in disinformation, causing serious damage to community cohesion, democracy and wider stability and well-being. SCI hosted an international discussion on the issues. Find full details here.

Six Steps to Tackling Islamophobia emerged from an activist conversation on countering hate and Islamophobia which was supported by SCI and Unbound Philanthropy.

Practitioners, researchers and policy-makers at the event held in 2019 in Washington DC shared information and reflections from across Europe and the USA.

A guide to tackling Islamophobia, based on recommendations that emerged from the discussions, is available here Six steps to tackling Islamophobia.pdf