The salute seen round the world… This is what happens in a country when a generation is raised, oblivious to their own history. A soccer player– seen here using the Nazi salute after a goal– has been banned from the sport, forever, by sports officials.
Giorgos Katidis pleaded stupidity, claiming not to know what the salute meant. This is a common tactic amongst Greece’s spineless neo-fascists. The sad and ironic fact here isn’t the end of this young man’s athletic career. It’s that he’s saluting the people who slaughtered his grandparents.
A sad day in Greece. But a great opportunity for the country to act now and treat this like the real disease it is and eradicate it before it can infect a new generation.
Let’s also remember that this isn’t a Greek-only phenomenon. This kind of ultra-right wing hatred exists in full fire throughout Europe, and right here in the good ole USA… So check your glass windows before you start throwing those stones at Greece.