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	The Aggressive Tactics of the Greek Far Right, by Xenia Kounalaki Greece   At night, the streets leading to Omonoia Square are empty. That wasn"t always the case. The area was the premier multicultural neighborhood of Athens and one of the first quarters to be gentrified. Jazz bars and Indian restaurants lined the streets, separated by the occasional rooms-by-the-hour hotel.   It was a quarter full of immigrants, but also of journalists, young artists and teenagers from private schools. Today, the immigrants stay home once night falls. They are afraid of groups belonging to the "angry citizens," a kind of militia that beats up foreigners and claims to help the elderly withdraw money from cash machines without being robbed. Such groups are the product of an initiative started by the neo-Nazi Chrysi Avgi -- Golden Dawn -- the party which has perpetrated pogroms in Agios Panteleimon, another Athens neighborhood with a large immigrant population.   There are now three outwardly xenophobic parties in Greece. According to recent surveys, together they could garner up to 20 percent of the vote in elections on Sunday: the anti-Semitic party LAOS stands to win 4 percent; the nationalist party Independent Greeks -- a splinter group of the conservative Nea Dimokratia party -- is forecast to win 11 percent; and the right extremists of Golden Dawn could end up with between 5 and 7 percent. My name is Xenia, the hospitable. Greece itself should really be called Xenia: Tourism, emigration and immigration are important elements of our history. But hospitality is no longer a priority in our country, a fact which the ugly presence of Golden Dawn makes clear.   Shaved heads, military uniforms, Nazi chants, Hitler greetings: How should a Greek journalist deal with such people? Should one just ignore them and leave them unmentioned? Should one denounce them and demand that they be banned? One shouldn"t forget that they are violent and have perpetrated several attacks against foreigners and leftists.   I thought long and hard about how to write about Golden Dawn so that my article was in no way beneficial to the party. On April 12, the daily Kathimerini ran my story under the headline "Banality of Evil."   In the piece, I carefully explained why it was impossible to carry on a dialogue with such people and why I thought the neo-Nazi party should disappear from media coverage and be banned. Five days later, an anonymous reply to my article appeared on the Golden Dawn website. It was a 2,500-word-long personal attack in which the fascists recounted my entire career, mocked my alleged foreign roots (I was born in Hamburg) and even, for no apparent reason, mentioned my 13-year-old daughter.   The unnamed authors indirectly threatened me as well: "To put it in the mother tongue of foreign Xenia: "Kommt Zeit, kommt Rat, kommt Attentat!" In other words, watch your back.   Most Greeks believe that Golden Dawn has connections to both the police and to the country"s secret service. Nevertheless, I went to the authorities to ask what I should do. I was told that I should be careful. They told me that party thugs could harass me, beat me or terrorize me over the phone. It would be better, they said, if I stopped writing about them.   If I wished to react to the threats, they suggested I file a complaint against Golden Dawn"s service provider. That, however, would be difficult given that the domain is based somewhere in the United States.   A friend told me that I should avoid wearing headphones on the street so that I can hear what is going on around me. My daughter now has nightmares about being confronted by members of Golden Dawn. Three of her classmates belong to the party. The three boys have posted pictures of party events on their Facebook pages. For their profile image, they have chosen the ancient Greek Meandros symbol, which, in the red-on-black manifestation used by Golden Dawn, resembles a swastika. The group"s slogans include "Foreigners Out!" and "The Garbage Should Leave the Country!"   According to Reuters the leader of Golden Dawn, Mr Mihaloliakos told an interviewer that he did not believe that six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis. He described the figure as an "exaggeration". He said: "There were no ovens, this is a lie ... there were no gas chambers either." Holocaust denial is not illegal in Greece, but a government spokesman said he categorically condemned Mr Mihaloliakos"s remarks. Visit the related web page
	Any form of child abuse is intolerable at any time and under any circumstance by Australian media agencies Australia   Nov 2012   The Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced the creation of a national royal commission into institutional responses to instances of child sexual abuse.   Ms Gillard had been under pressure to act following growing calls for a national inquiry into recent explosive allegations by a senior New South Wales police investigator that the Catholic Church covered up evidence involving paedophile priests.   The Prime Minister said the commission would look at all religious organisations, state care providers, not-for-profit bodies as well as the responses of child service agencies and the police.   Anthony and Chrissie Foster are long-time campaigners for a royal commission into the handling of child abuse. Two of their daughters were raped by their parish priest when they were in primary school.   Emma Foster later committed suicide. Katie Foster took to drinking heavily and was hit by a car. She is now physically and mentally disabled and requires 24-hour care.   Mr and Mrs Foster told ABC News they were elated at the news of a royal commission. "We"re elated that it"s happened. We now need to see good, solid results coming out of it," Mr Foster said.   "It"s really, really important now that it moves forward very quickly, that it"s well resourced, that we don"t see it dragging on forever."   Mrs Foster says the term "abuse" is not strong enough for what happened to her daughters. "It was such a shock when we found out what had happened to Emma, and 15 months later what had happened to Katie," she said.   "Abuse is such a weak word because we are talking about the rape of little children.   "Emma was in prep, Katie was in prep or grade one, from that age, and not just a one-off, but for years.   "These were little innocent children and at the time when Emma disclosed she was only 13."   Mr and Mrs Foster say when they first confronted the church, their daughters were accused of making up the stories for money.   "There was a dismissive approach from the church," Mr Foster said.   "Sydney Archbishop George Pell phoned us and said "We won"t believe any of this, it"s all gossip until proven in court"," he said.   "Just an incredible attitude... and we subsequently came to find out that the Catholic Church knew about our daughters perpetuators back in the 1950s and had covered him up."   Former Toowoomba bishop Bill Morris told ABC news that abuse is not confined to the distant past. "I had to deal, a couple of years ago, with abuse cases within the diocese, of a teacher with regards to a number of girls, within recent history," he said.   "It is still happening and it"s also happening across our communities. "There are historical questions too, but sexual abuse is still happening."   The inquiry is expected to begin its work next year.   October 19, 2012   Catholic Church hid Crimes say Police.   Catholic clergy commit six times as much abuse as those in the rest of the churches combined, "and that"s a conservative figure", a child protection expert says.   Patrick Parkinson, a Sydney University law professor, told the Victorian state inquiry into how the churches handle sex abuse in Melbourne yesterday that the figures for the Catholic Church were strikingly out of proportion. He said those involved in cover-ups would have to resign.   Earlier, Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton set the inquiry"s opening day alight with more broadsides against the Catholic Church"s systemic obstruction of police inquiries over five decades. He said police had statistics for sexual offences by clergy and church workers since January 1956, uncovering shocking figures: 2110 offences against 519 victims, overwhelmingly perpetrated by Catholic priests and mostly against boys aged 11 or 12. But in all that time the church had not reported a single crime to police.   Savaging the church"s Melbourne Response protocol for dealing with complaints, Mr Ashton said: "If a stranger were to enter a church and rape a child it would be immediately reported to police. But if the stranger were a member of the clergy, their special process would be wrapped around him. What is different about the clergy? It is the reputation of the church that creates the difference."   He said the Melbourne Response was "based on a flawed notion of independence", with independent commissioner Peter O"Callaghan, QC, appointed and paid for by the church.   Professor Parkinson, who chaired a review of child protection laws in New South Wales and twice reviewed the church"s national Towards Healing abuse protocol, said he broke with the Catholic Church over its cover-up of his independent report on the Salesians of Don Bosco.   Speaking under parliamentary privilege, he said the order sent three priests overseas to avoid police questioning, then suppressed his report on their actions.   He told the committee an American child safety expert had called the order "the most defiant and unrepentant group" in the church.   Professor Parkinson said: "The lies were breathtaking."   Monash University child protection expert Chris Goddard lashed the "partial and tokenistic" mandatory reporting laws in Australia that carried no meaningful consequences for those who ignored them.   Professor Goddard, director of Child Abuse Prevention Research Australia, said only two people had been prosecuted since the law was introduced in 1993 for failing to report suspected abuse, and "many times loss of life has followed" that failure.   He also criticised training for child protection workers, saying that "if we had the same disorganised approach for drink-driving there would be a public outcry. There should be independent visits to church homes, independent assessments of organisations, and compulsory training."   Dr Daryl Higgins, deputy director of research at the Australian Institute of Family Studies, said victims were often not believed until they had reported the abuse five times.   Oct 2012   Police say the Catholic Church and other religious groups discourage victims of sex abuse from reporting it to police and move suspected offenders.   In its submission to the state government"s inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations, Victoria Police says victims of sexual crime are too often being talked out of reporting the matters to police, while the suspected offenders are sent elsewhere.   It is concerned the Catholic Church, instead of encouraging sex abuse victims to go to the police, is providing a financial incentive to keep the matter within church walls, the submission says.   In the last 15 years more than 30 religious leaders have been convicted of child sexual offences in Victoria.   Police said they have found recurring issues in dealing with religious organisations, with victims discouraged from reporting sexual crimes and suspected offenders moved to a different diocese or sent overseas.   They said the Catholic Church"s "Melbourne Response" - set up to assist victims - appeared to be a substitute for criminal justice.   "It has not referred a single complaint to police," the submission said.   It said the assessors were not trained or resourced to conduct criminal investigations, there was no transparency or external right of review and they may be providing inappropriate or wrong advice to victims, who are not legally represented during the process.   The victims are told that to obtain an ex gratia payment they must agree to discharge the church from further liability and not to discuss or disclose the facts and circumstances around their complaints at the risk of being sued by the church.   The submission said there was an underlying culture within the Catholic Church, and other religions, to hide accusations of abuse rather than exposing suspected offenders.   "It is in the opinion of the Police that such deliberate action should be criminalised," the submission said.   21 Aug 2012   Writing for ABC Online writer Fatima Measham notes:   "The betrayal of a sexually abusive priest is manifold. The victim is betrayed, as well his immediate and future family. The community surrounding the priest is betrayed, including teachers who cannot get past barriers put up by trauma. Other priests and religious who are good people and do good work are betrayed. The institution is betrayed, its significance and authority indelibly stained..   We must see the issue of clergy abuse as a bushfire that razed through our community and left many of our brothers and sisters homeless. We need a definitive and substantial account of how and why it happened and who were involved. It is important that the narrative includes those within the church who had tried to protect children. They must have a voice, too.   Indeed, we may still continue to support and endorse the priests and religious whom we know to be uncommonly decent human beings. But we can only properly defend them when we condemn the actions of those who betray us, and who continue to leave us bereft of moral guidance on this matter. So bring on the royal commission".   July 2012   Adults Surviving Child Abuse wants a royal commission to investigate a report the Catholic Church failed to report alleged abuse to the authorities.   An advocacy group is calling for an urgent royal commission after a report that the Catholic Church in Australia covered up sexual abuse by one of its priests.   Adults Surviving Child Abuse (ASCA) president Cathy Kezelman said the report, which was aired by the ABC on Monday, showed the Catholic Church had failed to report an alleged criminal act to the police.   "ASCA supports the call for an urgent national royal commission into religious and institutional child sexual abuse," Dr Kezelman said.   She said failure to report and bring perpetrators to account "has compounded the crimes, with more victims and repeated abuses of existing victims".   A royal commission was needed to identify the ways in which cover-ups occurred "and the cost of those cover-ups in human terms".   http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-09/officer-peter-fox-claims-catholic-church-covering-up-abuse/4362000   http://www.abc.net.au/compass/s3608609.htm   http://www.sbs.com.au/dateline/story/about/id/601616/n/Judgement-Day   * There have been calls for the leader of the Catholic church in Australia, Cardinal George Pell to accept responsibility for the abject failure of church processes and to resign.   Article 3 of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child states:   1. In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.   2. States Parties undertake to ensure the child such protection and care as is necessary for his or her well-being, taking into account the rights and duties of his or her parents, legal guardians, or other individuals legally responsible for him or her, and, to this end, shall take all appropriate legislative and administrative measures.   3. States Parties shall ensure that the institutions, services and facilities responsible for the care or protection of children shall conform with the standards established by competent authorities, particularly in the areas of safety, health, in the number and suitability of their staff, as well as competent supervision. Visit the related web page
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