Hundreds of Greek nationalists attended the ceremony organised by Golden Dawn in central Athens, in honour of the French nationalist Dominique Venner, who ended his own life on 21 May 2013, in order to awaken the consciousness of the Europeans.
Dominique Venner was a lifelong French nationalist, militant, traditionalist intellectual and heavyweight historian. On 21 May 2013, at about 4 p.m., he shot himself in Notre Dame Cathedral. He had been an opponent of Muslim immigration to France and Europe, as well as the Americanization of European values.
Only hours earlier, he had left a post on his blog, on the subject of forthcoming protests against the legalisation of same-sex marriage. In the post, Venner approves of the demonstrators’ outrage at an “infamous law”, but expresses doubt as to the efficacy of street protests alone to effect social change. He rebukes the protesters for ignoring the threat of “Afro-Maghreb immigration”, which he predicted will lead to a “total replacement of the population of France, and of Europe.” He warns, “Peaceful street protests will not be enough to prevent it. […] It will require new, spectacular, and symbolic actions to rouse people from their complacency […] We enter into a time when words must be backed up by actions.”
In a letter sent to his colleagues at Radio Courtoisie, he characterised his suicide as a rebellion “against pervasive individual desires that destroy the anchors of our identity, particularly the family, the intimate base of our multi-millennial society.” He explained his decision to commit suicide inside the cathedral: “I chose a highly symbolic place that I respect and admire.” It was subsequently reported that Venner was suffering from a serious illness at the time of his suicide.
Shortly after his death was reported, a number of far-right personalities paid tribute to Venner and commended his public suicide. Marine Le Pen said: “All our respect to Dominique Venner, whose final gesture, eminently political, was to try to awaken the people of France.” Bruno Gollnisch described him as an “extremely brilliant intellectual” whose death was “a protest against the decadence of our society.”
The third anniversary ceremony in Greece began with a poem written by the Youth Front, in honour of Venner:
“He walked with awareness, sullen eyes on fire
Against the world that wanted him to lament…
“With a trumpet I bequeath to youth my ultimate experience:
With acts look for, the revolution against fate “.
The Secretary General of Golden Dawn, Nico Michaloliakos spoke about Dominique Venner, making a parallel between the act of the French writer and activist, and a Greek poet who wrote:
“If at least, among the men,
Somebody would die of disgust…”
And he raised the issue of the new memorandum that hands over to usurers even the archaeological sites in Greece, which provokes disgust.
Evangelos Karakostas, MP, then talked about the life of Dominique Venner. He was followed by members of the Youth Front, Lazaros Theodorakakis and Katerina Michalarou who read the message that Alain de Benoist wrote after the death of the great thinker, and signaled the social and human dimension of Venner.
Last was up to the podium was the director of the national newspaper “Empros” (Forward), Irene Dimopoulou, an especially good friend of the APF, who spoke in the language of the deceased, spreading to the Greek, French and European comrades, a message on the life and teachings of the French nationalist, concluding:
“Venner did not want to inspire the rest of us to take our lives, which would be absurd. But he wanted to inspire us to take courage by putting our banner forward. We all know that there are some positive steps to be taken in order to save our race, constructive action that we could take, if only we were not afraid. But if Dominique Venner conquered the fear of death to serve our people, then surely you can conquer the fears that hold you. Our duty is to ensure that his sacrifice was not in vain. Forward!”
Dominique Venner: Present!
