Troll of the Month - Failos Kranidiotis

The Troll of the Month is an individual chosen every month to expose racist and anti-religious haters and to portray what can be done in response to fight against intolerance in Europe.

Failos Kranidiotis is the president of far-right political party New Right (Nea Dexia) in Greece. Alongside this, he is also the author of various articles published by the popular news platform newsbreak.gr and has been seen to spread anti-Muslim, antisemitic and anti-refugee content in his pieces. 

Recently, Kranidiotis wrote an article in regards to the death of Mahsa Amini in Iran and the upsurge of protests both within the county and internationally. In the article, Kranidiotis goes into the various reasons as to why the headscarf is a ‘source of oppression’ for women and argues that such religious symbols should be banned in the West. He goes on to negatively label individuals who actively promote and uphold religious freedom and the freedom of choice for women to wear the headscarf as ‘feminazi hysterical activists’. According to him, Islam is oppressive to its people and a threat to the Western values if allowed and tolerated.  

Furthermore, Kranidiotis makes a dangerous and problematic comparison claiming that the headscarf is indeed no different to the swastika and the hammer and sickle; symbols which he labels as ‘different manifestations of totalitarianism’. The article ends with a very clear and direct message in bold reflecting the position of Kranidiotis: ‘ban now!’. 

A history of Islamophobic narratives 

This is not the first time Failos Kranidiotis has made problematic statements spreading religious hate speech. Last March, Kranidiotis wrote an article for the same news platform, newsbreak.gr where made clear, discriminatory, binary opposite comparisons of Ukrainian and Middle Eastern refugees. Using problematic comparative stances, Kranidiotis only further contributed to the already-prevailing discriminatory atmosphere regarding the refugee situation within Europe.  

According to the European Islamophobia Report conducted in 2018, the New Right (Nea Dexia) party, often speaks ‘openly against Islam, immigrants and refugees in general’. Furthermore, Failos Kranidiotis repeatedly talks about the idea of an ‘Islamic colonisation of Greece and Europe’ – a reflection of the Great Replacement theory.  

Kranidiotis is a politician, lawyer and columnist and therefore, holds a certain degree of power and influence over public opinion. Bearing in mind that this is not the first time Kranidiotis has openly spread anti-Muslim and discriminatory narratives in the media, he is a reoccurring troll and culprit of religious hate speech. Individuals such as himself, should hold a level of moral responsibility and accountability of their actions. Publishing articles like this one only permits these Islamophobic narratives to go unchallenged and thereby, further justifies these views and opinions. Instead, the media should be active in reacting appropriately to these narratives and ensure that there are appropriate mechanisms and consequences in place to prevent the spread of Islamophobia.  

How can we counteract such narratives?  

The article, viewpoint and narratives shared by Failos Kranidiotis are extremely problematic for a number of reasons. Presenting a religious garment such as the headscarf as an item of oppression only feeds into Islamophobic, anti-Muslim rhetoric which holds little to no truth. The truth is that women and all individuals from all walks of life should have the liberty, right and autonomy to choose what they wish to wear and not wear.  

The recent events in Iran are extremely emotional and tragic, and many individuals and organisations have been standing in solidarity with the freedom protests within the country. In times like these it is extremely important to come together as a unit and fight for the freedom, respect, and liberty of individuals especially when these freedoms are restricted and threatened.  Equally, it is also vital to stress that such events should not be misinterpreted as opportunities to spread Islamophobic narratives and religious hate speech.