the “individual incidents” framework moves to vindicate and defend the police through the argument that “even in diicult circumstances, the police does its job as best as it can”. This is a voluntarily blind approach that inescapably leads to a conscious ignorance of the issue through a “hedgehog logic” that repels questions as soon as they are posed. This sets up a dynamic in which the problem becomes bigger and bigger because it is not confronted, because it is not even conceptualized as a problem. Thus even if the problem is indeed concentrated among low-ranking police oicers, the higher ranks do not seem to appreciate this, as they try to convince others and themselves that things are ine. This is exactly what happens with racist violence in Greece: it “does not exist,” simply because it is not registered as such. Conversely, the “communicating vessels” theory has its own major laws. In the name of politically prejudiced and ideologically bound conclusions, it presents the iniltration of the Hellenic Police by the ultra-right as a done deal, a distance already covered, despite the obvious fact that there is still much distance to be covered and that course changes are possible – as the turning point with the effort to dismantle Golden Dawn ater September 2013 demonstrates. Substantial evidence of political danger has come to light, but it is counterproductive simply to characterize the entire situation as a repeat of the fascism of the wartime Security Battalions. The total fascistization of Greek security forces is a historically familiar situation, however, and the course taken before September 2013 no doubt had tended in this direction. That is precisely why changes are immediately and urgently needed (even now) in order to establish discipline and compliance, or undoubtedly the situation is destined to slip increasingly out of the control of any institution. This kind of situation is familiar to anyone who has some knowledge of modern Greek political history. Therefore it is clearly closer to reality to highlight the transitory and, inally, very volatile character of the ultra-right iniltration, instead of dogmatically presenting it as a kind of fait accompli. There are many incidents and evidence showing a consolidation of ultra-right and even Nazi ideology in informal groups (such as companies of police) and even formal structures (such as riot police platoons and certain regional police departments in Attica), but this is far from a veriication of the “communicating vessels” model. We are called upon to understand the situation as an extremely complicated process, not a given fact. Finally, we must also contend with a serious problem of documentation, one that our study also cannot avoid. The police produces actions recorded oicially (in case iles, communiqués and events iles) and unoicially (through the media). The fundamental methodological consequence is that we deal with second-hand descriptions, whether from the media or the impressions and testimonies of people who are now controlled, detained, arrested, jailed or otherwise implicated. All these descriptions require evaluation as to their credibility. MAPPING ULTRA-RIGHT EXTREMISM, XENOPHOBIA AND RACISM WITHIN THE GREEK STATE APPARATUS | 25