Mahallas

Xenophobia, nationalism and collective memory

2010-01-23T17:27:00.011+02:00

Our aim, for this month, has been to better understand xenophobia in Cyprus - its root causes and its manifestations. In a recent post, Pi noted that national identity is one of the most important factors underlying our fear of the other, the foreign, that which is not us. I think that national identity is worth exploring a bit further and especially in its connection to collective memory - how we remember historical events. At the end of the post, Pi writes that Cypriots are racists, because "so many other races conquered and ruled our island this has developed into a complex of ours which has turned as into fierce racists!" I think that is another statement we need to explore further.

The formation of national identity is a process too complex and controversial to fully describe here, but a crude outline will do for the purposes of this post. An important part of the process is that it is based on a series of exclusions, as decisions need to be made about who is allowed to belong to this community called "nation". Even though criteria vary between times and places, they usually include language, religion and customs - attributes that would denote common origin. Membership in Hellenismos, for example, is largely contingent on speaking the Greek language and being Christian-Orthodox. Anyone not fulfilling these criteria is likely to be refused access to that particular national community.

From the above, there is an obvious need to create a series of narratives that tell the story of the continuation of the nation through time. In Hellenismos, a narrative begins in antiguity, passes through Byzantium in the middle ages, touches the Greek Revolution of Independence and the formation of the Greek State and ends in today, linking Socrates to every living person speaking the Greek language. These narratives of identity are passed on to every Greek person through history, literature, art and national commemoration and thus remain in the collective memory.

Another important part of this process is how these narratives are structured. This is where Pi's statement is very relevant. In the narratives of identity, the nation is always in danger from the outside and in need of protection. A dualism is created whereby "we" are protecting "our nation" from the "others". Every person that wants to be considered a member of the nation must thus accept these others as their own personal enemies. At the same time, a constant fear is instilled that the nation is under attack, whether it be by the foreign politician looking to pass a law, the foreign media altering the traditions or the immigrant messing with the economy. The rise of nationalism in Cyprus since the end of the nineteenth century has made its people, as Pi points out, afraid of all foreign actions because of the damage they may cause.

A measure to fight xenophobia, therefore, is to rid ourselves of these oppositional narratives. One way to achieve this is to change the way history is recounted in them, as a number Cypriot academics who have placed the teaching of history in state schools in both communities under scrutiny suggest (see report here). Another way is to allow for a multiplicity of perspectives on the history of Cyprus to be heard. Completely different histories emerge.

This post was, infact, prompted by this hour-long documentary on the Greek-Cypriot diaspora in the UK, prepared by Lia Yiakoumi, detailing the setup of the Cypriot expatriate community in London from the 1940s on. The narrative here is not one of a glorious nation under threat; it is, rather, one of a number of individuals using their ethnic identitiy as a means for helping each other during difficult times. It is also a completely different perspective on the history of Cyprus from the 1950s on: the focus is on human pain and deprivation. In relation to xenophobia on the island, the documentary raises a big question: how can a country with so many emigrants in its recent past be so hostile towards immigrants today?

Gender and Racism: Human Trafficking in Cyprus

2010-01-18T13:55:00.009+02:00

The European Court of Human Rights, with a ruling on January 7th 2010, found Cyprus and Russia guilty of violations of Human Rights in relation to sex trafficking in the case of Oxana Rantseva. Rantseva was in Cyprus with an "artiste visa" and was found dead in March 2001. Her father brought both countries to the ECHR demanding that an investigation of the circumstances of her death be investigated.

According to Jurist, "the ECHR ruled that Cyprus did not have a proper framework in place to prevent sex trafficking and that authorities had reason to know the woman may have been a victim on sex trafficking and did not do enough to protect her" (see ECHR chamber judgement here).

The Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies, which is based in Cyprus and acts, in many ways, as a watchdog for Cypriot social policy relating to gender, has played a key role in bringing the issue of sex trafficking to the attention of the Government and the public (see the report here). In its recent press release on the issue, MIGS has warned that a more nuanced approach must be adopted by the Cypriot Government in the form of more concrete policies if sex trafficking is to be combated effectively. MIGS suggests that "the Cyprus Government must formulate policies that take into account the continued operation of high risk establishments, the demand for sexual services, and, finally, the critical question of inequality between women and men".

The issue of sex trafficking is intimately related to our theme of the month, xenophobia. It is another example (See also Christos P's recent post) of how gender (as well as ethnicity) is used by some Cypriots (citizens as well as members of government) to place value on human life and hence define the rights of (voluntary and involuntary) immigrants and the protection of these. It is a reminder of the conceptual hierarchies that exist in Cypriot society based on a series of characteristics that define a person's opportunities in this country. Conceptual hierarchies that are constructed and perpetuated through culture, including education, the family and the media.

The Government's response must not remain within the boundaries of the legal system. It must be simultaneously broad, so as to cover all the cultural and social sites in which these conceptual hierarchies - sexism, homophobia, xenophobia - are formed and propagated, and in-depth, so as to uproot their underlying causes.

At the same time, the ECHR ruling should weigh heavily on the shoulders of all Cypriots and act as a clarion call for action from the level of the individual. Each person is responsible for identifying and preventing the different -phobias from creating exclusion, whether this be at home, in the workplace or in a group of friends. "Calling out" exclusionary actions or remarks goes a long way in preventing their effects or, at least, their recurrence.

Haiti: a country with an emergency but also with a culture

2010-01-16T12:51:00.006+02:00

There are always more perspectives to a story. In a recent lecture I was attending on critical theory of International Relations, the lecturer described how different colonial and post-colonial studies would have been if countries were not merely described in terms of statistics like GDP or HDI or how much poverty and AIDS exists in some countries. More specifically he described a lecture where instead of numbers, one speaks of the local culture and the local traditions. Women by the river singing a much loved song. Men sitting together after a long day in the fields. How much would our perception of that country change? The answer is simple: a lot.

Providing aid is not just about feeling sorry for a human being in need. It would have been much more effective if one could find things about a country, its people and its practices and thus relate more to the 'other'.

Here is my contribution today. As soon as I heard about the Haiti earthquake, instead of automatically thinking about the fact that Haiti is the 2nd poorest country in the Western hemisphere according to the 2009 International Monetary Fund Report, I felt compassion for a country with a much bigger depth than this.

Haiti has been the first black republic in the world. That means that in 1804, Haiti's population was the first in the world to rebel against the injustice of racism and abolish black slavery. It is no longer the country out of nowhere, and it is no longer in this sense 'another country with another humanitarian emergency' that leads to a sense of compassion fatigue from the generic news representation of such crises. I believe it makes a lot of difference to see how important this country, and any country, has been both historically and culturally and it definitely gives a much different angle to the importance of the news we hear as the tragedy unfolds.

Plato's Academy

2010-01-12T14:43:00.003+02:00

Plato's academy is a greek production related to xenophobia, the theme of this month.
There is a showing at cinestudio (Nicosia) on Thursday 14/01/2010.
Kafentzopoulos won an award for his performance and although I haven't seen it I recommend it since I read some good reviews for it.

It's about a middle-aged greek shop owner who is vividly xenophobic and even racist before he comes to realise that he actually comes from Albania.

If someone does go could you please give us some feedback?

Evident racism when there are no real problems by migration

2010-01-11T20:15:00.005+02:00

I have two points to mention in this post:

1. That I have read an academic article concerning British racism in the 50s - 60s I think, and there was one thing that struck me the most:
That at many times, demonstrations and violence between British and migrants occurred and was induced by political parties or municipal authorities .
But the thing was that this was happening at a period when there were no big problems occuring due to migration: migrant numbers were not big, and there were no big unemployment rates among the British.

So this is leading to one realisation that can be used positively and negatively: That these feelings of racism are cultivated among the people and can easily cause problems and clashes and violence, even at a period where there is no apparent reason for this to happen.

If this is the case, it should also mean that if these feelings are cultivated and induced, they can also be removed, meaning that you can make people see that there are no big problems stemming from migration.

Thus ,we can believe that the median civilian of a country , if informed correctly and in an organised way , can stay away of racist and xenophobic feelings.

2. This should make us observe each time racism is evident, in order to see through the facts and try and locate the real reasons behind such moves.
Who motivates these demonstrations and why?

By finding out the real reasons behind these moves, one can become more convincing when trying to tell another that :' the reasons you are racist for, are not there in reality, but some other interests are'

What is xenophobia exactly?

2010-01-08T11:29:00.005+02:00

Even though xenophobia is quite a common word (and with greek roots!), when I got round to discussing its meaning with a friend we both soon realised that the term is not as clear as we thought. If you break it down to its literal meaning (xeno=foreign and phobia=fear) then it is a fear of anything foreign. With that logic we should experience xenophobia with anything which is dissimilar to ourselves. But then, what counts as dissimilar? It could be a dog (!), it could be a person from a different age group, or even a person with 9 fingers. We're not afraid of these things though, are we?

Xenophobia is a word that has come to be related more often than not to racism. So, in a way, it is experienced at a national identity level. National identity is a strong glue that holds together people. As members of a specific group with solidarity, people hold certain characteristics which are then easy to identify when in contact with other groups. A strong sense of identity unavoidably clashes with anything different and hence comes ‘fear’ of a foreign group (xenophobia).

BUT in Cyprus, one of the most racist countries in Europe, there is no such strong sense of identity (in my opinion). Xenophobia and racism stems from something else which I’m finding a hard time to pinpoint. We are not an economically challenged country so that cannot be blamed. I once joked by saying that we are so negative towards any foreigners because of our past history as the whore of the Mediterranean, i.e. because so many other races conquered and ruled our island this has developed into a complex of ours which has turned as into fierce racists!

I’ve rambled on for more than I had wished. The aim of my post was to start a discussion on what is xenophobia exactly and why is it so ever present in the Cypriot society. What do you think?

Housekeeping and Xenophobia

2010-01-08T13:33:00.004+02:00

In the most well known greek dictionary by Prof. Mbambiniotis, it used to be the case (not sure whether it is still true) that the word Philippineza (i.e. the person that comes from the Republic of the Philippines) had as a synonym the word housekeeper. This had as a result that the president of the the Republic of the Philippines made a complaint. I don't know whether he actually changed it or not but the point I want to make in this post is related to this fact.

A lot of families in Cyprus recruit people from poorer or more economically challenged countries as housekeepers. Most of them refer to them when speaking to fellow Cypriots or other members of their closed community as 'our girl' or 'our philippineza' or the equivalent for the country they come from although they actually are in one way or another, members of the household/family. Very few people refer to them with their names. This actually occured strongly to me when I had a conversation with my mother and she referred to my uncle's housekeeper with one of the above adjectives. When I asked her why doesn't she call her by her name she actually realised that she doesn't even know it. This in my understanding is a form of xenophobia/racism significantly present among all of us in Cyprus.

We treat these people as being unequal to us superhuman Cypriots and one way of expressing this is the incident I mentioned above. I believe that by calling them or refering to them by their names is a very good starting point in order to face and maybe overcome this form of xenophobia.

I don't know whether you people noticed it or agree with me but I guess Mahallas.com is a good place to find out.

Xenophobia in Cyprus: Time for introspection?

2010-01-08T09:59:00.008+02:00

The inspiration for our neighbourhood's new theme of the month was provided by the recent anti-racist march organized in Nicosia on the 27th of December 2009 by the Cypriot Anti-Fascist Initiative. The march, attended, according to Cyprus Mail, by between 700 and 1000 people, was the appropriate response to the recent highly visible rise in xenophobia in Cyprus. Appropriate, yes; but adequate? Definitely not. The ANTIFA march highlighted that, despite its willingness, Cypriot society is largely unprepared to deal with xenophobia. It is, perhaps, time for introspection for Cyprus - a time to inquire into the whys and hows of this phenomenon that are specific to our island and how we can uproot them.

The article by Cyprus Mail describing the events of the day can be found here:

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/we-ll-come-night-and-find-you-traitor/20091229

It seems to me that three important points were made by the ANTIFA march to everyone watching. The first was that there will be a response to every racist and xenophobic action by even the smallest fraction of the population. Small fraction, indeed; because the second point made was that for every ELAM sympathiser, there were ten protesters. Most importantly, however, the march made clear that racism "will not pass" in Cyprus, as symbolically the ELAM march was prevented from going through Makariou Street. In this respect, the march was the appropriate response for the day - a strong and loud Nicosia against xenophobia.

At the same time, however, the march revealed that a lot more work needs to be done if Cyprus is to respond to xenophobia adequately - that is, to show unity and political will; to make it a priority and to deal with it on a national level. Several notable individuals attended the march. Among them were the city's Mayor and representatives of several political parties, trade unions and NGOs. Some of these groups boast strong leadership and political power, as well as membership in the hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands. It felt as if none of these resources were mobilized; none of the members of these organizations asked to contribute, or even asked to come down to the march.

This is, perhaps, indicative of the fact that xenophobia is not one of these organizations' priorities at this point. This is where, it seems, introspection is most necessary. Racism and xenophobia - like all other -phobias - are all-pervasive; they affect every individual and every organization. They are everyone's problem. They are even a national problem, insofar as they prevent the rapprochement and reconciliation efforts so vital to our country. That is why every person and every organization should to their part, why alliances need to be formed between organizations, and why the government must step up and support these initiatives.

A good starting point is to uncover the whys and hows of xenophobia and to realize how it is our problem. In many ways, new-fascism is a global phenomenon and one that is observed in many new European economies. And yet it also has its particularities in our country, with its troubled history and its fantasies of race purity and Great Ideas. We can even go to the level of the community or the individual and look for reasons there.

Mahallas.com is a small community. Its recent get-together, that in fact took place on the same day as the ANTIFA march, showed that its contributors are a particularly diverse group with varied interests and ideas and a passion for sharing them. As such, it provides the perfect forum for exploring issues of such as ethnicity, nationalism, economy, psychology and society - all of which play their own part in the creation of xenophobia in Cyprus.

Xenophobia in 6 year old kids

2010-01-07T23:57:00.004+02:00

Xenophobia is a global phenomenon and, unfortunately, we can find a lot of examples.. I work as a teacher for 4 years in Greece and racist behaviour among young children is a common paradigm. These primary school children are certainly not responsible for that as what they do is "carry out" what they learn from home, from their "adult" parents and other relatives. This year, I saw and heard the most striking example of racism in elementary school. In my class (A’ class!) there is a little girl (X) whose mother is from Africa, so she has a dark skin. I often saw her on breaks being on her own. In my effort to help her socialise more, I approached another girl from the class (T) and I urged her to play with X. I was really unprepared and shocked by her response which was: “my mother told me not to play with black children”!!! I got sooooooooo angry, not with the child, but the mother! Even more frustrating and irrational I thought of the reply when I remembered that T has an origin from Albania and not from Greece (hence she also has immigrant parents)! The responsibility for cultivating antiracist culture lies on all of us, especially when we are related in some way with young children.. As a teacher I feel my duty heavy and my wish is to work at some stage in the future in schools where the xenophobic and racist elements are eliminated.