By ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ (GREEK) TÜRKÇE (TURKISH)
“There are other children in Drouseia who should be attending this school, but they are given permission by the ministry to transfer to other kindergartens and schools further away, without having the right, and they are even transported by the state itself with buses, whereas when we asked to take the school’s children on an excursion they told us that there are no suitable buses available. When they want someone to work for them… they go to the families of these children, but they do not want them to attend the same school.”
The words of the Drouseia Κindergarten Parents’ Association president, Themis Savvidou, in “Politis” condense in just a few sentences the sad state of a society that, 50 years ago, experienced to its core what it means to be a refugee. Societal racism (parents remove their children from schools attended by pupils with a migrant profile); institutional racism (the state facilitates the reallocation of Greek Cypriot pupils without them having the right to do so, evidently for “patriotic” reasons, reinforcing segregation and ghettoisation); and of course our pure, orthodox, national hypocrisy: we only want foreigners as personal slaves to do jobs we wouldn’t touch for wages we would never accept. Truly, with so many genuine Greek super duper patriots, how the hell are we still a semi-occupied homeland?
The post of the Neanderthal, failed politician of ELAM targeting kindergarten children in Drouseia has been making the rounds on the internet for four days now and nobody gives a damn. Until yesterday, the Education Ministry stated that it had no idea. The police are still investigating whether it constitutes a criminal offence if someone writes that the foreign toddlers are part of a plan(!) to replace the Greek Cypriot population while clearly posting their faces and names (well, it took them nearly two years to ask an American university if they really have a graduate by the name of Yiannakis Yiannaki from Larnaca); and the otherwise talkative President of the Republic who comments on everything from Eurovision to football didn’t find half a word to say in defence of the toddlers who were exposed to the bloodthirsty, racist mob that organised the pogroms in Chlorakas and Limassol – you see, that would spoil the anti-migration image he has built to attract the far-right votes needed for his re-election. He is trapped in his own xenophobic narrative that is leading him to a head-on collision with perhaps his only enduring ally, the UN.
For four days now the Drouseia kindergarten children have been exposed on social media and elsewhere because of their origin and names (we are talking about babies, damn it) and NO ONE is sensitised to the issue, lest they be accused of “wanting the irregulars” and suffer a political cost. Just think that AKEL asked the police for an update on the incident only today; the others don’t even bother, they are busy self-flagellating for not being tough enough on migration to avoid bleeding votes to ELAM (that is the message received from the recent elections, mind you). One thing worse than the Michaloliakos orphans (from whom you expect nothing less) is the institutional silence that embraces their every new racist rant. [Editor’s note: Nikos Michaloliakos is the convicted leader of the extreme far-right party in Greece, Golden Dawn (Chrysi Avgi).] No protest, no reaction, no hard-hitting statement, just some reflexive announcements from the Children’s Rights and Personal Data Protection Commissioners simply pointing out the obvious.
Of course, neither of them has the power to send the bully to prison where he belongs. Those with the power unfortunately don’t care. You see, exposing a handful of foreign toddlers to every psycho is not as important as, say, your minister whining on (then) Twitter that some evil troll commented negatively on her dad’s clothes. Then, of course, you should set up a whole fiasco operation to track down the troll and barge into the house of a teacher unrelated to the case and take her down to the station in the middle of the night. But it’s not right to bother the police with such trivial matters. They’re busy reading the instruction manual sent to them by the Chief [of police] about answering calls on the fucking emergency lines within 10 seconds – oh, and about speaking politely, taking complaints seriously and not forwarding calls to irrelevant services. My little darlings are now learning the basics, let’s not confuse them and I don’t know… lose a life?
Not a single person bothered to think that maybe some of these brute thickheads would take the replacement bullshit a little more patriotically (which I wish there was a plan to replace all the fascist jerks with, e.g. trees that produce oxygen instead of stealing it) and gather outside the school with threatening intentions, write slogans on the walls, terrorise the kids, or worse? Then the “people in charge” would theatrically slap their hand on the table and condemn the event in disgust… only to hastily add “yes, but migration is also out of control”, so as not to upset the upstanding citizens.
I will agree with the ‘ELAMtramp’s’ post on only one thing, the point where he writes that we will become strangers in our own country. He’s absolutely right, I no longer recognise most of the people around me due to the evil-heartedness that surrounds them…
