By ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ (GREEK) TÜRKÇE (TURKISH)
Come my “fine upstanding citizens”, “indignant citizens”, “concerned patriots”, “balanced media”, you who “keep an equal distance” and other “protesters”, say it. We’re here. We’re listening.
Tell us that the fascist attacks in Chloraka and those that took place the night before last [September 1] in Limassol were “isolated incidents”, “justified protests” and “expressions of public indignation”.
Dear fellow journalists, write, post, broadcast about “warring sides”, “incidents”, “clashes”, “opposing camps”, “Greek Cypriot residents and illegal immigrants” in the name of a non-existent “balance” and “objectivity”, which is in reality a cunning form of keeping equal distances that whitewashes the far-right bullies. There is nothing wrong with some of you finally admitting that you agree with the latter, on the contrary you will find the admission sufficiently redeeming (and how sad is it really to still be acting as if you’re “Cypriot Fox News” when even the far-right/conspiracy theorist mob you have been coddling have turned their backs on you).
Tell us that in Chlorakas and Limassol you feel insecure when you walk down the street because of migrants, and certainly not because of local thugs, bullies, hooligans and members of organised crime.
Condemn violence “from wherever it may come” in the most watered-down and vague terms, equating perpetrators and victims, because you are simply unable to condemn the former outright.
Once again call the far-right mob “a few extremists”, “a handful of brainless people”, “the other side”, “an anti-immigration march”, “demonstrators” or simply “protesters” because your tongue just can’t turn the words “fascists”, “racists” and “neo-Nazis”, for fear of being called communists or upsetting a far-right group.
Tell us that all this is the fault of those who are dragged here, who don’t sit quietly and with their heads bowed, who even want rights, who provoke with their turbans, with their allahu akbars and with the “wild look in their eyes because that’s their nature”, just as it is the fault of rape victims who get drunk and wear minis, right?
Go ahead and complain again that we are “exaggerating”, “making a fuss”, “calling anyone who disagrees with us a fascist”, “spreading the propaganda of the left”.
Pretend there are no pogroms, organised attacks, no rise of the far-right or fascist ideology, shove these attacks under the rug of the “reckless few” (just like in ’63 and ’74, after all).
Spread some more so-ridiculous-they-don’t-even-convince-an-8-year-old fake news about kidnappings of National Guardsmen, stabbings of police officers by deliverymen (did he not give them a tip?), ISIS sleeper cells in Chlorakas (quit watching so much Homeland) and a housing complex that serves as a den for drugs, prostitution and rapists (also quit watching The Wire).
Tell us again about government handouts, MIT agents, ISIS terrorists, Turkey’s hybrid war, Islamisation, the alteration of our demographics and our um… culture so that we can have a few laughs in the bleak days we live in.
Drop another stupid whataboutism like “yes, but you don’t say anything about the wanted Syrian man who met with the Minister” or “you should feel pain for the starving Cypriots” so that you can sleep better at night.
Praise the “work” of the Anastasiades decade on migration, the likes of [Nicos] Nouris, of [Marios] Pelekanos, the ridiculous barbed wire fences, the stacking of people in hellhole camps without water and soap, the abandonment of women and children out at sea or in ports, the ghettoisation of areas by settling migrants in bankrupt housing estates with no compensation of course, or the dismantling of schools such as that in Faneromeni in the name of “cleansing” the old quarters of Nicosia of migrants, but which was in effect a costly, overpriced gift to the Church that we will pay for out of our own pockets. Better still, vote for [Efthimios] Diplaros or Pelekanos as the next DISY [Democratic Rally] president and Nouris as Mayor of Nicosia so that they can complete their God-given “work”.
Repeat that Sizophrenic [Translator’s note: A word play on the name of EDEK (Movement for Social Democracy) leader Marinos Sizopoulos and the word ‘schizophrenic’] “we have to secure human rights for those who are entitled to them” because I don’t think everyone got it the first time.
Fall from the clouds again in light of the racist attacks of the last few days while you contribute to the normalisation of fascism with your misguided equalisations, your convenient silence, your tacit acceptance, your “I had nothing to do with it…” and your “yes, but…”.
For all the above, dear “fine upstanding citizens” (and for many other things of which you are more aware), you should not now complain about the effrontery of the far-right cesspool. You can’t be frightened by the snake’s spawn when you’re the ones throwing the baby shower.
