By This post is also available in: ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ (GREEK) TÜRKÇE (TURKISH)
A few days ago, a food delivery driver stopped outside the building where I live, visibly distressed and frightened, trying to reach someone on his phone. At the same time, a woman—who happened to be an acquaintance—stopped beside him and attempted to calm him down. When I went downstairs to see what was happening, the friend informed me that a group of youths, none older than 18, had thrown beer cans at him, spat on him, and turned their vehicle towards him to intimidate him. By chance, the man was not seriously injured, though the attack could easily have been fatal.
The friend told us she had witnessed the incident and immediately contacted the police. Just yesterday, to their credit, officers called her back to inform her they had located the youths and taken them to the police station for a reprimand. Regarding the incident itself, thankfully, the food delivery driver emerged unharmed from the attack by these young thugs. At the same time, whilst the Indian migrant remained in shock outside our building, four teenagers approached him, asked if he was alright, and offered their assistance.
Two worlds, two diametrically opposed worldviews, two completely different perspectives that come from their home environments. On one side, young thugs who are heading with geometric precision into the embrace of far-right parties that seek them out, and on the other, teenagers who, faced with a person’s distress and terror, consider neither his colour nor the country he comes from, but only that he is a human being in danger—and they rushed to help him, or at the very least to ask if he was alright. That alone is sufficient.
A particular political sphere incorporates these thugs into its ranks, since to be young and align with such political formations, one must possess certain “special” characteristics. On one hand, there are those who go into the unknown through ignorance, and on the other, those who consciously open the door to their natural space—that of false reaction, violence, and dangerous instincts.
From the attacks in Limassol that bear a clearly racist character to the cowardly assaults in central Nicosia, a significant portion of young people in Cyprus are being led towards personal destruction, unconditionally surrendering their personalities to opportunistic political fraudsters for personal gain—unless some of them are exploited in future to staff the reactionary forces and engage with the capital they supposedly oppose.
This article was originally published on 07.06.2025
