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Racism and Prejudice - The Plight of Albanian Immigrants in Greece.
by Vickii Onabolu, London, U.K
To know others is knowledge, to know yourself is enlightenment - (Old Chinese Proverb)
If we were to play a word association game where we had the phrase 'racism and prejudice', and we had to link it with events in the world, past or present, what would we come up with? I suspect that some of our foremost thoughts would be the pre-civil rights treatment of African Americans, or apartheid in South Africa. On further speculation, we might remember the plight of the Native Americans in the US, or the Native Indian population in Canada or even recall hundreds of news stories reporting race-related violence against the Asian community right here in the UK. Basically, we would realise that racism and prejudice still exists everywhere today. It can be argued that it is just as pervasive as it ever was, except that we now realise that it is wrong. Right?
The idea for this article stemmed from personal experience. Having spent summers in Greece, year after year, I noticed that there existed a prejudice against Albanian immigrants in Greece. Racist slurs and derogatory comments were often heard, and this was just among friends and family. Researching with the aim of bringing to light this prejudice, it was difficult to find any concrete evidence about public resentment against Albanian immigrants, but there were a lot of humanitarian causes that were concerned with a system that is aware of racism and prejudice against certain sectors of society, but have as yet done little to improve the situation .
It is estimated that there are approximately 700,000 immigrants now living in Greece, most of them are Albanians looking for a better life after the collapse of the Albanian communist regime in 1991. An Athens newspaper, To Ethnos estimates that up to 300,000 of them are considered illegal immigrants by the Greek government.
The humanitarian organisation Amnesty International expressed concern last year about a continuing pattern of abuse and ill-treatment of Albanian immigrants by Greek police, border guards and soldiers. In a public statement issued on 14 November 2003, they reported several incidents involving unprovoked violence against Albanian immigrants by Greek officers and soldiers. They provide details of 12 such attacks including one fatality. 18-year old Vullnet Bytyei, from the Has district in Albania was shot by a Greek border guard on the 23 September 2003. He was unarmed.
Ferhat Ceka, a 67-year old Albanian man recalls, "They told me to lie face down on the ground. When I did this, they began to kick me and beat me with their rifle-butts on my side, back and shoulders. I said: 'Please, I'm an old man, please don't hit me'. After they had well and truly beaten me, two soldiers told me to get up. I got to my feet. One of them approached me from behind with a pistol in his hand and said: 'Walk on ahead', and as I raised my right foot to take the first step, he shot me with the pistol and again told me to walk on. As I lay wounded on the ground, they said to me: 'Now run off to Albania'..."
Some look to the rising crime figures as a justification for such actions by the Greek police, but as Holly Cartner, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia Division states: All migrants have rights. Rights equal to those we all experience simply by the virtue of our being human, and it goes without saying that if an immigrant was involved in an unprovoked attack by the police in any Central European country, there would be an uproar. Why then, can we not afford Albanian immigrants the same courtesy?
A considerable number of Greeks will respond again by referring to crime. It is widely believed that Albanian immigrants are the perpetrators of a large amount of crime in Greece. Andrew Danopoulos attributes this widely held view, using Athens as an example to the fact that, Athens attracts many Albanian migrants because the capital presents a wide range of employment opportunities. As immigrants accumulated into the old, dilapidated Athenian city districts, Greek citizens began avoiding the areas and marked the neighbourhoods as being infested of crime and poverty. Presently, central Athens incorporates several districts with a relatively high degree of concentration of [Albanian] immigrants; these areas are also increasingly characterized by prostitution, drug-trafficking, criminality, degraded accommodation and poor-quality infrastructure.
However, crime is not just restricted to these areas. On 29 May 1999, an Albanian man carrying a Kalashnikov and a hand grenade hijacked a Greek bus, took the driver and passengers hostage, and drove to Albania. A repeat incident almost occurred a year later but the plan was foiled by the police. These two incidents are obviously more than just your average criminal activity, they are also an act of desperation. The ethnic tension and problems are obviously felt on both sides.
Another incident which demonstrates the level of ethnic tensions occurred at a secondary school in Tsotylios where ironically, 50 Albanian students were studying as part of a programme to reduce ethnic tensions in the area. A violent fight broke out after a football match and it resulted in the Greek students refusing to go back to school unless the Albanian students were expelled. This particular dispute was resolved with both Albanian and Greek students going back to school, but unfortunately not all racially motivated disputes can be so easily resolved.
Yes, there is ethnic tension on both sides. Yes,there has been a rise in crime figures but no, that does not justify less than humane treatment of Albanian immigrants. The problems go much deeper now than simply an influx of immigrants. There are political, legal and socio-cultural issues which are to blame. The problem cannot be classed as simply as 'Albanian immigrants are criminals' or 'Greek citizens hate Albanians'. They are much more complex than that. Rising crime figures, racist sentiment by the public, or police brutality against Albanian immigrants are just symptomatic of deeper problems.
Racism and discrimination against immigrants, mostly Albanians, exists in Greece. It is not the first country guilty of the fact,nor will it be the last.
STENLI E DI TI CA EMRI KE APO JO.B*******e
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24 Shkurt 2006 04:46
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