Perhaps it is time to have a "Golden Dusk"...?

For the past 4-5 years, since the crisis in Greece has intensified and gripped the nation, one of the phenomena and social changes that we have witnessed is the rise of the far right. The Golden Dawn "political" party has won 7% of the seats in the Greek Parliament in the last elections and now is being seen as one of Greece's new rising political powers.

Though it is very interesting to see the Greeks moving away from the two traditional established political parties that ruled Greece since the '70s, I as a young Greek am embarrassed that a far right party represents 7% of the Greek population in our parliament. The truth is that Greece and in fact the whole of Europe and the "West" is rife with political, economic and social corruption and decline. The fact that the far right is rising all over Europe is only confirming this. 

The Golden Dawn party existed in Greece for at least a decade or more, before the last elections. But before the crisis it was something laughable and it never made its presence felt in anyway in the Greek everyday public life. So what gave it so much support from the Greek public that it was propelled into the parliament? For years Greece had serious "problems" with illegal immigration and immigration in general. Yet our government did nothing to tackle this issue and set up a clear and comprehensive immigration policy, like many other countries in Europe.

Hundreds of  thousands of illegal immigrants are crossing the Greek borders with Turkey every year, with the hope of a new life in Europe. Their main destination is not always Greece, but the rich northern industrialized European states. Yet because of weak or non existent Greek policies on immigration and lack of solidarity or support from Greece's European partners those immigrants are trapped in the country and they become an inconvenient "nuisance." Instead of dealing with it, the Greek political elite chose to ignore it and use it as a scapegoat for many problems that the Greek society was and is dealing with.

On regular basis the Greek media were bombarding the Greek public with news of the criminality coming from immigrant gangs roaming Athens. That is of course partly true, as many of the illegal immigrants were forced into a life in crime, or simply found a gateway to Greece because it was so easy to commit crime. Most of Greece's immigrants are forced to work in the country's black market, selling illegal CDs, hand bags, belts, DVDs, and other hand crafted goods. Few that can speak Greek could find a decent job, mainly people from neighboring countries like Albania and Bulgaria. The rest were forced in jobs like house cleaning, au pairs and as seasonal workers in Greece's agriculture industry. 

 The Greek laws made it very hard for any immigrant to become a Greek citizen, unless he or she could prove a Greek paternal or maternal ancestry. Yet because of corruption of the Greek authorities, many immigrants paid to become Greek citizens; they simply bought their right to stay in the country like many others around the world. But without factories, industries or a functioning economy that actually produced something plus the very discriminating policies of Greece, the integration even of those immigrants that acquired the Greek citizenship was very hard to achieve. Not that the Greek authorities bothered with that.

As long as the economy was doing ok, nobody complained. But as soon as the crisis started to "bite," the Golden Dawn party rose into the country's political life and promised for a "solution." For years criminality was rising in Athens and the state did nothing about it. People, both Greeks and immigrants were not able to walk safe in the city center during the night. Soon ghettos were established and Athenians started feeling threatened. Still the Greek political elite did nothing and the Greek media were pouring more oil to the fire by keep underlining the actions of foreign gangs as the real problem for the criminality surge.

In the past few years Athens looked to be increasingly lawless, with crimes taking place on a daily basis. Recently there was a case of a young student shooting dead an Albanian robber that tried to rob his house twice while threatening his mother with a knife. The residents showed their support for him and branded him a hero. And that is no wonder. Many regions  of the Greek capital were experiencing a surge in break ins and armed robberies that eventually the locals had to arm themselves to defend their property.

Not that all criminals were foreigners or that all victims were Greek. But the newspapers loved to blame everything on immigrants mainly of Albanian origin. While Athens was being transformed into a crime capital, the only ones who seemed to be doing something about it were the members of the Golden Dawn party. They escorted the elderly safely to go and collect their pensions and do their weekly shopping. They even offered to do different jobs for them. That is one of the reasons that they got into the parliament.

But they did not stop there. Now that the crisis is tearing the country apart, they are the only party that are out on the streets helping people, providing them with food and setting up super markets for "real Greeks only!" The angry Greeks, fed up with the "progressive" policies of their past governments and other European governments, have voted for this party. A reaction to what they are going through. Many voted for them to just "beat up a few MPs in case they vote for ridiculous laws ever again" as some people I spoke to said. Others because they were the only party which did not waste public money to print leaflets for their electoral campaign, while the Greek pupils did not have books to go to school. 

With all those populist actions and policies, is there any wonder how this party entered the Greek parliament? But now that they are in, they do not stop just in "helping" the Greeks. Regularly they patrol Athens and the party's members beat immigrants, wearing black t-shirts and waving flags with their emblem. Allegedly in some cases even knifing some of them. They openly attack not just immigrants, but members of the gay community too. Their representatives often stated that after the immigrants, it is the turn of the gay community to be a target of their kind of "solution." 

Now I am a very tolerant person and I believe that anyone should be able to express their political views, even people from the far right or far left. But this is getting out of control. This is not democracy anymore. When a few thugs take the law into their own hands and believe that they can correct the dreadful mistakes that our past governments committed by beating up people and killing them, what comes next? 

It started the same way in Germany in 1933. We are repeating the same mistakes in Europe. The Greek government is using the immigration problem as a decoy to cover their dreadful mistakes in the country's economy and they once again try to focus the public's attention in the killings, robberies, and other crimes that the immigrants commit. But in that way they are making another terrible mistake. The Greek public opinion is turning increasingly hostile to all immigrants, legal or illegal. Racism and hate crimes are on the rise. Immigrants are afraid to walk out their homes on their own, especially when the beatings now even happen on a broad day light. This situation will only solidify the Golden Dawn's prominence in Greek politics and the public's support. How are we going get rid of their presence? 

The Greek and European elites right now are only focusing on how to keep the Greeks under control and make them pay for the debts that themselves have created. They are only interested in finding a solution to the economic crisis but they remain very calm, perhaps with some plan in mind, to the rising threat of the far right. It is not just Greece. In France, Holland, Belgium, Austria, Finland, Hungary and even Britain ultra-nationalist parties are on the rise. But as long as the Greek people continue to pay off the debts of the European elites, they are happy to do nothing and just watch passively. This is scandalous! 

Meanwhile both the Greek people and the immigrants are suffering from the crisis, the austerity plus the violence and the hostility that is brewing. What are we waiting for? Greece and Europe need urgently a common comprehensive and functioning immigration policy and better border security with the contribution and participation of all EU states. We need a debate on what kind of society we need to have and how can we bring all the communities together. We need solutions in how can we integrate our immigrant populations throughout Europe and correct the damages done by the crisis and the influence of parties like the Golden Dawn.

Some claim that the best solution would be the banning of parties like this. In Germany parties like these are banned, a remnant of WW2 and their Nazi experience. I personally support the idea that any political movement should be able to be represent its supporters and they should be able to vote for it in national elections; even the far right ones. But it comes to a point that parties like the Golden Dawn have lost their right to represent anyone. Not through so much violence, not with beatings and (allegedly) killings in the name of a "pure" Greek ethnic society. The 7 % of the Greek population that voted for them did not necessarily supported that. They were just desperate to see some solutions, they were fed up with the lies that the established political parties were feeding them for the past decades. And now they are so numb out of fear for their future that they do not protest anymore to what is happening in their country.

A fear that is enforced to them by constant threats of new austerity measures and different scenarios about a potential disastrous future if they don't do as they are told. And of course a rising sense of insecurity due the absolute lawlessness that grips Greece. I personally do not recognize my country anymore. The rise of Golden Dawn and Syriza in the Greek politics is only an act of desperation, a cry for help of the Greek people. But they do not realize that parties like the Golden Dawn have nothing to offer them than poison their souls with hate and infect our society with segregation and discrimination. 

It is up to our governing elites, both the Greek and the European to take action and ease the austerity measures, invest in growth and give back the Greeks their dignity as a nation. Then deal with the immigration problem and many other economic, social, cultural and financial problems that Greece and Europe in general are facing. Because that is the only real solution to the "Golden Dawn" problem. If people have security, jobs, prosperity, education, opportunities for growth and live in a fair society, there is no way they will vote for far right or far left radical parties. Even if we allow these parties to exist just like in Greece decades ago, they will only represent a significant minority and never come to power ever again. 

This is the only way to reverse the "dawning" of parties like these throughout Europe and drive them back to where they belong: permanent dusk and decline! But will our rulings elites do something about it and soon?

Now it is the time that Europe needs "European" media!

During this crisis every European is trying to get as much information about what the future will bring for him, his finances, his job, household and children. We all read newspapers watch the news and trying to find information about how does this tragic economic crisis will affect our lives in the future.

Of course most of us trust the information that we receive. But how accurate is it? If we think that most of the World’s major media organizations are owned by 6 major multinational corporations, then one should consider their agenda. The few that escape them is owned by local governments and small groups of rich elites that have been dominating our countries for decades. Their interests lie in preserving the current status quo, the nation state with the current ruling elites. Each protects and supports the other, with only one purpose. Stay in power for as long as they can.

With all this in mind, it is no wonder that with this crisis we saw some unacceptable demeanour from our “national” media; the German (and unfortunately not just them, most rich European countries behaved similarly) media calling the Greeks lazy and corrupt, when this is far from the truth. In response the Greek media stated calling the Germans “Nazis” and started unearthing every crime that the Nazis committed in Greece. 

And the result is? Exactly what they wanted to achieve; divide the European public opinion. Because some do not like the loss of their influence over their country and the existence of the EU simply brings challenges. All they have to do is to raise nationalism among the population and keep small divided nation states and their interests intact. 

Conservatism and protectionism was always popular in European politics and some think that the European project and the euro have gone too far. Take the example of Britain. Their “national” media have been propagating against the EU since the Thatcher era, presenting everything that comes out of Europe as a threat to the British way of life. Everything that is wrong in Britain is blamed on its EU membership and not in its special relationship with USA, the City of London and its affair with the Markets and the Banks that their interests Britain is seeking to protect above everything else: even the benefit of its own citizens. 

Similarly in Norway and Iceland there are other groups that lobby against their country’s EU membership. The fishing lobby in both countries is particularly strong and a serious factor for those two remaining outside the EU. But of course they do not tell their people that by being “half way in” the ordinary citizens are the ones who lose out, in democracy. Both countries are members of EEA (The European Economic Area) and they have to follow most of EU’s legislation. But the citizens do not have a say in this legislation because as they are not EU citizens they do not have representatives in the European Parliament. 

Of course the rich Norwegian elite have little to worry since no one in Norway, an oil rich country, complains.  But how about other EU members? In Germany the political, industrial and economic elite profits and benefits hugely by this crisis that is destroying their southern “partners!” Of course it is easier to blame the “lazy” and “corrupt” Greeks, Spaniards, Portuguese and Irish for their bad economies and justify why they are imposing such harsh austerity on them. Little did the German public know that all those years while those countries were overspending, they were in fact helping the German economy. 

With higher inflation because of the euro, they were driven to over spending thus helping German exports. So there is no wonder that the German media are more than happy to portray the austerity program as something that is necessary, to teach those incompetent southerners how to run their economy. But remember that they did something similar in the past and managed to turn a whole nation into being supporters of the worse crime ever committed on our continent. 

How we could solve all this mess and reinstall unity among the European population, solidarity but also a fairer view of what is really going on in our Continent? Well how about pan-European media, like newspapers, TV channels, radios and magazines? Until now, only the European "blogosphere" offered an alternative and independent point of view. Yet Europe and the EU are only now considering exploiting it, during the Cypriot Presidency of the European Union Council. 

Besides, receiving the news with a European perspective, not only offers a more spherical point of view. It also creates a better sense of “belonging!” There is no more “us here and the others outside our borders.” Once you receive regularly the news of other countries with a more unbiased perspective, then not only you have a better judgement but you also understand what the people in another EU country are going through, how they deal with the crisis and what solutions or ideas they are putting forward.

That would be a far cry from what we have so far, having our media inciting hatred and nationalism, distorting the truth and protecting the interests of few rich elites. We can not go back to what we had before. Remember, in all the wars that our elites got us into, it was us who were dying in the battle fields. Now it is us again who are paying the price for their economic experiments and power struggles between them. What we need is more news coming from pan-European media and the exploitation of the European "blogosphere;" to break the voices of the monopolies, the propaganda and the blinded nationalism.

Redefining Racism in Europe.

On the eve of the London Olympics in 2012, a Greek athlete has been disqualified for posting allegedly racist comments on her twitter account. Voula Papachristou commenting on the widely reported appearance of Nile-virus-carrying mosquitoes in Athens, she wrote: "With so many Africans in Greece, the West Nile mosquitoes will be getting home food!!!" 

Was that comment naive and ridiculous? Yes it was. But the Greek psyche has not been through what the American, British or South African "white" psyche has been. We do not have their complexes or sensitivities. Simply because we have been a homogenous nation every since we got our independence from the Ottoman Empire. 

Only recently Greece has found itself as a destination for immigrants, from being traditionally a country of emigration. And before we managed to master it or get the balances right, the severe crisis and economic downturn hit us. So as it was expected the first to get the blame were the immigrants. Not that this is ethical, but it happened so many times before in other countries. When the economy turns bad the minorities are the first to pay the price. 

It happened in most other European countries in the past too and in fact in some cases in much worse way. In Britain, many landlords that wanted to rent their property to white protestant British natives only, they used to place a sign on their windows "No Ni**%s No Irish, No Dogs." So I do not think that anyone can criticize Greece on the way we deal with our immigration problem. It is something new and it will take time to master or deal with effectively.

But it does explain how many young Greeks found as the only option for the country's future, the doctrines of ultra-nationalism and the far right. They just wish to return to what their fathers knew best, when we were a nation state and everything apparently was "rosy." When we apparently controlled our country's future and destiny. Who will tell them that those times are long gone and times have changed and that we should adapt accordingly. 

So that is how the Golden Dawn party got access to the Greek Parliament. But our politicians are only scapegoating athletes like Voula, because if she re-posted videos of the Golden Dawn from you-tube on her twitter account (as it is claimed that she did) she should not be the one to be punished.

If someone should get punished then our leaders must be the ones. They wrecked our economy and they are the ones who left Greece with no functioning immigration policies. They are responsible for the economic woes, the immigration problem, and the rising nationalism and anger among the Greek youth. Now to cover their failures and to show Europe and the world that Greece is a "civilized" country they destroyed one talented, yet naive girl's dreams. And what about the shame they have brought to our country with their corruption and incompetence? 

I agree that her comment was silly and unacceptable. And to actually support Golden Dawn definitely puts me off her personality. But the Golden Dawn has became an elected political party in Greece's parliament because of the chronic in-activeness of our ruling elites. And yes, Greece has an immigration problem that is no lie. Like most of the rest of Europe. 

But we should not deal with it by repressing freedom of speech, or trying to bring as an example a naive girl by destroying her dreams. In fact this made her a heroine and there was a huge support for her in many social networking websites.

 Any ordinary man will chose a joke like Voula's to express his or her frustration about an issue. Should we not be able to do so, in order to present ourselves as "progressive?" But that is the exact attitude who brought us to this situation in the first place. Blind and fanatical idealism of our ruling elites that left their ideas totally detached from the needs of their people. An open debate, education, the sports and arts together with inter-community projects will prove much more effective in battling racism in Greece and Europe.

Besides, the Greeks were always joking about someone. When there were no other ethnic minorities living in our country, there were jokes about the Pontic Greeks (Greeks that originated in Anatolia, on the coast of the Black Sea) the Vlach Greeks and so on. Islanders made jokes about the inhabitants of the neighboring island, northern Greeks about the southern ones and vice versa. 

Athenians made jokes about Thessalonicans and vice versa. We had jokes about the Turks, the Germans, the French or the British. Then our borders opened and almost one million of Albanians entered Greece. They were included in the everyday slander jokes of the Greeks. Nobody made any fuss about it. But now the Anglosaxon/ European disease of political correctness caught up with us and we want to prove to them that we are good boys.

Why having jokes about Africans are any different from having jokes about the Albanians or the Pontic Greeks? Or why telling a joke about any other  European ethnic group is not considered a punishable offense? The French joke about the Belgians, the Germans about the Austrians, the English about the Irish and the Swedes about the Finnish or the Norwegians. Is the only way to stop racism in Europe to force people to stop making any jokes about colored or non European people, or to ban any comments that show discomfort for an obvious problem that all countries in Europe face: immigration.

No I do not agree with Golden Dawn's doctrines of hate or with any rise of the far right anywhere in Europe. Nor I want to see "Greece belonging to the Greeks only."   But as long as everybody respects another and do not attack verbally or physically each other then I do not see why we tend to silence any voices that object to the current immigration trends in Europe. First of all Europe DOES have an immigration problem. But our leaders are to blame, not the immigrants so we should not take our anger on them. And how can we have democracy if we do not allow people to voice their opinions, doubts or opposition freely, as long as they do not offend.

Have it any other way and we could be compared to any other totalitarian regime we are so critical of. No, racism is not to question, object or express some worries about the current immigration trends in your country. If only we need to be discussing them freely. It is when we try to suppress them that they become an avalanche and break out with much bigger force than expected. If we try to educate, explain, and inform our citizens of what is happening in our countries and how we could benefit from all this, then perhaps we will see an open debate happening and a long lasting solution than trying to silence anyone who has any reservations.

I also think that if we are talking about integration, multiculturalism in Europe or the world, we must work on it both ways. All western European countries have embraced multiculturalism and soon the eastern European countries will follow suit. But what about the immigrants themselves? Those who come in Europe and expect to be accepted, back in their home countries have often problems or shameful past of their own. 

In order to discuss about racism and multiculturalism openly we will have to address inter-community issues, not just the issue of the white native European accepting the immigrant population. Racism is not only "white on black." Otherwise we are in danger of passing the message that only white people can be racists. 

How can a Pakistani for example accuse a British man for racism when themselves have an issue with Africans and Indians. If we want to create a racism free, equal society we must not focus only on the issues deriving from the objection of the native population on immigration. 

There is racism in Trinidad and Tobago between the communities of people of African and Indian origin. There is racism in India against the descendants of African migrants that arrived in the Asian sub-continent during the British colonialism. There is racism among Europeans and between the various African tribes. 

And if a Chinese man is accusing a European for racism, how is China faring in its human rights records and how they would deal with any immigrants coming outside of Asia? China is considered to be a neo-colonialist power on the African continent. I wonder how will they deal with any possible African immigration in the future into China, if they ever allow it!

Banning any silly jokes, punishing those who post them in their social networking websites, or deterring any debate or skepticism  on multiculturalism and immigration won't actually do any good on the fight against racism. If anything else, the best results can come from openness, education, willingness to discuss and readiness from both sides, the immigrants and the natives to compromise and work together to understand each other. 

And certainly any positive developments will come with a stable and thriving economy, prosperity and stability for everybody in a society. The worse enemy of a fair and democratic society is inequality, poverty and lack of education. Not the silly jokes that a young naive girl posts on her twitter account. 

The Greeks used to be a very welcoming nation and the first immigrants who entered Greece were treated nicely and respected. How we went from this to actually have neo-Nazis in our parliament is something that can be blamed solely in the horrendous mistakes that our Greek governing elite has made, with the encouragement of our European partners. 

You see multiculturalism for some is just trendy and for others just profitable business. They make millions out of the poor immigrants that are exploited in Europe. But for the ordinary citizens that no one explains to them what is going on, or even worse asks for their opinion the immigrants just remind them that their beloved country has changed and entered a new phase in its history. When this "new phase" turns bad, they simply want to reverse everything and they turn against the most obvious manifestation of it: the immigrants.

Racism always existed and most likely will always exist in a proportion of the human kind. So I honestly do not believe that there is a permanent solution to it. But if we can achieve tolerance and equality in our societies then we need not worry. Having so many races, people of different ethnic background, cultures and religions is what makes our world richer in heritage and more interesting.  All it takes is another formula from what our ruling elites have been practicing all those years, to ensure we can allow everyone in our countries to be part of this new multicultural model of our societies, benefit, be active and even celebrate it!

Europe in Space too?

Yesterday August the 6th, NASA was celebrating its first ever rover landing to Mars. The "Curiosity" rover made a perfect landing, after a nearly 9-month voyage from Earth.  That is the first major development in space for NASA and humanity, after so many years of efforts.

So while they are celebrating in America, what happens in Europe at the same time? We are dealing with the crisis while bickering between us, with inability to reach an agreement and the return to protectionism and nationalism as our only future. What will Europe have to celebrate in the decades to come? Will we always be admiring the achievements of others and follow the lead of USA, or will we start making our first steps towards achieving something as a continent again?

Russia in the past and recently China and India have also had their moments in space. As has Europe! Europe has E.S.A. the European Space Agency, similar to NASA. Many E.U. and non E.U. members are also members of ESA, but though ESA has close ties with the EU, it is an independent intergovernmental organization. It is comprised by 19 members (soon to be 20 with the accession of Poland) plus many more associates from all over Europe and Canada.

With administrative bases in most western European countries and its spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, ESA has been launching a series of rockets to space. The Ariane, Soyuz and Vega rockets have been launched over the years, sometimes with the cooperation of third countries like Russia, the US and Japan.

So what next for Europe and its Space exploration, could we one day have the jubilant news and reactions like those of NASA? Well for the moment there is no need in even dreaming something like that. What good would it be to send people or machinery into Space while Europeans are facing tough austerity and unemployment and when they can not make ends meet, while the future of Europe's currency is in doubt?

We do not want to become like India, a country with millions under the poverty line yet spending billions in their space and nuclear ambitions. That is plain unethical. But once we sort out what is really wrong in Europe and the EU now days, the democratic deficit, the cracks in our currency, the inequality and everything else, I believe that Europe could use Space exploration for its benefit in many more ways than just rocket launching.

Space exploration should be an option for the future. It worked well for America in the past. It united the nation and gave its population something to be proud of and stand united. It also gave the US huge prestige and a head-start for any further Space explorations. Perhaps we could use the same for Europe in the future. If else we need to give something to our citizens to be proud of, to have hope and faith in the European project and perhaps renew their interest for it. If Europe manages to create something of some greatness in a collective way and with the participation of many of its states, then perhaps it will help in creating a more collective consciousness among the European populace.

Individually the European countries are too small to achieve anything like what the US, Russia, China and India have achieved so far in that field. But cooperating together, with careful planning and appropriate budgeting Europe can achieve a whole lot more. After the storm of this crisis, we should rethink the EU budget, reform and re-prioritize. Perhaps we should reduce the funds for CAP (the Common Agriculture Policy) , from our military budgets (if we ever manage to have a common military policy) and other outdated policies and invest more in research and innovation; including the field of Space exploration.

It could create new industries and with them, new jobs. We could promote new subjects in our Universities for our youth to study and specialize on. With closer cooperation and coordination we could maximize the results. We could create factories in all participating states to build the components needed for this venture. Set up research centers for our newly specialized scientists to work on. Space exploration should not just be about wasting money for a dream, or a prestige contest in the World stage of politics.

Why Europe should always watch others achieving and always lack behind them? We have opened the ways for sea explorations in the past, we were the pioneers who changed this world for good and for bad. We were leading in all major developments of the human kind once. Will we just be observers from now on? 

(You can find out more about ESA in its website:  http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Space_Year_2007/index.html )