Stockholm riots reflect European immigration policy failures.

Last weekend marked the beginning of a rather surprising event, the riots by immigrants in a Stockholm suburb, Husby. The riots lasted for almost a week and they erupted after the death of an elderly man in the immigrant suburb shot by police, for allegedly having a machete inside his house. 

The riots took by surprise not just the Swede's themselves, but the rest of the world too. It was not long ago that the Economist magazine suggested that the Scandinavian, especially the Swedish model should be a role model for the rest of Europe. If immigrants do not feel happy in a role model society, then what hope do the rest of us have in achieving a successful immigration policy that will successfully result in a multicultural society?

A few years back it was the turn of Paris and many other cities in France, but also later in Britain. Even in my home town of Thessaloniki we witnessed smaller scale riots by Nigerian immigrants. Obviously the immediate conclusion in those cases, was that the riots started by the inequality and discrimination the immigrants in these countries receive.

But in the Swedish case there was no such thing. Husby was built in the 1970s as part of the "Million Programme" that aimed to give affordable housing for all Swedes, the estate is one of dozens on Stockholm's outskirts that now house mainly immigrant populations, including large numbers from Somalia, Eritrea, Afghanistan and Iraq.

However, comparisons to the Paris "banlieus", or indeed riot-hit Tottenham or Salford, are limited. Between the rows of clean-looking housing blocks are well-tended flowerbeds and neatly- kept public gardens, and in the shopping precinct, where an ornamental fountain still bubbles away, there are bars, shops, and a smart cafe-bakery that would not look too out of place in an IKEA catalogue. At eight per cent, Husby's joblessness rate is three times the Swedish average, but only slightly higher than that in the UK.(From the Telegraph.)

Some answers can be given from the immigrant community in Stockholm itself. Mohammed Abdu, 27, whose family came to Sweden from Eritrea when he was aged three, and who now works as a security guard. While he condemned the violence as "hooliganism", he claimed that many Husby residents still suffered from discrimination from the police and employers.

Besides, he added, living in such a prosperous, advanced country offered no real satisfaction for those so conspicuously at the bottom of the heap. "It's true that the welfare system here is an example to the rest of the world, so if you fall here you do not fall all the way to the bottom," he said. "But people don't like being dependent on social welfare, and there is hidden racism."(From the Telegraph.)

In other words even in a very successful society like Sweden, we haven't managed to beat racism and discrimination or even integrate totally our immigrant communities. The far Right is gaining ground in Sweden and is challenging the policies of tolerance that the country held so dear for decades. They now amount up to 10% of the vote and this may increase in the coming years until the elections.

The riots by the immigrants certainly won't help in restoring the public's confidence in multiculturalism. Besides it was in Sweden's neighbor Norway that the far right enthusiast Anders Breivik, committed his atrocities. And in Finland the rise of the True Finns political party, does not exclude Scandinavia from the regions of Europe that see an increase in nationalism. 

These events bring up once again the question of the future of Europe's policies on immigration. Is multiculturalism a failed idea and model of society? Perhaps we are naive to expect that totally different people, from different backgrounds and religion can just get along and live side by side.

And if so how can we at least stop the violent outbursts that occur, either as riots by immigrants in Sweden or the violence against immigrants themselves that happen in Greece?

Is it the background of the immigrants that spark the race based clashes, their religion, race or simply the social inequality? Perhaps the events are linked to a wider clash of civilizations that take place in our world, making Europe and the West in general the immediate hate figure of certain immigrant communities. Because of our involvement in military campaigns in Muslim countries, our immigrants get radicalized not by the inequality that exists in our countries but because of our involvement in these campaigns.

Or maybe they are linked to a greater social inequality and injustice upheaval, that affects immigrants the most. Do we always treat them fairly and are all of our policies meant to help them?Perhaps we created second class citizens in our countries, by exploiting and taking for granted our immigrants.

But also do they really want to be integrated in our communities, or they are forced to seek a better future in our countries because the situation back in their own? But they have no real plans to integrate themselves in their new home and accept our culture as theirs. So why do we keep allowing them in our countries?

Should we reconsider some of our policies and have a debate on what do Europeans want, how do they see their countries in the future? Perhaps the Swedish past governments took for granted that the model was successful and never bothered to do a health check on how the two communities got along.

These clashes come as Godsend to those who always opposed multiculturalism and they are going to use them as an argument. In times of financial crisis and a general political, economic and ideological upheaval, it is very dangerous to allow certain groups to use such incidents to promote their agenda. Or perhaps such incidents are incited by such groups to achieve their goal and change the political culture of Europe, that encouraged multiculturalism until now.

We mustn't ignore such incidents, or bypass them as irrelevant. If we can not integrate immigrants from certain ethnic groups, then perhaps we should focus in attracting immigrants from regions with a culture closer to ours. Like Latin America for example. Understanding and acceptance goes both ways, but they are gained only through dialogue. A dialogue both between the communities and between the state and its citizens.

And none of the above has ever happened successfully in Europe, in fear of being branded racists, xenophobes and backward countries.  There are certain human rights groups, who with great narrow mindedness block any real debate on the issue. They are not helping.

Being a progressive country is not "in" or the new "must." It happens gradually and with a lot of effort. Sweden had years of political stability and peace, since it was lucky not to get involved in the two wars that ripped the rest of the continent apart. So they were able to create the social model that most of the rest of Europe envies.

But perhaps its leaders were naive or optimistic enough to think that their country can be unaffected of what is going on in the rest of the continent or the world. If there is a general dissatisfaction with multiculturalism, or certain political and economic norms in Europe, Sweden is influenced by them as part of Europe. Either they actively participate in them or not. And perhaps the real cause of these riots has nothing to do with a Swedish "failure,"rather is an echo of a broader European and global transformation.

Πρός Θεσσαλονικείς.

Έφτασε και πάλι το καλοκαιράκι, ο καιρός που με λαχτάρα ταξιδεύω και πάλι στα πάτρια εδάφη, να επισκευτώ φίλους και συγγενείς στην γενέτειρά μου την Θεσσαλονίκη. Κάθε φορά όμως που κατεβαίνω στην πόλη μας, η επίσκεψη μου αφήνει μια πικρή γεύση.

 Όχι δεν είναι εξ'αιτίας της οικονομικής κρίσης, σας πληροφορώ ότι είναι εξ'αιτίας της άθλιας κατάστασης που διατηρείτε εσείς που μείνατε στην Θεσσαλονίκη την πόλη μας.

Τον περασμένο χρόνο που επισκεύθηκα την Θεσσαλονίκη έφριξα από την κατάντια της πόλης. Και όχι δεν φταίει μόνο ο Δήμος ή οι τοπικές αρχές, αλλά και εσείς οι ίδιοι που απ'ότι φαίνεται σας αρέσει να ζείτε σαν ανάγωγα παλιόπαιδα σε μια από τις σημαντικότερες ιστορικά πόλεις της Ελλάδας, των Βαλκανίων αλλά και της Ευρώπης.

Ανεξέλεγκτες αφισοκολλήσεις στην πλατεία Αριστοτέλους, από αριστερούς ανάγωγους κάφρους και οργανώσεις φοιτητών στα πανεπιστήμια της πόλεις μας. Αυτά μαζι με τα άπειρα πολιτικά συνθήματα γραμμένα με σπρέυ στους τοίχους κάθε νεοκλασσικού κτιρίου και όχι μόνο.

Οι αθεόφοβοι πήγαν και μου έγραψαν ακόμη και έξω από τον Πύργο τον Λευκό, πάνω στα καινούρια μάρμαρα όπου ο Δήμος περίφραξε το πιο γνωστό μνημείο και σύμβολο της πόλης μας. Πάνω στα κάστρα τα ίδια, έξω από την Ροτόντα και τον ναό του Αγ. Μηνά στο κέντρο της πόλης. Δηλαδή σε ότι μας απόμεινε από την μακρά ιστορία της πόλης, έχετε βαλθεί να μουτζουρώσετε χωρίς κανένα σεβασμό.

Και απορώ ποιοί είναι αυτοί οι ανόητοι, και από τί σπίτια προέρχονται που νομίζουν ότι κάτι καταφέρνουν με αυτή την συμπεριφορά τους. Και πώς εσείς οι υπόλοιποι Θεσσαλονικείς ανέχεστε να βλέπετε τέτοια εκτρώματα στην πόλη όπου ζείτε, το σπίτι σας δηλαδή και δεν αντιδράτε.

Ποιές είναι αυτές οι μανάδες που αφήνουν τα κακομαθημένα τους τέκνα να καταστρέφουν δημόσια περιουσία, και από ποιά σχολεία αποφητούν τέτοιοι ηλίθιοι! Ποιός ο ρόλος των δασκάλων μας?

Έρχομαι συνεπώς στο θλιβερό συμπέρασμα οτι οι νεο-Έλληνες είναι αμαθείς και άξεστος λαός, που δεν του αξίζει κανένας απολύτως σεβασμός ή θαυμασμός. Όταν εσείς οι ίδιοι έχετε βαλθεί να μετατρέψετε την πόλη όπου ζείτε σε ένα απέραντο κωλοχανείο, πώς περιμένετε να σας σεβαστούν εσάς και την χώρα σας οι άλλοι λαοί?
 

Η εικόνα που παίρνει ένας επισκέπτης από μια πόλη που επισκεύτεται, λέει πολλά για την κουλτούρα, την νοοτροπία και την νοημοσύνη των κατοίκων της πόλης αυτής. Όταν εσείς παρουσιάζετε αντί για ομορφιά ένα χάος, αντί για καλαισθησία μουτζούρες, και αντί για τέχνη επιγραφές του τύπου "Γαμώ τον Θρύλο και τον Πειραιά," σε κάθε πάρκο της πόλης και νεοκλασσικό κτίριο, ε τότε να μην παραπονιέστε όταν δεν σας υπολογίζουν οι ξένοι λαοί.

Δεν έχετε αφήσει δημόσιο κτίριο, αρχαίο μνημείο η εξωτερικό ναού που να μην έχετε μουτζουρώσει με συνθήματα, πολιτικού η αθλητικού περιεχομένου. Στην καινούρια παραλιακή οδό που μόλις φτιάχτηκε, κάποιοι αθεόφοβοι πήγαν αφισοκόλλησαν και έγραψαν ήδη της βλακείες τους, μετατρέποντας πολύ γρήγορα την αναπλασμένη παραλιακή οδό σε ενα γιαπί.

Και δεν μπορώ να καταλάβω γιατί αυτοί οι νεο-ψευτο-Τσε Γκεβάρα του κερατά νομίζουν πώς άμα ψεκάσουν της αναχρονιστικές αριστερές ιδεολογίες τους, κάτι καταφέρνουν. Τα χρόνια του Πολυτεχνείου πέρασαν παιδάκια. Τότε οι νέοι εκείνης της εποχής αγωνίστηκαν για κάτι, για μια δημοκρατική Ελλάδα. Εσείς γιατί συνεχίζετε να ψεκάζετε συνθήματα στους τοίχους? Αν έχετε τόση ανάγκη για αυτοέκφραση, πάρτε ένα σπρέυ και ψεκάστε το σπίτι της μάνας σας μέσα έξω, να σας καμαρώνει γα'ι'δούρια.

Έχετε κολλήσει σε μια ιδεολογία που δεν έχει να προσφέρει τίποτα πια στην χώρα μας. Και αυτό είναι ένας από τους λόγους που η χώρα μας είναι τόσο πίσω. Παράλογος ιδεαλισμός και κολλήματα σε πολιτικές ιδεολογίες του παρελθόντος, χωρίς καμία καινούρια ιδέα για να προχωρήσει η χώρα μπροστά. Τα Κομμουνιστικά/Αριστερά κόμματα της χώρας προωθούν αυτόν τον ιδεολογικό δεινόσαυρο και φανατίζουν τους νέους μας μέσα στα πανεπιστήμια της χώρας.

Ίσως ήρθε η στιγμή να καταργήσουμε το άσυλο των εκπαιδευτικών ινστιτούτων της χώρας, εάν αυτά παράγουν φανατισμένους πολιτικά, κλειστόμυαλους πολίτες και όχι άτομα με φιλελεύθερες ιδέες που χρειάζεται η χώρα μας.

Οι νέοι μας νομίζουν ότι με το να αφισσοκολήσουν ανεξέλεγκτα παντού, χωρίς σεβασμό στα μνημεία και νεοκλασσικά κτίρια της πόλης μας, ότι καταφέρνουν κάτι. Με συγχωρείτε αλλά εμένα μου φαίνεστε ως Δον Κιχώτες που μάχεστε ανεμόμυλους.

Καταστρέφοντας τα εθνικά κειμήλια που μας άφησαν οι παλαιότερες γεννεές, όσων έζησαν στην πόλη μας και δημιούργησαν με ένα όραμα ίσως για μια όμορφη πόλη, δεν δείχνετε καθόλου σεβασμό προς αυτούς. Και όχι μόνο. Προβάλλετε τον χείριστο χαρακτήρα σας σε ολόκληρη την Θεσσαλονίκη και τους κατοίκους της. Μας εξομοιώνετε όλους μας με την ηλιθιότητά σας και μας κατεβάζετε όλους στο ζωώδη επίπεδό σας.

Γιατί να πάτε να αφισοκολλήσετε πάνω στην πλατεία Αριστοτέλους δηλαδή? Χάθηκαν οι τοίχοι της γειτονιάς σας και των σπιτιών σας? Μια ωραία πλατεία μας έμεινε και εμάς, να έχουμε να προβάλλουμε την πόλη μας. Και εσείς ως καλοί ανθέλληνες πάτε και την καταστρέφετε. Γιατί αυτό είστε. Αν αγαπούσατε στο ελάχιστο την πόλη ή την πατρίδα σας δεν θα κάνατε ότι κάνετε.

Ως γνήσιοι εγκεφαλοπλυμένοι αναρχο-κομμουνιστές θέλετε να προσβάλλετε το κάθε τι "εθνικό" ή Ελληνικό, αλλά δυστυχώς το μόνο που καταφέρνετε είναι να υποβιβάσετε το βιωτικό επίπεδο των συμπολιτών σας και αυτό με κάνει εχθρό σας.

Όσο για τους ανεγκέφαλους οπαδούς των διαφόρων ποδοσφαιρικών ομάδων, που εκφράζουν τα αισθήματα τους προς ένα ποδοσφαιρικό όμιλο, τι να σας πώ? Είστε ηλίθιοι και να σας χαίρονται η μανάδες σας για τους μαλάκες που έχετε γίνει. Άμα δηλαδή νομίζετε ότι οι ομάδες σας θα σας δώσουν δουλειές, πρόοδο, ευκαιρίες, μόρφωση και πολιτισμό και τις υποστηρίζετε φανατικά με το να ψεκάρετε την πόλη με βλακώδη συνθήματα ε τότε σας λυπάμαι.

Πόσοι από εσάς έχετε ταξιδέψει στο εξωτερικό, και που στο διάολο είδατε τέτοια καφρίλα? Γκραφίτι υπάρχουν παντού, αλλά είδατε κανένα πάνω στις κεντρικές πλατείες των άλλων Ευρωπα'ι'κών πρωτευουσών? Πάνω στα νεοκλασσικά τους κτίρια, ή σε οποιοδήποτε ιστορικό μνημείο? Όλοι οι άλλοι λαοί κοιτάνε να αναδείξουν την κουλτούρα τους και την πολιτισμική τους κληρονομιά. Εσείς κάνετε το αντίθετο και περιμένετε μετά να σας υπολογίζουν σαν ένα πολιτισμένο έθνος, τρομάρα σας.

Μια όμορφη και περιποιμένη πόλη, ντυμένη με πάρκα και καλοδιατηρημένα ιστορικά κτίρια ή μνημεία, προσελκύει τουρισμό και αυτό σημαίνει χρήμα και ευκαιρίες για ανάπτυξη και θέσεις εργασίας. Και εσείς κάνετε το αδύνατο δυνατό να καταστρέψετε αυτό το μέλλον ή πιθανότητα, με την βλακεία και την αμορφωσιά σας. 

Ο νεο-Έλληνας κάθε άλλο από πολιτισμένος είναι, και μου το αποδείχνετε κάθε φορά που επιστρέφω στην Θεσσαλονίκη. Είναι οι πολίτες που αντανακλούν και εκφράζουν την ψυχή της πόλης, ή μάλλον είναι μια άσχημη πόλη που γεννά άσχημους και άξεστους πολίτες? Η Θεσσαλονίκη είναι μια κακοκτισμένη πόλη που ενώ είχε πιθανότητες και πολλές ευκαιρίες, οι εκάστοτε διοικητές της την έχουν μετατρέψει σε μια επαρχειακή πόλη. Ας την χαιρόσαστε λοιπόν και ελπίζω κάποια μέρα να είστε ικανοί να την σεβαστείτε και να την φανταστείτε όπως της αξίζει.

The "grey" EU brokered agreement on Kosovo.

This week after last month's negotiations, the governments of Kosovo and Serbia have finally agreed to normalize their relationship.

This is apparently great news for both countries and the prospect of their EU membership bids, as well for European integration in general. It looks also as a great accomplishment for Baroness Catherine Ashton, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and her department.

Eventually we saw European diplomacy at work, that has produced some results after decades of a deadlock. Could this be the beginning of a collective European foreign policy? It looks promising but it is too early to say. There are many other issues to resolve and the European states seldom have a unanimous agreement.

Despite the success euphoria, for the moment there is very little information given on what exactly the normalization agreement really changes. The one thing that was made clear is that Serbia agreed to dismantle all its security structures by mid-July. In other words, Serbia is letting go militarily of the Kosovo territory. This clearly brings even closer the country's opening its EU membership negotiations.

The agreement normalizes policing, judicial and local government issues, as well as the representation of the Serbian minority in the above relative institutions. You may read a further report of the agreement here.The two countries also agreed not to block each other from any future international block membership.

A Serbian diplomat though, told euronews that the accord does not amount to Belgrade recognizing Kosovo’s declaration of independence. Then clearly that is not the end of the road, as the whole agreement has many grey areas.

It mainly focuses on ending the partition of the Serb and Albanian communities within Kosovo. I wonder why Europe hasn't focused on doing so with Kosovo itself within Serbia in the first place. This agreement is trying to normalize the relationship of the new Kosovo state with its Serbian minority. Yet for many years there was no effort in trying to achieve the same for the Albanian minority in the Serbian state.

Could we end up going in circles, while trying to deal with minority issues in a previous minority problem? Europe's aim was clearly to partition Serbia's territory and create an independent Kosovo state from the beginning. Serbia needed to get on with its EU accession talks, so it decided to compromise its former nationalist stance and show Europe that is willing to work with it in order to achieve EU membership.

The compromise though leaves the Serbs of Kosovo unhappy and fearing of their future. They have threatened to leave en-mass the Kosovo territory, if the deal does not work. There is clearly a lot of mistrust between the two communities and if there is any relapse of either party, we could be faced with trying to solve the Kosovo issue all over again.

This could lead Serbia to have to accommodate increasing numbers of Serbian refugees from Kosovo, if the agreement is not occasionally respected by either side. Could we have similar incidents like those of Northern Ireland, where violence erupts occasionally despite the Anglo-Irish agreement? The segregation of the communities in this region has not ended, though clearly the political and terrorism issues have widely been resolved.

Europe has always had interests in the Balkans and especially the former Yugoslavia states. It has played an active role in shaping the region and promoting the European powers' own agendas. Their involvement and position in the Kosovo issue has been clear from the start.

Is Europe trying to create smaller, dependent states in order to fulfill its integration and expansion process? Fragmenting totally all former regions of Yugoslavia, has left some of them dependent on European aid, protection or intervention. Kosovo was certainly such case until now. Is this a better solution than trying to keep the regions together?

From history and experience we know that not always Europe's interventions were successful, or if they were they came with side-effects for the local population. Hopefully this time, the EU's foreign affairs department has taken the interests of all citizens into consideration.

 

Athens new Mosque amid protests!

A new day of protests in Athens today, but this time they do not come as part of a massive anti-austerity movement. The Greeks are protesting against the Government's decision to go ahead with the construction of a new Mosque, in a poor central Athenian neighborhood.

The protests are organized by the conservative group, the National Front. They represent an ultra conservative side of the Greek mentality, that found fertile ground to spread with the economic crisis. Personally I think these protests are ridiculous and shameful for the Greek people.

Athens is the only European capital that does not have a mosque yet. Not that it is "progressive" to build one, rather an obligation for every country that has immigrant citizens of any religious background, to provide for their religious practices.

The fact that the majority of the Greek citizens are Greek Orthodox, does not mean that other religious groups should not be openly accepted and flourish in a secular society.

This conservative Greek reaction reveals a complex of our nation. Some Greek nationals have never recovered from the Ottoman oppressor inferiority complex and see anything Islamic as a threat. It also has to do with an outdated agreement between the newly formed Greek and Turkish states and their arrangements to manage religious minorities.

The two countries signed an agreement that made compulsory for Greece to built mosques, but only in the Thrace region where around 100 thousand Muslims live.The agreement made clear that no mosque would ever be built in Athens or any other major Greek city. The same agreement provided with some protection to the Greek Orthodox minority in Istanbul and the existence of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.

Decades have passed since that agreement and both countries have changed a lot. Well apparently. Greece is an EU member state and Turkey an aspiring one. Both countries are secular, multiracial and multicultural. How can anyone justify such narrow minded mentality at this day and age?

As long as there are legal Muslim immigrants in Greece, that reside, work and contribute their taxes legally in the country, then the state is obliged to provide them with a mosque.

I understand that there is a general fear and mistrust among the Greeks for an "Islamic invasion," as it is currently exist in all European countries. It is also true that Greece has an extra reason to fear, as it has a large and powerful Islamic country as neighbor, contrary its most European  counterparts.

As long as the relations between the two states remain unstable, the Greeks can never really be comfortable with the expansion of Islam in their country. They have also have very bad memories in their recent history, from atrocities that the Turks committed on them during the Asia Minor disaster and the Greco-Turkish wars.

But these immigrants are not Turkish and they have clearly tried to distance themselves from Turkey. In a recent bid to interfere with the situation, the Turkish PM Mr. Erdogan offered to pay for the construction of the Mosque in Athens. The Pakistani community themselves rejected the move, as they clearly wanted to distance themselves from Turkey and disassociate the construction of the mosque as a Turkish initiative.

It is also true that not all Muslim immigrants in Athens are illegal and criminals or radicals. There have been many Muslim immigrants in Greece for many decades now, mainly from Arabic countries. My family is friends with a man from Sudan, married to a Greek woman. He has been working as a doctor in an Athens hospital for decades, but he is forced to practice his religion in private.

The Greeks also fear the radicalization of its Muslim migrants in the new mosque, like it has happened in other European countries like Britain. But there are already around 100 makeshift mosques throughout Athens, hiding from the public. Aren't these secret mosques a better ground for radicalization, rather an open Islamic institution financed by the state?

When the Greeks see the failures of other countries in integrating their Muslim immigrants, can they be willing to follow their path? In Britain we see how many terror attacks were actually committed by British-born Muslims. That is not a reason to fear a new mosque, but a reason to form better immigration policies, to attract and integrate the number and the kind of immigrants we need. Something that not just Greece, but Europe as a whole failed in doing so.

In Switzerland they banned the minarets for example, just so they do not remind them that they have Muslims in their country. While they do not mind them when they serve them their food in the restaurants they work, or clean after them in hospitals. Europe is still a conservative continent and we witness that even in countries like France, in their recent deep divisions on gay marriage.

The mosque will be built in Votanikos, a poor Greek working class area of Athens. It has no touristic importance and it won't alter the "Greek" heart and spirit of the city. Isn't it always that workers live in these poorer regions? Now that some of our workers are Muslims, shouldn't we show them that we accept them and prevent their radicalization because of our rejection and marginalization? We should learn from other countries' mistakes, not repeat them.