Two Years of Blogging

THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY was born on June 22nd 2005 at 6:15pm.
Posts to date: 646
Hits to date: 106,873
Comments to date: 3,522
DD Live is now one year old. Our first chat was on June 24th 2006.

At some point, after writing about my first anniversary, I realised that this place was here to stay. With all its ups and downs. Little did I know that my convictions would be tested so strongly and so soon after starting my second year.

My greatest achievement this year has been to help attract attention to the issue of the Roma here in Greece. Recently there has been a flurry of mainstream media reports and articles. The Roma series has been quite widely read and I am still working on other outlets.

I have never been sure about the power of blogging but I am more confident now that this is something I must do. That I want to do. That is important in its own small way.

So I will continue from where I finished last year…

I hope to make it to my second birthday. And now that have written this, I reckon I will make it

July

Alex Meschisvili was still very much on my mind during the whole of this year. His parents have started a blog to publicise his disappearance and possible murder by school children and adult involvement in a cover-up. Hopefully, there will be an English version in the near future.

I began writing the Roma series. I had also bought a digital camera so I could finally photograph the people there and illustrate what I had seen. The images made the posts more compelling and my focus on the children I met became a real connection. It is one thing to read words and to try and understand. It is quite another to look into someones eyes and realise that the words relate to a real person. I have grown very attached to the children who were living at Votanikos and I think about them all the time. At this point, it is very unclear where they are going to be able to settle I will, of course, be keeping you updated as much as I can.

I bought a new (second-hand) Powerbook G4 which truly befits a Diva.

August

This month was totally dominated by the Roma series and the MELTDOWN. This is what brought me back…

I have just spent the most relaxing five days I’ve had in years. Hanging out with friends in a house with a pool. Eating great food that wasn’t cooked by me. Talking and laughing. Not talking if I didn’t feel like it. No phone. No TV. No emails. No blogging. I opened the laptop once to write down some random thoughts. I even wrote on paper ! With a pen ! The kid is away having a great time with his best friend on an island. They are being watched over by our great friends so there are only small moments of anxiety. I miss him but I needed this time away from him too.

So I am back. Not just back home. But back to this blog too. I have just read through all the amazing comments people have left here while I was away. It is truly overwhelming and uplifting to know that there are so many people looking out for me even though we have never met. A heartfelt thank you to all of you. You have helped me look again at my reasons for doing this and made me realise that it is of value. Thank you also to my real life friends who have listened and talked and laughed and cried with me over the Major Meltdown. Thank you for the hugs. For the emails. For the phone calls. And just for being there when I needed you.

Today I am going to find out what is going on the world, read my favorite blogs, catch up on my emails…

and my advice for anyone who goes through the same: I am not going to go into the reasons for “quitting” again but I do want to say that people are always stronger than they think they are and that love really does make a difference.

September

I hosted guest blogger Nayj who wrote a piece about being an Arab-American visiting Palestine. I have since had two submissions from Abravanel about his experiences of being Jewish in Greece. Read the entries here and feel free to send me your own submissions for consideration. I am not an ogre or bothered by spelling or grammar mistakes, ( I am willing to help you edit if you wish ), so don’t be shy. I am interested in personal and honest accounts of your experiences regardless of your writing skills.

I got hot under the collar about the constant accusations of being unfair and imbalanced in my posts. I have since come to the conclusion that some people will critisise regardless of what I write, so I carry on anyway.

October

This month was dominated by three major issues: Hate Graffiti here and here, the desperate letter from immigrants being held in Chios, and the outcry over internet censorship covered here and here.

The first two issues highlighted the problems of blogging about unpopular subjects (immigrants and racism) and the very predictable responses to pleas for change. For example “we are not as bad as … (insert pet hate country here)” or “why don’t you stop moaning etc etc”. I think that two years on people are beginning to realise that I am not stopping. Even though it’s touch and go sometimes, simply because it is hard to read so much negativity on a regular basis.

The other major issue of the month was about a Greek blog aggregating service BLOGME who was being sued for hosting a blog with some satirical material about a famous person. The news spread like wildfire through Greek blogland after the word was put out by the Greek blogger x-psilikatzoy. Ironically, a few days later,

Amnesty International put out a Call to Bloggers to stand up for freedom ahead of world meeting on future of Internet which is going to be held… in Athens!

Sad but true.

November

Greece was shocked by the rape of a 16 year old girl at her school.

Rape is always an horrific crime. The rape of a 16 year old girl at school by four schoolboys is appalling. The fact that it was filmed by one of three schoolgirls who were watching is unimaginable. But what has made this crime so shocking to so many people here in Greece is the racist element of the crime and the response of the school towards the victim.

Some of us were shocked by the aftermath.

The girl is from Bulgaria. She has stated that racist insults were used during the rape. She and her mother have been forced to leave the village where they have lived for seven years because of threats they have received. The school has apparently refused to talk to the girl’s mother and the town major actually said that consideration should be given to the boys because they “were upset by all this as well”. One of the boys is the son of a teacher at the school and another is the son of a local policeman.

I don’t think anyone was shocked by the way the media handled the story.

Fiery debates continued in the comments as expected. The girl has since moved to Athens where I believe she has taken up the offer of a free place at a private Greek high school.

December

My blog had a baby! Well, a friend of THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY had a baby (I just love being a drama queen). And a beautiful baby boy he is too. Kisses to him and his family.

A visit from my family, Christmas and New year took over the rest of the month.

January

One of my first posts this month was about the segregated school for Roma children in Aspropyrgos. The school was burnt down by arsonists in April. Nothing was done to replace the prefab buildings or to enroll the children into the local school for the rest of the school year, unlike what happened in this case:

a few days after that arson, a large school was damaged by an earthquake in Trihonida; but that was not a school for Roma so the state within one week had all necessary prefabs so that after the Easter break pupils did not miss a class

(from the comments)

Let’s see what will happen in September…

January also saw the second year of Blog for Radical Fun. Here is my entry just to prove that I can be serious but I know how to have serious fun.

What do radical bloggers do for fun ? Contrary to popular opinion, we are not a bunch of miserable “johnny no mates” who sit about moaning about the state of the world and preaching to whoever will listen (although I think that’s quite that’s fun too). So here’s a list of things I get up to when I’m not sitting about moaning about the state of the world and preaching to whoever will listen….

Dance wildly until the early hours, often barefoot , always sexy
Laugh deeply with the love of my life, my kid, my friends, at DD live, with complete strangers and sometimes when I’m on my own.
Watch Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, Morecombe and Wise, French and Saunders and many other series I grew up watching on TV.
Potter about in my garden and enjoy seeing my plants bloom.
Say hello to my favorite dog every morning on my way to the kid’s school.
Cook for my friends and love when they love my food.
Watch my kid play basketball. He’s on a team now and I love seeing him achieving and I love that he loves it.
Make music. Loud, noisy and wild music.
Watch a great film even if it makes me cry.
Read a great book even if it makes me cry.
Photography. Whether it’s taking pictures or looking at them. At times, images really do speak louder than words.
Have a bath. The house I live in has a very sad, tiny bathroom and very small bathtub but I still enjoy my candlelit indulgence.
Throw a party. Yes, I do that a lot and I love hosting these raucous, drunken, silly, fabulously fun get-togethers. (Reminds me that I should do another one soon!)
Coffee with my friend. There’s one woman in particular I am talking about (I don’t really do the “coffee with friends” thing that much) and whenever we meet there are not enough hours in the day to run out of things to say. Thank you darling.
Put the world to rights with the love of my life. Often until the early hours, always uplifting.

I will be having one last raucous, drunken, silly, fabulously fun party at this house before moving to our new one where we can begin annoying our new neighbours !

February

I joined the 2000 bloggers project and got caught up in this ridiculous controversy. We survived!

I attempted to write about what racism feels like as opposed to a dictionary definition. I also wrote about the role of the media in fueling racism here.

On another subject I wrote:

Cremation became legal in Greece a year ago although there is still no crematorium.

There is still no crematorium…

March

Several of us “expat” bloggers were very proud to be featured in an article in Odyssey magazine. It’s always a pleasure to get recognition for what you do.

I found it difficult to deal with reading about Alex due to an incident in real life involving the kid. Thankfully, we never saw or heard of this man again although I am still wary and I will send my kid to school with a mobile phone despite the ban. Only his dad and I have his number so it won’t be ringing during school hours and he will be under strict orders.

April

April was the most emotionally draining month I have ever experienced since I started blogging. My real life identity was revealed on a nationalist blog and I was seriously scared. On the positive side, I did not once think of “blowing up” my blog. I simply appealed to the person to remove the information and for friends to contact me for support. The post was removed almost immediately (although I have kept a record of it for future reference). The outpouring of support that followed this “outing” was truly amazing. People left comments, wrote emails, posted to their blogs and the story was picked up all over Blogland. I was moved and overwhelmed by the solid reaction against those who made me a target of their hatred. The original intention was to silence me, to scare me into stopping what I was doing here.

the result of this originally racist action has backfired on the perpetrators

I came back stronger and more determined than ever to continue thanks to all the support I received. Thank you again.

May

I finally got to grips with putting my own header on this blog. I am such a geek sometimes but this one defeated me for the longest time. I patted myself very hard on the back.

Alex Meshivilli’s mother, Natala Ichuadze launched the Amber Alert system here in Greece. The system is designed to put the whole country on alert within 30 minutes of a child being reported missing by immediate briefing of police, the media and the public.

A total of 40 state and private organizations, including local media firms, are to cooperate in implementing the system which makes use of emergency media bulletins, the mass distribution of SMS messages and electronic signs on highways and railways

Amber Alert is named after Amber Hagerman, a nine year old girl, who was kidnapped and murdered in 1996 in Texas.

This early warning system is too late for Alex. He has been missing for over a year but my deepest respect to Natala who has been courageous and caring enough to launch this initiative that might help prevent another parent having to go through what she has suffered. Thank you.

June

This blog received a fair bit of media attention because of my coverage of the Roma community at Votanikos. Sadly, that hasn’t helped the families that were evicted throughout the month. I have not yet had the chance to catch up with recent events. I am sure Panayote Dimitras will update us all as soon as he gets a chance. My posts on the evictions are here and here. I attempted to add my voice in a GHM call for action against the evictions but hardly anyone showed up (Thank you to those who did). Panayote followed up with this post. I did not have a chance to write up my thoughts on the day as I was leaving for London.

So that’s it. Another year gone by. Blogging does not bring about overnight change but I have achieved more than I ever thought possible by being part of a community that is standing up and shouting against injustice. I take tiny steps but I take them together with thousands of others. I am very proud of this place and all the trials and tribulations have been worth it to get here.

My deepest respect to everyone who is taking tiny steps together with me.

My sincerest thanks also to everyone who supports this work, to everyone who reads and comments (or just reads), to everyone who comes along to DD live, to everyone in my real life who supports and understands what I am doing, to everyone who is trying to bring about change (whether through their own blogs or in real life), to everyone who has picked up what I am doing and spread the word, to everyone who has sent me information, articles or emails that make this blog possible.

And all my love to the love of my life who has supported me everyday in my efforts and to the kid who puts up with his mum’s boring blogging.

See you tonight at DD live!