The Silence
Published by deviousdiva December 17th, 2007 in Racism.This article appeared in Kathemerini shortly after the racist attacks I wrote about here and here. This was written by a Greek journalist not a “foreigner who likes stirring up trouble where there isn’t any”
The monster begins to resemble us
By P. Mandravelis
We were all shocked when we learned about a neo-Nazi group attacking immigrants in Germany. “The beast has reared its ugly head,” warned some newspaper headlines. But the most important thing is that the German people were shocked as well and they raised their voices, demanding that the guilty parties be made an example of and punished. Their own history has taught them that racism is not something that just suddenly appears. It is spawned by society. Stereotypes are born first, then a few slurs are uttered and attacks come next, followed by persecution. They knew racism could grow even in the best of families.
The most worrying thing about the attack against a group of Pakistanis in the Athenian suburb of Aegaleo last week is not the event itself. Every society has its punks, people who lash out against the weaker members of society. What is worrying is the silence that followed the attack. The horror that was never expressed, the condescension that arises from a deeply rooted belief that the “Greek soul” is untainted by racism. It is the remissness of the police and that terrible whisper: “Come on, they’re just Pakistanis. They must’ve done something.”
Some bury their head in the sand and dismiss the attack as merely an “isolated incident.” Of course it is an isolated incident when a group of thugs attack a Pakistani home with crowbars and knives, but is a Pangrati school trashed every day?
Terrorism, as we have noted before, also comprises “isolated incidents.” What is most worrying, and allowed a group of so-called revolutionaries to go on murdering people for 27 years, is the public’s general tolerance, the belief that maybe the victims were not so innocent after all, that they somehow must have done something to provoke the attack. Only one person dared to say, after a murder, that the victim had it coming to him. But many others were thinking it. No, Greeks were not terrorists, but they did display a tolerance for terrorists for a great number of years. Mostly though, there seemed to be a (cultivated) sense of denial, an idea that terrorism had nothing to do with us. No one wanted to admit that terrorism was a malignant growth, a symptom of an ailing society.
Manos Hadjidakis once said that when the monster doesn’t bother us, it begins to resemble us.
The problem is that last week’s attacks against the Pakistanis did not trouble us. We did not see any ministers pledging to find the guilty parties and make them pay. We did not see the police display any zeal in apprehending the wrongdoers. Even worse, we did not see the public exerting any pressure on the authorities to do their job. The monster is growing in our own backyard and those bullies in Aegaleo are a malignant growth that will infect the entire body of society unless it is amputated.
Technorati: Greece, racism, neo-nazi, racist attacks
democracy: use it or lose it.
First They Came for the Jews
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
Pastor Martin Niemöller
Have a nice day,…ciao
I am glad to see this.
DD, is it your sense that there is any kind of real public turning happening in Greece, in terms of dealing directly with racism?
I do not remember seeing or hearing much like this, or any outcry at all against persecution of the Roma, when I was living there in the mid-90’s. I know there still isn’t much, but I wonder if a ground-shift is beginning. Or am I being overly hopeful?
Been thinking a lot this morning about how Nationalism and xenophobia work - in Greek history, these forces are clear, near the surface, recent, canonized, entrenched in modern history and existing in a pretty much unbroken chain back to the Classical period. The American cycle with these forces has been very different; sometimes as clearly visible, sometimes more opaque and complex. No consistent mandatory military service, stated freedom of religion and anti hate crime laws, stated founding principles of safety and security for all immigrant groups, etc., etc., - and, of course, profound hypocrisy in practice and huge gaps between the stated principle and the practiced reality.
But as our present mercenary and elitist administration openly destroys the basic freedoms of speech and action which have allowed social justice movements to gain traction in the U.S. and address the gaps between the founding principle and the practiced action, we are, of course, experiencing a massive upsurge of hate crimes based in supremacist pathology. Floodgates of hate are opening, enabled by the implicit, and sometimes explicit, support of the government, the media, the people with money and power.
I have wondered if Greece will rise to something better. If globalization and the larger social and economic identity of the EU etc will shake the previously unshakeable Nationalism even as they destroy something of the unique character of the place.
I don’t mean to oversimplify and say that racism exists when a country ‘goes it alone’; it’s certainly more complex than that. It does seem to be one of many profound links, though.
Long train of thought, sorry - appreciate though, as always, your work here, & the thought it inspires.
I heard a Greek government official state something very clever today. Basically, he said something like “England has one racist attack per day, and we don’t want to see Greece get to that stage”. To me, it was a typical (comparison) response that Greeks use to justify their inadequate action to fix a situation in a prompt manner.
Instead of just saying we need to fix this, by comparing it to the UK or the USA, they can in someway say “Look, we are not so bad”. Unfortunately, what the official didn’t say is that in the UK and the USA, although there may be more attacks, when those attackers are quickly arrested, they will be punished extremely severe and will not see daylight for many years. Can they say the same here yet?
In the USA specifically, if you commit a hate crime, regardless of what type of crime (i.e. assault, murder etc), the “hate portion” is a separate offense that you get additional jail time regardless of what the initial offense was.
Hi there, Theriomorph
I really appreciate you taking the time to comment in this way. Do I think there is a ground-shift beginning to happen here ? Not really. Not in any serious or major way, although I do think that a small minority are concerned and are speaking out and saying that the issues need to be addressed now. But I think those people were always concerned. There doesn’t seem to be any serious national effort to do anything.
As George says in his comment, people seem to still be at the stage of comparing Greece to other countries and saying “you see, we’re not so bad” and using that as an excuse to do nothing. I keep hammering on about this because I see that Greece has a chance to do something now.
I am pessimistic though. I see that things will get worse for minorities here because of this inability to see the reality of what is happening. Or seeing it but blaming anyone but themselves.
It feels like there is a total lack of interest and this seems to extend to all kinds of change here like the environment or fighting corruption or any number of really urgent issues. I don’t know if there will be any real change or whether it will continue in the same old way.
Putting a band aid on a gaping wound.
Thank you for posting that article here. I think the journalist hit the nail on the head when he quoted Hadjidakis “when the monster doesn’t bother us, it begins to resemble us.”
I grew up in South Africa and so I have seen and experienced first hand what racism can do. Sometimes, I think that at least the racism that existed in South Africa was recognized.
There is nothing more dangerous than this type of underlying, hidden racism. Because if you do not admit its there, you can’t possibly change it.
Thanks again DD for bringing up this very important subject.
Putting a band aid on a gaping wound.
Yes. On a severed artery.
Grim.
George’s quote is so interesting; there it is, the automatic deflection. No incorporation of population size, legal system response to hate crimes (if any), media reportage of hate crimes (if any). No grip on the absolutely overt xenophobia of Greece through the ages. No self examination. Just deflection. So disheartening.
I fell madly in love with Greece when I was a kid, and went back as an adult, and almost stayed as an ex-pat. I finally did not because, simply, my own identity and that of most of my friends and family (queer, of color, and/or Jewish) would create impossible alienation and a likelihood of real danger, over any kind of real long-haul. I knew too well that while tourists are one class of people treated one way (support for the economy), actual residents are another matter entirely.
Of course, that’s increasingly true in the States right now, too. Again I say, disheartening.