[promoted from comments. Thank you Kat]
While a couple of people are squabbling over who can call themselves what, there is a real crisis happening on the island of Lesvos.

Greece is locking hundreds of migrants in an overcrowded centre on the Mediterranean island of Lesvos without proper sanitation and medical care in what French charity Medicins [...]

An article by Malcolm Brabant (BBC correspondent in Athens) about the neglect of refugees from Palestine, Afghanistan and Somalia who have been rejected from the reception centre on the island of Patmos and are currently sleeping in the streets.

Medecins du Monde (Doctors of the World) claims says the 140 refugees had been crammed into a [...]

[Related to the previous post about copper recycling in that it gives an insight into news reporting versus racist drivel]
The Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) has won another victory under the anti-racism law (Law 927/79) here in Greece. The case was against the publisher, editor and columnist of the right-wing newspaper Eleftheros Kosmos (Free World), who [...]

A recent article about the Roma community at Votanikos from the national newspaper Eleftheros Typos (in Greek). It looks at the health and fire risks that arise from salvaging copper which involves burning cables. The community sells the copper to make some sort of livelihood. The dioxins emitted cause cancer and can have lasting harmful [...]

Very interesting…

After 34 years of watching the reception’s humdrumness, this year someone finally DID something to actually remind people that beyond the hedges of the beautiful (as I have been told) gardens of the Presidential Mansion are citizens living in our democracy with no voice, who are not recorded as existing citizens

Go and read what [...]

Stephen Colbert laughs at the lesbian dispute. Yes, most people think this court case is a joke.

Thank you toomanytribbles for the link.
UPDATE: For more Saturday giggles, go and see this video from Where The Hell Is Matt ? that toomanytribbles pointed out to me and be sure to to read about what happened to him [...]

I have been putting off writing this post for days now. I don’t know how many of you have been following events in Italy involving the Roma community there, but the whole issue is becoming increasingly disturbing. I have written extensively about the Roma here in Greece and I am well-aware of the deeply entrenched [...]

Via Pink News

A court in Athens today rejected a law suit from some residents of the island of Lesbos that attempted to stop homosexual women from using the word ‘lesbian’ to define themselves.
Three islanders took gay rights group OLKE, the Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece, to court to get a ban on anyone except [...]

Legislation in progress on immigration:
Greece backs the new EU plans on immigration
More on the EU plans
A new bill aimed at children of migrants
Education of the children of immigrants
Technorati Tags: greece, immigration, migrants, children

Immigration issues have been very much on the agenda across Europe in the past few years. As you know, I follow the subject very closely in relation to Greece. I am not an expert but I do have opinions on the issues like many others.
I would like to raise a question today about descriptions. [...]

Sorry…
DD Live is canceled until after the summer.
It’s too hot and everyone seems to be on holiday.
The kid is away with friends.
I’m going out with the love of my life.
It’s hot !

Photographer Oliver Jobard was arrested in Patras while he was covering the story below about Afghan refugees in the port.
Via Reporters without Borders

French photographer Olivier Jobard of the Sipa Press agency was arrested and beaten by a coastguard officer on 4 July while taking photos in the port of Patras, in northern Peloponnese, for a [...]

Thank you to Kat of Living, Working, Musing and Misadventures in Athens for the link.
A harrowing account of life in a makeshift camp in Patras for Al Jazeera by Danylo Hawaleshka

Local residents in the apartment buildings that crowd the shantytown’s perimeter resent the migrants’ presence and the inevitable filth resulting from so many people living [...]

Thank you to Panayote Dimitras of the Greek Helsinki Monitor for providing more information about the recent decision of Holland not to send asylum seekers back to Greece under the Dublin agreement. As Panayote points out, it was a court decision that forced this move and was NOT the refugee authorities own policy.

DON’T SEND ASYLUM [...]

Sorry people.
It’s summer.
It’s too hot to sit down, research and write about anything very much. Expect more links and block quotes for the time being.
Holland joins the list of European countries refusing to send migrants back to Greece (Norway, Sweden and Germany) because of human rights violations here.
From Kathimerini

A court in The Hague yesterday barred [...]