Worlds apart

This article is better understood by Cypriots, but it does not mean that anyone else will not find it interesting.


While you cannot expect the same standards for perceptions of different aspects of society in countries that are at different stages of their political and social development, the perception of foreigners and the issue of racism in Cyprus is something so shocking that it cannot be simply put aside and regarded as an issue that will change with time and get better as people on this small island become more and more aware and in touch with the wider world.

Every other day somewhere on the news you will find some new record on the number of asylum seekers in Cyprus and some shocking case of mistreatment of foreigners on the island (which the Interior Minister recently said amounted to more than one in five of the entire population of the island[1]). The most recent story that comes to mind is last week’s account of an asylum seeker who despite needing medication daily he, along with another 250 asylum seekers, was told that he would not receive the monthly benefits he was entitled to from the government (according to Cypriot law asylum seekers receive a social package from the government as they are not allowed to work in the first six months of their stay and after that their employment is restricted to the farming sector. This leads to most asylum seekers forced to work illegally in the private sector, for much lower payments than their Cypriot counterparts as well as the unbelievable situation of some extremely educated asylum seekers or refugees –scientists and scholars – who are made to work in agriculture for a very meager salary).

These stories however have become in a way ‘accepted’, meaning that while everyone knows that this is happening, it is mostly ignored. You don not need to be living in Cyprus permanently to realise that foreigners are not treated the same as Cypriots, just a few hours on the island will suffice. Therefore, such stories that are meant to awaken Cypriots to the ills of their society no longer touch a nerve. The common reaction would be ‘not another group of asylum seekers on strike, what do they want again, isn’t it enough they are in the country?’

It must be said that there is definitely a group of people ( the Action for Equality, Support, Antiracism in Cyprus (KISA) a few journalists – I can possibly count them on the fingers of one hand - people in the government working for the Interior Ministry(find exactly where) that are committed to working hard for the implementation of the necessary EU laws on asylum seekers and refugees as well as probably the most important and hardest task of not only raising the awareness of Cypriot citizens to these issues but to actually get people to change their perceptions on the matter.

But in general, this is a very small group of people that you see at every government talk raising social awareness on the problem or the same journalists who write on the topic and try to highlight the grave inequalities that foreigners are subject to.

At a presentation of the results of a survey by Community Initiative EQUAL, responsible for the ‘Social Rights for Asylum Seekers’ movement, a representative of the Anti-Racism Department of the Interior Ministry said one of the most correct comments I have heard when it comes to foreigners in Cyprus.

“In Cyprus foreigners don’t have a name.”

This may seem like a drastic comment for an EU country in 2008, however it is entirely true for the majority of the population. The most striking example here comes in the form of police reports and press coverage of crimes.

On police reports, when the subject of the report, either for being charged for a crime or being the victim of a crime, a foreigner appears under the term ‘allodapos’, which translated into English means either ‘alien’ or ‘foreigner’. Now this is a way of describing any foreigner in Cyprus, this is the broad category that 22 % of the population come under. No name, no description, nothing, just ‘allodapos’, whether the person has been living in the country for 10 or 15 years, he is just a ‘foreigner’.

Here is one of these police reports:

Εργατικό ατύχημα
Γύρω στις 11π.μ. σήμερα, ενώ 25χρονος αλλοδαπός, βρισκόταν σε υποστατικό, σε χωριό της επαρχίας Πάφου και ασχολείτο με τον καθαρισμό του, κάτω από συνθήκες που διερευνώνται, έχασε την ισορροπία του και έπεσε στο έδαφος από ύψος 3 μέτρων περίπου, με αποτέλεσμα να τραυματιστεί στο κεφάλι.
Από τις έως τώρα εξετάσεις της Αστυνομίας, φαίνεται ότι ο πιο πάνω, βρισκόταν παράνομα στο έδαφος της Κυπριακής Δημοκρατίας.
Ο Αστυνομικός Σταθμός Πόλεως Χρυσοχούς διερευνά τα αίτια του ατυχήματος.

Work-related accident:
At around 11am today, a 25-year-old foreigner, while cleaning an estate in a village in the Paphos district, under circumstances that are being investigated, lost his balance and fell to the ground from a height of three metres, injuring his head.
From the initial investigations of the Police, it appears that the abovementioned was in the Republic of Cyprus illegally.
The Polis Chrysochous Police Station is investigation the causes of the accident.

This story might have been published in the press the following day in the same way: a foreigner fell, injuring his head. He is in Cyprus illegally. But most probably the story will not have even made it to the dailies. The bottom line I get from this is: who cares?
No mention of the 25-year-old’s name, not even nationality, the only thing that seems worthy of mentioning is his status: a ‘foreigner’.
Had he been a Cypriot, well that is a totally different story. The incident would have made the 8 o’clock news on all channels, undoubtedly with his name, origin, family background and the concern of his family worried for his health and calling for better health and safety provisions at the workplace.

But that is just a minor indication of the scale of the problem we are facing. If that was the only problem, then we would be going well. What I notice time and time again in Cypriot society is a general racist and xenophobic attitude to the most simple things, not the normal right of centre view in many western countries that these foreigners come to our country and steal our jobs. The problem in Cyprus does not have much to do with political perspective, the problem of racism is one that is inherent and tends to passed down from parents to children. It is not rare to see children or teenagers watching a Premier League football game or a World-Cup game and shouting, as if vindicated, when a black player gets something wrong, saying: Ε τι περιμένεις που ένα μαύρο, αφού εν έχει νου!’, ‘What do you expect from a black guy, he has no brains.’ And this from children who do not think twice about this as they undoubtedly picked up such a phrase from their father or mother.

This again, is a relatively small example which cannot possibly capture the inherent racism on the island. I remember a conversation with an English friend in London, trying to explain to him that the only people that use the bus or even ride a bicycle in Cyprus are the foreign workers – and maybe a few old-age pensioners, this in the case of the bus and not the bicycle. He could simply not understand how it was so normal for us to say that and it was something that was a part of our life and we accepted it without protest. It is something so normal in Cyprus that you don’t even think about it.

Possibly the most stark example of the problem however is neither the lack of care for asylum seekers and recognised refugees from the government, neither the fact they are reduced to second class citizens by the police and the press nor the blatantly racist comments and perceptions from Cypriots towards foreigners.

Inherent racism – commonly called ‘patriotism’ be some – exists everywhere, even in the most liberal of states. Having lived in London for a year, I have come to the realisation that while it appears to be a multicultural society, there is a serious lack of integration (this does not mean that the lack of integration comes about due to racism) and mixing of people of different race, religion or ethnic background. However, what the UK has succeeded – not fully but partially - in creating is a general acceptance of people of other cultures and backgrounds, something which even though it is not ideal, it is definitely further than many other countries have come.

While I cannot expect this from Cyprus, what is so striking is the fact that Cypriots and foreigners here – especially the non-European ones – live in two entirely different worlds. At this press conference I attended two weeks ago carried out by EQUAL on the social rights of asylum seekers, it was said that 65 per cent of asylum seekers in Cyprus live below the poverty line. This is an absolutely incredible statistic for a country that has such a high standard of living. Just walking from the car park to go to the office where work in the morning in old Nicosia, one can see the kind of houses where the foreigners live (anyone from Nicosia will know where and what I am talking about). In most of these houses a Cypriot would not allow his or her animals to live. Derelict buildings – I am not exaggerating when I say dangerous to live in as they look ready to collapse – are evidence of the stark differences in the worlds where the foreigners and Cypriots live.

The main issue in Cyprus is that there is a total lack of any sort of integration policy for the great number of foreigners that live here. While I know the problem is generally non-European foreigners – western Europeans are accepted, not so much Eastern Europeans such as Poles, Romanians, Ukrainians and Russians and Pontians – you will most probably never see a Cypriot going out with a group of non-white foreigners, you will be hard pushed to find a Cypriot conversing with them unless the foreigner in question is his household cleaner or any other sort of worker under his command. However shocking this may seem and even if many Cypriots may say that things are changing, the reality is we live worlds apart.

And if we are going to be brutally honest, it will take much more than committed work from a tiny group of individuals when compared to the attitudes of the wider population and it will probably take more than a lifetime before the inherent racist and xenophobic perceptions in Cyprus are to change for good.



[1] There are reportedly 170,000 foreigners living in Cyprus. There are 60,000 third country nationals legally here, 50,000 Europeans (including Pontians) and around 50,000-60,000 illegals, counting for approximately 22 per cent of the population.

Blog update

Well my original intentions about 3 weeks ago were to write a lot of updates and analysis as well as predictions on Euro 2008, something I started doing, but no internet acces for more than a week after that and my job now kind of killed that plan, but I have not abandoned the blog, I will be writing some articles about social issues in Cyprus and whatever else comes to mind!
By the way, I do know that I am probably writing this to myself and maybe the one other person out there who reads the blog, whoever that person may be!
- Nassos Stylianou -

UCL iTunes U

UCL have just announced the launch of their iTunes U service, a way to access free material from the university via iTunes. At the moment however, the material on the service seems to be trying to stress UCL's commitment to interdisciplinary research and teaching, as well as to publicise the university, instead of providing useful material for students.

Having said that the material there is interesting. In the introducing UCL section Malcolm Grant talks about the university's commitment to working across disciplinary boundaries: UCL is attempting to move from a subject focused strategy to one focused on solving important (global) problems, using the expertise of whichever disciplines may be relevant. If this is really happening, it should be an effective way to avoid narrow academic ruts, and to raise UCL's game.

Looking in the research section of UCL iTunes U, Jo Woolf's talk on Research Challenges (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/research-challenges/)
gives some examples of how this aim has been attempted. Last year UCL granted £50,000 for interdisciplinary research in 5 areas, these were:

Sustainability: The workability of zero-carbon homes. This draws on research from the departments of the built environment, economics, psychology, and public policy.

New medical technologies: Mitochondria as targets in the treatment of cancer, from UCL clinical neurosciences and surgery.

Infection: Building an infection resistant hospital, from UCL Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, the Department of Infection at the UCL Institute of Child Health, and the construction firm Laing O'Rourke.

London: a London portal to bring together academic research about the city, from the Bartlett, the UCL Centre for Transport Studies, UCL Geography, UCL Geomatic Engineering, UCL Computer Science and UCL Archaeology.

Communication and Access to Culture: a 'video data archive for human communication', from the UCL Centre for Applied Interaction Research (CAIR), the UCL Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre (DCAL), and the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience.

Although I'm not too sure about the last one, at least in health and the environment effective interdisciplinary work does seem to be a reality, the progress reports on the UCL Research Challenges website look promising. I'd like to know about some more examples if anyone can give me any. (On the 15th June the 2008 competition will close, with a new set of proposals being considered.)

But I don't believe this this interdisciplinary approach has affected undergraduate teaching as far as it could have. There are good examples of effective interdisciplinary courses at UCL, but they are a minority.

The ideas behind iTunes U could be used to help those who want a broader course of study than is currently available to them. For Peter Mobbs (in the teaching and learning section of the UCL iTunes U service), it could make it easier for UCL students to learn from a distance. An online university infrastructure, powered by iTunes U, especially to bring lectures and course materials online coherently, would make it easier to get the material to study what you wanted without the restrictions/timetable clashes that cause problems in the real world. Online communities are especially useful when the physical community finds it difficult to communicate, and this is especially relevant to UCL.

It's pretty obvious how ghettoized and divided the UCL community is. As Malcolm Grant says in his talk, this is because of the internationality of its student body, and because of the large and dispersed nature of London. I think a further development oif UCL iTunes U for the students could make learning more efficient, and even perhaps help in any attempt to foster community, that seems to be lacking at the moment.

You can access iTunes U by going to the iTunes store, then clicking on the iTunes U link, then searching for UCL.

-William Beaufoy-

Euro predictions 1

While the talk in the last few months in the UK has centrered on how empty Euro 2008 will be without any of the home nations involved, there is a lot to get excited about on the eve of the 13th European Championship.
During the next 23 days Europe's finest will battle it out before 31 games later on the 29th of June in Vienna, the new European champions will be crowned.

I am hoping this tournament will be as memorable as the last 2 European Championships, which for me have been more memorable than the last 2 World Cups. Who can forget the Greek suprise triumph with a string of fine victories over Europe's best or David Trezeguet's golden goal to beat Italy, who seconds before Sylvain Witord's dramatic equaliser 3 minutes into added time looked on the way to being deservedly crowned champions of Europe.

Here are my predictions for Group A which kicks off on Saturday with the first of two host nations Switzerland palying against the Czech Republic in Basel.

Group A

- Portugal

Finalists in the last European Championships thet they hosted, I am surprised that they are not right up there with Germany as favourites for the trophy this time round. With a very steady backline which is unlikely to concede many goals, if Ronaldo continues the form he has shown throughout the season for Manchester United, Portugal have a great chance of winning the tournament. The only problem is that without a star striker like Italy have with Toni, Germany with Klose and Spain with Torres, a lot depends on the perfomances and goals of Ronaldo and Quaresma and it will be very interesting to see how the Real Madrid target will perform.

- Switzerland

While in such tournaments the host team usually raises its game to another level, it will be very difficult for Switzerland to qualify from a group with Portugal and the Czech Republic, especially with their goal-scoring record. While their team includes Arsenal duo Johan Djourou and Philipe Senderos as well as veteran defender Partik Muller, their problem will be up front where they seriously lack fire power, especially if Alexander Frei does not perform. But overall, I cannot see hosts Switzerland progressing into the quarter finals.

Czech Republic

Pulled off a great 3-0 victory away to Germany in qualifying on their road to Euro 2008 and have the potential to be great. However, they have been regarded as the dark horses in both World Cup and European Championship since 2002 and have always failed to fulfil their promise. With Cech they have the best goalkeeper in the world, but I do not feel they have the quality up front and with the injury to influential Arsenal playmaker Rosicky, they are missing a key creative midfielder. I think that if they win what is a tricky first game against hosts Switzerland, they will qualify, but I would not be very surprised if they disappoint, as they do tend not to turn up for the very important matches in major championships despite the ease with which they qualify every time.

-Turkey

Despite at one stage looking like they would not qualify, after beating the defending champions and arch rivals Greece 4-1 in Athens they made their way to the Championships. With the surprise exclusion of Hakan Sukur from the squad, Turkey need to get themselves playing with passion and like a team eitherwise they will find themselves on the plane home quite soon. They will need their star men Emre and Hamit Altintop to perform at their best in order to add the creative spark needed to beat either Portugal or the Czech Republic, something that they will need to do if they are with any chance of qualifying. Even though I think they could give the Czechs a run for their money, I can see Turkey finishing third in the group.

- And just a final note before the official kick off tomorrow, I am definitely looking forward to a major championship without England in. With England there is alays a massive build up of what is - and has proved quite regularly in the last few years - a very tactically and technically inept team. The worst part of this is the English media, who time and time again prove their lack of understanding for the game, focusing instead on trying to find a scapegoat that will account for the nation's failure.

Let's focus on watching some good football this time round, something that England have consistently failed to produce.

- NS -

It's a cultural thing

As I am getting ready to move out of the university halls of residence where I have been staying for the last year in London and getting ready to go back to Cyprus for the summer holidays, I have found inspiration in complaining about England.

The first and very important one which has been in the news recently since the implementation of the drinking ban on public transport introduced by new London mayor Boris Johnstone.

While it is obviously a quickfire measure by the new mayor to show the London public his determination to crack down on anti-social behaviour in the capital, the issue of drinking whilst in the tube or the bus highlights a much deeper underlying issue to do with British culture.

Successive British governments have tried many ways in order to eradicate binge drinking and anti-social behaviour brought about by excessive drinking.

Short licensing hours were to blame for everything before they were extended three years ago, while a few months ago it was even suggested by a Labour MP that Tescos was to blame for the nation's attitude to drinking, branding Tesco's chief as the "godfather of binge drinking".

While I am definitely not a fan of Boris Johnson, far from it, I do not think that the law on banning alcohol on public transport in fact a bad one. If it helps to make the tube a better and reduces alcohol-related accidents or incidents on the underground, then it has done its job. In any case, in many other European countries, it is banned to drink alcohol outside, and these laws are not regarded as a restriction of any freedom.

However, I feel that this law is very much misguided. Setting aside the problem of how impractical this will be to enforce, is making it illegal for people to drink on the tube and the bus in any way going to stop binge drinking and the anti-social behaviour that comes with it?

Most of the debate about what I like to call the 'drinking culture' in England centres on totally the wrong issues. Living in Cyprus, I have definitely seen my fair share of drunken Englishmen and women stumbling out of clubs and bars in the seaside resorts that the island has to offer. Cyprus has very lax laws on alcohol and drinking out in bars and clubs is very much affordable - another of the excuses used for binge drinking before going out to more expensive nightspots in the UK - but there could not be a greater antithesis when it comes to comparing a Saturday night out in the town in Cyprus and England. It is the same thing in Greece and Italy and most other continental European countries.

Since living in London in September, I have seen that English people go out with one purpose in mind. To get drunk. Not to go out and have fun and have a few drinks with some friends, the sole target is getting drunk and then a good time will follow.

So if you ask me, the problem is neither the licensing laws, neither Tescos, neither the absence of a law banning drinking on public transport, it is a cultural issue. Not wishing to generalise by stereotyping a whole nation as not all Englishmen and Englishwomen fit into this category, the attitude to drinking is embedded into the culture of the country, and is probably getting worse as time passes. While in all countries antisocial behaviour from young people exists, the problem in the UK is deeper than that.

Unless the people themselves start realising that this is in fact the real problem, then no drinking ban on the tube will change the situation.

- NS-

Collecting the comments

Following a series of violence over the Bank Holiday weekend that involved two murders of teenagers in London and a number of youths in hospital after stabbings and shootings throughout England, I found myself captivated by the endless comments that people are making in the electronic press on the issue of what can be done in order to combat these crimes that have come to be regarded as part and parcel of life in the UK and especially in London.

What I have done is collected a number of comments from various points of view, from the more moderate to the very authoritarian.
Here is the collection of random comments – I have tried to be as representative as possible in what kind of comments I have collected – that I have found from various news websites:

“Its time to carryout stop and search on any person and convict the individuals who carry knives or a weapon to 5 years hard labour, or we will have these stories on a weekly basis”

“WANT SOLUTIONS, GREAT BRITAIN: discipline relapse ungodly laws, raise age of marriage re introduce moral instruction re introduce corporal punishment zero tolerance in schools and society for young people and everyone in general re view laws on drinking and pubs”

“The comments I've read on here so far seem to indicate the old truth: 'There's a simple answer to every complex question ...... and it's always wrong.' To suggest that violence in Britain is down to foreigners and present laws is too simplistic. There has always been violence in British society with people becioming instantly incensed at the slighest insult or provocation. To find out the cure for this will take a lot more than a few off the cuff self-congratulatory remarks.”

“I remember London's East End in the 1970/1980s & it is far more safe today. As for teenage gangs - gangs are not something that have just been invented - remember the Krays etc. The idea that a death penalty will serve as a deterrrant is foolish - just look at the United States. As for Jo, who thinks teenagers are killing for kicks - you are clearly out of touch, despite having a teenager. No-one has been killed for kicks, it is a rivalry usually based on turf and/or the trade of drugs - just like in the days of the Kray Twins. The bottom line is - we as humans are capable of killing - look at the way we butcher people in wars. As British people, we should be least suprised at killing others. We are amongst the most murderous nations in history - we celebrate killing in our marches and parade our army!”

“I live in Harrisburg (capital of pennsylvania) ,we have about 1000 knife crimes a week and this is just one small city. there is at least 2 gun deaths every day in Philadelphia. but in the UK i dont see why every single incident has to be sensationalised and thrown on the front pages and the news, the UK is one of the safest countries for violent crime on the planet! if you have problems then change some laws and crackdown but dont try and fearmonger everyone and make the population think they are living in fear. its just dumb”

“We cannot expect children to act as if they belong in society if we continually ostracise them. We cannot expect them to follow human values while we continually allocate respect and status on the basis of power and wealth. We cannot expect children to respect property if we value our cars more than childhood. We cannot expect them to be whole, curious, active human beings if we prevent them from playing by selling off their territory or driving cars all over it.”
“It all comes down to basic education... which our culture lacks, and has done for some years.. look around, its children having children... so theres no basic education there.. go to any shopping mall, and they are there all ages, parents not interested... our society is full of these kind of people.. education.. is important... no education.. results in these terrible actions.. alchol fuelled as well.. which does not help.. as i say ''welcome to britain''.”

What is extremely interesting to see from this is how the viewpoints from so many different people in the same society are so contrasting, totally irreconcilable in some cases. This does beg the question on how can any government organise a strategy in order to challenge major social issues like crime rate, youth delinquency and many other such contentious issues when there is such a major divide in society. If the government is concerned in trying to balance as best it can the views of the population, there is always the risk that no one is satisfied.

What all these comments do highlight however is the extremely vast nature of the beliefs that exist in society and regardless of how illogical and totally wrong that many of other people’s comments do seem for each of us, we cannot deny that they do exist.

-NS-

Picture taken from Sky News website

Grant dismissal highlights lack of strategy from Chelsea hierarchy

MOST football pundits and sports journalists have agreed today that yesterday’s sacking of Chelsea manager Avram Grant was inevitable.

While all the talk in the Sunday papers and the electronic press of sympathy for Grant in what was (to quote Phil McNulty of the BBC) “a sign of the cut-throat nature of the modern game” and how it was so obvious that Grant would be making way for a more prestigious manager able to fill Jose Mourinho’s shoes, what should really be highlighted is the ineptitude of Chelsea’s boardroom not specifically due to the sacking of Grant but from a more general accumulation of erratic behaviour that demonstrate a club seriously lacking any long-term strategy for the future.

Being a massive lifelong Chelsea fan I have to say that the way the people high up in the hierarchy at Chelsea have conducted themselves this year has been a great worry for me this year.

However, don’t get me wrong, I do not think that yesterday’s sacking of Grant was a bad decision when considering the future of Chelsea, I feel that Grant never had the ability to take Mourinho’s team to the next level, and not because of his grim look and dour personality – even though these definitely didn’t count towards. Grant was taking over a team very strongly aligned to Mourinho, many of them regarding the sacking of the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ as a betrayal to the team and their collective effort of the last 3 years. In addition to this, Grant never showed that he had the winning mentality that was the main thing that allowed Jose to break the unbridled success enjoyed by Arsenal and Manchester United. I understand that this may seem like a paradoxical statement coming just a few days after Chelsea lost the Champions League final to the width of a goalpost, an accomplishment that no other manager of the club has ever achieved.

However, Grant never had the winning touch for the big games, very similar to Mourinho’s predecessor Claudio Ranieri. It is no coincidence that Chelsea’s Wembley defeat to Tottenham in the Carling Cup was their first final defeat since Ranieri, Mourinho’s recent undefeated record to Arsenal vanishing in Grant’s first game against the North London club, while the inability to finish off games costing Grant dearly while Jose’s teams always managed to grind out the 1-0 wins that proved so valuable in the back-to-back Championship winning seasons.
(Chelsea conceded 7 goals this season in the last five minutes of a game)

Probably the most important factor for Chelsea’s success in reaching the Champions League had much more to do with the fact of a second leg played at Stamford Bridge instead of Anfield – which however much it pains me to admit – that has played a huge role in the undoing of the Blues in the two previous attempts for Champions League glory and not the effect of either Jose Mourinho or Avram Grant.

So then how on earth can one justify the way Abramovich, Kenyon have reacted to this season? While I could still harp on about mine and most Chelsea fans’ disapproval of Mourinho’s sacking, I am more interested in examining the way they have acted from a more rational and detached perspective.

While most football pundits have claimed since Saturday afternoon that Grant was simply filling a stopgap role as the club were simply waiting for the right man to become available, then how can offering Grant a four year contract be justified? If a manager who was prepared to stay at the helm without the need for a longer term contract –Grant had indicated throughout his tenure that his contract did not concern him in the slightest – then why did the club offer him a long term contract in December that appeared to give the Israeli a vote of confidence for the future only two months into his ultimately short reign as Chelsea boss?

Then this leads to the other point of view, which seems at present to be the only reasonable alternative to why Grant was given the boot, that Grant was sacked due to a slip by captain John Terry that lost the Champions League final. While the phrase that there is a fine line between success and failure may come to mind, if the decision to sack Grant was because of the Champions League final failure, then this was a ridiculous decision.

As I have already said, I never did take to Grant, to the extent that I could not even possibly force myself to applaud him – as many other Chelsea fans did – in the aftermath of the last game of the season at Bolton nor to feel any sympathy for him after the Moscow final.

However, his departure and the events at Chelsea since last September have exposed a great lack of stability at Chelsea and very much a total lack of a long-term strategy in place of a rather blind lust for instant success. While the events of the last five years since Roman Abramovich have raised expectations from the club’s fans and media to an almost ridiculous level, a missed penalty in a Champions League Final should simply not lose you your job.

-NS-

Student politics and the importance of dreams

NO I will not sit and wait while you tell me to listen. While you tell me the arguments which you give and have given again and again: “We must be reasonable, we have jobs to do, responsibilities, duties, people aren’t interested, they don’t care, forget it, you’ll never win, you can’t change anything.”

None of this was ever true.

You sit in your meetings pretending to represent us, pretending to be equals with men who give you half an ear, if you’re lucky. They were there before you, will be there after you – what interest do they have in listening to you? Those who voted for you, where are they? Drinking, studying, passing another day. When do you talk to us and what do you say? Perhaps students are not capable of knowing, they do not think of what they really do and what they have and what they want. And why would they need to? “That's why we were elected. Behind closed doors we fight for what is right, students don't care about the nitty gritty, we do the hard work for them so they don't have to. Don't try and tell me they could ever want anything more , they elected me didn't they? I'll do my job – I work for them. I'm just doing the best by them.” Which is what exactly? When did you ask us? And what do you tell us of what you see , of what you do, of what you think? A little morsel of truth comes out, every now and again, if you're looking closely and listening hard.

So we sit mostly numb, unconscious to all that matters, unaware of what you will never tell us. Numbed by the system which provides us with this brittle cocoon, but it was never so comfortable anyway. You maintain it, our little temporary shelter, or is it a blindfold? The poverty and cruelty of reality seeps in at the edges, but you take little notice. It does not interest you. “We all have a right to education, these days we study to get a job, you knew that when you came here. Why did you come here anyway? It’s money you want isn’t it, or what? Do you have some faded illusion of something better? Ha – you’ll forget that pretty soon. This is the big city, this is where the money is made: we can help you on to the ladder if you’ll only help yourself...”

Help myself, yes I just might. What lies beneath I wonder? Questions rise, slow steady growth of ideas, expanding, spreading until roots and branches stretch in every direction. I think of what I do, my position, situation, history, future – worlds of possibility and reality. Between them many steps lie, but I see them, that first step – questions, leading to thinking, leading to action, leading to change.

Is it so hard? Or is it that you just underestimate us? Of course we can think, they train us in that; how to learn and regurgitate at a later date. But this thinking, probing the lines of our learning itself – this scares you, but you know of it. You know of it and choose to ignore it. “Don't be such a romantic. Nothing would ever come of it any way. These thoughts are the whisper of a dream of a nothing. Grow up, reality is here, it’s not so bad, come on in the water’s...” tepid, at best. “But seriously, give it up, swallow the bitter pill like everybody else, you’ll be saving yourself a lot of trouble.”

A lot of what? Trouble – dreaming isn’t trouble, the trouble is not dreaming - what could be worse? Those changes you say you’re making, will anyone remember in 10 years time, 20, 30? “We adjusted things a little, an inch to the left, an inch to the right, it was an important step on the path to...” What exactly? What was your vision, your keystone, your point of departure, your end destination? “It was just a step on the ladder.” And the top of the ladder? “I’ll tell you when I get there.” When will you get there? “Ask me in 10 years time.” Are you sure it won’t be 20, 30? And then? Will you be satisfied? Will you tell me again not to ask for much or to expect only a little step forward – or is it backwards? Or what direction are we going in at all?

Do we hope? Do we dream, can we go further? What lies beyond, beneath, above, outside? I do not know, but in my search I know I will find a little of what there is not here. But wait, it is here already isn’t it? I see something at the edge of my vision, I turn around, it’s gone. I know I saw something. I catch something, it slides through my fingers a little touch of another object, a different idea, and it’s gone again. It is not lost though, it is always there. If only we look, not with eyes that search for the best and the worst but with eyes that feel, eyes that feel for a deeper meaning, a deeper good which yearns for people. A people who deep down yearn for good.

So when you tell me to listen and be realistic, just who are you speaking for? Me or You? Students or Future Students? Who exactly and why? When you forgot how to dream how did it feel? Without my dreams I am nothing. If we do not hope, if we do not believe, if we do not dream and act on those dreams, however distant they may seem, then where are we?

Nowhere.

Do not tell me we cannot change anything, this was never true.

Dream and we can change everything.

- Sol Gamsu -

Gloucester, UK: A conservation manager from the Severnside Project introduces one of 70 captivity-bred water voles into a nature reserve. The vole population has declined by 90%, but it is hoped the new influx will grow into a stable population and spread to nearby areas to replace the ones that died in last summer's floods
Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/gallery/2008/may/21/photography?picture=334284937

We don't trust ourselves

Having read a lot about Primo Levi in this last week both his books and about his life this week – even if it was for an exam -, this has got me thinking a lot not only about his own aims in his literature but also how far we have come since 1945.

Primo Levi was a Jewish Italian chemist and Holocaust survivor who wrote a number of books about his experience as a survivor of the Holocaust, his literature on his experience of Auschwitz characteristic by its detached prose in a bid to give his readers a historical and factual account of his experiences and not one overridden by emotion and anger. His most important books were Se questo un uomo (If this is a man), La tregua (The Truce) and I sommersi e i salvati (The drowned and the saved).

Levi’s underlying fear that society would forget what happened at Auschwitz and the danger for a similar crime of this proportion to repeat itself was what motivated him as a writer. There has been a lot of speculation surrounding his death – many consider his death in 1987 an act of suicide – as it has been suggested that his ‘Auschwitz demons’ finally got the better of him. However even if the reason behind his death is another issue all together, and one which I am in no position to talk about, Levi has succeeded in getting me thinking about how we as human individuals regard ourselves as a collective unit through these events.

While I understand that anything surrounding the Holocaust or the Second World War maybe a banal topic to discuss at the moment, it is the way we are still dealing with it after more than 60 years that is still fascinating.

Not only is it evident from Levi, but also from the fact that a Holocaust denial law exists implicitly or explicitly in 13 countries, it is clear that as society at large, we simply do not trust ourselves not to repeat the grave errors that have characterised our past. The simple need for such a law, or even the fact that sensitivities still run extremely high whenever the issue is even mentioned, shows clearly our complete mistrust that we are able to guarantee, though this experience of our history, that the atrocities carried out in concentration camps are never repeated.

Saying this, obviously in absolutely no way am I suggesting that I do not understand the fury of many people whose relatives lost their lives or incurred incredible suffering during the Holocaust when people are denying its existence.

However even the fact that right now I feel the need to explain myself in order to state something that should be blatant and implied through the use of common sense, this alone strengthens my point.
I find myself agreeing with Austrian university professor Lothar Hobelt who was quoted saying when British historian David Irving was sentenced to a prison term in February 2006:
"This is a silly law by silly people for silly people. In fact, having a law that says you mustn't question a particular historical instance, if anything, creates doubt about it, because if an argument has to be protected by the force of law, it means it's a weak argument."

While we will never reach a stage where we can say that the events of recent history are able to guide us in the right direction and allow us to safely say that history will never repeat itself, it is disappointing however to see how little confidence there is in society that we are able to learn from our past and be reasonable in the way we view our future without the use of laws or other protective methods.

- NS-

How to fail your exams

I think these speak for themselves, no need for any explanation!

By Chechak

Where does Labour go from here?

What are the reasons behind what have been declared as Labour’s worst council results in 40 years? Can these results be attributed to the 10p tax debacle of the last two weeks, a reaction to what Gordon Brown has labelled the “difficult economic circumstances” that the UK is experiencing or is it as former Labour Cabinet Minister Tony Benn claimed "verdict on Blairism"?
Or is this simply a protest vote against Labour which does not have a real bearing on the voting patterns for the next general election?
What should Labour do in order to rectify the situation or has the tide in the UK already changed in favour of the Conservatives?

BBC report on the elections – We have collected some extracts from the BBC coverage on the elections, but we are looking for you to comment either directly on this post or write your own piece on what you think about all these questions that Thursday night’s local election results have created.

BBC research suggests Labour won 24% of votes cast in England and Wales, behind the Tories on 44% and Lib Dems on 25%.
In total Labour lost 331 councillors and key councils like Reading. Tory gains include Bury and North Tyneside.

Mr Brown insists his party will learn lessons. David Cameron called it a "big moment" for the Conservative Party.
The margin is similar to the drubbing received by Tory Prime Minister John Major in council elections in 1995, two years before he was ejected from Downing Street by Tony Blair.

Mr Brown told reporters: "It's clear to me that this has been a disappointing night, indeed a bad night for Labour."
He conceded that the government had "lessons to learn", but insisted: "My job is to listen and to lead."
He blamed "difficult economic circumstances" for much of the bad performance, and claimed that measures taken by the government to counter problems would become clear "over the next few months".

Of course local elections are not the same as general elections. People do feel a greater liberty to register a protest vote and some parts of the country have not gone to the polls this time.

Yet more than 100 Labour MPs will now be worrying about their chances of keeping their seats at the next election.
There is no sign of any organised attempt to move against the leader who was given such overwhelming support by his party when Tony Blair stood down. There is no obvious candidate prepared to put up a serious challenge at the moment.
With two years to go before the next election, Gordon Brown does have time to turn around his party's fortunes. But some are now wondering whether he is personally capable of the sort of change that is needed.

Tony Benn comment:
Former Labour cabinet minister Tony Benn says the results are a "verdict on Blairism". "For ten years we've been told 'leave everything to the market. Borrow on the value of your house. You'll be all right. Don't worry, privatisation will solve the problem.' And I think the credit crunch has been a sort of economic 9-11. It's changed everything. And a lot of people are really frightened now ... I think that's really what we ought to understand, because when people are frightened they always move to the right."

-NS-

Dragon fly vision

Exams are shit

Possibly the reason I have had the inspiration to use such a title for the piece or to even think of writing this piece should obviously be traced right back to the historical context which I find myself in (this possibly was a self-explanatory and unnecessary introduction) which is the never-ending exam period.

While reluctantly recognising their fundamental importance as a necessary method of testing the quality and level of knowledge that a student should attain, I do have to stop myself (unsuccessfully) saying: what a load of shit!

Thankfully not having had to take any form of examination last year except the annual trip to the optician for him to ‘examine’ that I can still see those weird but always fascinating tiny letters on his wall, I happened to forget how dreadful exams are in every way.

Coming to think of it, when one takes a look at how the system of moving on from secondary education into university, especially in this country, people are not really asked to show their potential or their intelligence or abilities, they are simply asked: “How well can you pass an exam?”.

While I am not doubting the obvious proportional relationship between 'intelligent' people or people with great potential with their ability to score high grades in their exams, this is not always the case. Quite a few people do get into exams instead of others simply because of their ability in getting higher grades in a series of exams.

However much we like to underestimate their importance in order to make us feel more relaxed, i.e. I don't remember myself going into an exam saying to myself "Come on, this is make or break, the future course your life will take may depend on this piece of paper right here", there is no doubting how important they are. But just think of how many people missed out on let's say admittance to a leading university on a minor thing or just luck, not whether or not they were academically better than someone else who made the grade.

Yes, I know the dividing line between success or failure is thin in a 21st century post-modern world driven by the internal struggle of competition among individuals and bla bla bla, but sometimes I do think that a better way must exist of testing knowledge, applying skills, intelligence, coping under pressure and all the abilities that an exam is supposed to be testing.

I understand that the ideal end to this piece would be to give my wonderful solution to this issue, but I am afraid it is not happening tonight, I just wanted a good confidence-boosting 3.30 am whinge after having wasted a day of my life trying to no avail to identify whether common and civil law systems in Europe are converging or diverging.

-NS-

“Where do I start?”

I am probably no different from most people in that this question describes exactly what my biggest and most challenging problem is. It’s the first dilemma of the day when you wake up in the morning, and it follows you wherever you go, conveniently applying itself to any situation or issue in need of tackling. On a side note, the realisation that life has become something that one tackles is in itself a worrying issue: Horace's "pluck the day" has become a harsh "Squeeze the shit out of those 24 hours", but never mind.

As far as writing is concerned, I am convinced that some of the world’s greatest potential authors never even made it through their first page or even to their first word, and I blame it on this same question: “Where do I start?”. It is a paradox in the human intelligence that one can envision the greatest inventions, plan the most intricate and complex plot or have thought a process a million times through, yet when the first scriptural brick refuses to fall into place of its own accord, the disbelief and uncertainty that sometimes follows is often more than enough to blow away the confidence that was. A man comes to the conclusion that he is only a man, and nothing more... but the truth is, there is more. Success inevitably springs out of nowhere and nothing, yet still necessitates dedication and effort. Success requires ingenuity, ingenuity is achieved through creativity, and creativity requires faith: faith in oneself, faith in one’s abilities, faith in one’s beliefs, one’s dreams and one’s fears. Of course, compared to the world and all that has been achieved in its societies, you are nothing. But what is the world without you? What is the world without all of those like you? Those who have feelings, passions, dreams, fears and insecurities, just like you... Those who, claiming as their own these emotions and ideas, drove the world forward with their own creativity? Nothing, the world without these people – you, us – would be nothing.

So start from the beginning, start from the end. Pick up where you left off, or simply start all over again. You can’t lose what you never had, and in the end you’ll be better for you’ll have tried.

end note to self.

-APG-

The thinking behind this marvelous creation

Ok, just to let you in on our idea for this blog... Basically the idea began some time ago by me being jealous of other people having blogs and then asking the question, hey why can’t I have one? But it did move on from there into basically deciding with Andrew to create some sort of a platform that provides the opportunity for anyone in fact who is interested to write something about anything basically... I know that this description sounds too broad, but it’s true. We will welcome anything that comes to mind, from politics and talking about the latest political developments, philosophy, a joke, a song, just to put some interesting pictures up, anything really, and hopefully this blog can gain something from all of us! We are very much looking forward to the development of this blog into a worldwide sensation. Woohoo bring it on!

-NS-

The Greatest Donkeys of the Universe

This is a great story representative of Cyprus and its donkey-loving population. Its a shame it takes donkeys to unite the Greek and Turkish Cypriots on the island!
You can see how important Cypriot donkeys are in a worldwide context when you take into account that this story appeared on the BBC website a few days ago :)

' Donkey campaign unites Cypriots '

Greek and Turkish Cypriots have teamed up on their divided island to save endangered wild donkeys.

The initiative was launched on the social networking website Facebook after 10 of the donkeys were found shot dead at the end of March.

"Let's stop the massacre of Karpas donkeys!" says a message from the group, which has attracted more than 2,000 members.

The Karpas Peninsula in northern Cyprus is home to several hundred donkeys.

The Facebook group says the Karpas donkeys "are the symbol of Cyprus and it is our responsibility to protect them".

The messages, in both Greek and Turkish, are a new gesture of unity on the island, whose communities remain divided by a UN-patrolled buffer zone. The breakaway self-styled Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is recognised only by Turkey.

A group of Greek and Turkish Cypriots rallied on a beach in the Karpas Peninsula on 13 April to "Save the Cyprus Donkey".

The Karpas donkeys are a legacy of the 1974 Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus, when Greek Cypriot farmers fled the area, leaving their animals behind, the AFP news agency reports.

-NS-