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-