The despicable actions of racism – By Eleni Mavrou, AKEL Political Bureau member

 

 

Sunday 14 November 2021, “Haravgi” newspaper

There has for some time been a lot of discussion about “migratory flows”, about refugees flooding Europe, about the “European way of life” that is in danger. This is a debate that is unquestionably not unrelated to the deadlocks which the neoliberal policies pursued, the ‘free’ market economy and austerity have all brought to Europe.

A meeting took place at the Presidential Palace a few days ago to discuss the “crisis created as a result of the growing migratory flows”. I don’t remember so many meetings being held when Cyprus was in the throes of the financial crisis. But, I forgot – back then the culprits were “the best bankers in the world” (according to DISY President Averof Neofytou).

The refugee issue represents a challenge for every state. Instead of engaging in xenophobic rhetoric, the government ruling forces should tell us how they intend to address this challenge.

What has the government done about the thousands of asylum applications that take up to 2 and 3 years to process? During these three years, for example, 2007-2009, 22,000 applications were processed. In the three-year period 2018-2020, almost half of them were processed. This is despite the millions of Euros the government has received from the EU to buy equipment and boost the relevant departments dealing with these issues.

How many people has the government brought to justice and put behind bars from the trafficking rings that everyone talks about – human trafficking, fake marriages, and the enrollment of third country nationals in fake colleges? I don’t even need all the fingers on one hand to count.

What was the government’s stand when the EU decided to allocate billions of euros to Turkey according to a dreadful agreement which, it should be pointed out, does not apply to Cyprus?

What position did the government take when the EU was confirming the Dublin Regulation? A Regulation that merely panders to the extreme-right demands of certain governments, trapping thousands of refugees in the European south? In fact, our Interior Minister came out to express his solidarity with Poland, which is one of the countries responsible for thousands of refugees trapped in Cyprus!

In the abhorrent statement by the government spokesman and thus by the government, we were even told that more or less we had spent from our own pockets the same amount as the funds Cyprus received from the EU “for the payment of benefits and the creation of infrastructures”.

What infrastructure are they talking about? Are they referring to the concentration camp they have built in Pournara, where hundreds of people, including approximately 200 unaccompanied children, are living in tents, sleeping in the dirt (which will soon become mud), without electricity and without sanitary facilities?

And why don’t they tell us, since the refugee problem has made it so difficult for us, why out of the 106.8 million euros that Cyprus received from the EU for the period 2014-2020 (plus 10.73 million euros subsequently as emergency aid), just 39 million euros were absorbed by February 2021, according to the European Commission?

The government spokesman even had the audacity to give us lessons in patriotism by referring to the “danger of a change in the demographic composition”. Who said that? The representative of those who granted every crook around the world a ‘golden’ passport for a handful (a big handful, it’s true) of silver.

I won’t mention the most despicable act: the targeting of children. Much has already been mentioned, by many people. I’ll just say a few words: We aren’t in danger from children – not from those with an immigrant biography, nor from any children (as suggested).