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Like
in all OSCE countries, there are many phenomena of racism in Greece,
at the administrative, the intellectual and media, as well as the
public opinion level. What, though, differentiates Greece from most
traditional democracies is the lack of reaction to racism, to the
extent that one has the impression that racist actions, opinions and
ideas are acceptable variants in society. There is no reaction not
only to obviously extremist racist actions, but also to
"mainstream extremist" statements – made by persons not
considered to be extremists - that would lead anywhere else at least
to strong criticism if not outright condemnation.
Greece
strongly rejected the carefully worded criticism of the European
Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) report. As current
Minister of Justice Mihalis Stathopoulos, a non-politician with a NGO
background, said, commenting on these reactions to the ECRI report, "all
those who boast for the absence of racism in Greece are people who are
not used to criticism and self-criticism." This is the
Minister who helped suppress the reference to religion on identity
cards. Significantly, the move triggered reactions by the Orthodox
Church and many sectors of the Greek public that were not only
verbally violent but often outright racist and especially
anti-Semitic. Many condemned the verbal violence, but hardly any did
likewise for the racist overtones. Just as few if any condemned most
of the cases of racism reported in our detailed report submitted to
this meeting, not to mention that some of them went almost unreported
in Greece.
Among
the least reported items were this year’s three acts of desecration
by neo-nazis of a Jewish Holocaust Memorial (on Passover 20/21 April),
Greece’s largest Jewish cemetery (29 May), and the home of
internationally known director Jules Dassin (24 May). On the contrary,
well publicized and hardly criticized were the views of PASOK and New
Democracy deputies and Eurodeputies, as well as of top Church leaders,
blaming the Jews for the removal of religion from the identity cards.
Another
recent example of racist speech uninhibitedly distributed concerns the
state "University of Thrace." It maintains one electronic
discussion list where from time to time postings with anti-Semitic
and/or other racist content are made. When queried about such
"tolerance of intolerance," the university answered
(14/2/2000), that "it is a democratic university that does not
interfere with the expression of opinions, even when it may find them
objectionable." The racist, usually anti-Semitic postings
continued.
Some
mayors and/or municipal councils take explicit racist or xenophobic
decisions without any condemnation by the state, nor any disciplinary
or other criminal action – called by the respective legislation -
ever taken against them.
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Mayor
Costas Papayanis repeatedly incited the residents of Kassandreia
(in Halkidiki, Northern Greece) in 1999 to hold protest rallies to
impede the construction of a lecture hall by local Jehovah’s
Witnesses, who had obtained all necessary licenses. In the
process, journalists were beaten by a mob led by the mayor,
Jehovah’s Witnesses as well as two representatives of the
Ombudsman’s office were also harassed by the mob. Police present
in these incidents made no arrests.
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In
October 1999, the municipal council of Istiaia (Central Greece)
voted a nearly unanimous anti-immigrant appeal. Only a few
newspapers and a minor party condemned the action.
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In
May 2000, three municipal council of Argolida (Southern Greece)
unanimously decided to evict all Roma living in their
municipality, holding them collectively responsible for alleged
(but not verified by any police data) rising criminality. The
government called the incident a case of "personal
vendetta."
In
many cases monitored by NGOs, it has become evident that in the Greek
police force there is deeply rooted institutionalized racism towards
the Roma. In answering NGO charges on one of these cases, in Nea Kios,
the Greek Police General Staff confirmed its racism, by writing the
following to the Human Rights Directorate of the Greek Foreign
Ministry.
"It
is well known that [Roma] are a traditionally nomadic people. This
fact, combined with their illiteracy, moral standards, customs and
occupations, creates an obstacle both to adapting to the native
population and to be accepted by it. A consequence of all that is an
unlawful behavior that is usually the expression of everyday life.
This behavior usually takes the form of illegal driving and other
violations of the motor vehicle code, violations of the Codes of
Sanitation, Building and Commerce, illicit trade, unlawful weapons’
possession and, often, unlawful weapons’ use, theft, possession
and trafficking of narcotic substances, etc."
With
this eloquent text, we rest our case.
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