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On Sunday 23 of January, a ship arrived in the port of Piraeus. Among the passengers, there were 300 workers, from the island of Crete. They were foreign workers, immigrants and refugees, originating from Africa, coming to Athens in order to fight for a life with dignity, based on the foundations of humanism, instead of an endless struggle for their survival. The mean of their fight is one that may be seen as ultimate: the hunger strike.
The immigrants and refugees have been living and working in Greece for a long time, even though many of them have crossed the country’s borders illegally. The stand of the Greek state, concerning the legalization of immigrants and political asylum issues, is a rather strict one. Greece has been several times condemned by the United Nations Higher Commission for the Refugees, because of its denial to offer asylum. Last week, the government of Finland decided not to send back to Greece illegal refugees who arrived in the country after entering Europe through the Greek borders, claiming that in terms of living conditions and asylum, Greece is not capable of protecting the refugees’ rights. This position came as a result of the recent decision of the European Court of Human Rights, condemning Greece, as well as Belgium, for deporting an Afghan refugee. A few more countries, like Britain, Denmark and Sweden also followed the example of Finland.
The hunger strikers are being hosted in the Law School of Athens University. The School’s students union decided to support the strike and occupied an old building of the school, that was not being used any more for lectures and other university activities. Unfortunately, almost all parties disapproved the incident, even some parties of the left, as the Communist Party and the Democratic Left. SYRIZA was the only parliamentary party (along with the Green Party, which is not a member of the Parliament, though) that supported the struggle, focusing on the foreign workers right to be legalized, in order to stop being exploited by their employers or even by criminal networks. Greek Mass Media are strongly opposed to this situation, focusing to the fact that the immigrants entered the Law School, without any license from the School’s President. Before this incident, the Greek government had announced its intention to build a 12 km fence in the countries' east borders, in order to prevent the entrance of illegal immigrants. This decision was part of a plan to present foreign workers as being in part responsible for the crisis, in order to turn them into scapegoat and prevent the citizens from recognizing the real facts of the crisis. It is essential to point out that the populist and anti-immigrant party of LAOS (People’s Greek-orthodox Alarm) considers itself to be vindicated, since the government seems to adopt some of its main proposals on the subject. The immigrants issue is one of the most hotly debated in Greece, on the occasion of the presence of many of them in areas of Athens, where the climate created has led to the election of the Head of a nationalist new-nazi group as City Councilor, after the recent municipal elections.
In Greece, those asking for asylum are routinely detained, even abused by the police, as the Court of Strasbourg announced in January. Athens in 2009 received 16.000 asylum applications and granted refugee status only to 0.3% of them, when the average of the E.U is 31%. 46.000 applications are still pending. The struggle of the hunger strikers may prove to be an opportunity for a change in this area, for better days for the immigrant workers of Greece, as well as for the native ones.
On Sunday 23 of January, a ship arrived in the port of Piraeus. Among the passengers, there were 300 workers, from the island of Crete. They were foreign workers, immigrants and refugees, originating from Africa, coming to Athens in order to fight for a life with dignity, based on the foundations of humanism, instead of an endless struggle for their survival. The mean of their fight is one that may be seen as ultimate: the hunger strike.
The immigrants and refugees have been living and working in Greece for a long time, even though many of them have crossed the country’s borders illegally. The stand of the Greek state, concerning the legalization of immigrants and political asylum issues, is a rather strict one. Greece has been several times condemned by the United Nations Higher Commission for the Refugees, because of its denial to offer asylum. Last week, the government of Finland decided not to send back to Greece illegal refugees who arrived in the country after entering Europe through the Greek borders, claiming that in terms of living conditions and asylum, Greece is not capable of protecting the refugees’ rights. This position came as a result of the recent decision of the European Court of Human Rights, condemning Greece, as well as Belgium, for deporting an Afghan refugee. A few more countries, like Britain, Denmark and Sweden also followed the example of Finland.
The hunger strikers are being hosted in the Law School of Athens University. The School’s students union decided to support the strike and occupied an old building of the school, that was not being used any more for lectures and other university activities. Unfortunately, almost all parties disapproved the incident, even some parties of the left, as the Communist Party and the Democratic Left. SYRIZA was the only parliamentary party (along with the Green Party, which is not a member of the Parliament, though) that supported the struggle, focusing on the foreign workers right to be legalized, in order to stop being exploited by their employers or even by criminal networks. Greek Mass Media are strongly opposed to this situation, focusing to the fact that the immigrants entered the Law School, without any license from the School’s President. Before this incident, the Greek government had announced its intention to build a 12 km fence in the countries' east borders, in order to prevent the entrance of illegal immigrants. This decision was part of a plan to present foreign workers as being in part responsible for the crisis, in order to turn them into scapegoat and prevent the citizens from recognizing the real facts of the crisis. It is essential to point out that the populist and anti-immigrant party of LAOS (People’s Greek-orthodox Alarm) considers itself to be vindicated, since the government seems to adopt some of its main proposals on the subject. The immigrants issue is one of the most hotly debated in Greece, on the occasion of the presence of many of them in areas of Athens, where the climate created has led to the election of the Head of a nationalist new-nazi group as City Councilor, after the recent municipal elections.
In Greece, those asking for asylum are routinely detained, even abused by the police, as the Court of Strasbourg announced in January. Athens in 2009 received 16.000 asylum applications and granted refugee status only to 0.3% of them, when the average of the E.U is 31%. 46.000 applications are still pending. The struggle of the hunger strikers may prove to be an opportunity for a change in this area, for better days for the immigrant workers of Greece, as well as for the native ones.
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