By Michael Karadjis
Athens — The second Anti-Racist Festival was held here over the weekend of September 12-14, gathering thousands of people together in discussions about how to confront rising racism in Greece and in Europe and to fight for the rights of immigrants and minorities.
In particular, in recent months legalisation of the more than 500,000 immigrants now working in Greece has become a major issue. Dramatic changes throughout the region since 1989 have led to a huge influx of immigrants into a country which had previously been an exporter of migrants.
This influx reflects the fact Greece has emerged as a regional economic power, a major rival to Germany and Italy in the new economic push into the post-Communist Balkans.
This has all occurred without Greece having any immigration policy. As such, the situation of migrants working in Greece for years is completely precarious and arbitrary.
As a speaker from the Syrian community pointed out, this often means that when any immigrant has any trouble with the law, no matter how minor or even if the individual is in the right, he/she may be expelled.
Speakers pointed out that the EEC's "Year Against Racism" has not prevented a new series of expulsions of immigrants in recent months.
Above all, these immigrants are subjected to brutal exploitation without any of the industrial or social security rights of Greek workers, despite making an enormous contribution to national income.
Even workers from the Philippines, many of whom have been here well over 10 years, still have no guarantee from day to day that they can remain in Greece. Retrenchment can often mean expulsion.
The government has issued a presidential degree which offered a lousy six months' legalisation for immigrants who register. Even this excludes students, members of immigrants' families, pensioners and immigrants employed in agriculture or shipping, who are apparently to be exempt from equal rights.
Likewise, the tens of thousands of immigrant women who clean houses or care for the elderly and sick and have no specific employer, are left out.
Even more dramatically, the degree excludes immigrants from all countries bordering Greece (Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey), i.e. the majority. Given that the Greek state has deported 1.5 million people over the last five years, the promise of six months' legalisation for those who register is more of a threat than a present.
Other speakers dealt with the large number of political refugees whose refugee status is not recognised by the Greek government.
Oddly, this is the case with large numbers of Turks and Kurds fleeing repression in Turkey, a country with which Greece is in conflict. The refugees are often sent straight back to the Turkish regime, which in some cases means death, indicating that the Greek government's conflict with its neighbour has little to do with sympathy for the victims of repression.
At a session discussing the connection between racism and nationalism, Abdul Halin Dede from the Turkish minority in Thrace spoke of the openly racist laws that govern his community, in particular Article 19, by which any member of the Turkish minority may be stripped of Greek citizenship if out of the country for more than six months. He warned of the need for urgent action to prevent Thrace turning into "another Bosnia."
Albanian migrant Gazi Kaplani claimed, "If a miracle occurred and for one week nationalism was excluded from the mass media throughout the Balkans, half the politicians would be unemployed. But unemployment would be massive, because most TV, radio and press journalists would have nothing to write about."
The festival included music from Greek rock bands and from the many communities present, as well as poster displays and book stalls. A multi-ethnic chess competition also took place. The festival was organised by the Coordinating Committee of Immigrant and Anti-Racist Organisations.