Poulcheria Papadopoulou

Refugee crisis in Greece: Racism at schools In the past years, Greece has been under the limelight for a number of reasons, the most prominent of which being the financial crisis and the refugee issue. In the past, you couldn’t be involved in a conversation about Greece without admiring its glorious past or its beautiful islands and way of life. Now, you can’t talk about Greece without referring to its struggle to get back on its feet financially and decently accommodating all these unfortunate people who were washed up on its shores. In December 2016, TIME published an article titled ‘Children of No Nation’ and simply by that one can get a glimpse of the significance of refugee children being born under hideous circumstances; on boats, filthy and inadequately equipped hospitals, and tents. TIME has decided to dedicate a year following the lives of four newborns and their families as they struggle to retain their dignity and navigate through the mostly-racist Greek society. What most people do not understand about the refugee situation is that they could be in that position. That does not apply only to Greeks, but to other privileged people who cannot put themselves in the refugees’ shoes. They choose to be narrow-minded and critical of the refugees ‘who came to our country to take our jobs, houses, possibly steal from us and cause trouble’—as if the first thing these people have in mind is to do all that and not think of ways to survive and be settled in a country that can support them. A lot of parents do not see that their children, though not forced to leave their country due to violence but due to lack of prospects, could be treated as foreigners and could be looked down on everywhere they go. I would like to pose a question for all the prejudiced parents out there: How would you feel if your child called you every day to tell you that they are maltreated and have fallen victims of racism with their lives being at stake? Food for thought. As if it’s not enough that refugee children are born under such conditions, their parents have other decisions to make for the other members of their family; should they send them to Greek schools? At the moment, it is like most families are in purgatory; they live in temporary accommodations, mainly tents, while waiting to be relocated to another country. This process, however, could take months even years. Should their children get some education at a Greek school and learn a language that they will not need or should they stay put with no education at all while they wait? To me, and in terms of learning, that’s a no brainer. Any kind of education is beneficial, let alone a new language, especially one like Greek which, even though not necessary for global trade, is rich and can prove useful to any learning process. However, getting some knowledge of the Greek society will show you that these children are not always welcome because of the prevailing racism on the part of the parents. A recent incident occurred at a school in Larissa that really makes you wonder where all this hatred stems from. Refugee children were faced with racist messages painted on the school walls and some swastikas completing the landscape here and there. On top of that, there are still conflicts as to how refugee children should be treated and immersed in Greek schools, as if that should pose such a big question. But, it’s not all grim and depressing. A big part of the Greek population tries its best to welcome those people and make them feel at ease, where that’s possible. A number of schools in Thessaloniki, welcomed refugee children with open arms on their first day to school. Which goes to show you that it’s not children who are at the bottom of this racist behavior but their parents; people who have grown up in a different and biased way and who, to this day, try to impose their ideas, consciously or unconsciously, to their offspring. This behavior is not innate; it is learned. And we can all do something to change it! So, let’s!