Is evil prevailing?

You probably heard of the recent events in Chloraka and Limassol.

You probably heard of how a group of extreme right individuals (or better say criminals) perpetuated violent attacks on migrants (or whoever looked like one).

We didn’t expect it, neither I nor many people like me. 

We were living in our own bubble of peace, acceptance and respect.
We didn’t adventure too much out of this bubble.

We knew there is racism. We knew that asylum seekers are treated as less than humans and end up in a system which keeps them stuck for years, allowed to work only a limited amount of jobs for a ridicule low pay. 

We knew that domestic workers are brought here legally from south east Asia and paid 300 euros per month for working 6 days a week. 
We knew that often foreign-looking people are discriminated, and that part of the local society blames migrants about pretty much everything. 

We knew that third country nationals often have to live in over-populated houses, with extremely bad living conditions.
We knew that unfortunately it’s in the human nature to put everyone in the same basket, and if a foreigner does something wrong then all foreigners from that country are to blame.

We knew that media helps this view in how they portrait the news, always mentioning the nationality when a crime is committed by a foreigner, and never mentioning it when it’s committed by a Cypriot.

But still, even knowing all of this, we did not expect the violent assaults on people and businesses. 

There was no rule of law in Limassol last Friday, and few hundred people were free to roam around the city, leaving a wave of destruction and shame behind them. 

This side of the society, even if it’s a minority, exists. And even more worrying is the fact that even local forces did not do anything.

This is not the welcoming and loving society that exists here. Because I strongly believe it exists.
Where are they? Where are the majority of people in all of this?

We saw them at some peaceful protests over the previous days, but we need to see them more.

We need to feel safe on our daily life. We need to inform ourselves and inform others better. 

And we should get out more of our own bubble and realize that part of the society is really angry and blames the wrong people. 

We need to be more present, more awake.

The easiest way for evil to prevail is that good people do nothing.

See you all on Sunday 10th of September at Eleftheria square to march against fascism.