“I am not a racist, but…” Swerving through the curvy roads leading to the Lesvos NoBorders camp, the taxi driver delves into the only-too-familiar defense of, well, racists. “There’s not enough jobs” – but they take on the jobs Greeks would never want to do, plus most migrants only want to cross through the country anyway. “They’re treated well” – but they are thrown in prisons. “Us Greeks migrated in the 60s too, I understand what these people are going through” – and what do you do for help? “A few nights ago, I saw around 20 or 30 migrants hiding in the bushes. Their little motor boat had just reached the land. They were hiding and running, heading toward town. I nicked their motor-boat.”
In Mytilini, like everywhere else: Where the “good people” of the society find none of this is their problem, where the FRONTEX ship in the old harbor blends in with the picturesque landscape. The Lesvos NoBorders camp is at full swing and this blog has been providing some excellent coverage. Today (28.8) is the day of the two main demonstrations, one outside the detention centre of Pagani, just outside town, and one in the town of Mytilini itself. Not for all those people “with the difficult names and the unknown stories”, but with them. Against some local “non-racists” that we will never understand, and never ever want to.
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