First interviewee: The very first question employers ask me has to do with my papers, whether I
have Greek nationality or immigrant status. This hurts me because it is as if
they are saying that the Greeks are favored. I grew up in this country, I attended
school here, I do not know more than the Greeks, but I know kind of as much as
any Greek I interact with. When I am with Greeks I do not feel different at all.
When we go for coffee for example with my friends I do not feel I am from somewhere
else [different country], unless one puts a mirror on my face, and then the difference in the appearance is obvious. Even my personality [identity]
is Greek, I have embraced the Greek way of life, going out for coffee, going to the
movies, things like this. They do not say it on my face but when I am on a bus, and I am
the only “foreigner,” an elderly woman would start saying that it is the
foreigners who stole the money, then I know that it is directing her comments to me and this bothers me somewhat. But I do not want to leave Greece. People tell me I should
leave given all my qualifications and my diploma, but I cannot see myself leaving.
I have a positive outlook about this, I see myself staying, I see my future in this country. I will
leave only if there is a very important reason.
Third interviewee (2:58’): The issue of nationality of course concerns me directly because
I do not have ties with Africa, which I could develop later in life, but first
comes the search for my own roots, to discover where I truly belong; though I
feel Greek, this is the only place I have gotten to know. For me Greece is the
light, it is everything. The moment I started understanding the Greek language,
I started readily developing many facets of my identity [as Greek]. Because I
have been attacked, of course I remain on the guard when in public, but I am not
changing my everyday habits either. I do not allow this to change me. You see,
in 2004 when I was out celebrating with my friends the Greek soccer team
winning the European championship waving a Greek flag and showing off the team’s
scarf, without my noticing several Golden Dawn members (neo-nazi racists) approached
me and they tried to grab from me the flag and the scarf, and there was a brawl,
and then I left, what else could I do? I am trapped here. That’s the burning
issue. Born here and trapped here.
Translation: Yiorgos Anagnostou
April 2015