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- December 23rd, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Happy Holidays
I am going to take a few days away from my blog, to enjoy the holidays with my family. I wish you all a happy, hopeful and loving time. Enjoy, be well and see you in a few days. Peace DD
- December 22nd, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Crucifixes in School
From BBC News The head of the Greek Orthodox Church has warned the country’s new socialist government that it faces a major battle over removing religious symbols from schools. The European Cou…
- December 21st, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Make Some Noise
This video was shot at the Mandra settlement I visited and wrote about here. From the YouTube page Directed by Dutch Director Aldo Smit, this video was shot in Greece for Amnesty International, Europ…
- December 17th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Time for Banning
Honestly people, I’m sick of this. The next person who tells me how I should run this blog is banned. If this bickering and harping on about the past doesn’t stop, you will be banned. I ha…
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
The Mandra Settlement
On the same day as I re-visited the Roma settlement at Psari Aspropyrgos, I went to the camp at Mandra. The contrast between the two places was stark. I was transported back three years, to my first…
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Racist Attack
Via Kathimerini Masked vandals early yesterday broke into a building in the Cretan port of Hania that accommodates a center for immigrants, set fire to furniture and painted swastika symbols on the in…
- December 16th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Multicultural Education
Via the Athens News The need for a new education policy to respond to the country’s increasingly diverse student body was stressed by Education Minister Anna Diamantopoulou during a recent meeting w…
- December 15th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
- December 14th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Welcome Notice
New visitors to this blog:Welcome ! THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY is primarily a Human Rights blog, focusing on Greece. Sometimes I do post articles on global issues/news but this is one of the few English…
- December 9th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Asproprygos Revisited
I had the great fortune to be able revisit the segregated Roma school that I wrote about in January 2007 and to take more pictures. Following over a year and a half of negotiations, it has been decid…
- December 8th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Violence Against Journalists
Via the International Freedom of Expression eXchange IFJ condemns outbreak of violence against media The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)…
- December 7th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Computer Meltdown
Over the past few months, you may have noticed a significant drop in the number of posts here each week and my lack of participation in many of the “discussions”. There are two reasons for…
- November 27th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Whispers
I love this and find it so moving. Thank you Afrodite. Via Afrodite Al Salech I met Saliou the day he was born, when his parents called me to help. Since then I observe him grow and not a day goes by…
- November 26th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Protect Women
Abuse against women is rarely mentioned in Greece or anywhere for that matter. I was completely shocked by the numbers here. I think of Greece as a relativley peaceful country with a very low crime ra…
- November 25th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Religious Icons
Via Kathimerini Justice Minister Haris Kastanidis admitted yesterday that Greece will have no choice but to remove religious icons from school classrooms and other public buildings if the European Cou…
- November 23rd, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
No Citizenship at Birth
Via the Athens News The government last week clarified its position on granting Greek citizenship to the Greece-born children of immigrants after a gaffe by the Greek prime minister. There had been co…
- November 13th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Religious Symbols
Via Malcolm Brabant, BBC News, Athens The Greek Orthodox Church is urging Christians across Europe to unite in an appeal against a ban on crucifixes in classrooms in Italy. The European Court of Huma…
- November 5th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Citizenship for Children
Via Reuters Greece, long criticised for its handling of immigrants, will grant citizenship to some 250,000 migrant children but will also send thousands of detained illegal immigrants away, a senior o…
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
3rd Global Forum
Via TopNews UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed hope on Wednesday that Greece will address its poor migrant asylum record in accordance with human rights laws. “I know that all states, in…
- November 2nd, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Lack of Humanity
Via the Athens News AFTER visiting one of the country’s most criticised migrant detention centres, Spyros Vouyias, the new deputy minister for the protection of the citizen, condemned the state of t…
- October 24th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Improved Migrant Centres
Via Kathimerini Deputy Citizens’ Protection Minister Spyros Vougias yesterday condemned the “wretched and inhumane” conditions at an overcrowded migrant detention center on the eastern Aegean is…
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Police Chief Resigns
Via Kathimerini Citizens’ Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis yesterday sacked police chief Vassilis Tsiatouras, just a few hours after the “unacceptable” arrests of several members of a…
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Aid Probe
Via Kathimerini Deputy Citizens’ Protection Minister Spyros Vougias yesterday heralded an investigation into the fate of several hundred thousand euros in European Union funding released to the prev…
- October 22nd, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Children and Citizenship
There seems to be a huge amount of talk about changes that Pasok (the recently elected socialist government in Greece) are keen to bring in. I sincerely hope that this is more than just chatter. There…
- October 21st, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Police Recruitment
Is this a change of heart from this previous attitude ? Via Kathimerini Migrants to join police Minister wants foreigners on the force, orders probe into Pakistani death Citizens’ Protection Ministe…
- October 16th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
In Limbo
The BBC’s Europe editor Gavin Hewitt has an article up at his blog called Greece’s Immigrants in Limbo On a hill above the town of Samos in eastern Greece are a series of long buildings w…
- October 14th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Human Rights Watch
The Human Rights Watch has released a report on Greece saying that The European Union should press the newly elected Greek government to end the abusive detention and summary expulsions of migrants, i…
- October 9th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
A Mosque in Athens ?
Via the Balkan Travellers Thousands of Muslims in Athens appealed for the construction of a mosque to Greece’s new government in the framework of the international congress dedicated to Muslim commu…
- October 7th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Child in Prison
Via the Athens News ROZITA has spent one-third of her life in prison. She’s three years old. Her parents, undocumented migrants from Afghanistan, were arrested in Greece and sentenced for forgery an…
- October 2nd, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Thank You
My apologies to everyone commenting here for not being around… again. I have so many things going on in my personal life that my head is spinning a bit and I have not been able to even read all…
- September 30th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
At Risk
Via Human Rights Watch France, the UK, and the rest of Europe act as if everything is perfectly fine in Greece. But Greece denies 99.5 percent of all asylum claims, has recently eliminated its appeals…
- September 29th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Are Greeks Racist ?
Via Athens Plus Are Greeks racist? It’s a simple question but it does not have a simple answer. Twenty years ago, when Greece was a monolithic society, in which 97 percent of the population called i…
- September 24th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Anti-Immigrant Protest
There was another anti-immigrant gathering in Aghios Panteleimonas square in Athens yesterday. There were the typical “concerned” citizens spouting their usual “We are not racists bu…
- September 22nd, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Publisher Convicted
Via IFEX (International Freedom of Expression Exchange) Publisher convicted of slandering GHM spokesperson (GHM/IFEX) 9 September 2009 Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) today announces that the Athens…
- September 21st, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Immigrant Shepherds
Via Athens Plus [Athens Plus is only available for download. Link at the end of the article] Immigrants fill gap as Greeks opt out of grazing lifestyle As family shepherd units dwindle, bureaucracy hi…
- September 16th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Gay in Greece
I just came across this personal story about “Being Gay in Greece” published on the American Chronicle. One of the hardest thing about being gay in Greece is the widespread homophobia. I&#…
- September 14th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
- September 11th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Shocking Conditions
A first-hand account of what is happening at the Pagani detention centre in Lesvos. The picture on the site of the children hugging their dad through the bars is heartbreaking. Via Doctors without Bor…
- September 10th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Racist Attacks
Via Kathimerini The Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) yesterday issued a statement alleging that groups linked to the extreme right-wing Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn) have been attacking immigrants i…
- September 8th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
- September 7th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Open Thread 9
Officially summer is over and people here wish each other a Happy Winter. I love this time of year. It’s still hot and those fantastic storms bring much needed rain. To celebrate my favorite mon…
- September 3rd, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Aid for Migrant Centres
Via Kathimerini The Interior Ministry yesterday vowed to boost funding and recruitment at several migrant reception centers on the country’s land and sea borders with Turkey, where overcrowding has…
- August 31st, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
No Prisons for Children
Unaccompanied, undocumented children are not criminals. They have done nothing wrong. They have escaped from unspeakable situations, been separated from or lost their parents and are relying on Greece…
- August 28th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Roma and Madonna
Via Yahoo News I’m not a fan of Madonna but I am the first to support celebrities who use their fame to give voices to the voiceless. In this case, to one of the most discriminated against grou…
- August 25th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
The Most Vulnerable
Human Rights Watch are circulating this article about the plight of unaccompanied migrant children being held in Greece in appalling conditions. This follows YouTube videos, news articles and reports…
- August 23rd, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Raging Wildfires
It is absolutely unbelievable. Wildfires are raging all across Attiki and are threatening to reach Athens. People are being evacuated. Houses are burning. The children’s hospital in Pendeli ha…
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Shameful
I am posting one of the videos that are circulating on YouTube showing the conditions of the overcrowded detention centre at Pagani here in Greece, holding hundreds of undocumented people. I am doing…
- August 22nd, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
UNHCR Press Review
UNHCR GREECE PRESS REVIEW (14-21 August 2009) Tension heightens at island detention centres Lesvos: Some 150 unaccompanied minors went on hunger strike on 19/8, to protest the appalling conditions t…
- August 13th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Urgent Action: Forced Evictions
I have posted the main body of the appeal here but you can download the full pdf here URGENT ACTION 11 ROMA FAMILIES FACE FORCED EVICTION At least 11 Roma families face forced eviction from their hom…
- August 7th, 2009
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deviousdiva has posted a new entry on: THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY
Hunger Strike
The article posted below was brought to my attention in the comments on the previous post. Almost 600 people are on hunger strike at a detention centre in Samos over the recent clampdown on immigrants…
