today I'd like to take a break from the cupcakes and clothes and talk about a topic very important to me.
As some of you may know, I'm of Albanian heritage. We're a nation descending from the Illyrians, with our own history, language and culture - which is being eradicated in the cradle of democracy itself.
What's happening in Greece right now is nothing short of a systematic genocide of the Albanian minority.
According to the 2001 census, there are more than 270,000 ethnic Albanians living in Greece, and they make up 64% of the total migrant population. However, they are marginalized more than any other group.
Albanians in Greece are repeatedly victims of racist violence and hate crimes, some going as far as murder. As an Albanian living in Greece you're forced to change your name, give up your whole identity and adopt an artificial one, just to be able to survive without being attacked. Seems familiar?
It's shocking that a country that prides itself on being the origin of democracy allows this to happen. It is even more shocking that we, in Germany, we who are supposed to be so undeceived after what happened 80 years ago, just turn a blind eye to blatant fascism.
The worst part is that the media ignores it. I didn't even know about what was going on until I was told about the protest - so I won't blame anyone - but that's why we went out on the streets to raise awareness and show people just what exactly is going on right in front of their porch, in a country we support year by year without knowing what that money is actually being used for.
On April 23rd we, a group of young Albanian students in Germany, gathered in front of the Cologne Cathedral to open people's eyes to those atrocities.
This was very special to me personally, because it was the first protest I've ever joined and I felt like I was finally part of something and could make a difference.
But it doesn't stop there. As long as there's still injustice in the world, we can't stop. We are young, we are educated and we have the voices to speak for all those oppressed and tortured and we are going to do that until they're free to live in this world. Because the freedom to live is everybody's right.
Kind thanks to my brother Naim Demiri for the wonderful pictures.
I take my hat off for you. And you're right the problem isn't that the media ignores it, to be honest I wasn't aware of this problem, too. It's great that you all called attention to this issue!
ReplyDeleteThanks you!
DeleteRaising awareness is all we can do over here unfortunately, but as long as it helps I think we should keep doing that :)