This sentiment is spray-painted all over Koukaki. Each idea alone makes sense given what is going on in Greece, but they are a surprise together.
So let us start with the two parts separately:
Refugees (really migrants):
First, I want to clarify the difference between migrants, which is a broad category of anyone moving one from place to live in another. These can be within a country or between countries. They could be "economic migrants" who are looking to improve their situation, but could stay where they are if they wanted, or they could be part of the 68.5 million "forcibly displaced" statistic collected by the UN Human Rights Commission. Of that 68.5 million, 40 million are internally displaced, which means that they are still in their home country. A "refugee" is an official category, and means someone who has been able to successfully document persecution or fear of death. So refugees are ONLY those people who are fleeing persecution and death, not those who want a better life but aren't in imminent danger, and it does not include those displaced by natural disasters. There are 25.4 million people in this category. But colloquially, we use the term "refugee" and "migrant" interchangeably, which is part of what has driven the US fear of refugees. We see migrants crossing the Mediterranean in rubber boats, and hear them called "refugees" and we worry about illegal immigrants. But "refugees" in the US only means people who have spent between 2 and 30 years in a refugee camp or in a third party country, documented, tracked, verified by the UN, as well as eight agencies in our government. Since 1975, we have resettled a total of only 3 million refugees in the US. It is a drop in the bucket. What we are dealing with in the US is NOT what we see in the news in Europe.
The eastern islands are still swamped with people trying a sea crossing, but it isn't much in the news. The numbers are down, but the death rate is up. Over a million arrived in 2015 and 2016, but currently there are somewhere around 60,000 in Greece, 23,000 of which have refugee status. Greece's total population is 10.7 million (but is shrinking). So this was an increase of 10% of the population at its height. They closed the border with the Balkans to keep refugees from using Greece as a gateway to Europe and started sending people back across the border to Turkey. While necessary for Greece, that is no solution -- of the 68.5 million forcibly displaced, most live in countries near where they started. More than a million are in Lebanon, Uganda, Pakistan, and Turkey. So Greece has controlled the inflow, and has 23,000 registered refugees and another 37,000 migrants. For comparison, in 2016, the US took in almost 100,000 refugees, in 2017, about 50,000, and this year we are projected to accept 21,292. Greece, with its tiny population, has done more than its share of hosting refugees. That there is a movement that supports them is amazing to me.
Greece is known for its hospitality to visitors of all sorts. There have been tensions with some groups, Albanians in the 1990s, for instance, but generally, the connection between personal honor and hospitality has made Greece a wonderful place to visit. There are stories of tremendous efforts on behalf of refugees on some of the islands.
AirBnB Tourists:
In 2017, Greece hosted 27 million visitors, and 2018 is projected to be even higher. That is more than twice its population. AirBnB specifically is a big deal in Athens, and Koukaki, where I saw this graffiti, is in the top 3 locations for AirBnB hosting. This can give Greek people a lot of much-needed income in this time of economic crisis. And there are people who inherit a small apartment in the city center, and don't want to sell it, but don't live in it, either. So it is a way of turning an unused asset into cash while keeping it in the family. But it has its downside, because it displaces residents, hurts hotels, and changes the fabric of the neighborhood. And most hotels in Greece are small family-owned affairs, not big corporate ventures, so hurting hotels hurts the little guy, too. And I have to admit to being a fan of AirBnB. I don't like big anonymous hotel chains. I love the adventure of AirBnB where we have a wider choice of prices and have stayed in some crazy little places, like a Quonset hut in New Orleans and an adorable mobile home in the Keys. And I always prefer to spend my money on a small business. If it were a big corporation rather than hundreds of individual families renting their homes, it would make more sense to me, but AirBnB helps families, I think.
So: this graffiti argues against AirBnB (tourists looking for a bargain?) and for refugees (families looking for peace?). The contrast doesn't really make sense to me. Does it suggest that the refugees are being sent off to make space (and clean cities) for tourists? Athens certainly has noticeably fewer migrants this summer than I have seen any year since 2011, so migrants have clearly been moved along. Or that tourists have no right to happy travels when there is such misery in the world? I remain perplexed.
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| I saw this all over Koukai, a neighborhood in Athens. |
So let us start with the two parts separately:
Refugees (really migrants):
First, I want to clarify the difference between migrants, which is a broad category of anyone moving one from place to live in another. These can be within a country or between countries. They could be "economic migrants" who are looking to improve their situation, but could stay where they are if they wanted, or they could be part of the 68.5 million "forcibly displaced" statistic collected by the UN Human Rights Commission. Of that 68.5 million, 40 million are internally displaced, which means that they are still in their home country. A "refugee" is an official category, and means someone who has been able to successfully document persecution or fear of death. So refugees are ONLY those people who are fleeing persecution and death, not those who want a better life but aren't in imminent danger, and it does not include those displaced by natural disasters. There are 25.4 million people in this category. But colloquially, we use the term "refugee" and "migrant" interchangeably, which is part of what has driven the US fear of refugees. We see migrants crossing the Mediterranean in rubber boats, and hear them called "refugees" and we worry about illegal immigrants. But "refugees" in the US only means people who have spent between 2 and 30 years in a refugee camp or in a third party country, documented, tracked, verified by the UN, as well as eight agencies in our government. Since 1975, we have resettled a total of only 3 million refugees in the US. It is a drop in the bucket. What we are dealing with in the US is NOT what we see in the news in Europe.
The eastern islands are still swamped with people trying a sea crossing, but it isn't much in the news. The numbers are down, but the death rate is up. Over a million arrived in 2015 and 2016, but currently there are somewhere around 60,000 in Greece, 23,000 of which have refugee status. Greece's total population is 10.7 million (but is shrinking). So this was an increase of 10% of the population at its height. They closed the border with the Balkans to keep refugees from using Greece as a gateway to Europe and started sending people back across the border to Turkey. While necessary for Greece, that is no solution -- of the 68.5 million forcibly displaced, most live in countries near where they started. More than a million are in Lebanon, Uganda, Pakistan, and Turkey. So Greece has controlled the inflow, and has 23,000 registered refugees and another 37,000 migrants. For comparison, in 2016, the US took in almost 100,000 refugees, in 2017, about 50,000, and this year we are projected to accept 21,292. Greece, with its tiny population, has done more than its share of hosting refugees. That there is a movement that supports them is amazing to me.
Greece is known for its hospitality to visitors of all sorts. There have been tensions with some groups, Albanians in the 1990s, for instance, but generally, the connection between personal honor and hospitality has made Greece a wonderful place to visit. There are stories of tremendous efforts on behalf of refugees on some of the islands.
AirBnB Tourists:
In 2017, Greece hosted 27 million visitors, and 2018 is projected to be even higher. That is more than twice its population. AirBnB specifically is a big deal in Athens, and Koukaki, where I saw this graffiti, is in the top 3 locations for AirBnB hosting. This can give Greek people a lot of much-needed income in this time of economic crisis. And there are people who inherit a small apartment in the city center, and don't want to sell it, but don't live in it, either. So it is a way of turning an unused asset into cash while keeping it in the family. But it has its downside, because it displaces residents, hurts hotels, and changes the fabric of the neighborhood. And most hotels in Greece are small family-owned affairs, not big corporate ventures, so hurting hotels hurts the little guy, too. And I have to admit to being a fan of AirBnB. I don't like big anonymous hotel chains. I love the adventure of AirBnB where we have a wider choice of prices and have stayed in some crazy little places, like a Quonset hut in New Orleans and an adorable mobile home in the Keys. And I always prefer to spend my money on a small business. If it were a big corporation rather than hundreds of individual families renting their homes, it would make more sense to me, but AirBnB helps families, I think.
So: this graffiti argues against AirBnB (tourists looking for a bargain?) and for refugees (families looking for peace?). The contrast doesn't really make sense to me. Does it suggest that the refugees are being sent off to make space (and clean cities) for tourists? Athens certainly has noticeably fewer migrants this summer than I have seen any year since 2011, so migrants have clearly been moved along. Or that tourists have no right to happy travels when there is such misery in the world? I remain perplexed.
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