Inside the Mayhem of the Escalating Greek Refugee Madness

I have spent a good part of my life championing the wisdom of win-win situations and natural wisdom shows us that when something is right, it is right for everyone, and that how when we force things to match our expectations, we are often sabotaging the truth or missing out on more effective or efficient solutions.

Two days intimately exploring and meeting with the exponentially increasing refugee population here on the small Greek island of Kos, turned all my ideas of win-win upside down.

The population of Kos is normally about 22,000. Refugees from war torn Syria and Afghanistan, mixed with an influx of immigrants in search of a better life from Pakistan and Bangladesh, have literally flooded the island at a rate of 5-600 a day since the beginning of the year and the numbers seem to be growing with each passing day. The Government is mobilizing private ships to transport as many as possible each day to processing centers in Thessaloniki and Athens, but it is a struggle to keep up with the numbers.

The local police and coast guard, already under staffed after mandatory EU cuts to governmental agencies, the EU labeled bloated and excessive, were already struggling with maintaining standard services before the influx accelerated and are now desperately struggling to maintain order and some semblance of a system to deal with the massive humanitarian crisis.

The mayor of Kos, Giorgios Kyritsis, has up until the last couple of days, done his best to pretend the problem didn't exist, hoping perhaps if he didn't pay attention to it, the problem would just vanish. 

It hasn't. 

His first suggestion was to give out tents to the thousands camping out, waiting to be shipped off to Athens, where they hope to be processed, given papers and somehow find their way to the promised land of Germany. He stated that he believed if people saw the refugees camping out in the middle of Kos' most picturesque, touristic harbor streets, international assistance would come flying in.

It hasn't.

Quite the opposite has been happening actually. The German led EU finance masters recently swept in and swept up 50 billion in Greek assets(just about everything Greece has), forcing mass privatization and land grabbing. They raised taxes, not to use to fix the inadequate roads, the understaffed schools or the overburdened hospitals, but to repay loans imposed by the ECB and IMF to protect the euro....NOT Greece. Additionally, they  gave the banks increased judicial powers to repossess homes more rapidly.
What they have not done is lift a finger to somehow ease the strain of a humanitarian crisis, that is as far from win-win as any situation could be.

But in the same way, the politics of humans do not linger in the eyes of the Gods, this very real human tragedy is beyond the realm of political understandings and manipulations. A bicycling Doctor from Doctors without Borders stopped to ask me how I felt inside the swarm of Syrian tents and families filling the sidewalks and roads of central Kos town. 

I had no answer. My feelings were swirling beyond the realm of words. I asked her the same question, how do you feel?

She told me it was a tragedy this was happening in Europe.

I said, it was a tragedy it was happening anywhere, she was a doctor without borders, what difference did it make if this was Europe or not.

She said because here, only blocks away, tourists were sipping 6 euro cappuccinos.

I understood her, but the situation was all so much more complex.

People were struggling to understand from both sides. The compassion of locals, whom the refugees said were treating them with kindness and compassion was being tested to its limits. 

The refugees, run out of their homeland by political manipulations and global struggles for resources they couldn't glimpse or understand, had been made false promises by those exploiting them. Suddenly they were facing as uncertain and unstable a reality as the one they were fleeing from.

The locals already under siege from the same global economic masters, have been  putting on their bravest heart and offering what assistance they could, true to the nature of the Greek family spirit, in spite of a tourist season that was suffering from excessive EU sanctions and escalating policies that are as masked by the refugee crisis as they are intensified.

I set out with my camera in search of understanding.

I quickly realized I wouldn't be able to hide behind my camera lens and remain impersonal. Those who could speak even limited English, were eager to speak...and have their photo taken.

In my search for answers, I gained information, but only the kind that led to more questions, and nothing close to anything that hinted at solutions.

I realized there was a definite hierarchy of refugee situations based on national origin. The Syrians, were the definite priority and majority. 

Fortunately, for them, a good deal of them had some resources. Some money, family savings pooled and gathered for the trek of the pioneers searching for work and land they could some day soon bring the rest of the family to. There was a general optimism amongst them that they were only stopping off and would soon be delivered safe and sound to civilized Germany and jobs. 

Many came from bombed out villages, walked to Turkey and than hired Turkish boats to drop them near the Greek coast where they could swim onto the shores of Europe.

Many were promised by the Turkish boatmen who exploited them, easy passage once they arrived in Greece and were confused as to why they had to wait days for their papers and legal status. they questioned me as to why the police were taking so long in processing them. They couldn't know that the local police were under staffed and working overtime to try and keep up with a situation they could not have possibly been prepared for.

The reality of their situation was beginning to settle in and while they were still generally calm, a sense of fear and even anger was beginning to creep in.

The children, while generally trusting and playful, were starting to wonder.

None were ready for what was about to happen the next day. The mayor finally took action and ordered the refugees to be gathered and centralized in one location, the local football stadium. 

Special force police from Athens were called in to assist the mass movement, and local right wing, Golden Dawn affiliates added their aggressive volunteer energies to the herding. Emotions on both sides began to erupt, but the police maintained a professional calm and appeared to keep  tensions to as low levels as could be expected, although the Mayor who couldn't even gather the organizational talents to prepare the local roads for the summer tourist season, now warned, 

“This situation on the island is out of control, There is a real danger of uncontrollable situations. Blood will be shed.”

Everyone, on both sides is becoming increasingly restless, no one has any answers and people increasingly speak in dehumanizing tones, such as they and them, as if either the refugees or the Greeks think and act as one entity, rather than individuals with complex and diverse thoughts, feelings and belief systems.

When I visited the abandoned Hotel Elias, now home to families and singles from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, I began to understand the diversity of dreams people were searching for, hardships they were fleeing from and struggles they were encountering. The more I searched for possible solutions, the deeper the complexities of the problems appeared.

Somehow, the concept of win-win now feels more like an impossible challenge of re-assembling a piece of wood splintered into a thousand pieces.

Stay tuned. More to come.

Please do not reprint photos without requesting permission.

UPDATE.....

Since I posted this, a lot has changed....no EU or outside assistance has come in, but the Greek government sent in peace keepers, police and administrators to process the thousands of refugees. Already massive ships have come in and the majority have been moved off the island. Much smaller numbers...moved from chaotic random camping on the streets, into a centralized location at a local stadium. International media seems to be reporting only one side of the story, the sensationalist side, the rare flare ups and the hardships of the refugees. No attention has been give to the strain on the already economically stressed island residents or the significant volunteer efforts and extensive contributions of the locals to help in whatever way they can.....or as many Syrians reported to me...the kindness of the Greek people.....and while outside agencies have been criticizing the Greeks ability to provide adequate hospitality to the thousands of illegal immigrants arriving monthly, none of those agencies are providing support or pragmatic help....The island situation is clearing and significantly improving but it appears the buck is simply being passed and the root issues are not being addressed...