Fireworks for New Year’s Eve. Anderson. CC2.0
From eating 12 grapes before midnight in Spain to drinking champagne with ashes and planting underwater trees in Russia, check out these 10 countries and how they celebrate the New Year in different ways. You might find some new ideas for your own New Years in 2024.
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Small statues typical of the Cycladic Culture, which flourished between the fourth and second millennia BC. Taken by Dermot Curtin.
A human face represented only by an angular nose bridge and a semi-oval silhouette. A procession of curvilinear stick figures, lavished with somewhat less detail than bizarrely eight-legged horses, inanimate chariots and abstract designs. A general preference for the symbolic over the literal and the real. Much of the art you’ll find in Greece’s National Archaeological Museum (NAM)is highly abstract; parts of the collection, particularly those of the Cycladic Period, have a distinctly postmodern feel to them. Such works, however, are not the product of the 19th and 20th century revolt against Greco-Roman and Renaissance verisimilitude, long a dominant force in European art. They instead predate the Classical period and its values by hundreds or thousands of years.
Almost all visitors to Athens who can take the heat make the long, slow trek up the Acropolis to see the Parthenon. Many of those will then visit the Acropolis Museum, a relatively new museum home to much of the pride of Greece’s classical heritage, including the portion of the Parthenon Frieze that Thomas Bruce didn’t get around to looting (plaster casts of the originals fill in gaps, labeled with an ignominious “BM” for British Museum). Still popular, but less of a universal attraction, I found the National Archaeological Museum to be the more interesting of Athens’s two great museums dedicated to antiquity. The NAM’s more varied collection allows visitors to chart the development of Greek style over several millennia, seeing works that are stunning in themselves and better understanding of one of the most radical changes in aesthetic values before the modern age.
The original segments and fragments are noticeably grayer than the majority plaster copies. Taken by Dermot Curtin.
Greece’s island territories were its most precocious in terms of art and civilization. The Minoan and aforementioned Cycladic cultures left a remarkable heritage, which stand in marked contrast to later Hellenic society and each other. Cycladic art is most famous for its austere minimalism, especially as expressed in statues such as the two in this article’s introductory photograph. The Minoans took a different approach, painting vivid frescoes which have, in part thanks to a volcanic eruption sometime between 1650 and 1550 BC, survived thousands of years in good condition. Human figures in Minoan art are stylized, but are far from the degree of abstraction found in their Cycladic semi-contemporaries. Many Minoan paintings not saved by volcanic ash were unearthed at the Palace of Knossos, where King Minos of Greek myth was said to have fed young Athenians to the dreaded Minotaur every year in the Heroic Age.
Two Minoan frescoes, originally from Santorini and preserved by its great eruption. Taken by Dermot Curtin.
Although the Minoan civilization flourished on what is now Greek soil, in one respect it was not yet a Hellenic society: language. The Minoans developed their own system of writing, known to history as Linear A, around the 19th century BC. It has never been deciphered, but linguists have been sound out its symbols since its direct descendant, known as Linear B, was cracked in the early 1950’s. Linear B tablets represent the earliest recorded form of the Greek language called Mycenaean Greek, and are generally administrative documents that the elite used to keep track of their resources and labor. Mycenaean tablets from Crete are indirect evidence for the rise of Hellenic culture in insular Greece, recording a nobility that used Greek names and lower orders with older, native Minoan names. The Mycenaean culture originated in mainland Greece, and expanded south and east into what are now the Greek islands. The Minoan language has no confirmed relatives or descendants.
Linear B tablet from not long after the Mycenaean conquest/cultural shift in the 1400s BC. Taken by Dermot Curtin.
Mycenaean Civilization was famous long before its archaeological rediscovery in the late 19th century as the setting of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Although Homer composed centuries after the Bronze Age Collapse of circa 1200 BC, he knew many details about the earlier period; the blind poet placed Agamemnon, the the most important leader of the Greeks in the Trojan War, on the throne of Mycenae, which modern archaeology has revealed to be the largest city of the age. Many of the most significant finds from the Hellenic Bronze Age are ornately decorated thin gold sheets, which are part of a broader European artistic trend of the same period. I was immediately reminded of similar (albeit less intricate) artifacts from Bronze Age Ireland. Other works, such as the beautiful inlaid dagger below, have no obvious parallel.
Many gold Mycenaean artifacts from the National Archaeological Museum. Taken by Dermot Curtin.
Disk from a Reel, Irish, c. 800 BC. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. CC0.
Gold Dagger from the National Archaeological Museum. Taken by Dermot Curtin.
The Bronze Age Collapse hit many areas hard, and Greece harder than most. Linear B fell out of use around 1200 BC, leaving the Hellenic world without a script until about 200 years later when the Phoenician abjad was modified for the purpose, with vowels added to make it a viable option for the Greek language. Greece had entered its Dark Age, a radical departure from the centralization, trade and literacy of the Mycenaean and Minoan eras. Despite this, literature flourished; Homer and Hesiod composed their epics, laying the foundation for millennia of inspiration and adaptation.
Two Geometric amphorae from the National Archaeological Museum, from an age (900-700 BC) defined by abstract art. Taken by Dermot Curtin.
As civilization began to recover from the Collapse in the tenth century BC, the Geometric style emerged to fill the void left by Mycenaean art. This style was deliberately abstract, characterized by repeating linear patterns on large amphorae. People, when present at all, appear as small stick figures. Mourners dramatically and uniformly put their hands on their heads, their arms bent at sharp angles that would look unnatural on a more realistic human design; such a pose is necessary to convey distress, as the faces are not given enough detail to show any kind of emotion. The meandros, a repeating pattern that would later be a common fringe for other designs, here takes center stage, while the funerary procession is confined to a narrow box in the upper-center of the amphora. There is little to differentiate one person from another, the exceptions being a child, who is clearly smaller than the adults, and the deceased, who lies on his or her back. Geometric style seems to be the product of a culture that did not value the individual human being as a subject for artistic expression.
Marble statue of a youth, from Archaic Greece c. 590-580 BC; you can see the abstract art of the Geometric give way to stylized human forms. Metropolitan Museum of Art. CC0.
The Kroisos Kouros, c. 530 BC. User:Mountain. CC0.
Greece only fully recovered from the Bronze Age Collapse as it transitioned into its Archaic period around the eighth century BC. In this period, as Greek culture built up to its fifth century zenith, the seeds were planted for many of the institutions and conventions that would flourish in the Classical era (beginning 480 BC with the end of the Persian Wars). The Olympic games were founded, dramas began to be staged in Athens and lawgivers like Solon imposed constitutional reforms that would eventually lead to democracy. The visual arts made a dramatic turn, as abstract designs retreated to the background in favor of a strong emphasis on the human form. The most typical art form of the time is the kouros, a strongly stylized nude statue of a male youth. Although sometimes differing in size and detail, all kouroi adhere to the same basic plan, standing up straight with the left foot out front, braided hair and a serene affect. The figure on the right was made about 50 years later than its counterpart to the left, and although clearly the product of more skilled craftsmanship does not deviate from the essence of the older model.
Statue from the Egyptian Old Kingdom that resembles the Greek Kouros; note the forward left foot. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. CC0.
Although impressive in their own right, such statues are not dissimilar to art produced by Middle Eastern cultures in the Bronze and Iron ages. Initial kouroi designs seem to have been borrowed in part from Egypt during the early part of the Archaic period. In the jubilant aftermath of the Greek victory in the Persian Wars, however, Hellenic artists made an unprecedented turn toward realism that would cement Greece’s place in art history for all time.
Roman copy of Polykleitos’s famous Diadumenos, original circa 420 BC. Taken by Dermot Curtin.
A Greek sailor looks out wistfully on the sea battle where he died, funerary stele. Taken by Dermot Curtin. (melancholy)
Ancient art reached its apogee in the Classical period of the fifth and century BC. This is the era which would come to define Greek civilization, and marks one of high water marks of cultural production the world over. In the visual arts this meant a form of idealized realism, meant to portray natural forms in their best possible state. This involved more than technical skill, as sculptors like Polykleitos incorporated specific mathematical proportions into their work in their drive for perfection. The incredible detail allowed for greater subtlety of design; compare the melancholy of the fallen soldier on the left to the sharp and uniform gestures on the Geometric mourners above. The sculptures look like people you could actually know, except fitter and far better looking.
Geometric amphora. Taken by Dermot Curtin.
Terracotta volute-krater with red figure design, circa 450 BC. Metropolitan Museum of Art. CC0.
The period between 750 and 450 BC saw a revolution in aesthetic values, matched only by the modern rise of modern art in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the Ancient Greek world, however, the shift was in the opposite direction, from the abstract to the concrete. The change in taste was coincided with a dramatic rise in skill, leading to works that still keep many of the world’s art historians and critics occupied. If you ever find yourself in Athens, make sure to visit the National Archaeological Museum to experience the whirlwind for yourself.
Dermot Curtin
Dermot is copy editor and a contributing writer at CATALYST PLANET. He is a recent graduate of William & Mary, majoring in History and Government, and enjoys learning about the world and conveying his experiences through writing.
The isolated Vlacherna Monastery off the coast of Corfu.. Daniel Solabarrieta. CC BY-SA 2.0.
Though Greece has 6,000 islands and islets, only 227 of them are inhabited. Many are famous for picturesque beaches and nightclubs that welcome more than 34 million tourists every year. It is no surprise that the country is a favorite for travelers looking to explore the natural beauty of the Mediterranean, to learn more about the ancient civilization that once called the islands home or just to escape the monotony of everyday life. However, there is much more to the country than its white stucco buildings and tzatziki including cliffside monasteries, man-made lakes, and hidden fishing villages just waiting to be discovered.
The holy monastery at Mount Athos. Maite Elorza. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Located on the northern Greek peninsula of Chalcidice, Mount Athos is home to twenty ancient monasteries that date back to Byzantine times. Known to locals as the “Holy Mountain,” the recognized heritage site is off limits to women and children, but is home to approximately 1,400 monks. Its religious significance stems from legends that the rock face was once the location of a sanctuary of Zeus, but the mountain was also subjected to a number of attacks and attempted invasions over the years. The mountainous state officially became an autonomous region on October 3 ,1993and legally lies under the religious jurisdiction of the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church from Constantinople.
Artificial Lake Doxa in western Corinthia. Ava Babili. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Surrounded by fir-tree covered mountains, the man-made Lake Doxa was built about fifteen years ago to help counter the high water levels. These tides also caused the Monastery of Agios to relocate at the center of the lake, and now appears as though it is floating on the water’s surface. The lake is in the village of Archaia Feneos which is located at the base of Mount Cyllene, the supposed birthplace of the god Hermes. According to popular Greek myth, there is also a subterranean canal underneath the lake that was dug by Hercules as one of his Twelve Labors.
The colorful fishing village of Klima. Ioana. CC BY-SA 2.0.
Located on the volcanic island of Milos, the tiny fishing village of Klima has an extensive history that stretches all the way back to around 3,000 BC. The island was occupied by Athenians, Macedonians and Romans over the next few centuries, each leaving their own architectural mark. Visitors can still see remnants of aqueducts, catacombs, theaters and even ancient gymnasiums. After its eventual liberation in the Greek Revolution, the population of Milos began focusing on agriculture and fishing, leveraging the unique volcanic soil and rocks to build garages and houses (known as “syrmatas”) that would protect them from bad weather. Many of the fishermen painted their doors and balconies with bright colors, giving the village its picturesque facade.
The isolated Voutoumi beach on Antipaxos Island. Ari Bakker. CC BY 2.0.
As the smallest of the Ionian Islands, Antipaxos’ beaches are popular among locals from the neighboring islands of Paxi and Corfu but are relatively unknown to foreign tourists. Voutoumi beach is the largest of these and has some of the clearest waters in the Greek archipelago. It is also the preferred destination for private yachts because of its isolated location in a hidden cove on the north eastern side of the island. In fact, the pebble beach is so secluded that there aren’t any shops aside from a local tavern on a nearby hill that serves traditional Greek snacks. There are also a number of smaller coves that are easily reachable from Voutoumi by boat.
An overhead view of the Melissani Cave. jordeangjelovik. CC BY 2.0.
Kefalonia is conversely the largest of the Ionian Islands and is home to an underground grotto located 20 meters (roughly 60 feet) below the surface of the Earth. The Melissani Cave is made up of two rooms, one of which is bright and sun-lit while the other is fully roofed with dark stone stalactites. The chambers are connected by a pool of water that runs about 30 meters (about 90 feet) deep. Legend has it that the cave is named after the nymph Melissanthi who perished in these waters after being rejected by the satyr god Pan. Excavations carried out in the 1950s and 1960s discovered small terracotta statues in the cave depicting the myth and commemorating her unrequited love.
Ruins of the House of Cleopatra on the island of Delos. Bgag. CC BY-SA 2.0.
The island of Delos was once the religious epicenter of the Cyclades. It is now home to a large collection of archaeological ruins that commemorate Artemis and Apollo, the Olympian twins that are believed to have been born on the island. There are also beautifully preserved remnants of civilization from the archaic, classical and Hellenic periods in the form of ceramics, statues and mosaics. En route to the island’s highest point at the summit of Mount Cynthe is the ancient theater district and temples dedicated to the Egyptian deities Isis and Serapis. In fact, many foreign gods have dedicated shrines on Delos because it was a crucial trading port and hosted many sailors from overseas.
Tanaya Vohra
Tanaya is an undergraduate student pursuing a major in Public Health at the University of Chicago. She's lived in Asia, Europe and North America and wants to share her love of travel and exploring new cultures through her writing.
A tunnelbana train in Stockholm. Tony Webster. CC BY 2.0.
Metro systems exist on every inhabited continent on the planet, being as unique in comparison to one another as are the diverse cultures and communities they serve. Some are highly efficient at moving people from point A to point B, others are rooted in the history of the local community and a few even serve as living art galleries that are ever-expanding. Here is our guide to the 10 must-visit metro systems to ride on in your lifetime.
Serving 100 stations throughout the region, Stockholm’s Tunnelbana, which translates to “tunnel railroad,” is one of the newer metro systems in Europe, opening its first line in 1950. What makes the Tunnelbana unique is that it is considered to be the world’s longest art gallery, featuring an extensive collection of art made by over 150 artists.
The Buenos Aires Underground, known locally as Subte, is the oldest underground railway system in the Southern Hemisphere, dating back to 1913. The system hones in on its historic origins by providing both historic and modern train cars and stations which are spread out across its seven lines.
Featuring 22 lines spread across 728 stations that serve both the heart of the city and rural communities, the Seoul Metropolitan Subway is one of the longest systems in the world. Opening its doors in 1974, Seoul's subway continues to grow, with several line extensions slated to open throughout the decade.
The iconic London Underground sign in front of Big Ben. Defence Images. CC BY-NC 2.0.
The oldest underground railway in the world, the London Underground began operation in 1863 and has since grown to serve 270 stations. Known in London as “the Tube,” the metro system provides easy access to neighborhoods throughout Central and Greater London, as well as connections to a slew of airports and other transit systems.
A Berlin U-Bahn train in a station. Michael Day. CC BY 2.0.
Famous for its eye-catching yellow trains, the Berlin U-Bahn is one of the oldest and largest metro systems in Europe. The system had been partly severed in two parts during the Cold War due to the divide between East and West Berlin. Today it boasts 10 lines serving 173 stations, with an annual ridership of around 553.1 million.
A graffitied metro car in Athens passes in front of the Acropolis. Tim Adams. CC BY 2.0.
Like Stockholm’s Tunnelbana, the Athens Metro serves as both a rapid transportation system and an extensive museum. In the system’s Syntagma Metro Station is a handful of the nearly 30,000 artifacts from the classical Greek, Byzantine and Roman periods which were excavated during the construction of new system lines in the 1990s.
Two trains in Tokyo pass over one another. David Gubler. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Offering seamless transitions between its stations and those of its counterpart, the Toei Subway, the Tokyo Metro is considered by many to be one of the best metro systems in the world for both convenience and cleanliness. Serving 180 stations across 9 lines, the Tokyo Metro has continued to expand as the city has grown to be the largest by population in the world.
An MTR train in Hong Kong. David Leo Veksler. CC BY 2.0.
The Mass Transit Railway is a heavily-riden transit system serving Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories, with a daily ridership of over 4.9 million. The transit system has a world-renowned reputation for being clean, affordable and reliable, as well as for offering free WiFi at all of the system’s stations.
The lights of a Paris Metro train passing over a bridge. Luc Mercelis. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
The Paris Metro is a cultural landmark of the city, with stations highlighting the unique Art Nouveau architecture style. It is one of the densest metro systems in the world, consisting of 136 miles of track connecting 304 stations . The Paris Metro is also one of the busiest, being the second most traveled in Europe and tenth in the world.
A Soviet-era metro station in Moscow. Tarnya Hall. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
An extensive metro system with stations highlighting Cold War-era architecture, the Moscow Metro is the busiest system in Europe, serving 2.5 billion riders annually. The system has 241 stations and has connections to other transit systems like the Moscow Central Circle, Moscow Central Diameters and Moscow Monorail.
Jacob Sutherland
Jacob is a recent graduate from the University of California San Diego where he majored in Political Science and minored in Spanish Language Studies. He previously served as the News Editor for The UCSD Guardian, and hopes to shed light on social justice issues in his work.
Sunset over Oia, Greece. Eugene Chan. Unsplash.
The summer solstice marks the longest period of daylight in the calendar year, as well as the official beginning of summer. The exact date of the solstice changes by a few days each year depending on the Earth's position in orbit around the sun. This year, it is expected to fall on June 20th in the Northern Hemisphere. While many countries have specific celebrations of the summer solstice, Greece has some of the most unique and meaningful traditions to commemorate the event in modern times.
The importance of the summer solstice to the Greeks dates back to the creation of calendar systems, many of which were developed based on geographical region. For example, the Athenian calendar spanned from summer solstice to summer solstice, and the Delphic calendar began around the first new moon after the solstice.
This solar orientation led ancient Greek communities to develop new year celebrations around the summer solstice, the most prominent being the festival of Kronia. The celebration was devoted to Kronos, the father of Zeus, and was a harvest festival.
The festival of Kronia was unique because it temporarily diverged from the ancient Greek rigid social hierarchy. It marked a momentary freedom from class restraints where slaves and lords celebrated together, sometimes even reversing roles, in order to mimic Kronos’ “Golden Age” of equality and peace.
The solstice was also preserved through rituals and routines, such as lighting fires at crossroads. This practice allowed communities to purge their homes of waste by discarding items into the fire, and was representative of renewal. Furthermore, it was believed that jumping over these fires would allow hopes and dreams to come true.
Many summer solstice festivities revolve around the themes of purifying and rebirth, and serve as an opportunity for communities to cleanse themselves of the past—similar to New Year's resolutions. Many of these traditions are still practiced today by some Greek communities. However, the equality represented in the ancient festival of Kronia is exemplified differently today, due to the abolition of the ancient Greek rigid social hierarchies
Rather than physical equality between social levels, equality is represented through social harmony and peace. This is most prevalent in the annual trek to the peak of Mt. Olympus which celebrates the summer solstice and is believed to emulate a similar sense of harmony.
The peak of Mt. Olympus in Greece. Billy Onjea. Unsplash.
Over the years, the Greeks have continued to recognize the rich cultural significance of the summer solstice. They have not only adapted old customs to fit modern times, but have also developed new ones which continue to honor the renewal and revitalization that a new cycle of time brings.
Zara Irshad
Zara is a third year Communication student at the University of California, San Diego. Her passion for journalism comes from her love of storytelling and desire to learn about others. In addition to writing at CATALYST, she is an Opinion Writer for the UCSD Guardian, which allows her to incorporate various perspectives into her work.
A view of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Christophe Meneboeuf. CC-BY-SA 3.0
Forty-three-year-old Greek sailing champion Sofia Bekatorou rose to international acclaim after winning an Olympic gold medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics and four World Championships in Italy, Slovenia, Hungary and Spain. Recently, however, she is making headlines for speaking out about her past experiences with sexual abuse in the competitive sports arena. Her brave actions sparked a national #MeToo movement with support from politicians, athletes and social media followers across Greece.
A boat at sea. Snappygoat.com. CC0
Bekatorou was sexually abused in 1998 when she went abroad for the Olympic qualifiers in Sydney. A member of the Hellenic Sailing Federation raped her when she was 21. According to Bekatorou, “He said he would stop if I wanted him to, but he didn’t stop, no matter what I said. When he finished and got up from on top of me, I left the room ashamed and in tears.” Her case remained silenced for 20 years as she began to succeed in the sport. As Bekatorou resisted her abuser’s advances, she received pushback from the sailing federation, making it more difficult to excel. She stated that, “The more successful I became, the more they fought me. While I didn’t have such great success, no one was afraid I would acquire much of a voice.”
Greek athlete Sofia Bekatorou. Mihrou. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0
Bekatorou had the opportunity to raise her voice when the government asked athletes to comment on a proposed sports reform bill in 2019. In November of that year, she denounced her rape publicly for the first time. Although Bekatorou did not expect to reach a large audience since she spoke at a small online conference, the sailing federation began responding with allegations the next day. Her testimony resulted in a wave of support from fans with #metisofia (on Sofia’s side) and #MeToo trending on social media. In addition to her testimony, Bekatorou sent a letter to World Sailing signed by fellow Olympians and coaches calling out a “wretched situation” and demanding fair elections to overhaul the existing board of the organization.
In addition to support from her fans, Bekatorou has also received the backing of Greek politicians, including Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and female President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, who stated that Bekatorou’s actions “dissolved a conspiracy of silence” in Greece, where sexual assault cases are notoriously underreported.
A Greek parliamentary session. Pasok. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0
Since her testimony, Vice President Aristeidis Adamopoulos of the Hellenic Sailing Federation, her alleged abuser, has resigned from his position. He refuses to acknowledge any instance of abuse, stating that his only reason for resigning is to spare the federation any negative publicity. Greece has also banned about half of the country’s 10,000 sports clubs from voting in upcoming sports federation elections due to concerns regarding “sexual and financial misconduct.” Although Bekatorou’s case has passed the 20-year statute of limitations period, politicians are considering an extension of it. There are rising movements to increase prison sentences for sex offenders and to address sexual abuse cases more frequently, but the long-term effects of the #MeToo movement’s surge are not yet known.
Women from across Greece are beginning to come forward regarding their harrowing experiences with sexual abuse. These women include sailing champion Marina Psychogyiou, water polo player Mania Bikof, world champion swimmer Rabea Iatridou and Cypriot Olympic shooter Andri Eleftheriou. Additionally, widespread sexual abuse cases at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in northern Greece are making headlines, with over 100 complaints filed about a single professor in the last 30 years. Although Greece is making strides toward gender equality with legislation passed in 2010, the country is far behind other European Union members in this regard.
Sofia Bekatorou’s heroism serves as an inspiration to sexual abuse survivors and women around the world. Only time will tell whether her actions lead to social change in Greece and beyond.
Megan Gürer
Megan is a Turkish-American student at Wellesley College in Massachusetts studying Biological Sciences. Passionate about environmental issues and learning about other cultures, she dreams of exploring the globe. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, singing, and composing music.
Greek police clash with migrants at the border with Turkey in Kastanies. Dimitris Tosidis/EPA
The ongoing refugee and migrant crisis in the Aegean has taken a dramatic turn in recent days with an escalating humanitarian situation on the land and sea borders between Greece and Turkey.
After Turkey removed its border restrictions with Greece on February 29, thousands of people began to make their way across the country to the Greek border. They have been met with tear gas, and warning shots fired by the Greek coastguard at boats trying to cross the Aegean sea.
The latest “crisis” started suddenly – yet migration in the region has been going on for many years, if not millennia. As an ancient route of cultural and trade interchange, the Aegean has always been a sea of overlapping waves of migrations – and the rich history of this criss-crossing is ever-present in the region today.
My ongoing research in the Greek islands and mainland suggests the living memory of previous experiences of displacement forms a vivid background to the current arrival of refugees, who have been coming since the Syrian civil war intensified in around 2015.
On February 29, Turkey woke up to the news that at least 30 of its soldiers had been killed in an air attack at an army base in Idlib in northern Syria. Turkish political leaders responded by promising to retaliate in what is another escalation of the military conflict in the region.
But the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, also made good on a previous threat and declared that no migrant attempting to leave the country via the border with Greece would be stopped. This was a major shift in policy since the signing of a 2016 deal between Turkey and the EU, under which Erdoğan agreed to regulate and reduce the migrant flows to Europe in exchange for financial support.
In a matter of two days, tens of thousands gathered at the main checkpoints at the land and sea borders, only to find that the Greek side was closed. In response, the government announced that Greece would not accept any more irregular migrants, nor would it process any asylum applications for a month.
Despite criticism from humanitarian agencies and European parliamentarians over the legality and legitimacy of such measures, the Greek government stood firm. On March 3, the EU Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, travelled to the border city of Evros and thanked Greece “for being our European aspida.” By using the Greek word for shield, and reiterating that the Greek borders were European borders, she gave the Greek prime minister a strong message of unity and support.
Shocking footage released by Turkey today showing Greek coastguard terrorising a boat full of refugees. Europe in 2020. pic.twitter.com/yFz7wvxadO
— Loveday Morris (@LovedayM) March 2, 2020
Those who wish to believe that a half-closed border is still half open continue to wait for their ever-slimmer chances to enter Greece. Thousands of people are spending days and nights in near freezing temperatures in the buffer zone between the two borders with only limited humanitarian assistance provided by locals and NGOs.
In the Aegean islands, the situation is even thornier. As of January 31, 2020, there were 115,600 refugees and migrants in Greece, according to the UNHCR. So far, there have been 8,432 arrivals in 2020. While the numbers are not at the levels they were in 2015, when Greece was caught off guard in the initial phases of refugee flows, it’s not the quantity of the migrants but the changes in the quality of their reception that matters.
In the past five years, the irregular flow of refugees arriving in Greek shores with dinghies has continued with some fluctuations. Greece established five migrant hotspots in its Aegean islands, yet these have not addressed the needs of those arriving. With multiple accounts documenting the appalling conditions in various refugee camps, especially at the Moria camp on the island of Lesvos, this has led to criticism of Greece’s ability or willingness to deal with the migration issue.
The new government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek prime minister, vowed to take drastic measures and passed a new migration law in November 2019 which came into effect in January. This was followed by a plan to build closed reception centers in the islands of Chios, Samos and Lesvos which would replace the current open camp structures of the hotspots.
New asylum seekers, arriving on the island of Lesvos, waiting to be transferred to mainland Greece on March 3. Orestis Panagiotou/EPA
These measures have been presented as effective solutions to accelerate the asylum procedures and to “decongest the islands”. But they have been met with anger by locals, who protested extensively against the central government’s decisions, leading to a general strike on February 25.
The rising tension has heightened the ideological polarisation among the locals on the Aegean islands. Anti-migrant protesters, alongside far-right extremists, have demonstrated that they are prepared to use violent means to protect their borders. In early March, some angry protesters tried to block refugee boats from arriving into harbours and block roads. Cars and buildings have been burnt and journalists attacked.
The opposing camp condemns the use of refugees as bargaining chips for political ends. They are appealing to concepts such as hospitality, civilisation and humanity to underline their stance in solidarity with the migrants, using slogans such as “open the borders” and “no human is illegal”.
Both anti-migrant groups and those in solidarity with migrants are using the region’s history to promote their own ideological positions.
Those in solidarity claim that migration is not a crime, but rather an element of the human condition that has occurred repeatedly throughout the region’s history. They recall how during the second world war, thousands of Greeks crossed the Turkish border to escape the German occupation and seek refuge in the Middle East.
The Aegean islands were also where boats filled with Greek Orthodox residents of Asia Minor came in the wake of the Convention of the Forced Exchange of Populations of 1923 between Greece and Turkey, signed after the first world war. Following the arrival of more than 1.5 million people in Greece, the population of the islands almost doubled to the extent that many locals still have family members from among the group originally and still known as the “Asia Minor refugees”.
The ongoing tensions in the region have once again made it into a place where complex negotiations take place over ideology and identity. The shifting way the past is being imagined stands as a testimony to how the history of overlapping migrations is currently being kept alive in the Aegean.
Ilay Romain Ors is a Research Affiliate, Centre of Migration, Policy, and Society, University of Oxford.
THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE CONVERSATION
High up in the sunburnt hills of Lesvos, Greece lies a black and orange heap of plastic. It is large, about the size of an Olympic swimming pool, but its vastness pales in comparison to the scope of the reasons why it is there—the half a million and growing masses of displaced refugees who have washed up upon the island’s shores.
Lesvos is a major port for refugees fleeing chaos in the middle east, mostly from war-torn Afghanistan and Syria. The journey across the sea can be deadly. Refugees often pay over $5000 to smugglers who will bring them across the Mediterranean to supposedly safe ports in Europe, but there is no guarantee that the smugglers have not been bribed for one reason or another, or that the journey will be successful.
The black and orange heaps rotting in the hills of Lesvos are made up of lifejackets and boats that belonged to those who made it over, but in those quiet mountains one can almost hear the whispering of the hundreds of thousands who were lost on the way. A closer look reveals children’s floaties, some painted with princess decals, some emblazoned with the message, This is not a flotation device.
Once in Lesvos, the owners of these lifejackets were carted into packed camps, where many of them have remained for years. Conditions in the Moria camp in particular have been widely maligned by human rights organizations around the world. The camp was made to hold 2,000 people and now holds over 6,000, according to official reports, though many believe that the number has exceeded 8,000. Refugees live in cramped makeshift tents that flood when it rains, and the camps are overrun by disease, mental illness stemming from severe trauma, and chaos.
Following the Arab Spring in 2011, which catalyzed revolutions across the Middle East, Syria and many other countries experienced a mass exodus, leading to the flood of people seeking asylum in Europe that has come to be known as the modern refugee crisis.
Many refugees are university-educated professionals, fleeing in hopes of finding a better life for themselves and their families. But once in Europe, they are often caught up in bureaucratic tangles that keep them stagnant in the camps for years at a time, despite the fact that many already have family members in other parts of the continent.
Thousands of volunteers have flocked to the island in order to help. Nonprofits like A Drop in the Ocean host lessons and English classes for refugees, and facilitate the safe landings of newly arrived boats. Others work to provide hygienic services, like the organization Showers for Sisters, which provides safe showers and sanitary products to women and children.
Lesvos itself still functions in part as a tourist town, though it is mostly populated by volunteers, refugees, and locals. Not far from the lifejacket graveyard is the pleasant seaside town of Molyvos, which boasts sandy beaches and restaurants serving traditional Greek fare.
Much of the island is made up of open space, populated only by olive groves and forests, open plains, and abandoned buildings. The lifejacket graveyard is located in one such empty plain, and except for scavenging seagulls and goats, the area is empty, making the presence of the rotting heaps of plastic even more unnerving.
The only other proof of human presence to be found lies on a wall of graffiti nearby a garbage dump, marked by the sentiment Shame on you, Europe.
The combination of the Greek financial crisis and rising tides of nationalism occurring at the same time as the height of the refugee crisis have caused xenophobic sentiments to allow these horrifically overcrowded camps to mar this beautiful tropical island, which once inspired the Greek poet Sappho to write her legendary love poems.
The lifejacket graveyard has been left standing partly because of island officials’ lack of motivation to clean it up, and partly as a statement, a tribute to the thousands who still wait in limbo on the island.
If you are interested in helping out, organizations mostly need financial contributions, legal aid, medical aid, translators, and publicity. It is also possible to volunteer, and opportunities and detailed information can be found at sites like greecevol.info.
Eden Arielle Gordon
Eden Arielle Gordon is a writer, musician, and avid traveler. She attends Barnard College in New York.