I encountered several Bangladeshi immigrants in Italy, and they were much better off and doing their own thing: waiting on tables, selling food at carts, and helping to run convenience stores. I didn't realize just how many immigrants (both legal and illegal) reside in Athens.
Street vendor demonstrating toys; March 14th, 2009
Denied employment from Greek store owners and the like on the basis of their nationality (and regardless of legal status), they sell whatever small goods they can get their hands on from suppliers. This usually ranges from bottled water and tissue boxes to cheap toys that barely bring in enough income to pay for housing. Their only desire: to raise enough money to return home.
Protest after the death in January - Getty Images (not my own)
I didn’t know how bad it was until I discovered that this past January, the accidental death of a Bangladeshi immigrant occurred in Athens when the police were trying to uproot the vendor. The man, who was in his mid-20’s, was pushed into a ravine and fell to his death. According to the Athens Independent Media Center, these immigrants are also subjected to harsh beatings, incarceration, and even deportation on the basis of accusations alone. A Bangladeshi man was imprisoned and deported for the theft of a cell phone which was later discovered to be his own; another was also incarcerated and is facing deportation for allegedly stealing a cell phone charger (Athens Independent).
A man sells tissue boxes to drivers; March 14th, 2009
One man I spoke to during my visit was actually deceived by the person that issued his visa, as he had guaranteed him employment. He now lives on a day to day income derived from selling his toys to tourists. Even though he is a legal immigrant, our conversation was cut short due to the police arriving on the scene as they don’t recognize street vendors. I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I was crying on the streets of the Plaka District for a man I didn't even know. I managed to tell him that he looked like my father.
His story is one that touched me personally. No one wanted to hire my father initially when he came to the States- which is why we spent a few months without a home in Brooklyn, why so many immigrants become entrepreneurs, and why my father went on to become a self-employed cab driver. Regardless, the treatment of immigrants here is still ages ahead of many countries in Europe.
Bangladeshi men living in a cardboard "house" await deportation- Getty Images (not my own)
I wish I had gotten that man's name but I didn't have the time as he disappeared so fast. In my prayers he is the "Faridpur Man in Athens." Faridpur is actually my mother's home district. All I could really give him were a couple of euros I forced him to accept for a toy he gifted me in the midst of my tears, but when I can write something that I deem good enough, I'll give him a poem.
Greek, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi flags in downtown Athens
Street vendor demonstrating toys; March 14th, 2009
Protest after the death in January - Getty Images (not my own)I didn’t know how bad it was until I discovered that this past January, the accidental death of a Bangladeshi immigrant occurred in Athens when the police were trying to uproot the vendor. The man, who was in his mid-20’s, was pushed into a ravine and fell to his death. According to the Athens Independent Media Center, these immigrants are also subjected to harsh beatings, incarceration, and even deportation on the basis of accusations alone. A Bangladeshi man was imprisoned and deported for the theft of a cell phone which was later discovered to be his own; another was also incarcerated and is facing deportation for allegedly stealing a cell phone charger (Athens Independent).
A man sells tissue boxes to drivers; March 14th, 2009One man I spoke to during my visit was actually deceived by the person that issued his visa, as he had guaranteed him employment. He now lives on a day to day income derived from selling his toys to tourists. Even though he is a legal immigrant, our conversation was cut short due to the police arriving on the scene as they don’t recognize street vendors. I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I was crying on the streets of the Plaka District for a man I didn't even know. I managed to tell him that he looked like my father.
His story is one that touched me personally. No one wanted to hire my father initially when he came to the States- which is why we spent a few months without a home in Brooklyn, why so many immigrants become entrepreneurs, and why my father went on to become a self-employed cab driver. Regardless, the treatment of immigrants here is still ages ahead of many countries in Europe.
Bangladeshi men living in a cardboard "house" await deportation- Getty Images (not my own)I wish I had gotten that man's name but I didn't have the time as he disappeared so fast. In my prayers he is the "Faridpur Man in Athens." Faridpur is actually my mother's home district. All I could really give him were a couple of euros I forced him to accept for a toy he gifted me in the midst of my tears, but when I can write something that I deem good enough, I'll give him a poem.
Greek, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi flags in downtown Athens
aww thats so sad =(
ReplyDeletethe whole immigration concept is sickening. we, or rather, people who believe themselves citizen's of a land look down upon immigrants (legal or illegal) as not really loyal to the land. they are rejected jobs, face insane conditions upon the countries they have sought out for a better life. so they love your country, they struggle so dangerously and so persistently to finally get there and once they get there they are treated like shit?
ReplyDeletei do understand that countries like to keep organized boarders so that their citizens are safe, so that jobs are available for their "own kind" but when its people who run away from some dire life conditions (in extremes war-torn refugees) we as human's owe it to them to give them comfort, give them an opportunity to live a better life. After all what does it really take?
i guess it is and always will be a deeply political issue rather than a sincere humanitarian one. But it takes so much guts and courage to leave your friends and family from your home country, it takes so much courage to find a way to a new one, to learn a new language, understand a new culture and it takes so much internal strength to deal with the struggles of being looked down upon.
I applaud them all far and wide and hopefully someone will find a new way to take care of them, we owe it to each other.
I think it is Luther who got the point when he said that an immigrant dies to the law of his motherland once he leaves. He was of course speaking about spiritual issues, but the comparison he used is very telling. To be reborn, spiritually, one must live within a law. So, one chooses to leave another life behind in order to begin a new one. The tragedy here is that in these cases you speak of the people who have 'died to the law of their motherland' are not granted a new life, but are rather told to die to the new law, to their new land. How does one deal with that?
ReplyDelete