Our View: Far-right poses a bigger threat to society than immigrants

A HEAVY police presence in the centre of Nicosia ensured that there were no unpleasant incidents during Sunday’s rival protest marches. The two sets of protestors were kept apart by the police and dispersed peacefully when it was made clear that neither group would be allowed to go beyond a certain point on Makarios Avenue. One group was demanding action against illegal immigrants, while the second group – led by the immigrants’ support group KISA – was protesting against the racist objectives of the former. 
We could say that the rival marches turned out to be a non-event that has already been forgotten but this would be a mistake. This was the first time that a group of youths, with fascist tendencies had held a march in Cyprus to put across their ultra-nationalist and racist views. Dressed in black and waving Greek flags, the members of ELAM the Ethniko Laiko Metopo or (National Popular Front, held a large banner that said, ‘Every foreign worker equals an unemployed Greek person’.
The ELAM march, was supposedly in protest against illegal immigration, but this was just a pretext, as there is a big state mechanism aimed at combating the problem. But legal immigrants are an even bigger threat to local jobs, so why did ELAM not protest against their presence as well? An examination of the group’s blog answers this question and leaves no doubts about their racist agenda and ultra-nationalist philosophy.
In its blog, ELAM said that illegal immigration diluted the racial identity of the Greek community, turning it into a “bastardised, multi-cultural mass without a national conscience”. The “influx of illegal immigrants” was now “out of control”, it warned before revealing its racist credentials – when there was a need for foreign workers, European subjects should be employed and not “members of other racial backgrounds from the Third World.” In short, the group is against all immigrants and its focus on illegals should fool nobody. Its banners were clearly aimed at turning Cypriot workers against all immigrants for taking their jobs.
This is the way neo-fascist groups in many European countries operate today, which is why everyone has an obligation to stand up to the ultra-nationalists of ELAM.
DISY deputy Christos Stylianides was right to call on all the parties and politicians to take a stand against the racists of this National Popular Front. We cannot afford to ignore it, because it is currently a fringe group of a couple of hundred, extremist youths with no support-base.
If the ultra-nationalist supporters of racial purity get out of control they will pose a much greater threat to our society than impoverished, illegal immigrants.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.