Discrimination

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‘When you are a child you are yourself and you know and see everything prophetically. And then suddenly something happens and you stop being yourself; you become what others force you to be. You lose your wisdom and your soul’ (Jean Rhys)

Scan87Continued from previous post……

Discriminatory and racist practices can be intimidating and forceful, but they can also be more subtle. A subtle form of these practices may concern difficulties in obtaining official papers or/ and various inconsistencies and contradictory information both in official documents and /or school reports and so on. These difficulties and inconsistencies often reflect and are related to the deeper reasons and explanations for a lot of injustices and suffering. For instance, not every citizen needs to apply for a simple marriage certificate over and over, only to receive useless copies with chunks of information concerning identity missing. Neither is one, refused citizenship despite their right to it – at least according to official documents – and also since nationality is something that cannot be taken away, and so on.

The class report posted above was given to me from the Greek Orthodox School I attended in Australia for completing second grade successfully. My birth date is wrong, at least according to the birth certificate I have in my possession. What’s more, I have another school report of the same school year, from the same church, certifying that I have complete third grade, with another birth date on it. Perhaps here I need to explain that often children that grew up in Greek immigrant households in Australia back then attended part-time Greek schools, usually run by the church, in the evenings. Since morning school finished at 3:30 classes usually started at about 5:00 and carried on till about 7:00 or 8:00. It seems highly improbable that as a young child I could have managed to attend school in the morning up until 3:30 and two different classes of the same subject in the evening, by the priest-school teacher, who taught me harsh discipline and fear, as well as, how to read and write in Greek.

Quotes

‘You imagine the carefully pruned, shaped thing that is presented to you is truth. That is just what it isn’t. The truth is improbable, the truth is fantastic; it’s in what you think is a distorting mirror that you see the truth’ Jean Rhys (1890-1979)

‘The search for identity is very important. If you look at the sort of techniques used in concentration camps, they were designed to take away people’s identity. It is the ultimate indignity’

(Dr Ron Sinclair, former child migrant, cited in Empty Cradles by Margaret Humphreys – Corgi Books)

And lyrics

As I was writing the short text above I heard a Greek song on youtube, with lyrics and music by Dionysis Tsaknis, referring to issues of identity, belonging and homeland from the perspective of a gypsy

I have no place, I have no hope
No country (homeland) will ever lose (miss) me
Αnd with my hands and heart
I build tents in my dreams

And then I discovered another interesting performance in another language by a previously unknown to me, singer, Yasmin Levy. Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U4XY-W6MmQ

Paper cutting and origins (updated)

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Scan86Paper cutting and origins (part of drawing 2007-2008) – Dedicated to an old student, Anna

In brief….

Citizenship is a legal and political bond that links one with the state he/she belongs to. According to Greek law, citizenship is a constitutional right. Citizenship is the result of Greek nationality or origin – through birth or blood ties. The right to citizenship is based on birth from a Greek parent (father or mother). Children born to a Greek father and a foreign mother or vice versa acquire Greek citizenship. Also, if the children of Greek citizens are born in another country, the Consular authorities, for example, do not grant citizenship, but simply help the individual to exercise their right to citizenship, such as the right to ‘vote and be elected’, the right to work in the public sector of the country, etc. Registration in the population register of the country’s municipalities constitutes the recognition of the human right to citizenship of the Greek state. The Greek identity cards or passports, for example, are simply a result of that registration. Finally, ‘municipal certificates’ constitute legal presumption of citizenship.

So based on the information above many questions arise as to why or how it is possible, on the one hand, to have Greek origin, either by birth or by blood ties, at least according to the official documents in my possession, be registered in a population register of the country, and on the other hand, remain an alien with a residence permit for over a decade, despite my failed attempts to obtain a Greek identity card in order to be able to vote and sit examinations for recruitment in the public sector, for instance. The withholding of my Greek identity card and passport practically means and meant deprivation of political and civil rights. ‘The distinction between domestic and foreign matters both in the field of Public International Law, particularly on matters of diplomatic protection of the individual’s judgment, and in the field of domestic law, on matters of political and civil rights and obligations. The status of citizenship has political content/ significance because it provides the right of access to public services and the acquisition of political rights (to vote – to be elected). Also, these people have the right of entry, residence and free movement in the territory of the country, the right to exercise the profession of their choice, the freedom of the press etc. The status of citizenship also has private law content. Thus, only nationals enjoy full civil rights. Several professions are closed or ban foreigners……………….. This interpretation is based on the rule of Private International Law which stipulates legal capacity (A.5 Civil Code) and legal transactions (A.7 AK) and are governed by the law of citizenship ‘ (Douvara Vasiliki and Andreas Dimitropoulos, 2005 Loss of Greek Citizenship). More questions arise in relation to how after all my attempts to obtain a Greek identity card had failed, the coveted identity card was finally issued on 09/03/1984 after marrying a Greek national, and while the law of 1955 had already been amended several times. Specifically, the oldest Greek citizenship law (3370/1955) was based on the principle of unity of the family’s nationality which essentially meant that it was based on the nationality of the husband. As a result, any foreign woman who married a Greek national acquired Greek citizenship automatically unless she made a statement that she did not wish to acquire it. The Code of Greek Citizenship was amended by the 481/68 law, the 1342 / 1983 law and the 1438 / 1984 law, which ratified the 1979 UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of racism against women. It introduced the principle of equal rights of men and women in the law of citizenship and the principle of individuality or independence was applied,, and therefore, marriage no longer resulted in the acquisition or loss of citizenship. If one wished to acquire national citizenship then one had to follow the ordinary naturalization procedure, as any other foreigner residing in Greece. Moreover, as I may have already mentioned elsewhere on this site, one wonders why while I was explicitly denied the right to acquire a Greek identity card, which meant I was denied Greek citizenship and all the rights attached to it, I was obliged to sit university entrance exams with nationals rather than foreigners because the necessary documents were not granted to me. Essentially, remaining in the state of an alien I was deprived of my right to citizenship and then I was deprived of the rights alien candidates had concerning their entrance to Greek universities.

In conclusion, all our experience, including the trauma, the violations and/ or deprivation of rights and injustices that we have endured, takes place within a specific socio-political context. Often this is the same socio-political (historical) framework that not only allows, but also facilitates victimization and multiplies violations. This broader political approach allows deeper understanding of the causes and the dynamics of bullying, racism and discrimination in educational, employment and other contexts. And it can expalin the breadth of these parctices, which can involve bullying and discrimination, but also scarier tactics like being hit by a motorcycle near the university, while walking on the pavement or being stalked in public places. After all, broken bones can become a great reminder both of the message and of fear. I think it is easy to understood that all practices of racism, exclusion and discrimination always occur within specific temporal and spatial contexts and also that there is an inseparable link between private and public life. ‘The public and the private worlds are inseparably connected… the tyrannies and the servilities of one are the tyrannies and the servilities of the other’ (Virginia Woolf).

Tonya Alexandri, September 29th, 2015

The most important years of our life

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Scan85

‘It is the right brain that is engaged in the infant’s recognition of the mother’s face, and the perception of arousal-inducing maternal facial expressions, is psychobiologically attuned to the output of the mother’s right hemisphere, which is involved in the expression and processing of emotional information and in nonverbal communication’  (Allan Schore, Retrieved 22nd September, 2015 from http://somaticpsychotherapy.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=58&Itemid=45)

‘Fire together, wire together, survive together‘ Allan Schore

I have always been interested in attachment theory and early development and how our beginning impacts all later experience across the lifespan. While studying psychology relevant courses and chapters on Bowlby, Ainsworth, Main, etc, were favourites; however, more recently while doing a course on interpersonal neurobiology, I got acquainted with Allan Schore’s work, who is considered a pioneer in integrating social, biological, psychological and psychoanalytic theory and is referred to as  the ‘American Father of Attachment Theory’ or the ‘American Bowlby’. Schore argues that the early social environment, mediated by the primary caregiver, influences the evolution of the structures of the infant’s brain. He shows how the maturation of the right brain is influenced by the dyadic interactions of the attachment relationship, which are critical to the individual’s future capacity to self-regulate emotions and cope with stress. His work is grounded in a multi-disciplinary perspective and his theory of affect integrates psychology and neurobiology.

Allan Schore’s lecture – The most important years of our Life: Our Beginning – (Retrieved September 21st, 2015, from http://www.acesconnection.com/g/northern-michigan-aces-action/clip/allan-schore-in-oslo-the-most-important-years-of-our-life-our-beginning-96-min) – is interesting and worth viewing. It is rich in information and examples.

‘The beginning sets the stage for later experience’ (Allan Schore)

In the lecture cited above Allan Schore explains how there has been a shift in the conception of infancy from cognitive to emotional development, and also claims that from the beginning the infant is constantly relating to its social environment. He discusses how interpersonal neurobiology allows us to understand how early emotional experience and attachment relationships impact later experience. He adds that now there is a consensus of early development and its enduring impact on our life. Allan Schore expands on the significance of the dyadic interaction between the primary caretaker and the child. He beautifully refers to this interaction between mother and baby as the co-regulation of each other’s nervous systems – each other’s physiology and brain states. He further talks about our right brain and its implication in our capacity to regulate our emotions and connect with others. He also mentions that early experience is stored in the right brain, not as explicit declarative memory, but as implicit memory, which is dominant in the first three years. Schore adds that it’s not until the second year that the left hemisphere even begins its maturation, which means that all the (dis-regulating) attachment experiences are stored in the right hemisphere. Furthermore, he explains that meaning making is not only made through the left brain, as previously believed. In addition, Allan Schore talks about the political implications of this knowledge. He supports that ‘the earliest stages of humanhood are critical because they contain within them the representation of our possible futures’. He claims that it is accepted now that the first 1000 days, including life in the mother’s womb, are extremely significant (this is a period of maximal vulnerability and plasticity), and that the culture that the infant grows up in can either facilitate or inhibit development. He mentions that handing infants into day care at six weeks because there is no maternal leave does not facilitate the infant’s healthy growth and development. Concerning the political ramifications of these discoveries he cites ‘Investing in child development is the foundation for improved health, economic and social outcomes. Not getting the early years right is linked to violent behaviour, depression, higher rates of noncommunicable disease, and lower wages, and it negatively affects a nation’s gross domestic product’ (‘Child well-being in rich countries’, UNICEF report).  Finally, he concludes that ‘Emphasis on child development, would put the focus where it belongs, on the end beneficiary, the child-her or his potential for development’ (Science, July 20, 2014, Editorial, A focus on Child Development, K.L. Silver & P.A. Singer – Canada).

**The background of the collage above is a poster of a drawing by the Renaissance painter Raphael (1483-1520)

Nikolaos Gysis and Mary Cassatt have depicted secure attachment moments between the mother and the child beautifully in their oil paintings. You can view the two paintings mentioned, but others as well, at the websites below

Peek-a-boo (1982) oil on canvas by Nikolaos Gysis (1842-1901) – at the National Gallery of Greece at: https://www.newikis.com/en/commons/File:Gysis_Nikolaos_Koukou.jpg

And

Mother about to wash her sleepy child (1880) oil painting (No 180) by Mary Cassatt (1844-1928) http://www.marycassatt.org/home-5-12-1-0.html