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The Balkan ProspectEpilogue: Back to the Balkans

The Balkan Prospect: Epilogue: Back to the Balkans [The new barbarians were no longer at the gate. They have long since taken up position on the other side. They hailed, not from the Balkans, but from war-torn regions further east. In one small corner of downtown Athens, in the working-class district of Aghios Panteleimon, Afghani, Iraqi, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Somali refugees and asylum seekers had found a spot to sleep, sandwiched between nondescript apartment blocks in one of the city’s few, small playgrounds. One summer night in 2009, neighborhood residents set about to reclaim the playground from the immigrants occupying it. They denied them access, fenced off the playground, and patrolled it through the night. Days of wrangling followed, over who had the right to use the square. Members of a neofascist group, “The Golden Dawn,” sided with the aggrieved neighbors, whereas “anarchist” groups or “members of the extraparliamentary left” descended upon the square and dismantled the barricades erected by the now-swelling number of “neighbors.” Soon, riot police were deployed around the square, and the press filmed interviews with residents and would-be residents. Warring factions struggled to impose private rules on the use of public space (Kambylis 2009).] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

The Balkan ProspectEpilogue: Back to the Balkans

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Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan US
Copyright
© Vangelis Calotychos 2013
ISBN
978-1-349-45092-3
Pages
201 –210
DOI
10.1057/9781137336804_8
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[The new barbarians were no longer at the gate. They have long since taken up position on the other side. They hailed, not from the Balkans, but from war-torn regions further east. In one small corner of downtown Athens, in the working-class district of Aghios Panteleimon, Afghani, Iraqi, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Somali refugees and asylum seekers had found a spot to sleep, sandwiched between nondescript apartment blocks in one of the city’s few, small playgrounds. One summer night in 2009, neighborhood residents set about to reclaim the playground from the immigrants occupying it. They denied them access, fenced off the playground, and patrolled it through the night. Days of wrangling followed, over who had the right to use the square. Members of a neofascist group, “The Golden Dawn,” sided with the aggrieved neighbors, whereas “anarchist” groups or “members of the extraparliamentary left” descended upon the square and dismantled the barricades erected by the now-swelling number of “neighbors.” Soon, riot police were deployed around the square, and the press filmed interviews with residents and would-be residents. Warring factions struggled to impose private rules on the use of public space (Kambylis 2009).]

Published: Mar 23, 2016

Keywords: Asylum Seeker; Debt Crisis; Illegal Immigrant; European Economic Community; Cultural Sphere

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