It’s a very similar atmosphere to the extremely polarized scenario of the referenda in 2004 when apparently everyone was either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. A 12% and 13% minority of voters from the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities did not vote either as they chose to abstain. Furthermore we had the ‘No’ meaning ‘Yes’ of AKEL and the ‘Yes’ but most of our voters voted ‘No’ of DiSY. Most people then did not actually vote for the same reasons, and likewise today, even though everyone is trying their utmost to sway public opinion – whatever that dodgy term means against or in favour of President Christofias, what is also real is the fact that some of us are not being influenced by all the pseudo hard talk of the media, politicians, facebook groups for or against, protestors or admirers.

I heard reportage just last week by a renowned BBC journalist who will be unnamed, on a radio station in English, again unnamed. The journo insisted ‘thousands of people are outside the Presidential Palace each night, from all the political parties, demanding President Christofias resigns’. I am not sure what Palatio was being referred to as on the very same night I drove past there. I would estimate there were about 200 people. I did not stop to ask their views but they were clearly antagonistic, demanding the immediate resignation of Christofias because as their banners insisted he was a ‘Murderer’. No one should deny the right of citizens to protest, and if we ever reach that point in Cyprus, there will be no turning back. But where were the thousands reported by the reputable journalist I wondered, and did they all come from every single party in Cyprus. This takes me to the opposite camp. AKEL supporters who often confuse their ideology for a football game. Out of curiosity I asked to join a facebook group supporting President Christofias. I must admit to doing this solely for research purposes, not for snooping on any one but just trying to understand the logic of how people in this camp were thinking – much in the same way, after having heard the reportage mentioned earlier, for driving past the Presidential Palace on that night last week, to see for myself what the journalist had said. Equally ‘patriotic’ along ideological lines the facebook Group was riddled with all kinds of conspiracy theories on how the President was being treated by the media and opposition. I lasted a day I think and exited, feeling disappointed.

Now on both these sites, at both these locations, virtual and real, I felt the same sense of not agreeing with things and wanting in some way to be different, independent minded and open for critical kinds of thinking. That to me is what is missing, a sense of trying to heal the wounds through a more open-ended and open minded discussion. As Cypriots we always insist on what divides us but seldom look to ways to overcome these divisions. The media are not exempt from this. They seldom make any attempt at objectivity; they merely reflect divisions and rarely look at the bigger picture and the possibilities that could arise from being more critical in a constructive sense. There are media outlets who have wanted Christofias to step down from the minute he was elected and there are others who worship the ground he walks on. There are people who live in a very interesting but false world of everyone who is a comrade agrees with us and others, The Archbishop being a classic example who are so happy that there has been no progress whatsoever – according to him at least – in the talks over a solution between Christofias and Eroglou. In fact his 8% Beautitude from Paphos would be very delighted if Christofias resigned because the talks would be completely terminated and yes, the next President, speaking hypothetically now of course, would presumably go back on all that has been agreed, and move to a more irredentist stance. This would match quiet well again very surrealistically with the partitionist stance espoused by Turkish PM Erdogan recently in occupied northern Cyprus when he stood on what looked like a bus with mic in hand. Muting the sound, I did get the impression, just by reading his body language that he was trying desperately to sell water melons.
So the rest of us, albeit may be a minority, who don’t want to be herded here and there by any one, who do not want to be threatened or treated like lemmings by the politicians, media, religious leaders and yes the plethora of fickle minded facebook groups, we are just sick and tired of all of it, like most people are in the world frankly. The recession, the wars, the environment, the intransigence, the fanaticism, and the way in which so much suffering is inflicted, so much pain, so much grief, so many mistakes and no one has the courage to admit it was their fault. Too many lawyers, right about now, and never enough justice!
So a message to the media…Next time you have all the political vagabonds – I mean that with the utmost respect and acerbic wit – pitted against each other over any issue, Mari, The Cyprus Problem, Christofias seeing it through or standing down, try a little bit of critical thinking, a touch of devil’s advocate. Say to the government spokesman, let’s just reverse things a little here, if you was in opposition and DiSY was in power, with Anastasiades as President, and a disaster equivalent to Mari happened, what would you be demanding from the President? To the Opposition, again reverse the tables. If you were President would you have resigned on 11-7-11?

When I see some people baying for some one’s blood, unless of course its a mass murderer and the evidence is clear, I tend to go in the opposite direction. Its easy enough for many people to be swept up by the current wave of anti-Presidential euphoria. ‘The Dissatisfied’ who gather most nights (APOEL football games usually being the exception) outside the presidential palace may be demanding Christofias head on a plate, but then many of these people, at least the most hard nosed ones, the most dissatisfied ones, have been doing the same ever since he got elected, and they strike me as mad as a box of frogs on acid pills!

I also heard from an ordinary citizen today, whatever that means, that Christofias advizer gets paid 200,000 Euros a month. The woman who said this also told me she heard it on the radio, so it must be true. Perhaps some one got a couple of digits wrong, but then again we are talking about a mass media who are often guilty of exaggeration for the sake of stirring up trouble. What did they say last autumn, a muslim man ‘allgedly’ – we never heard or saw him say it – but he ‘allegedly said ‘ The bells should be banned from ringing in St Lazarus Church’ in Larnaca. This statement was tauntamount to Orthodox Christians of the utmost blasphemy. No one knew who this person was but the fact the media said it, made it into what we academics call a ‘factoid’ an unwanted myth, or in every day terms, an out and out lie.

So when I heard the maddening crowd chanting ‘Christofias, Murderer, Resign’ and ‘We Will Hang You’ it made my blood run cold because 1. We are not living in the ‘wild wild west’ where the possees implemented their own justice by hanging people on trees and 2. Every one is innocent until they have been proven guilty with substantiated evidence.

Of course what I have just said may make many people’s blood curl, but you tell me why should we be so vindictive, testosteronified like a bunch of football hooligans out to mash up the ‘opposing tribe’ when the facts have not been found as yet as to why the explosion happened on 11/7/11? Its easy enough to point the fingers at the executive power in this society and demand his head on a plate, but what about all the people involved in the chain of command?The explosion could have happened deliberately, by accident or it could also be that all the things that coul go wrong went wrong. I do however find it hard to believe, despite what the media are telling me to think, and what various haters are saying, that Dimtris Christofias, of Dikomo, the President of Cyprus knew this was going to happen, and did nothing to stop it from happening.

And last but by no means least. Since when did an investigation about a tragedy such as this start so immediately? You remember the S300 missiles that never came – was there ever an investigation – NOPE! Remember the Head of the National Guard, the late Evangelos Florakis and the tragic way he died – no investigation!! How about the pilot who went joy riding in the skies over a built up area in Kolossi and met a sad death when his plane crashed into two citizens houses – no investigation!!! And the 8 people who killed themselves when the stock market bubble burst, and all the thousands who lost huge amounts of money – no investigation. And the Helios Flight 522, and the 121 souls who died so tragically – No Prosecution – and still 6 painful years on No Justice!!! And no one was on the streets in any of these cases demanding the head of the president on a plate!

No one is guilty until they have been found guilty, with substantiated evidence and as far as I am concerned every politician in parliament who sat back when all the aforementioned tragedies happened should check their conscience and be honest enough to admit and do something about all the truths that have been hidden amongst all the bitterest lies we have been spoonfed for so long. May be I am askiing for too much, after all we are talking about the place where a crazy minority of 3 percenters organized a coup which led to an invasion by Turkey in 1974, and all the catastrophic consequences that followed, and nobody, to this very day has ever said sorry, not 1 single apology! And nobody to this day, has ever been tried or put on trial. It took governments 37 whole years to conduct an investigation on the ‘Cyprus File’ – ‘O Fakelos Ths Kybrou’, oh and that happened under the Presidency of Dimitris Christofias!!!

Andy by Kikos Lanitis

I will not write any cliché tear jerking stuff
To massage weakened wounded egos
Cos a year on
Is a year on
We all miss you
That’s a fact
But saying all that kind of stuff
Is weak-hearted and selfish…

Justice
Is not just a word
It is an act of truth and rights
And justice
Has not been done
And that bothers many a soul
Who walk on this earth
Knowing that life could be taken
Just like that
Any where
Any time….

I also feel some apologies are due
From all the bandwagonists
Who the minute tragedy struck
Found space to capitalize
With hatred tainted lies
Just for the sake of controlling that bitter painful twisted moment
They should all type their sorrys
On Facebook Walls
With Graffiti lettering
The size of great cliffs
Where waves crash
Blisteringly to a mythical end
Only to bounce back again
To the sea
Their source.

The world is much much poorer without you
Dear friend
One year on
As was then
When vicious bullets took your life
We all still wait
Just like you
For justice to be done…

When Silence Souls Speak
The illusive opposite ends of an argument
Go their separate ways…

Having witnessed several loud media debates on the so-called opposite ends of the spectrum on racism, namely the racists and the anti-racists, I cannot help but wonder where are the people being framed and stigmatized by all the players in these processes. Who represents who has dogged my thinking as an artist, academic and human being for many decades.

I can recall being at school in the late 1960′s and the teacher, a pleasant enough person in general whose name I cannot clearly recall sent me to stand in the corner for 45 minutes. It felt like a life time. I was disciplined as they say in draconian pedagogic methods. My crime – speaking my mind. It was a trivial issue. ‘Zorba The Greek’ had topped many a chart during that decade and our teacher, who was I think Welsh, had decided to teach us the steps. Zorbas or hassaposerviko as I later came to know it as a semi-pro folk dancer during my youth, was a dance I had learnt somehow from birth. But for those 45 minutes, despite knowing the teacher was wrong, it felt like my whole world had ended. One of the most humiliating things for me was being silenced, being told not to speak, not to move, to just freeze still obediently.

What does all this have to do with media debates or lack of on racism in Cyprus? Simple, the issue of who speaks in the media and who doesn’t is as old as charcoal etchings on stone cave walls. In Cyprus, the media, especially TV, Radio and newspapers have a paternalistic approach to audiences and giving every one a voice. Also many times they just manufacture blatant lies. For example it has allegedly been claimed ‘immigrants’ in a neighbourhood in Larnaca – we have never seen or heard them – but that’s the claim – are ‘insisting’ the bells of St Lazarus Church, a very sacred place in Christian Orthodoxy, should not be ringing. No one explains why, the alleged ‘immigrants’ have allegedly posited this, beyond of course the highly contentious myth that they could be muslims!

So there they sat, I do not need to name names. The racist MP and the anti-racist activist. Shouting their heads off at each other, full amplitude, deafening decibels. I know they are worlds apart, so whats the point in watching. The TV presenter loves it, the ratings always soar when an argument is heated. The Radio presenter loves it, the ratings always rocket when an argument sounds like its taking place between enemies in a coffee shop.

Amongst all this you wonder who speaks, who doesn’t and why the media simply don’t represent people with respect for equality and a right to exist as human beings. Have you ever seen an African, Asian or even a European citizen included in any of these debates. The question is obviously rhetorical as we all know the answer is a resounding “NO!”

I also wonder whether the racist MP and anti-racist activist aint got nothing better to do than look like a pair of fake gladiators, like those idjuts in those highly staged WWF TV bouts.

It is a lot more relevant to stick on an old LKJ LP called ‘Forces of Vicktry’ and take heed. The lyrics are just as relevant today as they were in 1979…..

Mihalakis

They gave us all kinds of names
Dished out on playing pitchesAnd over stormy dining tables
They called me many names
I had more nicknames than the years has days
More nick names than the sun has rays
Them call me colour
Call me paki, diego, whop, spik and darkie
Them call me class
Said I should work like my parents
Sweating bucketsLong hard hours present past
Them call me intelligence
Said I was good at Rugby and footie
But my maths and history was dodgy and awkward
Them also call meCulture
Said I was schizophrenic
Trapped in some kind of bi-cultural panicLost in Britain
And not proud of it
Call me colourCall me culture
Call me class
Call me
All kinds of……
Nothing
But them never call me
Mihalakis
By my name
For that
Was all
I Ever
Asked….

(C) 1998

It has been a long time since I played a gig in London. Over 15 years in fact. Since then I moved to Cyprus, finished a PhD, married Marina, the love of my life, and from that bond we have two lovely kids. Finishing the PhD also led me into teaching, which in more ways than one, fulfills me 100%. Music during all this time has never been on the back burner. It remains a serious passion for me. I’ve made a few albums, toured various parts of the world, attended conferences, shared music with people all over and stay engaged with music, despite how it’s changed.

When I started out making music as a solo act in 1990 people made these things called 12″ vinyls. Then CD’s took over and then Mp3′s which have redefined how people share music. As a result of all these changes I guess it would have been wise and easy to say, well thats it, I have done what I have done. But there is more to music for me than just releasing songs for people to buy or download for free.

The main thing that keeps me motivated is the live situation. No matter what happens to how we buy or get the music for free, there will always be the need, the fulfillment in audiences to see, hear and feel music as a live performance. And musicians themselves, will always get that equal buzz factor, doing it in front of audiences, and making a communicative connection – no matter the content, style or sounds. Some people will do it for fame, some for love, and some for peace, but at the end of the day, many of these people will feel that need to carry on and perform.

So while many people, not just in London, may feel Haji Mike hasn’t done nothing since ‘Vraggaman’ I would like to say that I have done many things, in many countries around the world. Why people are still so fascinated by one song is a bit baffling to me. I never expected ‘Vraggaman’ to be what it became, as I have never thought about ‘the lets write a hit formula’.

More than anything, ‘Vraggaman’ and ‘Stavroulla’ before it were done for the fun of it and for the simple right to be able to make something different – something very London, very Cypriot and yet still had a reggae vibe to it, that Jamaican link.
The tunes were done with my late producer friend and mentor, Zacharias ‘Sugar’ Hajishacalli, who sadly passed away in 2007 and while many people equate me with these tunes, I am just half of the reason, Sugar played just as much a role as me in their making. And believe me we did have a lot of fun in the studio making them. But that was only the beginning, which took me from London to Cyprus and back 12 times alone in 1992-93 to do gigs.

As an artist in London I always felt most of the community media, such as LGR and Parikiaki, never really understood me. And since I left I guess they have never bothered to find out if I am still alive or dead. I know that sounds very cynical but it is how I feel. One reason why I left London in fact was that narrow-mindedness which stifles and suffocates creativity and expression. It was surprisingly enough easier for me to be played and respected in Cyprus. For example when I moved over here, Radio Proto offered me two radio shows, I also had a regular column in The Cyprus Mail newspaper, plus was one of a first generation of TV show presenters on SIGMA TV. In doing all these media it became very clear to me that I was far more welcome in Cyprus than London media wise.
And despite all of these achievements in Cyprus, not once have these outlets ever mentioned any of this, let alone approached me for any kind of interview.

Eventually, as much as I liked working in the Cyprus media on a freelance basis I dropped out of TV to focus on my teaching and music. I also much prefer radio and writing blogs these days, and doing music which is dub poetry based with my producer friend Dub Caravan

There have been some very notable exceptions to these community based media exclusionary rules in Britain. Trehantiri Music in Green Lanes Haringey was the first place that ever played my songs to an unsuspecting public, and I will always raise an ‘E-Iva’ glass of wine to The Pattalis Family. Radio wise Mediterranean Mix on Inspiration FM probably has more of my releases than I do. And John Kaponi once hailed that Haji Mike was about to conquer the USA. It was a great headline but that was never my intention

There are also many people in the mainstream British Media who have always been supportive, from the legendary and late John Peel Andy Kershaw and FRoots Magazine to more contemporary radio presenters such as DeeJay Ritu and Dotun Adebayo

I also had the pleasure and honour to work with many people in the world from far and wide. For example:
Lia Vissi , plus Sonic Crime and my good friend’s Mike Minas and Mike Cherry; Standout Selector, my brother from another mother in San Francisco, the classic Greek Rappers Imiskoubria and reggae pioneer Ranking Johnny from THC Records in Greece who recently released my first 7″ vinyl single; my long time production bredren, Tony Muttley Matthew in Londinium; and how could I not mention Don V Louie, Sugar’s brother, who taught me so much about myself vocally; last but by no means least my poet brother from across the barbed wire in Cyprus, Zeki Ali

And I know I have left many people out due to my memory failing me, no offence, its all there on my web page

So I am very much looking forward to playing in London on 31st October and there will be more gigs soon as well. I will also be in Liverpool on December 2nd at Parr Street Studios. And my home town of Nicosia, on 13th November with The Roots Crew Sound System

As you can see from all this, it’s a busy life, at times hectic but I enjoy every moment to the fullest. So for all the people who have supported the works over the decades, I give thanks and praises. For all those who do not, its nothing personal from me, I just wanted to set the record straight. You can continue as ever, misrepresenting Cypriots in the ways you feel best. I will just keep on movin, as the song once said from Soul II Soul…And before I sign off, one very final mention and thanks goes out to Andrew Hubbard Badger for organising The One Cyprus Concert in London on 31st October. It is a real honour to perform along side Neşe Yaşın
People like Andrew keep hope alive in Cyprus, even in these most difficult and pessimistic of times. And if you can;t make the gig, it will be up there as an online stream, live and direct as it happens. Check out ONECYPRUS.

One Love

Haji Mike

“Multiculturalism” is wrong. Well at least according to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. This rather bold stance even out did the popularity of the Chilean Miners release in this week’s news. Surprise surprise, The Daily Telegraph, that bastion of free thoughtless provocative Conservatism thoroughly agreed with the German Chancellor. Nothing new there however. The DT has been staunchly against multiculturalism since the media stone age of litho type set printing presses!

Chancellor Merkel’s rather shocking statement comes as no surprise, not because what is now being uttered is truth but because it is highly questionable. Contemporary policy on cultures, difference and intolerance/tolerance in Germany has been a highly problematic issue. In another way, the statement that “multiculturalism” is wrong also requires some kind of political and historical contextualisation. It is simple, if not inevitable that the media taking such a statement would make it into one of the most controversial sound bytes of the year from any politician. However Merkel, in making such a statement was aiming her critique firmly at what she considers to be a failed approach on the part of previous governments in Germany, largely Social Democrat and Green, who had a different approach to the issue.

Germany had in bygone decades constructed a ‘guest-worker’ system. From 1955 until 1973, over one million guest workers, in German defined as “Gastarbeiter” arrived, mostly from Italy, Spain, Turkey and Greece. The system was just cheap labour from communities and countries where people where forced to migrate due to economics or political persecution in order to fill specific gaps in the German industrial labour market. Many countries emulated this kind of guest worker system. It was seen as an alleged safe way to profit from a cheap labour source but also protect a sense of national identity by making the guest-workers temporary.

But it went terribly wrong because the guest workers had children, and despite efforts by the German state to repatriate specific communities, such as Turkish people in the early 1980′s, settlement, permanence albeit problematic, had begun to happen. Even to this day, many second generation ‘offspring’ of guest-workers are not full German citizens. This issue was viewed as highly contentious by various EU Equality Commissions who view through a succession of directives, guest worker systems as hostile, divisive and exploitative.

Guest worker systems exist in other countries as well, only they are not so blatant. Cyprus has similar utilitarian policies towards 3-country non-EU nationals such as Sri Lankan and Philippinos, who are allowed to live and work for a limited amount of time and only in certain usually domestic jobs.

Many economies use immigrant workforces as a source for systems of hyper exploitation. Specific communities are used as cheap labour to fill roles which indigenous workforces either no longer want to do or have become too expense to hire in or a combination of both.

The biggest problem with any guest worker system is its illusion of temporality. The second generations, who grew up in schools rife with racially fuelled hostility, from peers and teachers, and organised racist groupings across Europe, demanded much more. These children of immigrants, me included demanded not to be called immigrants. Something began to change. Right across the European Union, but at different points in time, and in different contexts, next generations demanded much more rights, equality and respect.

This is the whole generation of people that Chancellor Merkel is trying to address. Where I think Merkel has gone wrong is a shallow understanding of what culture means. This is nothing new as politicians often adopt positions that are populist when in fact people are pulled in so many different directions and yes, culture and identity are complicated lived experience that require much more sensitivity and awareness.

Its easy for example to view this as a clash of two cultures, as some weak hearted sociologists began to declare in the early to mid-1970′s attributing the blame solely on immigrant families and their alleged inability to adapt. But hardly any one of these theorists ever stopped to consider if those hard working, largely super exploited first generations were ever welcomed to adapt or whether they with this incomplete sense of identity that was often quiet conservative, retrospective but never integrational in vision or political inclination.

‘Inglan is a Bitch’ LKJ once declared, with no intent or offence meant to worldly sisterhood. And from the viewpoint of the Caribbean first generation worker, ‘workin pon the undergroun’ in the narrative, this experience was wholly accurate. The poem became an anthem on the Black British working class experience. It resonated with an authenticity never heard before through poetry let alone the mainstream media.

At the same time, politicians like Merkel, Blair, Thatcher, Sarkozy and any one else I forgot to mention have never really understood what a term like multiculturalism can mean. I am not saying they don’t know what they are talking about just that politicians always have a habit of seeing and placing things in such linear ways with the intention of playing on populist sentiments.

At the same time this notion of simplicity is dominant throughout society. The idea that communities based on concepts such as ethnicity and race are always clearly demarcated took shape and form – largely as an extension of the colonial setting and post-colonial contexts. We all believed this hype and somehow started to believe that to be some one you had to be an essentialist at heart.

From my own experiences being Cypriot meant one spoke only Greek had arranged marriages and listened to one type of music blared out repetitiously on a ‘community/private/commercial’ station like London Greek Radio. As a result within each mythical ethnic and racial community across Europe people defined and were defined in many ways against their will. Whereas every day culture, in its lived sense, as a diverse range of factors was much richer, challenging and more than anything aesthetically charged.

The former colonial mind set of divide and rule now found itself moving to inner cities and country suburbs. We differentiated and were differentiated. We were included and excluded, in a societal and community sense. Nationalism, the evil curse that had set us apart and been largely responsible for bringing many people intro conflict became the yard stick for defining multiculturalism.

This is no way is an attack on the concept, as I believe in multiculturalism and try to practice it in teaching and through creative works. But my sense and sensibility is different because to be fully multicultural requires in my mind a rejection of nationalist discourse. That’s where multiculturalism went totally wrong. It became more about dividing people when we should have all been united under one common civil state with equal access for every one. You have your Greek radio station, you have your Turkish one, and this one is the Black station, this one is Asian. And most of these became just as exclusivist as the BBC because they only played music if it fitted often absolutist notions of music. In fact from my experience it was far easier trying to get played on the Beeb by John ‘riP’ Peel or Andy Kershaw than it was on London Greek Radio. In fact it’s the same today. And this should not be taken to mean I am against community based radio stations, far from it, I am for them, but only if they include, unify and reflect diversity.

So when some one says do away with multiculturalism we should be asking what they mean by that? It’s easy stigmatize and blame but much more difficult to substantiate. Merkel’s comments should be analysed in their context. There is a real need to understand them beyond being an exaggerated sound byte. At the same time, trying to gain political capital on this issue is a risky game for the German Chancellor to play. On reflection and as most of us heard it, as a sound byte, Merkel’s statement could have been lifted from any speech by former British PM Margaret Thatcher in the 1980′s. What was it called back then, The New Right! Evidently we are witness to a constructed shift to a greater sense of nationalism and nation complex syndrome. Look no further than the fake re-enacted Tea Parties in the USA. It is easy in this kind of climate to be impressed, to be duped, to be fooled and to go along with this new yet old flowing sense of conservatism, but doing so, without any critique, or depth is way to dangerous and politically naive. Merkel’s sound byte may write history in much the same way when Enoch made that famous ‘rivers of blood’ speech in 1968, even though this was not her intention and even though Powell never actually said the phrase in the firts place. It’s simple to be simple on these issues and tempting to seek populist remedies but identity as a shared, lived experience is far more complicated and challenging, and the need for a more comprehensive understanding is necessary now more than ever.

For many decades I have observed the pseudoscience and insensitiveness of boxing one’s own shadow. What is he talking about today many may wonder? The sun is shining, its Sunday and children are already out there, kicking a ball down the village lane. Twelve year olds in fact who in five or six years time will be out there on some guard post, in some army camp, wasting the most precious months of their lives. As the very wise Chief Seattle once said “All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth.”

It’s shameful to think that today’s children have inherited exactly the same problem as us. In fact, things in more ways than one are much worse in 2010 as far as the rubric-cube-like Cyprus problem is concerned. In this myriad of possibilities, misinterpretations and deliberate distortions, it’s as clear as the fresh Sunday morning air that many politicians have a lot invested in a non-solution. I know, it does sound ironic, after all not one of them would dare say in public, loud and clear for all of us to hear, “I DO NOT WANT A SOLUTION”.

Instead they chose a different more cowardly method. Let it be known at this point that I like most people have my political preferences but I am not in the business of being in parties and following leaders passively. No matter who is in power or in opposition I will always engage in active and constructive criticism. So when various politicians who generally show a rejectionist stance jump up and down and protest when any President tries to take one millimeter forward to a solution they always bring back that image of some one boxing their own shadow.

It is so futile, so pointless. Take the two most contentious issues, property rights and security, of the Cyprus Problem. Whatever is proposed in the negotiations, behind closed doors is so far from any kind of resolution despite decades of talk and dishing out pointless diplomatic triple chat. In many ways it is completely irresponsible to make u-turns and walk away from the negotiating table. It’s also futile because Turkey, the power who has clearly violated property rights and security matters in Cyprus knows every single move, every single detail just by watching daily Greek Cypriot news bulletins or reading newspaper articles online.

Perhaps another aspect worth considering, aside from the futility of rejectionism, is a secondary more disturbing dimension, namely political capital. It sounds good in some people’s minds, even courageous, to walk away and stick to a position that asks for the maximum every time. Not 1 settler in some people’s minds should be allowed to stay in Cyprus and while it sounds great to our ears, making this maximalist demand when negotiations are happening seems so far-fetched that is obvious certain politicians are only saying this to exploit people’s sensitivities.

It is also so easy for various fringe factions to declare through graffiti on walls and empty winded slogans at predictable rallies that Christofias is, in their small-minded words “a traitor” and “an informer”. Some people do this hiding behind such vague notions of democracy and freedom of expression. One wonders whether opposition voices under the previous late President Papadopoulos, ever had the same amount of air time or coverage in the media. Did any one for example, ever see journalist and historian, Makarios Droushiotis on TV?

So when rejectionist politicians fan the flames even more its clear that the intention is to get re-elected, and with an increased majority. The posters, I never know who funds them, are appearing again. The consequences of ‘YES’ and the benefits of ‘NO’. How much more loaded a question and slogan is that. And we have not even reached a stage of possible referendum. How messed up is that???

I apologize for my pessimism, we are far from reaching a solution, and every one, including the UN knows that. There are many reasons for this. Primarily the fakery of Turkish diplomacy is the root cause. How can any one claim to want a solution by the end of the year and yet the flag on the hill is still there, by day and lit up by night, the size of 3 football pitches. At the same time I blame the rejectionists for never wanting to make one step in the right direction. For their lack of vision for a common future, where all Cypriots will be treated as equals, under one state, where human rights are respected to the utmost.

If you believe the children of the future deserve better than to inherit the Cyprus Problem, then actually do something about it. If you do not, then at least tell them the truth from now, so they can make alternative plans. Where is the future for any one in a divided island? Unless of course you want to become tomorrow’s rejectionist politician, peddling myths, exploiting people’s anxieties and remaining resolutely conservative to the bone.

Cyprus 1878

A fanfare of horns have blared out various cacophonous melodies over the last couple of years. This was not so noticable say 10 years ago, but there is a renewed sense of pride in English football, particularly at a national level. Brazilians have Olodum like drums, whole samba schools in the stadium. South African’s their mighty and to many annoying Vuvuzelas, sounding like a trillion wasps buzzing in your ears. And the English have an array of horns, people on brass, who may have even served at some point in the Sally Army blowing familiar melodies, like the national anthem and an old colonialist melody line on ‘rule Britannia Britannia rules the waves’.

Hearing this, as a person who originates from a former British colony, Cyprus, is annoying, particularly as its is 2010 and Britannia does not rule the waves. Whatever happened to The Commonwealth, anti-colonial struggles and yes, Liberation, albeit partial!

So this sense of English pride, manifest in such a backward sounding communicative way, and through such a mass medium, such as TV is far more disturbing than a zillion Vuvuzelas in my ears.

The anachronistic element of the English national side is also nothing new. Since 1966 we/they/us/them have always been looking back to the one time when England won the World Cup. No doubt, to win such a trophy is an act of global sporting achievement but the problem is we are never allowed to forget it. So every time England win three games in a row, as evidenced from the path to South African World Cup qualification, TV commentators, footballers, managers, fans and even politicians somehow think they will win the World Cup again. And if all of a sudden they lose to more skilled opposition, ie the painful lesson taught by Germany in South Africa , the critics emerge and demand the manager’s dismissal. Fabio’s head on a plate by morning please!

Even since their demise in South Africa, England have constructed a false sense of hope, a recovery of sorts, a bit like the Cameron/Clegg alliance suddenly deciding the recession is on the way out when may be they know it’s not. So what happens, four months pass, a couple of easy wins against mediocre opponents and suddenly, a goalless home draw against Montenegro. Yet again the manager is to blame and every one has flashbacks to their most dreadful World Cup game against Algeria, which lets face it was one of the scrapiest games in the entire history of world football.

English football, just like English contemporary history, will only move forward when it cleans out the closet and shakes off some of those phantoms of the past. Until then, it’s a fake sense of glory about still ruling the world football, politics and otherwise.

As a descendent of a former colony, once ruled by England, when the horn players in the stadiums and the commentators outside them, finally realize its nearly 2011 and not 1878, I will be a much happier citizen of the world.

Parking, politicians and the impartial implementation of policy – 3 P’s that come to mind in the place where I live. Nothing personal against any one or party in particular – whether in power/government or out-of-power/opposition. Assuming this is correct, then no political force in Cyprus is powerless. The point is, no matter who is in power, no matter what the government chooses to call itself ideologically and who or where they ally themselves to, the essence of The Banana Republic remains the same.

Before any one jumps on a sanctimonious high horse on the 50 years of Cyprus Independence, this blog has nothing to do with that. I celebrated just like every one else, minus of course the military paraphernalia, which no matter what the excuses, will always remind me of a cold war era.

My concern is more personal. Now every one who has ever dealt with state officials in Cyprus, those worker ants who get paid triple money for working half the hours the rest of us do, will have a story to tell. I will not go into too much detail as there are way too many stories to tell from the time I returned to Cyprus for good in 1994. What interests me is the spirit of The Banana Republic, the etymology of the term and how state employees, not all of them, but some of them, live by the dictum ‘when in Rome, do as the Cypriots’.

Now I am sure such an outspoken concept will get me on more stop lists from state and even private broadcasters, resonating throughout the diasporic network of people and places that dare not utter a word of critique against Republique Bananez, but that’s how it goes, it’s the price of being outspoken, and free minded blogger in cyberspace.

The essence is this. The whole concept of the Banana Republic goes back to Glafcos Clerides, who was bold enough to state it but did not, due to all the Bananoits he had surrounded himself with, and could not do anything about it.

No matter who is in power the surrounding ambiance and corruption of some state employees lives on. In my life in Cyprus I have been asked the most ridiculous things by a plethora of state employees, such as:

‘Please bring your primary school reports’ to prove my identity during military service.
‘I am sorry sir, you will have to go back and bring your first passport’ to prove my clapped out old Citroen car was mine – I had to make 14 visits to the said office.

And more ridiculous than anything I ever experienced, I have also been asked to produce receipts for money I have not spent to reclaim a smaller sum of money that I did spend. Work that one out.

So I could have played along with this and lived by the dictum of when in ‘Rome do as the Cypriots’, which seems to be what every one else does, accepting the corruption and mediocrity. But I chose not to as that would make me just as bad as the rest.

Finally, I am not an ageing anarchist who never votes in elections and none of this has to do with who is President and who is not. It’s just a series of observations, from a variety of lived experiences that have made me question the existence of a huge state mechanism, which truth be told, keeps expanding every time there is an election.

So raise your glasses of zivana ladies and gents to the spirit and practice of The Republic Bananezik…Long may we all resist the temptations of getting a state employment position….E – iva!!!