Cyprus-Forum.com

[wyoming cowboy]

These are complex times... I want to ask a question to everyone about something that lies at the heart of my psychosis...

We all know that identity politics run deep in Cyprus...

I would like those posting to meditate on the difference between "racism", "xenophobia" and "banter" which I loosely define as follows:

"racism" is ........".

The discrimination and hostility against other people just because they happen to be different in any way whatsoever (ethnicity, religion, color, beliefs etc).

For instance, the slanderous and biased attacks of the neo Cypriots of This forum against all Greeks without exception and all Greek Cypriots who feel Greek is a typical expression of racism.

For instance, the slanderous and biased attacks of the neo Cypriots of This forum against all Greeks without exception and all Greek Cypriots who feel Greek is a typical expression of racism.

What do you mean "all Greek cypriots who feel Greek is a typical expression of racism"

Clearly. I mean it is racist to be attacked just for being a Greek or a Greek Cypriot who defends his Greeknesss and rejects his descent from some Choirokoitia pig sty.

Maybe, i think it depends on who the accusation comes from.....if its a fellow confused Greek cyp, it wouldnt be viewed by me as racist, if a Brit or Turk said things like that, then it has different meaning and can be viewed as racism.

[repulsewarrior]

...aren't Germans a race? and if so, what are Greeks and Turks? can they all be classified as whites?

Racism is qualified by the sense of superiority the offending person expesses and/or believes; moreso if they exclude others by their acts.

Greeks, Turks, and Germans, as well as Whites are not racist; generalising that they are, is Racist.

...can all racists be qualified as xenphobes, but is the inverse just as true?

...Eroglu and Erdogan are not Turks, they are only "Turks"; is this banter?

[tsukoui]

Thank you Repulse Warrior...

No one seems willing to run with my definition of racism... to my mind this is just further evidence of the "Whitening" of Cyprus... Cypriots are not "White"... to say so associates us with the maintenance of the existing power structure that we had nothing to do with creating and indeed suffered and continue to suffer at the hands of... the reason I put "White" in quotes is to differentiate it from light skin... obviously there are people with very low melanin counts and I don't want to generalise about them... are the Russians "White" for example?... I would argue no, but Cypriots have a much stronger claim to be "non-White" owing to our colonisation by the British... in fact we are still a member of the Afro-Asian Peoples' Liberation Organisation... a couple of examples to illustrate the point... I overheard a young man from Scotland recounting how he lived in a predominantly Turkish area of London for a while and was the only "White" person there... are Turks darker than Cypriots?... and again a Cypriot friend of mine was discussing "race" with an African guy who told him that "Cypriots weren't White" but that he was "a closet racist" for defending the innovations of Western Civilisation... to my mind Cypriots should stop and think about what it means to be "non-White" and stop allowing themselves to be absorbed into what is fundamentally a racist category...

[supporttheunderdog]

These are complex times... I want to ask a question to everyone about something that lies at the heart of my psychosis...

We all know that identity politics run deep in Cyprus...

I would like those posting to meditate on the difference between "racism", "xenophobia" and "banter" which I loosely define as follows:

"racism" is ........".

The discrimination and hostility against other people just because they happen to be different in any way whatsoever (ethnicity, religion, color, beliefs etc).

For instance, the slanderous and biased attacks of the neo Cypriots of This forum against all Greeks without exception and all Greek Cypriots who feel Greek is a typical expression of racism.

For instance, the slanderous and biased attacks of the neo Cypriots of This forum against all Greeks without exception and all Greek Cypriots who feel Greek is a typical expression of racism.

What do you mean "all Greek cypriots who feel Greek is a typical expression of racism"

Clearly. I mean it is racist to be attacked just for being a Greek or a Greek Cypriot who defends his Greeknesss and rejects his descent from some Choirokoitia pig sty.

there you go, demeaning those who are probably your own ancestors .... that or the Hellenism in Cyprus was imposed through a serious racist crime involving ethnic cleansing and/or supression of the indigeonous culture.

[tsukoui]

Further to my attempts to separate "xenophobia" from imported "racism" in Cyprus, the following article from the Telegraph...

"Black people cannot be racist, says former Ken Livingstone aide"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9221047/Black-people-cannot-be-racist-says-former-Ken-Livingstone-aide.html

[kurupetos]

Thank you Repulse Warrior...

No one seems willing to run with my definition of racism... to my mind this is just further evidence of the "Whitening" of Cyprus... Cypriots are not "White"... to say so associates us with the maintenance of the existing power structure that we had nothing to do with creating and indeed suffered and continue to suffer at the hands of... the reason I put "White" in quotes is to differentiate it from light skin... obviously there are people with very low melanin counts and I don't want to generalise about them... are the Russians "White" for example?... I would argue no, but Cypriots have a much stronger claim to be "non-White" owing to our colonisation by the British... in fact we are still a member of the Afro-Asian Peoples' Liberation Organisation... a couple of examples to illustrate the point... I overheard a young man from Scotland recounting how he lived in a predominantly Turkish area of London for a while and was the only "White" person there... are Turks darker than Cypriots?... and again a Cypriot friend of mine was discussing "race" with an African guy who told him that "Cypriots weren't White" but that he was "a closet racist" for defending the innovations of Western Civilisation... to my mind Cypriots should stop and think about what it means to be "non-White" and stop allowing themselves to be absorbed into what is fundamentally a racist category...

IMO racism is the need to categorise people into races. Everyone that does that is a filthy racist.

People should be categorised in terms of vices and virtues.

It seems the African guy, you mentioned above, is indeed a filthy racist.

[tsukoui]

IMO racism is the need to categorise people into races. Everyone that does that is a filthy racist.

People should be categorised in terms of vices and virtues.

I agree... but the problem is we are already categorised into "races"... how do we destroy these categories... this is why I prefer to say as a Cypriot I am "not White" as opposed to "Olive"... I want to destroy "race" not create a new one!

[kurupetos]

IMO racism is the need to categorise people into races. Everyone that does that is a filthy racist.

People should be categorised in terms of vices and virtues.

I agree... but the problem is we are already categorised into "races"... how do we destroy these categories... this is why I prefer to say as a Cypriot I am "not White" as opposed to "Olive"... I want to destroy "race" not create a new one!

Just say Cypriot.

[repulsewarrior]

...human race, stay warm.

...as for identity, you can be a true servant, or plunder; this has nothing to do with the distinctions we have when we divide this whole as an ethnosphere.

...we as humans can see the real value in diversity and seek to sustain this wealth, or we ignore the joys each of us offer which are unique with hatred.

...the banter is funny when we all learn; this is truth.

[supporttheunderdog]

Further to my attempts to separate "xenophobia" from imported "racism" in Cyprus, the following article from the Telegraph...

"Black people cannot be racist, says former Ken Livingstone aide"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9221047/Black-people-cannot-be-racist-says-former-Ken-Livingstone-aide.html

Seeing what happened in Rwanda , the Nigerian Civil war, etc, what planet does the advisor live on?