Defending the indefensible

We all know the importance diaspora communities hold in lobbying governments and promoting the ‘old country’, but sometimes the diaspora can drift apart from the needs of the ‘old country.’ Rather than bringing to attention the human rights violations of their countries or origin, diaspora Turks, Cypriots, and Greeks youth allow them to slip. Shaped by postwar indoctrination, some diaspora communities, particularly the youth try to bend over backwards trying to defend past injustices, no matter how indefensible they may appear. While neutral or apathetic diaspora youth simply abandon their community politics all together, at the same time free thought is being discouraged or limited in the community by reminding free thinkers to steer away from the ultimate insult, treachery.

A rather simple example is an event I witnessed recently, where a diaspora adolescent of no more than 21 argued with his father. When discussing the Kurdish issue in Turkey, the father who is a Cypriot became impassioned taking on questions by his son while trying to act as the best lawyer for neighbouring Turkey. But then his son, who was not terribly interested in politics, raised a very good but innocent question that challenged the status quo.

“Ok dad, well if you’re saying its ok for us two hundred thousand Turkish Cypriots to break away and form our own state, then why is you against Kurds demanding greater cultural rights?” The father became and I will not tell you what he said. – The discussion ended with the father looking worn out. Forewarning his son of the dangers of following the tracks of ‘traitors’ who forgot “Turkey saved them,” the gentleman unwillingly highlighted a rather anachronistic and crystal cut definition of patriotism and treachery, gratitude vs ingratitude, while believing he himself was acting as a ‘good patriot.’

"Die Gedanken sind frei"

Yet many diaspora communities accept what is thrown at them and try inanely to justify it. Some may point to education, upbringing and a repeated cycle of indoctrintion  as underlying reasons. But living in Britain, a country, where it is not ‘unpatriotic’ and quite acceptable to challenge, ask questions and obtain information , they are better placed than most to understand issues affecting the ‘old country’ from an objective view, which if applied positively could encourage open debate in their family’s country of origin. The short-lived father-son debate above brought to my mind a Swiss song "Die Gedanken sind frei" ("Thoughts are free") by lyricist and composer Ferdinand Freiligrath in Lieder der Brienzer Mädchen (1810).

Labelling

With efforts to make banal vague notions of “patriotism” and “treachery” labels are often used to scare those who deviate from official thinking, triggering such questions as: At what point does one drift from being a true patriot into becoming a despised traitor? Immature, a witch hunt of members of our community who are deemed ‘traitors’ under such vague labelling or the tarnishing of our ‘enemies’ is keeping the diaspora community away from proper dialogue and debate, which every society and even community needs making them ill-prepared for wider debate and politics in their adopted country.

However, encouraging free thought that would not be regarded by others as ammunition for enemies is harder to achieve than one believes, as many staunch nationalists too operate from multi-cultural London leading campaigns of hate while using tools and freedoms afforded to them by Britain. London-born and raised Greek, Turkish, Kurdish and Armenian groups many of whom have seldom visited these countries are responsible for regularly pounding the internet with their xenophobic rhetoric. These I have seen on petitions, internet forums, chat rooms and message boards, in fact one American Armenian rock band SOAD are famous for their Turcophobic song “Holy Mountain,” which is highly offensive towards Turkish people.

Assimilation as escape strategy

Creating  heads of steam in the community with regard to issues of ‘their own’ politics, community leaders who brag on about the successes of Alexander the Great, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and the Dashnaks are not winning the minds of the diaspora youth, but are boring them into assimilation. Community leaders and parents alike must encourage honest debate and not expect their youth to accept pre-approved ideas without challenging them, they have to remember as long as they reside in Britain they are living in an open society. The danger is, left unchallenged, attitudes of “us” versus the “enemy,” which reflect a different world order and are shaped by vague notions of patriotism, will affect inter-community relations even in suburbs of the adopted country.