Elections 2019 : “You have the right not to vote”

The main purpose of our newspaper is to help victims of injustice and social exclusion to help themselves. This is what concerns us and what we fight for on a daily basis. The focal point of our activities and our interests are young children and teenagers who are denied basic human rights such as security, shelter, freedom of speech and a broad access to opportunities for work and education.

We are growing up, however.  We are no longer children.  There are very few opportunities available to us as adults, and any state help stops as soon as you reach 18. What do we do next? How will we manage? It’s the weekend of the local and Euro elections. We are not allowed to vote in our country or city of residence, so how can our voices be heard? Will you do something for us if you get elected? We simply want action and some kind of socialisation process, so that we can rebuild our lives here.

Our newspaper is growing with us. We had our second birthday in April and in this 13th issue of “Migratory Birds”, the one you are reading right now, we focus on the elections and on the decisions you will make (or not) for us, without actually asking us.

We, on the other hand, have a lot of questions, which is why we asked 6 candidates for the European parliament about Europe and its values, the meaning of democracy and equality, the war in the Middle East, and our integration into Greek society. We also invited the candidates for Mayor of Athens to an open discussion about the future of the city and our role in it. Ihtisham’s article describes what it is like to live without money, while Mahdia talks about the mental health of refugees. Omar from Iraq relates the 24 hours that changed his life, and Hamide from Afghanistan highlights the racist attacks by Golden Dawn that cast a shadow over Athens.  Finally, Mo reminds us that we are one.  Happy reading!

*This article has been published in issue #13 of “Migratory Birds” newspaper, which was released as an annex with “Efimerida ton Syntakton” newspaper (Newspaper of the Editors) on May 25^th 2019.