Note 2: From a parent's diary to the aftermath of capitalism

After the pogrom that took place in Chloraka in August 2023 and the announcement of the march by far-right groups on the Limassol pier, we decided to go as a family so that we could at least watch the march with other people in case it developed like the one in Chloraka. 

Around 7.30, A.K.*'s father and friends@ went to the pier, from where they started sending continuous updates to us who were waiting in a friend's yard. A.K. was trying to figure out what was going on and why we were all talking with such concern. Around 8 or so, we got a call to say that nothing serious was going on and they were going to start coming towards us. 

*And that’s where the shit hit the fan*

In the midst of the wait we realised that our concerns had proved to be well-founded. Videos on the media and in online newspaper portals showed the fascists attacking migrants and their shops, and the police unable ( or rather unwilling) to intervene. A.K., who was following the conversations, and refusing to go to bed, kept asking when daddy was coming and worrying that something bad would happen to him too.  

Suddenly he asks me, "Mamma, who are the fascists? 

I've always tried to have a conversation with her and answer any questions she had, but with this question I was stumped. 

I started trying to explain: 

There are those who don't want those who are not Cypriots / who want our neighbours, Bilal and Aline, to leave Cyprus etc. I don't think it would follow. 

At one point I said to her, 

• Fascists are the bad people. Remember when we said there are no bad kids? 

• Yes.
• Some people as they get older can become bad. 

The next morning we went to the pier. Seeing the broken windows etc. he asked if this was what the fascists did. I told her yes, but we have to show the immigrants that we are with them and that we will not let the fascists hit them again. 

In the afternoon at the protest against the fascist pogroms, we had the baby antifa block. AK felt weird with all the roboCops around. 

• Mamma, why are there cops? 
• They're just doing their job, they're told to go to the protests.

Obviously it is difficult to explain to a four-year-old the state repression, how the state constructs the enemy and fear... 

• Is it to keep the fascists out? 

*Silence*

The weeks that followed were not the easiest. About a month later he was asking me why some people were knocking around the hospital. 

• Is it the fascists, Mamma? 
• Yes, darling. But these are other fascists. They are not in Cyprus. 

I slowly realized that sometimes it's better to turn down the radio. November was even harder, as AK started refusing to go to school for the first time. For two weeks, and until her teacher managed to gain her trust, we had dramas every morning at school, with A.K. refusing to be separated from me or her dad. I think at least one of the reasons was the perception she gained that there are bad people in the world, ready to beat up immigrants, ready to attack hospitals. In the mind of a four year old who has not been taught to discriminate on the basis of color, ethnicity and religion, the slogan "when they came for the others, you didn't speak" doesn't exist, since the others are all of us, and our turn came when it was everyone else's turn. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) 

When I discussed it with a friend, he said "that's what you get when you want to raise children with empathy". 

I don't know, obviously, whether honesty at this age is the right or wrong thing to do. I'm not sure if there is a right and wrong. 

*AC is the nickname given to her by her foster grandfather. It comes from the anziocampaign (taken from the angels).