SCHOOL SURVEY FINDS HIGH LEVELS OF RACISM (Cyprus)
3/3/2005- Eight out of ten students at a Nicosia high school say they wouldn’t marry a non-Christian. Responding to a survey carried out at the Koutsofta-Panagides Lyceum in Nicosia, only 8.3 per cent replied that they would do so. The students also said they would prefer to marry a Briton or a Russian rather than a Filipino. The survey, titled ‘Racism and Xenophobia’, claims 50 per cent of the student population have racist views, with 14 per cent admitting to being racist. Most students questioned said their preference was to marry a Cypriot and when asked if they would consider hiring a foreign worker, the average student replied that they would not do so. The average student also believes that the Greek race and orthodox religion are the best in the world.  Seventy per cent would oppose the building of a mosque or Buddhist temple in their neighbourhood. Discussions between the students, which took place at the school after the survey, came up with the idea of introducing anti-racism programmes into the curriculum.  These could take the form of debates, conferences and events, such as meeting people from a variety of different backgrounds. Students also said the government should implement an assimilation programme for foreign nationals living in Cyprus. This should be done with the co-operation of the church, education system, media and families.  Christina Loizou of the Cyprus Sociological Association yesterday told the Cyprus Mail that “scientific research should be conducted to cross-check the findings of the survey”. She said that “in my opinion, Cyprus has a problem with racism and xenophobia. We don’t have any research on this so we can’t compare countries”. Nicos Peristianis, President of the Sociological Association, believes many of today’s attitudes can be traced back to early childhood.  “In Cyprus, the orthodox religion is what you are born into – you do not have a choice. It’s part of your environment and is something you identify with. Cypriots consider the presence of other religions and races as violating their society, with the presence of foreigners seen as threatening. “Cyprus is an inward-looking society and for the people, the world is the Greek Cypriot community”. Peristianis suggested the problem could possibly be one of unfamiliarity.  “Most Cypriots, up to now, have not been exposed to other nationalities, except to Turkish Cypriots, where there is a bad recent history. Our community is definitely not multicultural in the sense of not having experienced and lived with different cultures”.
©Cyprus Mail  http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/