Photojournalist Anna Panelia shares her reporting diaries from her latest project. See more on her website.
Xenophobia and racism in Greece are not only dominating the traditional media forms but also their modern substitutes, such as social media where they are one of the most discussed issues.
Fascist gangs are exploiting the shortcomings of the police and are trying to fill in the void, triggering, in the process, an unprecedented spate of violence.
But this has earned them many supporters and also explains how Golden Dawn was democratically elected to parliament .
Attacks against immigrants, sometimes fatal, have become almost a daily occurrence.
In Athens, immigrants are everywhere. The newcomers, the Syrians, have settled mainly near Neos Kosmos. They live in the same buildings where Greek refugees found shelter after the Asia Minor Disaster of 1922 in modern day Turkey.
The building doors and windows have either been broken or burnt in attacks mounted by Golden Dawn supporters.
“I am fed up of eating pasta and rice everyday. I would like to give fresh fruit to my children but I cannot afford it,” a Syrian mother told me.
I turned around and saw, through the half closed door, a young man sleeping on the floor, covered with a blanket.
Later, I met Mohammad from Palestine; he was a biology student before he came to Greece as a refugee. However, he was more fortunate. A few months later, he messaged me from the Netherlands. He made it.
Forhat would be jealous of him. I met Forhat about 200 Km west of Athens, in Patras. He came from Algeria to find a better future in Europe.
One of the first things I noticed on him was the massive scar on his neck which, as he explained, kept him in hospital for over 6 months.
That was the welcome Greece had in store for him. Forhat, just like the other 40-50 refugees and immigrants, is currently living at the abandoned factories of Peiraiki Patraiki, watching the boats sailing to Italy, one after the other.
They all have different stories, different pasts and, perhaps, different futures, yet one thing they have in common is their goal: to sneak onto a boat and go to Italy, in order to live the so-called “European Dream”.