Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
for asylum requests, and draws international criticism for its immigrant and asylum
policies and procedures.
Economic decline, concerns about immigrant crime and urban degradation have
fuelled xenophobia and extremism, sparking anti-immigrant rallies, growing hostility and
vigilante attacks on African and Asian immigrants, particularly in downtown Athens,
where foreigners occupy abandoned buildings, town squares and parks.
Return to the Land
A trickle of ideologically driven city-dwellers had begun moving back to the land well
before Greece's economic woes. Now, the country's once-shrinking villages are welcom-
ing a new wave of nouveau-poor Greeks. Families of out-of-work professionals and
tradesmen are returning to ancestral homes where they can live rent-free, grow their own
vegetables or start farming ventures on family plots of land. An increase in agricultural
employment is one of the by-products of the times, going back to Greece's traditional
strength and way of life (though agriculture now accounts for only 3.8 percent of GDP).
New arrivals, especially educated young women, may face a culture shock, as life has
stayed more traditional in regional Greece.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search