THE WAY THINGS ARE

Once, when this question was asked, it was out of interest and the person being asked need not take fear it actually translating into ‘You don’t belong/come from here, do you?’

I have a dear Scottish friend whose half Cypriot children spent their early years in Cyprus but have lived in Scotland most of their lives and speak with a Scots accent like their mother. Both are brown-eyed and dark-haired but would not stand out in a crowd of everyday Brits. Her daughter has been asked ‘Where do you come from?’ the kind of indicated separateness often implied by those who see themselves as pure natives, perhaps upon hearing a ‘foreign’ surname.

In Cyprus, London Cypriots (Charlies) too, with their English-tinged accents and a Greeklishof their own accentuating that apartness, are regarded as different. I mentioned before an old neighbour who, when Andreas and I were in Ireland on holiday with our toddler, commenting ‘He’s very dark, isn’t he?’ He’s not. If she hadn’t known his dad was Cypriot, would she have said that?

I know Irish people who look ‘dark’, like handsome, Irish actor Colin Farrell, who could easily be taken for a man from the Med only everyone knows he’s Irish. Hitler, who lauded the blond-blue-eyed element in racial superiority, didn’t fit that description.

My generation of Irish are pretty similar to Cypriots of the same age. Both comfortable striking up a chat with strangers and exchanging details of their lives, children, work, medical conditions/operations. I have been mistaken for Icelandic, Dutch, Russian and German.

When I say ‘I’m Irish.’ It’s usually met with a smile perhaps because with Cypriots we had the same former, common enemy, with others, ‘The Irish don’t make war on anybody.’ (The IRA might have argued with that.) Generally, we are seen as harmless heavy drinkers who get silly when inebriated not violent or aggressive.

However, the weight of immigration in the Green Isle in recent years has seen a racist element become very physically and vocally active, as it has on this island. A nation that saw so many of her own famine-stricken people migrate abroad hear, as Cyprus does from some revved-up locals, ‘Ahh but ours went to work not live off the state.’

The racist Irish have conveniently inserted a nobility to emigration, ignoring the fact that dogs, niggers and Irish – listed that way – weren’t viewed as an answer to some needy employer’s prayer, they were used and abused as foreigners are the world over in menial jobs. The delivery lads riding around this island in all weathers at all hours are not waiting for handouts, yet they get racist goading, beatings and robbed.

My respected colleague, Theo Panayides, wrote a profile on talented, Syrian migrant Aziz Altaany who came to Cyprus and made a successful life by hard work and capability. Other Syrians I know don’t ask for handouts, they found a niche, learned Greek, worked hard and established themselves.

It’s difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff when migrants arrive in droves, especially when they are young men rather than family groups. Racists lump everyone under the same category – not us! Who are we, though? The human species has common ancestry. Where do we come from?

All over, and we’ve been mixing and matching forever, our bloodlines shared with diverse races. Humans have been travelling practically since we stood upright. Look at the myriad races that invaded Cyprus.

Ancient tribes fought or integrated, impregnated slaves, settled, intermarried with natives. Racial purity doesn’t exist, except as a notion of false superiority. If those who imagine they are pure natives took a DNA test they might be shocked by the result. Cypriots and Syrians are often fair and light-eyed, and the idea persists that Irish are predominantly red-headed, not true.

Mixed matches will continue, it’s human nature. Re-release Dusty Springfield’s Melting Pot, it might remind some that the mixing of bloodlines is a good thing. Accept our DNA veggie soup, enjoy the variety, it’s healthy.