Antonis Angastiniotis
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Antonis "Tony" Angastiniotis (born in Aberdeen, Scotland, 9 September, 1966) is a human rights activist, documentary maker, journalist and author.
He is renowned for questioning Greek Cypriot nationalism in his written works and in his documentaries, "Voice of Blood" and "Voice of Blood 2: Searching for Selden". The documentaries drew attention to the massacres carried out by the Greek Cypriots against the Turkish Cypriots... Tony is a member of the Greek Cypriot community.
His Book “Trapped in the Green Line” explains the reason of making Voice of Blood and the necessity of reconciliation through acknowledgment and forgiveness. Through his speeches and articles Tony has equally criticized both communities for the atrocities of the past and calls the communities to apologize.
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"The same people who then accused the Greek establishment of not being democratic enough to show my documentary in the South they themselves are now doing the same thing in the North against the broadcasting of Panicos’s film. This shows the extent of hypocrisy and fear that dominates in our hearts. Only cowards avoid looking into their past mistakes. I was never one of them and I will not become one of them. Our problem on this island is that we allow a few chauvinists to tell the majority how to behave, what to say, what film they must make, what poem they must write, what flag we must draw on our mountain. By remaining silent we assume the role of the traitor while they lay claim on the role of the patriot."
- Tony's interview in Afrika Newspaper 20/05/2007
His work includes the promotion of awareness about the Genocide of 50,000 native children murdered in the Residential schools of Canada. And supports the work of Kevin Annett (Eagle Strong Voice) and the Truth Commission into Genocide in Canada.
Night Eagle
Tony’s spiritual beliefs are rooted in the Cherokee spiritual ways known as the White Path. In October 2007 he was appointed as a Clan Chief by the Elders of United Cherokee Nation. His native name, Night Eagle, was given to him by Elder Morning Star of the Cree nation.
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[edit] Tony's Views on Peace
- Seizing the moment - Afrika 04/11/06
It’s as obvious as it can get, “Peace will not be given to us, and we must rise and take it by ourselves”.
- Sener Levent Chief Editor of Afrike newspaper. Published Afrika Politis 28/09/2007
If you remove the signature from Tony’s articles you won’t realize that he is a Greek Cypriot. I measure myself the same way. When they read my articles they shouldn’t figure out whether they are written by a Turk or a Greek. I am not considered a true believer of peace if I do not accomplish this. I am not serving peace if I don’t succeed in this. I believe that for the world to acquire humanitarian values, it must firstly overcome nationalism. It should walk in the streets of life with flowers and songs and not with marches and flag.
[edit] His Peace Thoughts on the Cyprus issue
- Interview to Afrika newspaper 20/05/2007
I go to many seminars and NGO meetings where people talk about peace. I enter empty I leave emptier. Peace is not a theory you can achieve on paper. Peace comes through action. Peace will not be handed to us on a plater; we must get out and take it. The UN has spent millions of dollars in this island for people to do research and, believe me, if you don’t have a Masters degree in Lexicography you will not understand even half of what is reported there. Peace doesn’t happen in seminars. We must find a language and a feeling that ordinary people understand and identify with – the rest is a luxurious utopia for the “enlightened” few.
- Seizing the moment - Afrika 04/11/06
Peace, dear politicians, is not an agreement made on a piece of paper, it is a culture we must develop in our youth and before this can happen we must build it within our selves... ...Before we can rebel against the system we must rebel against our selves, against our personalities, against our beliefs, against our misery, against our slavishness against our political fundamentalism. We must take off the mask to see the scars on our faces. Most of all, we must empty our minds from our prejudices...
...We are obliged to ask ourselves what kinds of seeds we are planning today in our societies. What we sow today is what our children will reap tomorrow. Are we planting wheat or tares? Probably both, but if we don’t uproot the tares from there birth it will strangle the wheat and the fields will become desolated. We the Cypriot citizens must move from apathy to action. We must stop being spectators and become partakers of the peace process and change the negative environment that a few are trying to impose on the whole. We must take responsibility for our country by seizing the moment!
[edit] The opening of the mass graves
- Playing Peace - Afrika 09/07/07
Changes will start happening when we supersede our true shame and our all too obvious cowardice. Change will come when we stop playing peace and give to the bones of the missing voice and justice. In becoming their voice we can find also the voice of reconciliation. No movement exists without both the dead and the living in its ranks, a movement where victims and victimizers jointly undertake their historical responsibility.
- Back to Palekithro (Balikesir)- Afrika - Politis 11/06/07
Is there any difference in the blood that ran from the veins of Selden in the Aloa (Atlilar) and that of Giorgos that "was lost" in the Palekithro? Is there any difference in the pain that Ali Faik experienced and the pain that Petros experienced? Do you see any difference in the chauvinistic characteristics of the murderers? Do you recognize any difference in the quality of the two leaderships that never prosecuted the murderers and have never given an official apology for all the evil that happened in this island? Don’t you wonder how these leaders speak to us about peace and reunification while they do not dare – they deny! – to offer a simple apology to the people? There is a big difference between returning the bones to the relatives mutely, from returning them with an apology and recognizing the responsibilities of your community to that crime. Except if the peace you are pursuing is fictitious.
- A tour in Palekithro (Balikesir)- Afrika 19/02/07
Brothers you see, it is not only Maratha and Tohni that cries for her children. This village, which once was mixed, where Mustafa with Andreas would share their bread and sweat, was flooded in blood. Some will identify it as Greek or Turkish blood. I call it human blood. The blood of Selden does not differ from the blood of Maria. We should weep for both of them together, for otherwise we may end up unable to identify humanity in ourselves. We may end up having to search through dictionaries in order to understand the full meaning of the word “teardrop”.
- Bulldozers with silencers - Afrika 28/09/06 POLITIS 04/09/06
It’s amazing how both sides were so sure they could avoid the embarrassment and went on building roads and in some cases houses over mass graves trying to seal the truth deep under the earth. Even now that the graves are being opened, they are doing all they can to keep the bulldozers on silencers. “Let’s dig the bones out, but let’s not talk about it”. Unfortunately for all of you who are playing politics in this country, the blood of the dead is not voiceless. You can build roads and strongholds over them but they will always find a writer, a filmmaker, a journalist, a human being that will give them a passageway into our world.
[edit] Tony on Greek and Turkish Chauvinism
- Interview to Afrika newspaper 20/05/2007
I look at the past because I see an open wound that needs to be healed. There are no shortcuts to peace, all issues must be addressed. If people are to focus on the future then we must first deal with the past. Why is the past important? Because it’s this past that the nationalists are using or misusing all the time to tell us we cannot live together. Greek nationalists will point to the past and say, “Look what the Turks have done” and Turkish nationalists will say, “Look what the Greeks have done”. When nationalists look in the past they are not lying but they are not saying the whole truth either. They conceal that part of the truth that is inconvenient to them. Crimes where committed but not from the whole community but from chauvinists of each community. Up to now it has been the chauvinists who pointed to the past but not for a good reason. If we deal with the past by admitting the truth of our history and acknowledge our mistakes with a sincere remorseful spirit then nobody will be able to misuse the past. Politicians love shortcuts, but they don’t realise that even if you achieve some or even all of your goals, hatred will still linger around and may one day lead again to conflict. Talat may gain recognition and the Greeks may have already joined the European Union, but will this bring the end to hatred? No. It may bring some financial benefits but you will still have a neighbour that hates you. No matter how nice and tall the building if it does not have good foundations it will collapse....
It makes you wonder what some people think about war. On both sides woman were raped and innocent people died. If you cannot face these realities because they don’t serve your political purposes, how on earth can you claim a place amongst humanity? Not all Turkish soldiers raped, not all the Greek soldiers raped, but on both sides people did commit crimes. People like Panicos and myself never intended to blame the communities as a whole for these crimes. We wanted to make our communities aware of these realities. We are not seeking to blame we are seeking peace and reconciliation and this can only happen through acknowledging first the crimes committed by our “own” side. To accuse the “other” side is the easiest thing in the world...
The same people who then accused the Greek establishment of not being democratic enough to show my documentary in the South they themselves are now doing the same thing in the North against the broadcasting of Panicos’s film. This shows the extent of hypocrisy and fear that dominates in our hearts. Only cowards avoid looking into their past mistakes. I was never one of them and I will not become one of them. Our problem on this island is that we allow a few chauvinists to tell the majority how to behave, what to say, what film they must make, what poem they must write, what flag we must draw on our mountain. By remaining silent we assume the role of the traitor while they lay claim on the role of the patriot...
[edit] The Anan Plan
- Interview to Afrika newspaper 20/05/2007
I wrote a few articles about the Anan plan. I supported the Anan plan for two reasons. Firstly because I knew that any other plan on the table would not be much deferent than the Anan plan and secondly because I didn’t believe we could have another chance again soon. Was the Anan plan perfect? No. But even the worse plan can work if there is good will. The referendum should have been canceled and also the accession of Cyprus Republic in EU so both communities would feel the pressure to negotiate more and come to a final agreement. But this is history. “If” cannot change the past. If the international community was really interested to solve the problem, they would have stopped the referendum when it became obvious it was not going to bring a positive result. Where they interested in us? I don’t think so. Turkey was always the issue. Samuel Beckett must have studied the Cyprus problem before he wrote “Waiting for Godot”. We are asking the Americans and EU to make plans for us so we can reject them afterwards and blame them for being unfair. It’s a good way not to solve it. We are pretending that we are waiting for Godot but even our waiting is not genuine
- If I could travel in time - Afrika 06/11/06
The Anan Plan gave us one chance in history and we didn’t take advantage of it. I am not talking about the chance to reunite but the chance for once in history to agree on something. It was not the “Yes” or “No” vote that mattered as the failure to agree... ...By not agreeing we allowed the competition of the leaders to continue with accusations and blames about the referendum, plus the agendas changed from solution and reunification to ports and embargoes...
...Imagine that in the entire Anan plan we had only a few points of disagreement which we could have sat down for a few more weeks and negotiate. Instead we chose the division, but this time not only between the communities but also amongst ourselves.
[edit] Truth Commission into Genocide in Canada
[edit] Silence makes us accomplices
- Article in Afrika 30/07/07
Since 1884 and until 1984 Residential Schools were established in Canada for Indian children. These schools were run by the Catholic, Anglican and the United Church of Canada. Enrollment to these schools was obligatory. The federal police of Canada (RCMP) made regular swoops in Indian settlements, abducting by force all children found and transported them to these “prison” schools. The aim of these priests, missionaries and nuns responsible for running these schools was common with that of the Canadian government: “to kill the Indianness in the Indian”. This was also the main reason why it was strictly prohibited for native children to speak their Indian languages in these schools.
The “Truth Committee into Genocide in Canada”, headed by Kevin Annett, estimates that around 50 thousand children have died in these Residential Schools, buried in mass graves located around these schools. Testimonies from survivors, recorded also in the documentary “Unrepentant”, speak of unimaginable tortures. Children were killed by hanging, poisoning, starvation, electric shocks and medical experiments. Sexual abuse was the order of the day for both girls and boys. Unexpected pregnancies were often a further reason for punishment by death, not only for the infants but also for the young mothers.
Although these Residential Schools were shut down in 1984, many children from the Indian settlements are dragged daily into pedophilia rings. In 1994 two lawyers in Canada, Renate Auger and Jack Cram, managed to gather strong evidence that proved the involvement of judges, lawyers, police officers and people from the high society in a pedophilia ring. The victims were small children from the Indian settlements. In trying to file charges Jack was arrested and locked in a psychiatric clinic for over a week. When he was eventually released, all the evidence he had collected was stolen from his office. After repeated death threats, both lawyers had to escape Vancouver. They now live under hiding in another region.
All the testimonies given to “The Truth Committee into the Genocide of Canada” along with tens of hours of filming material was sent in August 1998 to Ms Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and then Commissioner for Human Rights in the United Nations. No reply was sent and no investigation was ordered. I personally tried to communicate with her via email to ask for the reasons behind her own silence as well as of the body she represented especially since so much evidence was available. I received the same reply – silence. Ms Mary Robinson has received prestigious awards for her contribution to Human Rights issues. But one should also be aware that Canada is one of the main grantors for the maintenance of the UN. Did you expect that the UN would bite a hand that feeds it? Yet, a mere hint of any comparable evidence emanating from countries such as Iraq or Iran or Lebanon, Canada and the USA would be the first to demand the immediate meeting of the Security Council and urgent “corrective action”.
The churches in Canada that committed these terrible crimes enjoy today preferential treatment from the state and gain millions of dollars from the sellout of Indian land to big logging companies. Little wonder that I, along with many others, have renounced organized religion! As my good Indian friend and spiritual mother in Canada, Moonlight Shining on Snow, says – “When I talk to people of the Native point of view on church... I let them know that our temple, church is the universe. The sky the roof of our church, the forest and hills the floor of our church, the four cardinal directions the walls of our temple.”
Every time we stay silent before a crime, wherever it is taking place, we become accomplices. That’s how millions of Jews perished in the Nazi crematoria and that’s why thousands of children died in Canada’s Residential Schools.
[edit] Chief Tony Night Eagle
[edit] The White Road of Peace
We must not believe in hope we must become hope, we must not believe in love we must become love, we must not believe in forgiveness we must become forgiveness, we must not believe in peace we must become peace...This is what we mean when saying “Walk the Talk”. When we “become” effort is no more needed!
