VISION

AUDIO

DATELINE STING

TITLE: Welcome to Lesbos

Colin Cosier, Nikolia Apostolou, Micah McGown

Music – beachy, holiday track

EXT – APHRODITE HOTEL – DAY

Aphrodite Vati at her hotel

STRAP: Advertisement

VATI: Hi! How are you? Welcome.

TOURIST: You have not seen her yet?

VATI: I have not seen her. Do I give a kiss, or do I not give a kiss?

HOTEL OWNER APHRODITE VATI IS GEARING UP FOR THE SUMMER TOURIST SEASON

VATI: So we're at my family's hotel, here's our pool, our taverna is right on the beach. This is in the village of Molyvos. 

BUT THIS YEAR IS LIKE NO OTHER.

LESVOS PROMO: Pack your bags, we are off to Lesbos.

TOURISM ACCOUNTS FOR 20% OF GREECE’S ECONOMY WHICH IS WHY IT’S DESPERATE TO WIN VISITORS BACK

IN A VERY 20-20 WAY:

GREECE PROMO: Because behind your every ideal experience, there’s a complete protocol for your safety in action. Destination Greece. Health first.

VATI: Typically, this would be 100% full right now. So unfortunately, as you can see things are quite difficult this year. We don't have as many guests and this is because of the coronavirus. 

EXT – APHRODITE HOTEL– DAY

British tourist Des and Chrisia at lunch

VATI: no that's okay. That's fine 

DES: Yeah

FOR COUPLE DES AND CHRISIA, LESBOS IS THEIR IDEA OF PARADISE. ESPECIALLY AFTER MONTHS IN LOCKDOWN IN THE U-K

DES: We've been coming for 20 years. Back in the day I picked it out of a brochure /// And the phrase was Molyvos is just beautiful. And I said to Chrisia this is where we need to go /// And we have been coming here every year ever since. // It's just wonderful. And i think this is probably true of many Greek islands in that lots of people go and they find their Greek island /// And we found ours.  

FAMILIES AND NATURE LOVERS COME HERE FOR THE SUNSHINE AND BEACHES. AND IN RECENT YEARS IT’S BECOME A DRAWCARD FOR LESBIAN TOURISTS... BECAUSE THE WORD ORIGINATES FROM HERE:

VATI: Oh I'm proud to be Lesbian - don't use that!

BUT THERE’S BEEN AN INFLUX OF PEOPLE COMING HERE SINCE 20-15 FOR ANOTHER REASON

MAP 1

THAT YEAR, AT THE HEIGHT OF THE SYRIAN CIVIL WAR, OVER A MILLION PEOPLE CROSSED INTO EUROPE

LESBOS WAS AT THE EPICENTRE OF WHAT BECAME KNOWN AS THE

“REFUGEE CRISIS”

BUT IN FACT, THESE PEOPLE ARE ASYLUM SEEKERS 

IT’S NOT ILLEGAL TO ARRIVE IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY AND CLAIM ASYLUM

VATI: we started having a one boat every other day arrive, uh, throughout the summer. And this ended up reaching to about eight to nine boats a day, uh, arriving directly in our business

THE CRISIS WAS MAJOR NEWS... AND LESBOS’ REPUTATION AS A “REFUGEE ISLAND” WOULD COME TO STICK

DES: Yeah there's a lot of negative publicity in the UK. They keep running, UNICEF run an advert to raise money for charity, and it starts off with 'This is Lesbos'. And they show pictures of lots of refugees. But actually, that's not what Lesbos is. This is Lesbos where you are, what you're experiencing. 

VATI: 2015 was a year that we'll never forget.

THE CRISIS INSPIRED APHRODITE TO GO INTO POLITICS

SHE’S NOW A DEPUTY MAYOR AND THE LOCAL TOURISM CHAMPION

VATI: The refugee situation in 2015 had as a result to negatively impact tourism /// this had as a result for us to be up to 80% down in revenue, uh, which was a catastrophe

WITH THE PANDEMIC HITTING REVENUE EVEN FURTHER, SHE’S FIGHTING TO CHANGE THE ISLAND’S IMAGE

VATI: People think that the Island is overflowing with refugees, and this is unfair. I think a great injustice has been done to the Island of Lesbos.

MELINDA: PRO-REFGEE

EXT – PAINT HOUSE – DAY

Melinda shows her vandalised house

BUT LOCALS ARE DIVIDED ON THE ISSUE OF ASYLUM SEEKERS

MELINDA: So, this is it...

MELINDA MCROSTIE IS AN AUSTRALIAN WHO’S LIVED ON LESBOS FOR MOST OF HER LIFE.

MELINDA: It's quite disturbing. I mean, they, they knew exactly where to put it so that it did the most harm.

HER PROPERTY HAS JUST BEEN VANDALISED; SHE THINKS BECAUSE OF RISING TENSIONS

MELINDA: It's also down here on the side of the house.

NIKOLIA: Are you scared?

MELINDA: Nervous. I'm nervous. So these are the new windows that we put in this year that are now ruined

NIKOLIA: It's kind of like blood

MELINDA: Yeah. I think that's why they choose red.

MELINDA OWNS A POPULAR RESTAURANT AND A STRING OF HOLIDAY RENTALS LIKE THIS ONE. 

MELINDA: Yep. It's quite some yucky seeing that there's somebody that's so angry with you that wants to wreck your property.

NIKOLIA:  what other attacks have you experienced?

MELINDA: we've had one other house that's been painted with, um, red

SUB: Slut NGO

MELINDA: we've had our tires slashed twice. Uh, we've had our car, a personal car, even scratched and disturbed. There's other things that have happened, but they might be just coincidence is like our motor bike was stolen.

NIKOLIA: Why do you think they're angry?

MELINDA: They're angry because, um, we've been helping the refugees.

MELINDA: I think they just don't understand that this thing, the refugees aren't going away, so it's not bad to help them. There's so much misinformation that's coming out to everybody and people are jealous or angry. It doesn't help that there's no tourism this year. So, um, that makes people even angrier.

MELINDA DOESN’T KNOW WHO’S ATTACKING HER PROPERTY.

AND SHE’S NOT THE ONLY ONE TO BE TARGETED

MELINDA: How are you? Are you well?

WOMAN: I've been here so long and we can't even hug!

WOMAN: Don't be sad, though.

I don't want to see you sad.

MELINDA: How can we not get upset?

WOMAN: I know.

MELINDA: What are you saying? I grew up here. Are they serious?

WOMAN: Have you seen who it is?

MELINDA: No, now I need cameras everywhere. Imagine the cost.

WOMAN: You should. You should do it. 

/// WOMAN: Stay safe. 

MELINDA: the thing is you don't know if any of that is true.

EXT – CAPTAIN'S TABLE – DUSK

Melinda at her restaurants in Molyvos

CREDIT: Shaan R. Ali photography

MELINDA GREEK: We're not lucky

MELINDA’S RESTAURANT HAS BEEN CLOSED ALL YEAR BECAUSE OF CORONAVIURS AND THIS IS THE FIRST NIGHT OF RE-OPENING.

Melinda:  bottle water or tap water?  

JUST LIKE APHRODITE SHE NEEDS INCOME FROM TOURISTS TO SURVIVE THE SUMMER

NIKOLIA: So, what's an Australian doing owning a restaurant in Lesbos?

MELINDA: Actually, it's like a movie. My mother they sometimes call her the real Shirley Valentine because she actually came here on holiday, met the Greek fisherman, married him and /// We're still here, so i grew up here in c

FIVE YEARS AGO, IN THIS VERY SPOT... THE REFUGEE CRISIS LITERALLY ARRIVED ON HER DOORSTEP.

MEL: And the coastguard would bring everybody to this harbour.

Upsot file

MELINDA: When the people arrived out of the sea and the cold and they were just sitting there in the freezing cold I didn't feel I had a choice. I just had to help.

OVER TWO-HUNDRED THOUSAND ASYLUM SEEKERS CAME THROUGH THIS SMALL TOWN

COMPELLED TO DO SOMETHING, SHE ORGANISED A GROUP OF LOCALS TO HELP

MEL: the first thing we tried to give them is really sweet hot tea just to warm them up. 

SOON ENOUGH, MELINDA FOUND HERSELF RUNNING AN OFFICIAL NGO CALLED: STARFISH FOUNDATION

MELINDA: lots of volunteers came over. And lots of NGOs came to help. Starfish themselves just us, we've had over 1,500 volunteers.

AS NUMBERS ON THE ISLAND GREW – SO DID LOCAL CONCERNS ABOUT THE IMPACT ON TOURISM

MELINDA:  Molyvos, here they didn't want them./// there's actually places here that if they think you're a volunteer they don't serve you.  

MELINDA: Does one have to choose between humanity and tourism? Well people are choosing between the two. But I don't think one should. I think it’s part and parcel.

MORIA CAMP

MAP 2  

TODAY THERE ARE AN ESTIMATED 15 THOUSAND ASYLUM SEEKERS LIVING ON LESBOS, BUT YOU WON’T FIND THEM HERE ON THE HARBOUR FORESHORE

AN HOUR’S DRIVE SOUTH OF MOLYVOS, IS THE LARGEST REFUGEE CAMP IN EUROPE: MORIA.

BUILT TO HOUSE JUST UNDER 3000 PEOPLE, RIGHT NOW IT’S BURSTING AT THE SEAMS

IT’S HARD TO GET OFFICIAL POPULATION NUMBERS AS RESIDENTS SPILL OUT INTO THE SURROUDING OLIVE GROVES

THE LAWLESS, SPRAWLING MESS IS KNOWN AS THE JUNGLE

MELINDA: Don't put the plastic bag on your head, that’s not good. No, no, no, no it's not good

EXT – MORIA CAMP – DAY

Melinda with her volunteers

SUPER: RUTH, volunteer

punter: hello, Salam

TODAY MELINDA’S WITH HER VOLUNTEERS, HANDING OUT CARE PACKAGES TO NEW MOTHERS

MELINDA: ok so this is the baby box team

RUTH: I’ve been volunteering on and off now for four years and it doesn't matter how much time I spend inside Moria I cannot get used to the shocking degrading inhumane conditions and the chaos and bureaucracy. it is beyond description.

THE CAMP IS IN LOCKDOWN BECAUSE OF COVID-19

SO, THE ASYLUM SEEKERS AREN’T ALLOWED TO LEAVE ANYMORE.

SUPPOSEDLY FOR FEAR OF BRINGING THE VIRUS INTO THE CAMP.

UPSOT: let me help you

MELINDA: we're very scared that if the virus gets into Moria we'll have a lot of problems

EVEN BEFORE THE LOCK-DOWN, ENTRY RESTRICTIONS WOULD HAVE STOPPED OUR CAMERAS FROM ACCESSING THE MAIN PART OF MORIA CAMP

THIS AREA, HOWEVER, THE SO-CALLED JUNGLE, IS A FREE-FOR-ALL

MELINDA: I would probably say if I'm not mistaken, this is /// the second largest town in the whole of Lesbos /// Kind of scary if you think about it.

MELINDA: So these are all the houses that they've made themselves /// but where, with no money, where do they get everything? They steal it, therefore that creates a problem with the local community because they're actually stealing from people, the local people and from their own personal things.

MORIA VILLAGE

DOWN THE ROAD FROM THE CAMP IS THE VILLAGE OF MORIA

PERHAPS NOWHERE ELSE ON THE ISLAND ARE TENSIONS BETWEEN LOCALS AND THE ASYLUM SEEKERS SO HIGH.

INT– PRESIDENT’S OFFICE – DAY

GIANNI: At some point, all this must stop so we can get some sleep. For years now, I sleep with one eye closed and one eye open.

NIKOLIA: Will you show us the village?

GIANNI: Yes, let's go.

VILLAGE PRESIDENT, GIANNI (Yanni), RECEIVES CONSTANT COMPLAINTS FROM LOCALS

GIANNI: It's the destruction of fields, the fires, the cutting of the trees,

the looting of summer homes, the theft of fruit and vegetables, the slaughter of animals, anything you can think of.

GIANNI: This is a house that they entered several times, removed clothes hanging to dry, shoes and all kinds of objects until the owner decided

to take additional measures

EXT – FARM – DAY

TOURISM ISN’T A CONCERN HERE - AGRICULTURE IS THE MAIN SOURCE OF INCOME

PRESIDENT: Hello, farmer Petros.  How are you?

PETROS: President, how are you?

- How's it going?

- Good.

- How's work today?

PETROS: Thank God, all is good.

PRESIDENT: Have we had any thefts

or unwelcome visitors in recent times?

PETROS: Every day. It's a daily occurrence, unfortunately ////

PRESIDENT: We'll need to be patient. Maybe things will get better.

PETROS: We can't.

PRESIDENT: I'm somewhat optimistic

that we can do better.

PETROS: There's nothing we can do.

PRESIDENT: We must be a bit optimistic

and try the best we can.

PETROS IS A SMALL-SCALE VEGETABLE AND LIVESTOCK FARMER WHO SAYS HIS LIVELIHOOD IS UNDER THREAT FROM THE ASYLUM SEEKERS

PETROS: They come in and steal.

They leave us nothing. Our life has become hell.

/// They took 7 sheep and 38 or 39 hens. // I also saw that they had poisoned a Rottweiler I had. 

PETROS: They took a fridge from here, too. I don't know how they got in. Something has to be done. Our life has become a living hell /// We want our lives back, but how are we going to get them back?

HE WANTS THE GOVERNMENT TO CLOSE THE CAMP AND MOVE ITS INHABITANTS SOMEWHERE ELSE

PETROS: We ask the state to take measures, keep their promise, and close Moria camp. You can't have those people running around freely in our fields and homes. That's what we ask. Nothing more. We are human beings, we're never racists.

REFUGEE JOURNALISTS

AS GREECE OPENS ITS BORDERS TO TOURISTS - THE THOUSANDS LIVING INSIDE MORIA CAMP REMAIN LOCKED IN

UNABLE TO FILM INSIDE, WE HAVE A TEAM OF ASYLUM SEEKERS TO FILM FOR US

YASER: Yaser, take one, action.

YASER (Ya-Sir) IS 17 YEARS OLD...

 NAZANIN: Danger, action.

AND NAZANIN (Nah-Zah-Neen) IS 22

BOTH FLED AFGHANISTAN FROM THE TALIBAN

THEY'RE LEARNING TO BE CITIZEN JOURNALISTS TO SHOW THE OUTSIDE WORLD WHAT LIFE IS LIKE INSIDE THE CAMP

REFUGEE FILM

YASER: So I'm in the jungle of Moria camp. And, uh, if you ask one to the refugees, some of the refugees about it, what is the most dangerous place in the camp, they will definitely tell it's jungle. /// it's so dangerous for them to go and walking in these dark jungle. Would you dare to do that?

CREW: Action.

NAZANIN: Safety is the concernable issue in Moria camp /// Every night, it's happening, fighting in this camp and people are being killed

NAZ: Here is the most dangerous place in Moria. That's a, most of the fighting's are taking place in this area. As you see that there are swords and knives hit on the ISO boxes

NAZANIN: So Moria is famous in its dirty toilets /// As usual it has no water and you see the bottles, it because the water is all the time is going.

YASER: “you can see there are many children here. Walking round, running here. And playing in this condition. Dirty. Trashes. and very bad conditions.

YASER: We have to wait in the long lines to get our food three times a day, breakfast, dinner, and lunch

NAZANIN: I am living here with my three sisters and my mother. So totally five people are living in this tiny, small space // as you can see, just how small is here.

YASER: since March Moria was in lockdown and the refugees were all stuck in the Moria camp because of Coronavirus.

YASER: So the locals in this Island /// they see the refugees like a problem. /// And they behave in a way that makes you feel you are a kind of insidious creature and their view of the refugee is a negative one. They don’t look at a person the way they should. It feels like you’re something that shouldn’t be here.

GOVERNOR

MAP 3 

DECISIONS ABOUT MORIA CAMP ARE MADE IN ATHENS.

BUT THE ISLAND’S TOP POLITICIAN

HAS MADE A NAME FOR HIMSELF CAMPAIGNING AGAINST ASYLUM SEEKERS

EXT– MYTILENE - DAY

Kostas Moutzouris in Mytilene.

Woman: Good morning. Mr Moutzouris, brave man. I'll gladly shake your hand.

Bravo for everything.

KOSTAS MOUTZOURIS IS A MEMBER OF THE CONSERVATIVE NEW DEMOCRACY PARTY, WHICH CAME TO POWER LAST YEAR ON AN ANTI-MIGRANTS PLATFORM

KOSTAS: I've become the people's hero

in relation to immigrants.... Here you can sit and talk with various people.

KOSTAS: Good morning...! What's going on?

PUNTER: Welcome, Mr Kostas.

KOSTAS: It's Australia's national TV channel, and they want to talk to you. To talk about the immigration issue.

PUNTER: We're in favour of the migrants.

KOSTAS: Whatever you believe in.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion.

SHOUTY MAN: They come here and don't respect our religion. They respect only their religion and not us.

PUNTER 2: Human beings are human beings, wherever they're from.

SHOUTY MAN: They go and shit in our churches and defile our churches /// Can you go and do the same in their mosque?  They'll execute you.

KOSTAS: Ideas from both sides. You couldn't get a better debate.

AD BREAK

INT – GOVERNOR’S OFFICE – DAY

Interview with Governor Kostas

SUPER: KOSTAS MOUTZOURIS

North Aegean Regional Governor

ATTRIBUTION: stonisi.gr

THE GREEK ISLAND OF LESBOS IS

DIVIDED OVER THE ISSUE OF ASYLUM SEEKERS.

SOME SEE IT AS THEIR DUTY TO PROVIDE SAFE HAVEN TO PEOPLE FLEEING WAR AND PERSECUTION

WHILE OTHERS, LIKE THE OUT-SPOKEN GOVERNOR, SEE THEM AS A PROBLEM.

UPSOT: Please talk.

KOSTAS: I'm Kostas Moutzouris in Mytilene and I'm talking to a beautiful journalist

OUR LOCAL PRODUCER, NIKOLIA, BRAVES AN INTERVIEW TO ASK HIM WHY THERE’S TENSION

KOSTAS: The number one problem for residents, like you saw on the street yourself, is how will we survive

with this violent imposition of other ways of life, of other religions.

NIKOLIA: And what is your answer?

KOSTAS: I say “don't worry.” The government is taking measures to eliminate the problem. Wait, and if we see that the government plan is not progressing, we are here, and we'll protest again.

LESBOS ERUPTED IN PROTESTS EARLIER THIS YEAR

ASYLUM SEEKERS TURNED OUT AGAINST THEIR ABISMAL CONDITIONS

WHILE LESBOS LOCALS PROTESTED... AND THEN CLASHED WITH POLICE OVER THE GOVERNMENT’S PLANS TO BUILD A NEW, PERMANENT CAMP

AND THE GOVERNOR - HE WAS OUT THERE PROTESTING AGAINST HIS OWN PARTY

KOSTAS: After these events, and the uprising of local residents, the Greek government totally changed its approach in dealing with migration. While until then it was passively accepting the illegal entrants, it changed, and began guarding its sea borders.

ATTRIBUTION:

JUST HOW GREECE IS GUARDING ITS BORDERS IS... CONTROVERSIAL

SINCE THE NEW GOVERNMENT CAME TO POWER LAST YEAR... ASYLUM SEEKER BOATS FROM TURKEY HAVE FOUND THE CROSSING MORE HAZARDOUS

THE GOVERNMENT SAYS IT’S STOPPED MORE THAN 10,000 PEOPLE ENTERING BY SEA THIS YEAR – BUT IT WON’T SAY HOW IT’S DOING IT.

REFUGEE – That’s the Greek police sending waves, intended to take our lives.

GREECE’S COAST GUARD IS REPORTEDLY HARASSING AND SABOTAGING BOATS...

REFUGEE - There’s a hole in our boat

PUSHING THEM BACK INTO TURKISH WATERS BY MAKING WAVES... OR TOWING THEM.

ACTIONS - THE GREEK GOVERNMENT DENIES

KOSTAS: There may be pushbacks, but guarding the borders

is the most important thing, and the protection of our islands.

KOSTAS: I ask and demand from the government that there be no more instances of illegal arrivals.

WOMAN: Go back, go away. Build a wall. No one’s getting out.

IN MARCH LOCALS HURLED ABUSE AT A BOAT OF ARRIVING ASYLUM SEEKERS AND REFUSED TO LET THEM COME ASHORE

MAN: We’ve got 50,000 of you. Go Back!

THE GOVERNMENT HAS ALSO INTRODUCED CONTROVERSIAL NEW ASYLUM LAWS WHICH IT SAYS IS CLEARING THE BACKLOG OF CASES... BUT WHICH ASYLUM SEEKERS AND ADVOCATES SAY IS AN IMPOSSIBLE PROCESS DESIGNED TO SEE CASES FAIL

THE PLAN FOR MORIA IS TO REDUCE THE CAMP’S POPULATION

BUT THE GOVERNOR WANTS MORE

KOSTAS:  We want complete removal from the islands.

NIKOLIA: Do you believe tourists stopped coming to Greece because of the refugee crisis?

KOSTAS:  In some areas of Lesbos, yes.

NIKOLIA: In Molyvos?

KOSTAS: Yes.  But now it's coronavirus. NIKOLIA: How important is tourism for the island?

KOSTAS: ...tourism is complementary. It's not like Rhodes, Corfu or Santorini

that live off tourism. There is an economic life here, which is complemented by tourism.

END THOUGHTS

SUPER: MELINDA MCROSTIE, Starfish Foundation

SUPER: APHRODITE VATI, Deputy Mayor of Tourism, West Lesbos

DESPITE COVID-19 SPREADING THROUGHOUT EUROPE’S SUMMER, GREECE, DESPERATE FOR TOURIST DOLLARS, RE-OPENED THE COUNTRY TO OUTSIDE VISITORS

THE GAMBLE DOESN’T LOOK TO HAVE PAID OFF; TOURIST NUMBERS ARE WAY DOWN...

BUT CORONAVIRUS INFECTIONS – MANY IMPORTED BY VISITORS – ARE RISING.

ON LESBOS, THE PROBLEMS CUT DEEPER

WITH THE PANDEMIC AND THE LINGERING REFUGEE CRISIS - LOCALS WORRY ABOUT THEIR FUTURES

MELINDA: helping the refugees has come with a cost

MELINDA: I live in a village of about a thousand people where i was brought up in, most of the village, of my friends don't speak to me anymore.

MELINDA: Some people said to me: well stop giving them sandwiches, stop giving them bottles of water because that’s why they're coming over because we're looking after them. And I'm pretty sure that nobody wanting to travel from Turkey and risk their life to get here would come over just because of the sandwiches and the bottle of water that we were giving them.

VATI: So the one story that stuck to me throughout the refugee crisis was a family that came and they sat down on some sunbeds to relax. And when they got up to leave, they started walking away, my father saw that they left behind a pair of keys. So my father quickly grabbed the keys and ran after them and said 'Sir sir you forgot your keys'. And the father turned around and said 'No I didn't. We left them behind on purpose, we don't have any need for them anymore. They belong to a home that doesn't exist anymore.'  And we have these keys up in the reception and it's a reminder to us. But also now we have been put into a position where we ourselves look at our own keys symbolically, wondering will we have to leave our keys behind too to go and find work somewhere else one day?  Because if tourism doesn't pick up there's no future for our children here.

SLATE:  Two weeks after filming, the first case of COVID-19 was reported at Moria Camp

There are now 17 confirmed cases

CREDITS - Delivery Checklist link

Next week on Dateline... We report from Cape town, South Africa, where primary school students are caught in the crossfire of escalating gang violence.

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