Race, Religion, and Afghan Refugees’ Practices of Care in Greece

On 7 June 2019, Greek Education and Religious Affairs minister Costas Gavroglou addressed a crowd of about one hundred Muslims, journalists, and state offi cials at the “inauguration” of the government’s partially constructed, purpose-built mosque in Athens: “Athens now has a dignifi ed place of worship for Muslims whether they are citizens or migrants, refugees, or visitors. The right to pray to the god you believe in, like the right of a child to go to school, does not depend on the circumstances under which someone arrived here. Everyone has these rights. They are non-negotiable human rights” (Speed 2019). By 2019, there were nearly 300,000 Muslims in Athens, yet it remained the only European capital without an operational mosque. After the offer of Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd to build an exquisite mosque in Athens was refused, a 2006 presidential decree committed the Greek government to build the fi rst mosque in the city since Ottoman rule ended in 1821. Numerous delays halted construction, including in 2014 when contractors refused to take on the project out of fear of violent attacks from members of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party; Muslims are the most frequent targets of their racist attacks (Palivos 2018: 272). With the leftist SYRIZA party’s electoral success in 2015, plans for building a mosque re14