West End Extra - letters: Same Continent

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West End Extra - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: 6 July 2007

Same continent... but many different people

• WITH reference to your article “Eastern Europeans denied help to kick hard drug habits” (June 15) we are writing to express our disappointment that this headline actually labels the eastern European community as a whole while the content represents the issues connected with Romanians and Bulgarians from the countries located to the south of Europe!
There are quite a number of eastern European nationals working and living in the UK who make a great effort to successfully integrate into the society and many have become a very valuable asset for this country. So it is absolutely appalling to see the local newspaper with this headline.
I wish there could be a more careful approach to labelling a big community with very negative titles.
I belong to a Ukrainian community and our country of origin is located in eastern Europe.
The values that we maintain and live by are completely opposite to the ones described in your paper.
Many of us work for the well-known companies, banks, and establishments, taking on senior positions. I hope you can understand what effect such a headline may have on some readers who would only skip-read the paper, and form an opinion about a typical eastern European who while in the UK was “denied help to kick hard drug habits”.
Then imagine me having to explain the point that although I am from eastern Europe I have never come across anything like that! Hard, isn’t it?
Finally, I would appreciate if you would observe media ethics and exclude generalisations that may convey negative opinions about eastern Europe as a whole without distinguishing the countries and cultural differences of the people who belong to that part of Europe.
OLIA DYMTYRK
on behalf of the Ukrainian community in London
George Street, W1

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, West End Extra, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@westendextra.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Wednesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number.
Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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