Worldfocus

Tokyo’s neighborhoods straddle between the need for modern development and the desire to maintain historical buildings and structures.

For instance, Fujiizaka, affectionately named “the slope for seeing Mount Fuji,” in the Nippori neighborhood, has been increasingly blocked by tall buildings that obstruct its view. Residents have banded together to push for preservation. The neighborhood cause is slowly gaining support as a growing desire to preserve historical places takes hold in Tokyo, reported the New York Times.

The city of Tokyo is geographically complex, with 8.5 million people living in 23 districts that span 620 kilometers.  The history of the city’s development is characterized by a continual process of restructuring and growth. It is a city that is renewed on average every twenty years, with few buildings surviving from the past.

This is due in part because as the capital of Japan since 1868, it has been used as a showcase for the Japanese modern age. It has also seen major development because of the need for new construction after World War II, earthquakes and the Olympics, according to the Goethe-Institut.

Chris Salzberg, a writer/translator living in Tokyo, Japan discusses the reaction to the recent development plan for the neighborhood of Shimokitazawa for Global Voices Online.

Tokyo has no lack of small, winding streets. Shibuya has its maze of criss-crossing shōtengai, Roppongi its club-lined back alleyways, Ueno its open-air street markets. But no neighborhood in Tokyo packs more complexity per square foot than Shimokitazawa, a neighborhood whose layout bears closer resemblance to a ball of thread than to anything an urban planner would come up with.

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Shimokitazawa’s spaghetti-like mess of streets and train lines evoke passion among some, frustration among others. The area has earned a name for itself as a breeding ground for creative young artists with its dozens of small theaters, art galleries and music venues. While eccentric characters like Rikimaru Toho fit perfectly into this urban environment, others see the maze of narrow streets as a dangerous fire hazard and a giant urban congestion knot in need of unwinding.

The entire area happens to lie in the path of a would-be thoroughfare running through Shimokitazawa to Shibuya, originally set forth in a “War damage revival plan” drafted all the way back in 1946. After several changes, that plan was brought back to life in 2003 and demolition and construction work has been slated to start in 2010. Should it be executed, the plan will split Shimokitazawa apart with a 26-meter wide expressway, Subsidiary Route 54 (補助54号線).

While the basic shape of those redevelopment plans had been known for some time, it was only a few weeks ago that the first glimpses of the new design finally emerged on the blog of Kuniyoshi Yoshida, a local landowner and head of the Shimokitazawa South [ja] shopowners’ union. Comments which began to appear on the blog, blasting the new design for its failure to respect the Shimokitazawa atmosphere, were swiftly deleted, but hostility against the plans only grew.

See this video of the streets of Shimokitazawa neighborhood below:

Small island nations have much at stake at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

The Maldives, along with other islands such as Seychelles and Tuvalu, is organizing a series of activities and events to pressure the international community to take action. On Saturday it will hold an underwater cabinet meeting designed to highlight the danger Maldives faces from rising waters and rising temperatures.

Global Voices Online posted a roundup of blogs from Maldives explaining what the small island nation is doing to publicize the urgency of the issue.

One of the first major events, run by Avaaz.org, was a Global Climate Wake-Up Call on Septemer 21 in Malé, the capital of Maldives.

The International Day of Climate Action, coordinated by 350.org, will be on October 24. Among the events of that day: 350 grounded motor vehicles and a 350 kilowatt reduction in energy consumption in Malé.

“350″ signifies the safe upper limit (in parts per million) for carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere. The current level is 389 ppm. Vroomfondel explains the movement’s goals:

By having actions all around the world that day, 350.org plans to send a clear message to the world leaders (who will be meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark this December to craft a new global treaty on cutting emissions) that ‘the solutions to climate change must be equitable, they must be grounded in science, and they must meet the scale of the crisis.’

In addition, the Maldives Photographers Association together with the Maldives Science Society is planning to send 350 unique postcards to 350 world leaders and personalities who will be attending the Copenhagen conference (COP15).

350Postcards distributed a compelling YouTube promotional video for the photo campaign:

Zim, a blogger and diving instructor, describes the underwater rally and subsequent underwater cabinet meeting:

One of the key events on the international day of action is the 24 hour Underwater Rally organized by the Divers Association of Maldives (DAM). 350 divers, diving in teams are going to spend 24 hours underwater. The message DAM is giving is that Maldives is sinking and it’s more than just a country being lost to the sea. A unique heritage is gone. An irreplaceable ecosystem is being destroyed…

The President of Maldives along with all the cabinet ministers are going to meet underwater while using scuba. Using hand signals and slates they are going to endorse and sign a message from the people of Maldives to the world leaders meeting at Copenhagen this December for the Conference of Parties (COP 15)…

We are on the edge. With just a couple of steps forward Maldives along with a number of other vulnerable countries will be lost beneath the waves. We ask everybody not to sign our suicide pact.

Climate change NGO Bluepeace explains in a blog why the world should pay attention to “Vulnerable,” a photo exhibition in Maldives:

As one of the lowest-lying countries in the world, Maldives is particularly vulnerable to climate change. The proliferation of images in today’s internet age is such that Maldives is known the world over as a stunning holiday destination. While Maldives has been the subject of many documentaries and news articles regarding climate change, to date no documentary has been produced by Maldivians for an international audience. This is a chance for Maldives to show vulnerability to the world as seen through our eyes.

Lastly, a Maldivian blogger Fenfulhangi asks some key questions about the December conference:

Will the new [Maldividan] President Mohammed Nasheed attend the [Copenhagen] summit with the talks of lack of funding in the government budget?

As one of the major contributors to Climate Change and its adverse effects, will the USA sign onto the new document that will succeed the Kyoto Protocol that USA previously refused to sign onto?

Will there be same or harsher penalties for developing countries that emit large amounts of CO2 or will it be the richer countries who pay?

Victims of the September 28th events in Conakry.

A number of Western governments have stepped up their condemnations of recent violence and brutality in Guinea.

An estimated 157 died last week as government troops shot demonstrators who were voicing their disapproval of military leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara’s decision to become a candidate in January’s elections.

On Monday, a senior U.S. diplomat arrived in Guinea to scold the embattled regime for cracking down on the massive September 28th political protest in Conakry, the capital.

The U.S. envoy met with Captain Camara for two hours, blaming him personally for the violence and instructing him not to run in the upcoming elections.

The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, has urged international intervention and said that France would no longer work with the dictator.

But, for his part, Captain Camara defended the actions of his soldiers in an interview with a dozen foreign journalists yesterday night.

The government blames the opposition for the large death toll.

Senegalese French-language daily newspaper
Le Messager described Camara as having “responded to the reporters’ questions…with pleasure.” The article gives a detailed account of Camara blaming the opposition for the riots and subsequent deaths:

He placed responsibility for the killings on the political leaders who organized the demonstrations, despite the protest ban. [Camara] declared that the protesters “attacked police buildings…and burned cars. These are leaders who have told children to go take up arms.”

[Camara continued], “That was a plot against me. It failed. The opposition believed that their protest would provoke the security forces to crack down on the civilian population, and that afterward, I would be overthrown. It was premeditated.”

But the photo evidence may be stacked against Guinea’s leader. An article in Monday’s New York Times describes three cellphone snapshots of the sexual violence committed against women:

One photograph shows a naked woman lying on muddy ground, her legs up in the air, a man in military fatigues in front of her. In a second picture a soldier in a red beret is pulling the clothes off a distraught-looking woman half-lying, half-sitting on muddy ground. In a third a mostly nude woman lying on the ground is pulling on her trousers.

According to human rights groups, the rape toll was staggering, and Guinea’s women seem to have borne the brunt of the military’s repression.

Blogger Laura Sjoberg, a political scientist at the University of Florida, analyzes the riots from a female perspective:

There’s an obvious point for those who would see [international relations] through gendered lenses here: women’s rights. What happened to the women who were raped in Guinea is terrible, fraught with gender subordination, violent, and should never happen to anyone ever again.

It would be a mistake for gender analysis of this situation and the news stories portraying it to stop there, however.

Through gender lenses, I’m interested in the question of how it came to be that “rape is a fairly common tool of military repression” (the article adds “in Africa,” but most research on wartime rape shows that the prevalence of rape as a weapon of war is not geographically or culturally limited). What is it about rape that makes it an effective tool of repression and war-fighting?

Conakry residents load a minibus. Flickr photo: martapiqs under a Creative Commons license.

Almost one year after a bloodless coup in December 2008 — during which Captain Moussa Dadis Camara took power several hours after the death of Guinea’s 24-year leader — violence has begun to rock the West African nation’s capital city of Conakry.

The regime’s forces stormed a political rally held on Monday at a football stadium and dispersed the crowd of some 50,000 using tear gas and gunshots. Human rights groups have called for security forces to halt its violent crackdown on political dissidents.

The authoritarian military ruler had pledged to restore civilian rule 60 days after seizing power, but elections have been delayed until 2010.

Protesters are demonstrating against Captain Camara’s presumed candidacy in the elections. A recent announcement proclaimed that the current ruling military council also intends to run.

Human Rights Watch quotes one witness describing the actions of security personnel:

I saw the Red Berets [an elite unit within the military] catch some of the women who were trying to flee, rip off their clothes, and stick their hands in their private parts. Others beat the women, including on their genitals. It was pathetic –- the women were crying out.

Blogger Konngol Afirik (translated here from the original French) also blames the elite Red Beret units for the violence:

Though the junta banned all demonstrations, the “Forces Vives” decided to have it anyway…The Red Berets are known for blind cruelty. Most of the dead and wounded fell at the hands of this elite unit better equipped and paid than the regular army…

Two of the main opposition leaders, Cellou Dalein Diallo and Sydia Toure, are among the wounded. Once again, the African Union and CEDEAO and their international partners are revealed as ineffective against this putsch leader, who is ready to walk on corpses to remain in power.

Worldfocus contributing blogger Ethan Zuckerman writes in his blog, My heart’s in Accra, that the African Union, which refuses to recognize military governments, should encourage Guinea to hold elections as soon as possible:

What’s been interesting for me, in the short term, is watching the few comments mentioning #Guinea on Twitter are focusing on media coverage. Nasser Weddady, outreach director for HAMSA [Hands Across the Mideast Support Alliance], offered this tweet a couple of hours ago: “In plain English: screw #Polanski, I am more interested in what’s happening in #Guinea than that fugitive pervert.” It’s been retweeted several times, reflecting either a frustration at media coverage, or simply that lack of any other news out of Guinea at this point…

How Guinea could have emerged as a major power based on its (bauxite) mineral wealth is a sad, familiar, important and insufficiently understood story.

- Ben Piven

Muslims have been celebrating the festival of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of fasting known as Ramadan.

In Pakistan, in cities like Lahore, Eid means neon-lit and food-fueled street fairs long into the night.

Amna Nawaz, an International Reporting Project fellow in Lahore, reports on how Pakistanis  - including her own family - view the holiday.

At the blog “All Things Pakistan,” a Worldfocus contributor, readers weighed in on the meaning of Eid.

Aziz said:

Eid is…when you forget all differences and ask for forgiveness from Allah as well as each other. For Allah will forgive your sins towards Allah but not towards mankind until you seek forgiveness from the ones you hurt.
Eid is…when a bunch of teenagers get on motor cycles and go to Tariq Road to hang out and watch people shop

Roshan adds:

Eid is…when you wear new clothes and go to mosque for prayers
Eid is…when you hug people praying around and greet everyone in the community
Eid is…when you eat Saviyaan/Sheer-Khurma prepared by loving mothers
Eid is…when girls are wearing bangles with having artistic hina designs on their hands
Eid is…when you have feast at your home and children are having lot of fun
Eid is…when you visit your friends and families to exchange greetings.

Zia M says:

Eid Mubarak to all…
Eid is remembering the less privileged ones.

Italy lost six of its troops in Afghanistan to a suicide car bombing on Thursday, when two military vehicles were struck by a car filled with explosives. Ten Afghan civilians also died. Italy has about 3,000 troops in Afghanistan, and 21 have now been killed in the war.

Alessandra Baldini, the New York bureau chief of the Italian news agency ANSA, joins Daljit Dhaliwal to discuss how Italians view the war in Afghanistan and the Obama administration.

Worldfocus producer Channtal Fleischfresser translated the following comments posted on the Web site of the Italian daily La Stampa, where there was a vigorous debate over Italy’s role and mission in NATO’s Afghanistan coalition.

Mozart 2006 said:
Six people died? I’m sorry. They are soldiers, they knew they were going to Afghanistan and not to Club Med. They knew what they would earn and what they would risk. They were VOLUNTEERS…. They died. Peace be upon their souls, and condolences to their families. But please, don’t associate me with this “our boys” rhetoric. They are not mine.

GC said:
If the Americans had left in 1943 at the first deaths. Hitler would have won. Or Stalin. Today the Taliban would win, and they would not be content only with Afghanistan.

MARCO V. said:
What would make the most sense would be to stay, employing an exit strategy… out of what at this point is becoming a senseless conflict: you can’t export democracy.
Oil cannot justify everything.

Gianfranco Lepore said:
Bring them home immediately and enough with the so-called “peace missions,” please! We should send these enormous sums of money to earthquake zones or any other cause, and stop calling these poor people who lost their lives martyrs: they were mercenaries and they knew they were risking their lives.

…Some 1000 civilians have been killed in Afghanistan since the beginning of the year: no one cares about them!

Elisas said:
There’s not a lot of sense in staying to be targets for the Taliban… At this point it’s better to return home. It’s a senseless mission: you can’t bring democracy to those who don’t want it.

Riots broke out late last week in Uganda’s capital city, leaving at least 21 dead. The riots in Kampala began after police refused to allow a representative of the Buganda kingdom’s tribal leader to travel out of the area. The Baganda tribe has clashed with police and President Yoweri Museveni’s government over power and land rights.

By Monday, security forces had restored order and Kampala was relatively calm — but the turmoil points to mounting tensions ahead of the Uganda’s 2011 election.

Several radio stations were shut down following the outbreak of violence. Watch a video exploring the riots from Kenyan television channel NTV:

Twitter users in Uganda — including UgInsomniac and solomonking –  have been providing updates on the situation using the hashtag #kampala.

Zehra Rizvi — Twitter user zehrarizvi — describes her experience using the micro-blogging service during the riots:

The real power of tweeting came to me during the last few days of rioting we’ve had in Kampala. [...]

I went out to the office and was driving in eerily quiet streets (it’s just a ten minute drive) and was standing in the office and all of a sudden heard a rat ta tat tat. No one else really blinked, so I was like, hmm, OK, my imagination. Second time I heard the sound, I was like, umm, guys, what’s that? Answer: Police firing live rounds into crowds to disperse them. [...]

I came home and tweeted about it. Just one message. And all of a sudden, got a response from someone I didn’t know. How @UgInsomniac found my tweet, was a mystery to me but then I saw the hash tag. I did a search on Kampala on twitter and was plugged in BIG time to everything. I spent the next day and a half glued to twitter and watched as the Kampala stories came flooding in.

It was incredible. There has been a media blackout and the only way for me and lots of others, including major newspapers to follow what was going on was through twitter. [...] And it’s not that it was just news flowing in. It was about the community of news and the support I felt from everyone who was tweeting. We were all in it together.

Blogger “Sarah” at “The Malans in Uganda” described the scene on Friday:

I was at the office this morning. I had an interview scheduled so I had to go. While I was interviewing the guy, shots were ringing out and police cars were hurtling up and down the roads, sirens blaring. The poor guy was terrified!!!! Not sure if it was the interview or the fact that he had to make his way back home through all the problem areas.

View photos taken by riot observers and an interactive map aggregating reports of rioting and violence at the Web site Uganda Witness.

A blogger at “Paradox Uganda” explores the background of the violence and muses about the future:

My reading of the president is that he has been decidedly anti-tribal, making every effort to unify the sense of identity of his people. But he’s also accused of favoring his own people, the Banyankole.

The reaction of these few uncertain days has revealed that the latent tribalism is close to the surface, ready to blow. There are some disturbing parallels to Kenya in 2008, or Rwanda in 1994, though nothing here has happened on those scales yet. One big difference is that Uganda has an intact and functional government and military who are acting to stop rather than increase violence. The root issue seems to be the insecurity of living too close to the edge of survival, the nagging doubt that the world just may require that one kill or be killed, grab or go without.

President Museveni has been accused of interfering in Buganda kingdom matters. Photo: IRIN

Blogger “Rhino” expresses concern for the country’s future, asking fellow citizens to “wake up to reality”:

[O]ur greatest enemy is apathy. There is a lot of it out there and it saddens me. When the riots were underway, I took a breather from my duties as a citizen journalist and had a chat with my friends. I could not believe how unconcerned they all were. It seemed as if the chaos did not have anything to do with them. I told them that this violence represented far bigger concerns that just Mengo and the government. I told them that there is a lot of bitterness out there and any self respecting citizen should pay attention. There were reports that some people were being targeted because they had “long noses” which meant that they hailed from lands other than Buganda. The tribal and religious divisions among us threaten to lead to chaotic times not dissimilar to those of ages past and there is no doubt that the government has enacted policies that have greatly exacerbated this problem. It has become clear that fragmentation of the country has served little else than prop up the ruling party and benefit the well connected while the ordinary Ugandan slips further into poverty and desperation. We must all wake up to reality; we can no longer afford to be indifferent. Even those of you who have no desire to engage in partisan politics should realise that it is up to us the people to fix our nation. Our leaders can only do so much if each one of us does not give to the other the very rights we reserve for ourselves. People have died, let their lives not go unnoticed; let us learn from these things. Let us remember the dead.

A blogger at “Gay Uganda” writes that though peace has returned, tensions remain:

Peace, calm has returned to Kampala.

Oh, I dont doubt that the armoured personell carriers (mambas) are still patrolling the city. I dont doubt that there are thousands of plain clothes intelligence people mingling with the cautious crowds. They are there. And we know it, and so we have to be cautious. [...]

And the Baganda? Bitterness. Angered, bitter.

Blogger “Rogue King” writes that the peace is much too fragile:

I also believe that it is too early to say life is back to normal. It’s a very delicate standoff, and any wrong move by either side could spark off fresh (and possibly worse) violence.

As always, we can only hold our breath and wait.

An business article in Dawn last week explored the sugar crisis afflicting Pakistan during this year’s month-long Ramadan holiday. The government’s decision to increase the per kilogram price of sugar to 55 PKR ($0.68) from 36 PKR ($0.42) has generated a huge political uproar. A 1 million ton shortage has led to hoarding, panic, and rationing.

Although consumers usually expect prices to increase during the month of fasting, the commodity’s dramatic rise has caused ire towards politicians and sugar mill owners. Anita McNaught of Al Jazeera English reports on the sugar shortage during the holy month of Ramadan when sugar and sweets are such an important part of life.

Sana Saleem is a 21-year-old  Pakistani working for a British publication in Karachi. In her analysis of the sugar crisis, she points out:

The ritual price hike before Ramadan starts is quite normal and expected. Every year a massive price hike is seen in food items and various goods just before the start of Ramadan. Quite interestingly, this is justified as a ‘business tactic’ to get maximum profit at the time people are bound to store in food items. Ironic but true. However, the recent price hike in ‘sugar’ prices has been termed as a ‘Sugar Crisis’ by Pakistani Authorities and media outlets. If inquired regarding the sudden increase in prices the local stores point fingers at the lack of supply and an increase wholesale rate, which is then directly affecting the retail market. So how does one figure out the sugar imbroglio? A significant raise in prices -up to Rs.20- just before the peak consumption time seems absurdly convenient.

Changing Up Pakistan is written by the head the social investment wing of ML Resources, a small private investment firm. The author gives a very thorough explanation of the natural and artificial causes of the sugar crisis:

The current year saw a natural decrease in sugar production. In general, farmers, like others, only produce crops that give them maximum profit. In 2008-09, the current government increased the wheat price to Rs 950 (minimum price) to encourage farmers to grow wheat. This was an attractive incentive and resulted in attracting non growers to grow wheat (as it is profitable). As a result, sugarcane farmers switched to wheat production which resulted in a drop in sugarcane production.

Moreover, over the past decade, sugar cane production has declined because of the naturally difficult/negative constitution of the sugar market. Numerous specialists state that farmers have decreased the total area under production due to water shortage, behavior of the mill’s management, late payments, increased input cost, and diseases and rodent attack. They especially blame mill owners for late and/or no payments to farmers and limited irrigation water that make the farmers reluctant to grow the crop. Hence, these two factors have naturally reduced the supply of sugar by 15 to 20 percent compared to last year.

Moreover, in the International Market, Brazil and India are the biggest sugar producers in the world. In 2008-09, these two producers faced adverse weather conditions that resulted in a natural reduction in the global supply. Hence, the global price of sugar sky rocketed as well.

Prior to Ramadan, like any other year, wholesalers and mill owners have been accused of hoarding sugar. By limiting supplies, they artificially created a shortage. The main reason is profit. Mill owners buy sugar cane before December because crushing season lasts four months (December to March). Approx 38 to 40 lakh tons of sugar cane is crushed (this is the whole annual supply). The processed sugar is then kept in warehouse or sold to wholesalers. Hence, these mill owners and wholesales are key suppliers and have a monopoly over supply and thus control prices. As they are aware of higher demand before Ramadan, they deliberately withhold supply to manipulate higher prices and profits and hence artificially reduce the supply of sugar in Pakistan.

Another Pakistani blogger, Hassan Khan, writes in his Sugarphobia post that a cabal of business and political interests are colluding to generate maximum profit from the current economic turmoil:

Pakistan has approximately 80 sugar mills. Most of them owned by investors and politicians. Level of hypocrisy is that before Ramzan, they have started stocking sugar and its price from Rs 38 per kg jumped to Rs 54. It always looks bad when you switch a Pakistani news channels but worst when such crises is on its peak and a minister is briefing press that due to increase in international prices of sugar, sugar prices are increasing in the Pakistan.

World leaders gathered in Poland today to mark the 70th anniversary of World War II, amid rising tensions between Russia and Poland over the depiction of the two countries’ roles in the war.

Watch World Remembers Beginning of World War II, a report by English-language TV station Russia Today highlighting the difficult history between Russia and Poland.

Vladimir Lensky, the New York bureau chief for Russia’s Channel One, discusses Russia’s role and responsibility in World War Two.

In a Russian language blog on Moscow radio station Echomoscow’s website, writer Sergei Shagunov comments on Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s recent article in a Polish newspaper about the Soviet-Nazi pact to split up Poland in 1939.

Read the full post here in Russian. The following excerpts were translated from by Worldfocus producer Christine Kiernan.

It is frequently necessary to disagree with Vladimir Putin, but in his article published in the newspaper “Vyborcha” [the Polish newspaper], there are strivings for objectivity. Today this is rare thing. Of course [even-handedness] is possibly only when there is open discussion. …The 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War is reason for a sharp, honest, difficult conversation.

Poland was up until the end a [partner] of Hitler, participating in the invasion of Czechoslovakia… and its minister of foreign affairs Bek spoke about pretensions to Soviet Ukraine… It’s necessary to remember that England France from the beginning shut their eyes over Germany’s armament, then gave Czechoslovakia to her, and finally, drew out and [ruined] Moscow discussions about the creation, together with the USSR, of an anti-German coalition. So Hitler broke the East. ..

Yes, the Soviet Union was totalitarian. But even totalitarian states have their own interests…..For example, interests of safety.

A simple question: was it necessary to sign an amoral supplement to the Soviet-German pact?

Everyone was amoral, including Poland. Everyone is guilty in the war. To different degrees? Perhaps. But all the same – guilty.

Writing in the UK’s The Guardian, Anita Prazmowska says that despite Putin’s subsequent efforts to praise Polish bravery during the war, the timing of his comments will strike many Poles as misplaced. Read the full post here.

1 September is seen in Poland as a beginning of its enslavement, first under Nazi domination and then, after the war, to Soviet domination. 1 September is a time of grieving. One can’t really expect Poles to see this as a date for reflection on the shortcomings of their own governments’ policies in 1939 and subsequently. Thus Putin has on the one hand accepted that the Soviet Union was wrong, but he has also publicly reminded the Poles that they too have to address some unsavory moments in Poland’s history. The fact that he spoke of the Russian people being victims of both Stalinism and of Nazism has done little to soothe Polish anger.

Fires in Athens.

Massive fires near Athens have forced thousands of Greeks to flee their homes, destroying roughly 37,000 acres of forest. Firefighters have been battling to contain the blaze for days.

Two years ago, Greece faced its most deadly fire in recent memory, which killed 65 people. In the aftermath, the government was criticized for its lack of coordination and preparation.

Blogger “Zeta Zizou” mourns the Pendeli mountain, a casualty of numerous fires:

Today the skies are not orange or grey. They are dark, but you can see the blue
The fires have eaten all the mountain of Penteli, everything that I hold dear as it is part of the place I grew up.

Pendeli has been burnt down many times. Various locations. In 1998 I remember I was one of the volunteers trying to save what I could only to run with new fire fronts exploding behind me with flames reaching more than 40m. I was trying to free the anmals from the abandoned houses. I was trying to water the roofs. Some was saved

Well, not any more. The entire mountain of Pendeli is now gone. From Marathon to Palea Pendeli. Well, the rocks are still there, they will be there till the end of time. Everything else is gone. Everything that has anything to do with life.

Of course I can not say that I did not expect that. But not this biblical catastrophy. Pendeli should not have been inhabited. Some very old neighborhoods, especially the hospitals and the monasteries have good reason to be there. But all these areas should not exist. Pendeli ought to belong to its forrest, to its rabbits, wolves, foxes, eagles, ducks, wildboar etc. None of that exist now as Man has burned it down so many times.

View an interactive map of the current fires.

In this amateur video from YouTube user mourmouranews, watch firemen attempt to battle the flames:

Blogger “John Psaropoulos” observes efforts to fight the fires:

I saw the ease with which wood re-inflames itself off Pendeli Square, in the eastern suburbs. Fire reached the front yards of houses off the square in the middle of the day. It nestled in some piles of dead wood in an untended plot and jumped from there to the branches of a large Aleppo pine.

A fire truck put it out once, followed by a municipal water tanker a second time. It reignited yet a third. It was left to a few young men and women with buckets of water and branches to carry on the fight.

One of them climbed a ladder and took a saw to a flaming branch. It was too thick to cut. Another climbed up with a bucket of water and doused the limb. But it was a small victory in a small yard. Around the volunteers smoke filled the air and helitankers circled overhead like angry wasps in an orange sky, a reminder that the size of this task requires superhuman machinery.

[...] Inevitably after these fires people argue about how they started and whether the fire service strategised its response well. But the key question is what is being done to prevent them. Why forest floors are not cleared, dead wood cut away from trees and networks of early warning heat sensors installed in the forest are the questions the government has to answer.

In another video from YouTube user oposoum, residents are seen trying to quench the fire with buckets and spades:

A blogger at “Devious Diva” blames the government for not making changes in the aftermath of the 2007 fire:

It’s just criminal what is happening.There are not enough fire engines, firefighters, planes, helicopters… not enough of anything. What happened to the promises made two years ago ? Where are the firebreaks ? Where are the new planes? Why has it taken the government two days to declare a state of emergency so that Greece can get help from other countries ? We have about three hours of flying time left (firefighting planes can’t function in the dark) and then the residents of these areas are on the own with the few professionals they are “lucky” enough to have nearby.

It’s tragic and unbelievable.

I am sitting here shaking with rage at the lack of foresight the authorities have shown and at the downright lies that people were told after the huge wildfires in 2007.

It’s disgusting.

And you know what’s even more disgusting ? No matter how this all turns out. No matter how many injuries and even deaths. No matter how many homes and businesses are burned.

Absolutely NOTHING will be done to prevent this happening again.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user superbilly16v under a Creative Commons license.