"Wire from Greece
Our Nikolia Apostolou who had been an Erasmus student in our Media department sent me a short piece on Greece fires. Hopefully, she and some other friends will be my guest authors from now on....
"You left Greece burn. WHY? Demonstration on the 29th of August in front of Syntagma Square (in front of the Parliament in Athens) 7 pm. Wearing black
Wire from Greece
64 people have died. Most were burnt. 110 villages no longer exist. Thousands of people are homeless. It has been the 7th day and Greece is still burning and mourning.
They say it is the worst ever fire Europe suffered from.
People are numb. Even in Athens, some hundred miles away, the feeling is awkward. A feeling of mourning is spread around the country. Everyone is talking about the fires. Yesterday some 10.000 people protested in front of the Parliament wearing black.
Officials announced that they believed it was an organized terrorist attack. Typically, that the country is under a new kind of terrorist attack. People were shocked. Returning home my grandmother said: “Today they will burn as all. Nothing will be left”. Conspiracy theories started. Unfortunately (for them), there were no evidence. Only few believe them. As a friend said, the whole situation is like the Madrid bombings: Zapatero “united” the people under the common fear of the terrorist attack. Others said it was Turks or Macedonians (FYROM).
Greek television had until yesterday no other programs. The most prominent journalists were sent to the fire the first days.
Nevertheless, polls show that the ruling party New Democracy (Nea Democracy - Νέα Δημοκρατία) is going to win (losing only a few voters).
Photo is from Epikouros and www.kulluwahad.blogspot.com
Greeks clamour for state fire aid
Thousands of Greeks queue for government aid after the country's worst forest fires for decades.Greek tragedy, Chronis Polychroniou
By Chronis Polychroniou on The politics of climate change
Greece is experiencing an environmental catastrophe. Forest fires are raging through the centre and south of the country, from the Peloponnese to the island of Evoia, near Athens. Sixty-three people have been killed and scores more injured as of 26 August 2007 (a figure that seems certain to rise); many thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes, amid the destruction of entire villages and cultivated landscapes.
GREEK FIRE
By John Robb
DOSSIER: The Greek state's failure to handle fires properly | 30/08/2007
Several thousands of people demonstrated in Athens on August 29th to protest against the bad management of violent fires that have devastated Greece and caused over 60 deaths. The press denounces the lack of organisation and prevention in the country. The conservative government lead by Costas Caramanlis could pay the price when early elections are held September 16th.
