When I was in Moscow I spent many days in the area of Khimki, a green spot in the north of town. I would go there to study, because of their newspapers' archive, and more than once ended up being completely mesmerised by the beauty of the place. What I did not know is that Khimki forest was destined to be destroyed in the process of building a motorway that would join Moscow and St. Petersburg. This is all very sad. On the (mildly) bright side many people have started their own personal fight against the destruction of the forest, and started a ecologist movement in its defense. This makes me believe that maybe the Russian society is not as alienated as it seems. Certainly this will not change things, since bureaucracy, militia and shady business interests are all still strong obstacles to change. Just today I got in touch with a representative of the Ekooborona, the group in defense of Khimki forest, and found out that the leader of the group, Evgenia Chirikova, is currently held by the police. He sent me the video of her (illegal) arrest and it is simply terrifying.
Russian TV seems to be completely ignoring the issue, and the mainstream newspapers do not make a much bigger effort. The story has hardly reached countries outside of Russia. I personally support the cause of the people involved in the fight for the protection of an area endowed with a special and irreplaceable natural patrimony.
This is the link to the Ekooborona website (in Russian):
http://www.ecmo.ru/
And here is an article in English written by Evgenia Chirikova:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/yevgenia-chirikova/battle-for-khimki-forest
Just letting you know, everything you write here I read. I want to like Russia but it's so full of skullduggery, it seems. If a tree-hugger (that's what their opponents call them) got arrested here in USA, it would be the next Supreme Court case in no time, and splashed across every front page for at least ... well, a day or two anyhow. CNN would do a special and then move on. But still ... it would not happen in the shadows. So I'm really perplexed by this sort of thing. Obviously it's not wise to get in the way of Russian "free enterprise" is it?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100808212810.htm
ReplyDeleteSomebody is paying attention.
Thank you for your support, it is very appreciated, makes me feel like I am not just ranting :)
ReplyDeleteAnd you got perfectly the point: some specific business interests are still driving Russian politics.