Spare our eyes!

SMN No. 2, May 24, 2010

Some 680 Facebook members have joined a new group against what they see as visual pollution in Syria.

The group called on people to work on making Syria “the most beautiful country” and deplored the different kinds of visual pollution that citizens are subjected to, like advertising posters on buildings and billboards that cover buildings without any consideration of aesthetics, unfinished construction sites and garbage containers.

Members of the group criticised a range of sights that reduce the attractiveness of Syrian cities like old buses with dirty exhausts or broken police posts.

One member said the focus should be on keeping streets clean. “It is a shame that our country is so dirty,” he said, adding that it was a common sight to see poor people foraging in garbage containers for items to sell and then littering the street with

what they did not want.

Another member said that visual pollution negatively affects the tourism sector and subsequently the whole economy.

Others blamed the absence of strict laws to protect cities from visual pollution. One commentator suggested a law to punish contractors who leave construction sites half-built.