Rami Azis, the mayor of Dazhdovnik, pointing at a notice about the public hearings the mining company held at his village. “What is the point of holding public hearings, if nobody is hearing us?’’ he asked. ‘‘Why should a private company and the government in Sofia decide the fate of the people who live in the Rhodope? Nobody is listening to us, and we’ll be the ones who’ll bear the brunt of all this.’’ (Image by Dimiter Kenarov)