Global Voices Digest

Poland: Racist Flyers Given to Children in a Catholic Church

One of the Catholic churches in Poznań, Poland’s fifth largest city, generated a lot of online buzz yesterday, when the media published articles about a religious flyer printed by a Catholic weekly Mały Gość Niedzielny and distributed to children. On the flyer’s cover, there is a quote from the Bible – “A lamp without oil is dark, a human without a prayer, too.” Right above it is a drawing of a black child, who is saying: “What a pity that the prayer does not brighten the skin.” Sylwia Presley reviews the buzz.

China: Too much time online? You got psychosis.

Facebook, twitter, blog, facebook, email, online game, then blog, how long have you stayed online? If you have stared at your computer screen and clutched your mouse for over 6.13 hours a day, you are, I am sorry, a person of mental disorder according to the latest official definition in China.

Nagorno Karabakh: Peacebuilding Goes Online

With stereotypes and alternate and usually contradictory as well as inaccurate perceptions of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh still prevalent in both societies, a new online youth media project has been set up by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State to be implemented by Project Harmony.

Syria: Love is in Stuttgart

Forget politics, Obama or the economic crisis. The new buzz in the Syrian blogosphere is about love. Mariyah, a Syrian blogger from Damascus, has been playing with the hearts of her readers with the most delicate series of posts about the story of Ghassan and Alexandra.

DR Congo: Video call for action

The crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has flared up once again: 10 years of tension, on-and-off warfare and violence have taken their toll on the population, who are being displaced yet one more time. More than 5 million people have died during this warfare, thousands of women have been raped, and thousands of children have been recruited as children soldiers. On the following videos we bring you calls for action from the DRC citizens pleading with us to take a stand to stop the humanitarian crisis in the DRC.

Argentina: Wordcamp 2008 in Buenos Aires

The second edition of Wordcamp Argentina recently took place in Buenos Aires, and which again featured the presence of Matt Mullenweg, Wordpress’ main developer. Here he previewed the changes in store for the latest edition of the blogging platform and also provided his thoughts on the recent talk regarding the “death of blogs.” In addition, bloggers discussed ways to earn money, get blog advertising, and also how to develop corporate blogs.

Lingua: The Making of a Global Online Translation Project

Ever wonder how to get dozens of people to work together over the internet to collaborate on translations to multiple languages? In nearly two years Global Voices Lingua translation community has grown to include 18 different languages and more than 75 volunteers. Honestly, we’re astounded by the growth ourselves.

Today on Global Voices Advocacy: An Egyptian internet writer and blogger still detained and his family is threaten to be killed

The mother and two sisters of the Egyptian blogger and Internet writer Reda Abdul Rahman were threaten to be killed, when they tried to ask state security agents about the whereabouts of Abdul Rahman, who was kidnapped last month by State Security Investigation.

Today on Voices Without Votes: Sarkozy to Putin: “Do you want to end up like Bush?”

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and former Russian president Vladimir Putin are known for having a colorful and unpredictable relationship. Has Sarkozy’s warning to Putin not to behave like the American president George W Bush been a factor in not escalating the crisis in Georgia? Bloggers from around Europe weigh in.

Rising Voices is a nominee for the Best of the Blogs!

As you may know, Rising Voices has recently been nominated for a “best of the blogs” award in the category “best weblog”. At the moment we are trailing behind almost ALL the other nominees in spite of having such a big, powerful, and active community.You don’t need to vote in all the categories to have your vote recorded. Just click on the project you would like to vote for, enter your name and email – and click send.

Roundups

Get the blog buzz from the world over in the Global Roundups, where today you can find Peruvian President Alan García refusing to answer a journalist’s questions, views on the Sunni/Shia conflict, foreign concerts in Armenia, and much much more!