The Adobe Youth Voices global network currently includes more than 750 sites and a large, expanding number of grantees and organizations in 50 countries. Since its inception, Adobe Youth Voices has engaged over 150,000 youth and 8,200 educators in schools and out-of-school programs.

The 160 finalist products including video can be viewed and voted on by sharing them through online social networks such as facebook and twitter. Every category, such as documentary, music video, poetry, audio, graphic design, narrative, animation and photography has an audience award, for which each share, tweet, retweet and like count as one vote. Voting closes on 8 June, 2012.

For example, this documentary by 18 year old Stella in Uruguay, sharing her experience with her sister with Down Syndrome, raising awareness about what it means to have this syndrome for their lives.

Finding Home is a narrative by Iraqi Mair Maher tells the story of his family's immigration due to violence and war, with many stops around the world before finding a new home in Canada.

Jeanvier Janga from Bonaire shares an animation on how change starts by one person changing themselves.

The Adobe Youth Aspire Awards

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May Day March in Venezuela

While some places saw peaceful marches, others had violent encounters between armed forces and the protesters.  On the first part of the video, an overview of workers in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe.  For example, Malaysian activists protested against the growing inequality. In the Philippines were for job security and higher wages.  Indonesians protested low wages and rough conditions. Cambodians asked for higher wages.  People in Bahrein asked for workers to be reinstated to their positions of which they were removed by the government crackdowns. In Egypt protests were on behalf of including workers rights in the constitution that is being drafted. In Europe, workers protested austerity measures that seem to target them.  In Russia, both the ruling party and the opposition had their own rallies.  The French left marched against the past of fiscal austerity. And in the London, where May Day is not a holiday, workers went on strike.

On the second part, protests in North and South America.  Demonstrations throughout Canada protesting budget cuts and rises in college tuition.  In the USA, banks were targeted in many major cities including clashes with riot police, calls to strikes, and blockades.  In Mexico workers marched to ask the government to do a better job in the face of violence. Honduras saw protests against the privatization of public services as well as corruption. In Cuba, massive parades commemorated the Cuban Revolution and in Venezuela both the government supporters and opposition marched, either for or against the recent reforms.  In Colombia there were arrests during the protests and the Chilean student movement also marched.

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Born in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk in 1986, Evgeni played for the same Metallurg Magnitogorsk hockey club where his father had served as a defenseman. In 2003, Evgeni represented Russia in the U-18 World Hockey Championships before he was selected 2nd overall in the 2004 NHL draft. By 2009 he'd already won his first Art Ross Trophy.

During the 2012 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, which were held in Calgary/Edmonton around the New Year, Russia defeated Canada 6-5 in a semi-final before ultimately losing to Sweden in the championship match. The Pens Blog captured Mr. Malkin's playful banter directed at his Canadian teammates via his Twitter account:

Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin skates against the Columbus Blue Jackets in a Feb. 26, 2012 game at Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, PA. Photo by Michael Miller (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0).

As you probably know, Russia defeated Canada in a semi-final game at the World Junior Hockey Championship tonight. Evgeni Malkin spent the night trolling on Twitter. James Neal got in the act as well. […]

What we've learned from this is that Crosby, Staal, Fleury and Asham each owe Malkin $100.00. Too bad the Pens don't have any Swedish players for the final.

Here are some of the specific tweets the post cited:

James Neal:

@malkin71_ here they come geno

Evgeni Malkin:

I cant wait see Canada lose tonight!!!

Evgeni Malkin:

Whats the score Canada)))))?????

Evgeni Malkin:

Thanks boys))))#87,11,29,45-100$ tomorow please)))))

James Neal:

Anything can happen. What a game. Tough loss for the Canadian boys. Ur lucky this time @malkin71_

Fathead Sports Blog discussed in a February post how Mr. Malkin had taken a leadership role in the absence of the Penguin's Captain, Sydney Crosby:

Even with Sidney Crosby injured, Evgeni Malkin is having an amazing season. Within a three week span in January 2011, Crosby fell to a concussion and Malkin suffered a devastating knee injury. For a team that’s expected to perennially contend for the Stanley Cup, having their future Hall of Famers in doubt was worrisome.

While it’s unfortunate that Sidney Crosby is still sidelined with lingering effects of a concussion, Malkin has dominated this season. One would never guess that he shredded his knee not too long ago because he’s playing at such a high level. At this time, Malkin is leading the NHL with 78 points and has the Penguins looking like the Cup contender they’re supposed to be.

Because of Malkin, the Penguins are currently fourth in the Eastern Conference standings. He has scored five points in a game a remarkable five times this season. Five times! In the modern day NHL, that is simply astounding.

In March, Mr. Malkin's intensity of play led to a discussion as to whether or not he should have been suspended for a hit on Boston Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk:

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the boarding minor Malkin received in the Penguins' victory over the Bruins on Saturday will be the extent of his punishment: No suspension, no fine, just time served.

Seth Rorabaugh of Empty Netters has it right: This was a trifecta in Malkin's favor. No immediate injury, no prior history of illegal hits and there's enough gray area in Boychuk's last-second turn to the boards that supplemental discipline gets a little murky.

In April, both English- and Russian-language sources reported that Mr. Malkin had scored his 50th goal of the season, which was all the more remarkable because, (1) the season had been relatively low-scoring across the league, and, (2) Mr. Malkin himself had been forced to miss several games due to an injury to his knee.

CBS Sports Blog announced the goal in an April 7 post and also mentioned that Mr. Malkin had secured his second Art Ross Trophy for leading the league in scoring points at the end of the regular season:

Entering Saturday's game against Philadelphia it was pretty much already decided that Evgeni Malkin was going to finish as the NHL's leading scorer and win his second Art Ross Trophy. And that's exactly what he's going to do, as he will finish the regular season with 109 points, leaving a pretty significant gap between himself and the second leading point producer in the NHL, Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos.

And Malkin did it while playing in just 75 games. His 1.45 points per game average pretty much blew everybody else away.

The only question that remained unanswered for Malkin was whether or not he would score his 50th goal of the season. Late in the second period, with the Penguins already up 3-2, he did just that by moving into the center of the ice and beating Flyers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky with a wrist shot.

StarSport.com - a Russian-language news outlet - announced Mr. Malkin's 50th goal of the season on April 8. A few days later, a Russian-language Twitter user posted a YouTube video of Malkin's training exercises.

Looking ahead to the Stanley Cup playoffs, Mr. Malkin thanked the fans via his Twitter account in both English and Russian:

#Pens fans are the best- always support me & team! Thank you for everything! Can't wait for playoffs- Be loud :)

Спасибо всем!!!Спасибо за вашу поддержку,переживания и теплые слова-хороший сезон,но впереди самое интересное)))Хорошего Вам настроения)))

The Penguins have lost their first three Stanley Cup playoff games against their instate rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers. Game 4 will be played in Philadelphia on April 18.

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Norway is widely known for hosting the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize Awards. This month, the Scandinavian country is hosting the debut of another important yet largely unknown journalism award ceremony for the World Indigenous Television Broadcasters Network (WITBN) on March 29, 2012.

Nine finalists have been selected out of 24 entries in the indepth reporting category of the WITBN Indigenous Journalism Awards (2012 WIJA). The ceremony will be held in Kautokeino, Sápmi, Norway.

The official announcement from WIJA explains:

2012 WIJA is the first international Indigenous journalism award dedicated to presenting Indigenous perspectives through journalism in television and audiovisual media. While journalistic standards and ethics are the essences of this honor, the awards in particular look for the portrayal of Indigenous perspectives on stories of local, national or international impact.

This videos shows the 2012 finalists from indigenous networks in developed countries such as Taiwan, Australia, Norway, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States.

One of the nominated programs, from Māori Television, Aotearoa New Zealand, covers what should be labeled as “Occupy Easter Island” (it started a year before the Occupy movement in the U.S.), a rarely reported protest by Rapanui activists who occupied a government-owned hotel for half a year, demanding recognition of Indigenous rights and demonstrating the unfairness of occupation.

'We are ready to die for our land' says Rapanui activist in program broadcast by Maori Television of New Zealand

Easter Island (or Rapa Nui) is a land where colonization has forced the indigenous population to a small corner of the land, and where tourism had created an unsustainable economy. The sustainability problem is widespread in indigenous peoples' struggles all over the world to survive and preserve their culture.

The indigenous use of broadcast journalism and modern technology to promote the rights of their communities is a step forward. Read more about the finalists and their programs, here.

• AMAZIGH NRK Sápmi Norway
• AMNESTY CHIEF VISIT TO UTOPIA National Indigenous Television, Australia
• JOURNEY HOME Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, Canada
• KIMBERLY GAS HUB SERIES National Indigenous Television, Australia
• POLITICIAN REPORTS HIMSELF TO THE POLICE NRK Sápmi, Norway
• TE PITO O TE HENUA Māori Television, Aotearoa New Zealand
• THE VALUE OF WATER ‘Ōiwi TV, Hawai’i
• VUVU’S LAST PIECE OF LAND Taiwan Indigenous Television, Taiwan
• WATER EXPLOITATION Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, Canada

This post is part of our special coverage Indigenous Rights.

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As Global Voices' Executive Director Ivan Sigal has written, “there are powerful corporate and government forces who would prefer to see the openness and accessibility of the web restricted.” The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect-IP Act (PIPA) would both force websites to pro-actively censor potentially copyrighted information, and could, as Sigal wrote, “inflict broad damage on the work of digital activists living under repressive regimes, as well as restrict basic speech freedoms around the world.”

Because these bills have the potential to affect Internet users worldwide, members of the global community have joined Americans in protest. From German digital rights group Netzpolitik to Open Media Canada to individual bloggers and social media users, the sentiment is the same: Stop these bills.

Blacking out

French site https://linuxfr.org goes dark against #SOPA

Many sites have chosen to express their opposition by blacking out their sites, either entirely or with an interstitial page. Danica Radovanovic (@DanicaR), writing for Australian blog network DejanSEO, discusses Wikipedia's decision to join the blackout, a decision that affects the site's diverse global community:

Over the course of the past 72 hours, over 1800 Wikipedians have joined together to discuss proposed actions that the community might wish to take against SOPA and PIPA. This is by far the largest level of participation in a community discussion ever seen on Wikipedia, which illustrates the level of concern that Wikipedians feel about this proposed legislation. The overwhelming majority of participants support community action to encourage greater public action in response to these two bills. Of the proposals considered by Wikipedians, those that would result in a “blackout” of the English Wikipedia, in concert with similar blackouts on other websites opposed to SOPA and PIPA, received the strongest support.

French organization La Quadrature du Net has joined its American counterparts in blacking out its website, displaying the following image:

The Pirate Party of Catalunya blacks out in solidarity

Pirate parties are among the most stringent opponents of the anti-piracy bills. In Spain, Catalunya, Switzerland, Argentina, Canada, and Sweden (among, almost certainly, many others), local pirate parties have joined in blacking out their websites.

Also blacking out for January 18 are Germany's Chaos Computer Club and Green Party, and international organization Reporters Without Borders. The latter explained its decision, writing:

We have decided to close our English-language website for 24 hours to symbolize the oppressive gag that would spread over the Internet as we know it if SOPA and PIPA are adopted. These bills would affect an incalculable number of Internet users who are innocent of any kind of intellectual property violation by forcing websites to block access to other sites suspected of vaguely-defined copyright breaches.

For more images of sites blacking out in protest, check out Netzpolitik's SOPA blackout gallery.

Translating the importance of activism

In some countries, bloggers have taken it upon themselves to educate their communities about the importance of opposing SOPA and PIPA. Lebanese blogger Mireille Raad has written an explanation for why Lebanese citizens should care about these bills. She writes:

Being a lebanese, doesn’t stop you from being an internet user – the SOPA will affect the internet in a bad way and it involves websites outside the US, and that’s yours…

…You should care and be pissed of, because, like it or not, the internet doesn’t exist in the clouds, it is made of companies that exist in countries and have to answer to local laws despite the fact that internet is “global”. This fact is making people worldwide care about the SOPA legislation – and even though you may feel powerless, you still should care and take online action – because all citizens in cyberspace are created equal and so their actions resonate equally

An earlier post Taiwanese freedom of information activist CK Hung dubs the anti-piracy bills “The Great Firewall of Chinamerica.” In a graphic [zh], the blogger demonstrates his point:

Edit: An English version of the graphic is also available:

He also writes:

掌權者很樂意用 「保護智財」 或 「阻絕色情」、 「和諧社會」 當做永遠不可能吃到口的誘餌來說服公民支持其強化管制網路的法律和政策 (例如選擇便利管制的工具)， 然後藉由這些法律和政策來強化它對公民的資訊監控。 掌權者很樂意公民只看見海市蜃樓， 卻忽略通往海市蜃樓的道路上， 威脅著社會自由民主的 collateral damages。 不論最終的掌權者到底是微軟、 蘋果、 共產黨、 民主黨、 還是共和黨， 受害的永遠都是絕大多數的公民。

而臺灣， 正是這兩大監控勢力交會處的絕佳實驗場所。

Global Voices' own Venezuelan contributor Marianne Diaz explains why she doesn't like the bills [es]:

De cualquier modo, Estados Unidos no es el mundo, y las leyes de propiedad intelectual tienen limitaciones territoriales y varían de país a país. Por ejemplo, en Venezuela, la obra entra en dominio público sesenta años después de la muerte del autor. Sin embargo, mediante la aplicación de SOPA y PIPA, Estados Unidos pretende que a mí, a ti y a cualquier siberiano se le pueda forzar a cumplir unas limitaciones que no le son aplicables de acuerdo a la ley.

On Twitter, similar conversations are happening. From the UK, @GokhanKaratay writes:

I really do hope #SOPA and #PIPA bills aren't passed through the senate. Legislation against piracy is needed, but that really isn't the way

Pointing out the participation of Argentine video platform Cuevana, @Gaby_xoa points out:

#Cuevana uniéndose al apagón #ANTISOPA que cuarta la libre expresión!!! twitpic.com/88nzkg

What you can do to stop SOPA and PIPA

Although the international community is limited in how they can affect an American bill, the solidarity expressed in opposition to both bills is certainly helpful to U.S.-based activists.  Aside from the aforementioned examples, bloggers have found numerous creative ways to do so, such as adding an anti-SOPA or anti-PIPA Twibbon or blacking out their WordPress blog.  Fight for the Future is encouraging the international community to sign a petition to the State Department. But just writing about the implications of the two bills can help.

American citizens, on the other hand, have plenty of options. Here are just a few ways to get involved:

• The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a petition as well as a guide to meeting with representatives.
• Fight for the Future's Stop American Censorship project is hosting a letter-writing campaign.
• Free Press has a campaign to petition television networks to report on the bills.

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One of the major results of the conference was the second commitment of the Kyoto Protocol, the only legally binding international treaty to reduce green house emissions. However, the commitment was weak, as major polluters like Canada, US, Japan, Russia, Australia and New Zealand refused to sign into this second period.

Climate activists and organizations of civil society were disappointed about the outcomes of the conference, especially because countries agreed to a new legal instrument that will replace the Kyoto Protocol by 2020, when urgent action is needed.

Here are were some of the most relevant conclusions written by the trackers:

South Africa tracker Alex Lenferna reports on the final events in the post “An Interim Disappointment at COP 17″:

I should be on a bus home now; instead I’m sitting in the ICC waiting for the proverbial white smoke to emerge as ministers try to bring COP17 to a close. Last night was supposed to be the closing night for COP 17, but there has been much disagreement among the global community around some very problematic texts that are being discussed around long-term cooperative action and the Kyoto Protocol…

Farrukh Zaman, following Pakistan, writes in “Decisions at COP17: Delayed or Derailed?”:

So while the delay has happened at COP17, let’s hope the negotiations don’t get derailed by postponing them till next year. But just one thing of caution, even though time has and is running out, we don’t need haste decisions; rather we want fair, ambitious and balanced package out of Durban. If that can’t happen here, then COP bis can be our last resort.

France tracker Sébastien Duyck in “Endless conference towards an agreement on never ending negotiations” concludes:

Regarding negotiations for a comprehensive agreement that would include legally binding targets for emissions reduction, the Presidency proposes yet another extension of the discussions. This approach convinces few among the observers still in the conference venue. It appears that we keep relaying on the same solutions (creating a new ad-hoc working group…), despite the fact that they have already been tested repeatedly in the past and have not delivered any successful outcome since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997.

Daily Trackers meeting - COP17, Durban. Photo by Andrea Arzaba

In “Do białego rana. Noc kobiet” (”Until dawn. Women's Night”), Milosz Hordun, Poland's tracker, says:

Ta noc należy do kobiet. Po pierwsze jest Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, przewodnicząca obradom. Zdecydowanie zmęczona ostatnimi dwoma tygodniami. Stara się skutecznie prowadzić strony do celu, udowadniając że afrykański COP może być skuteczny i przełomowy. Często jednak się gubi w procedurach, musi prosić o wsparcie sekretariatu. Jest Conni Hedegaard, unijna komisarz. Także na jej twarzy maluje się zmęczenie. Widać, że trudno jest jej znosić ogromną presję psychiczną, związaną z rozbratem między oczekiwaniami wielu Europejczyków oraz środowisk ekologicznych na całym świecie a możliwościami negocjacyjnymi.

Priti Rajagopalan, from India, summarized the conference's accomplishments in the post “COP17-This is what happened“:

5.18am, International Convention Center, Durban

The verdict is out. What was accomplished at Durban.

1) Something called the Durban railtrack or trackroad ..oh, wait…platform.
2) Empty second commitment period
3) Empty green climate fund
4) Sleepy people most of whom had left by the time the final verdict was given.
5) How manipulative, apparently transparent democratic , multilateral process works.
6) People are looking for CBDR and Bali. If someone finds it, please return it.
7) Unclear mitigation target.
8) Massive failure of a peaceful kind.

To read other final posts of trackers following the United States, Mexico, Australia, China, Canada and New Zealand, among many others,  visit Adopt a Negotiator Project webpage.

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Global Voices' author, Maria Grabowski, interviews Heather Jarvis, the co-founder of the first SlutWalk initiative based in Toronto, Canada. Here, they talk about the background of the movement and its quick spread to the rest of the world. [See Jarvis' Toronto SlutWalk speech here].

Heather Jarvis came up with the SlutWalk idea as a direct response to a Toronto police officer's advice that female students avoid “avoid dressing like sluts”:

We threw it right back. Let's talk about sluts then, victim-blaming and slut-shaming. […] We had had enough - it had been a harsh year against women’s rights.

She tells the story about a rapist in a local area that wasn't convicted, as the judge concluded that the victim [had] “put sex in the air”, referring to her tube top and make-up.

Hitting a nerve

Heather Jarvis, used with permission.

Heather believes that the SlutWalk concept hit a nerve in many people:

Everybody knows how it feels like to be called a dehumanizing word. Maybe SlutWalk is an entry point for people that didn't know where to go to.

Only six weeks from sparking the idea, the event took place with 3-4,000 people attending. She describes this first walk as unbelievable and inspiring: “It was an amazing multi-layered atmosphere. […] Some were crying, some were yelling.”

Women of all ages attended, together with children, men, sex workers and queer groups. All seemed to be there to back each other up. Heather accounts how everyone around a rape victim is also deeply affected - both family, partners and friends – and that they also need support.

The word spread quickly through Facebook and Twitter for the TorontoWalk and is still rolling throughout the world (see GV coverage on SlutWalks in Costa Rica, Brazil, India, Morocco, Australia).

“We weren't expecting this,” Heather comments. She tells how many independent SlutWalk groups don't even contact the Toronto group, but just go ahead with it and find their own form embedded in their local culture. Slutwalk Toronto provides supports to new groups that want it, but Heather's advice is to do whatever you can, wherever you are, and connect with other organizations to stand stronger.

To the critics of SlutWalk, Heather responds: “We believe in dialogue. It's absolutely okay that not everyone agrees.”

She emphasizes that the purpose also is to build bridges, and her hope is that critics will contact SlutWalk so they can talk about in a respectful way. “We are all in a learning curve,” she explains.

This post is part of our special coverage SlutWalks 2011.

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Colombian videographer José Alejandro González has been documenting and sharing the lives of the homeless people of Colombia for years, and last year with The Insider Project many of these video documentaries came together in a couple of longer films: The Truth and The House.

Homele$$ by Bob With CCBy

The Truth follows several homeless in Bogota, Colombia, who speak about their lives, touching on political, social and economical aspects of homelessness. One of those interviewed is a 15 year old who tells of his estrangement from his family, his drug addiction, his forays into the most dangerous parts of towns to get drugs and his wish to be able to be “fine” and go home to spend Christmas with his family on the other side of the city:

The House takes us inside the “home” of a homeless person: underneath a manhole cover and into an underground wiring station beneath the streets of downtown Bogota. There, Darío Acosta has his bed, books, radio, battery powered light and his imaginary dog.

Mark used to be homeless in the 1990s, living on Hollywood Blvd in Los Angeles, addicted to drugs and selling pictures of his iguana to tourists. Today, he heads the Invisible People project, where he goes around the US and Canada asking homeless to tell their stories and advocating for their rights.

On a visit to Canada, he noticed the connection between the First People and homelessness and he then tried not only to get their stories and show the unique situation faced by them while maintaining cultural sensitivity but also, hopefully, to change their situation:

The following interview is with Dave Ward, director of aboriginal relations at Homeward Trust Edmonton. This is an important conversation. David talks about aboriginal culture and solutions to ending homelessness. Too me, I think the biggest is listening. We need to listen to their culture and include aboriginal people in the process of finding and implementing solutions.

One of the striking interviews is the one featuring Alma. She's a homeless grandmother in Winnipeg who is putting herself through college in the hope that having an education will empower her and increase her chances of getting back her granddaughter from child protective services as she becomes able to give her a better life:

There are many other videos in the Invisible People YouTube channel, and you can also follow Mark on Twitter as user @invisiblepeople.

In Bradford, England, Hope Housing provides opportunities for homeless people who don't classify for benefits, most of them because they are immigrants who no longer have their documents, are unemployed and have to turn to squatting or living on the streets to survive.

In their video The Not So Promised Land, they focus on the problems faced by economic migrants, those who came from the Eastern European countries in search of work opportunities in the UK, only to find that it was going to be harder than they thought. Hope Housing gives them a hand so they don't need to stay on the streets and help so they can find what they went to the UK to seek: work.

Diamond Stylz describes herself as a a proud transgendered woman of color from Indianapolis, Indiana but currently living in Houston, Texas. In her YouTube channel she discusses many topics regarding gender, race and sexuality.

In this video she goes back to her experience in homelessness and how she discovered that as a non-HIV positive transgender woman she wouldn't be accepted in shelters for women, men or HIV positive trans people, so had she not had someone to give her a hand and get on her feet, the system would have basically turned its back on her.

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The subjects were (and still are) diverse: from civil movements, social equality, and the effects of new technologies, to climate justice. Participants discussed the role of technology in empowering communities, the necessary changes in the relationship between citizens and governments, the online and offline world, movements in the Arab world, and the role of youth in building new societies.

Between activists, academics, workers, thinkers and bloggers, the discussions filled webpages, posts, tweets and other media. Ideas where exchanged with the purpose of continuing with the activities that have made changes in civil participation visible.

In order to maintain ideas flowing, here are some posts that covered the assembly, particularly during the end of it. The discussions are far from over, and the more you read and share, the better!

Paul McAdams wrote his reflections in a letter dedicated to his children. He named it “You can make a difference”:

The people I met agreed that “new technologies” like Twitter and Facebook and YouTube and text messages (none of which were ever new to you) are important tools to connect us together and learn more about struggles happening half a world away. But (…) is not enough.

Anna Mazgal says in her post “All Kinds of Mushrooms”:

I think big thanks go to both the facilitators and the audience that posed very good questions to inspire the rest and avoided easy answers. Any answer conceived in an hour-and-a-half workshop would be strikingly false on the issue that still belongs to the future.

In the post “When Communities of the Poor Empower Themselves“, written by one of the organizers, there were some interesting thoughts:

The heady events we have come to know as the Arab Spring are just one recent example of the aspirations of millions of people in North Africa and the Middle East for a greater say in their lives, for more just and economically equitable societies. In many other countries, from Brazil to Thailand to Senegal – to name only a representative few – social movements already decades old have also been struggling to define their own development processes.

Finally, in a blog post in French, Sophie Verdon shares her conclusions :

(…) la participation citoyenne est bel et bien présente à travers le monde, les citoyens de partout veulent exercer leur pouvoir citoyen de diverses façons. Le contexte amène souvent des complications à cet exercice, mais la volonté y est! Le pouvoir du nombre et la solidarité pourront amener les citoyens à se mobiliser (…). Profitons de la conjoncture favorable qui nous est offerte ici, et dont nous ne profitons malheureusement pas assez…! Tout cela est en émergence et en évolution constante, tout cela m’a beaucoup inspirée.

Tristan Brand | CIVICUS World Assembly 2011 - Used with permission

This is just a small sample. It is worth going to the Assembly's blog and reviewing what has been said. Bloggers have shared their perspectives in English, French and Spanish, and through various tweets.

The hope is that after this event more voices in favor of empowering citizens will join in. Ideas and experiences gain strength when they are shared, as we have seen before. Technology has come to the aid of those who did not attend CIVICUS: the videos of the conferences are available here. The public space is open, may ideas keep flowing!

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Hello world!

In this edition of the Global Voices podcast we talk all about language. You can find many articles on this theme on our Languages and Internet special coverage page. The way we speak, write, gesture, code and communicate is such a rich topic for discussion that it was hard to pick what to go for in the podcast. Hopefully you’ll find food for thought in our conversations here.

Global Voices Podcast 2: Speaking Our Language by globalvoices

Updated tradition

To begin, our Managing Editor, Solana Larsen talks to Global Voices Israel author Dr. Carmel Vaisman about her new book Hebrew Online (available for purchase in Hebrew from Keter Books). It’s fascinating to hear about the origins of Hebrew, and how it has grown and evolved with with use over time.

Geography and tongue

Online or offline the languages we speak and write say a lot about who we are. A choice of official language for a nation can also reveal much more than just communication. Sara Moreira is Global Voices’ Portuguese Language editor. She told us about her journalistic patch that is not just geographical or topical but more closely linked to language.

Telling tales

It’s not just where we are talking of course but what we have to say that makes language so intriguing. Claire Ulrich is the editor of Global Voices in French site and the assistant editor for Francophone content. Claire highlights the prolific work of Global Voices translator Boukary Konate and his work communicating life in Mali. Claire tells us about some Tales from the Village that we could all learn something from.

Coded messages

Not all language is something we speak and write of course. It’s also something we use to make things online. Jeremy Clarke is the man behind the code and design of the multi-lingual Global Voices websites. To say the least he has a lot to do, and we can all thank him for making sure GV is here and that all contributors and readers can access it. We talked about what it is like to run such a big site with so many people, and how the language of code can also be political.

That’s all for this edition of the Global Voices podcast, but we’ll be back with more for you to listen to soon. Please feel free to leave us a comment or suggestion for next time.

Music credits

In the podcast you can hear lots of lovely Creative Commons music. If you want to find out more about these artists here are the links for you.

Thanks to Orb Gettarr for the atmospheric Return of the Atlanteans Lemurian Candidate, to Mark Cotton for his Spiritualized Homage, to Superbus feat. NS for Fujjad! Most of the music was found via OpSound.Org, The Free Music Archive or direct from the artists. Thanks also to all of the wonderful voice over performances and clips that help to glue the podcast together.

Thanks for listening and we look forward to sharing the next Global Voices podcast!

This post is part of our special coverage Languages and the Internet.

Written by Jamillah Knowles · comments (0)
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