Global Voices Online

The beatroot writes about Wojciech Wierzejski, the homophobic spokesman for the League of Polish Families, one of the three parties that make up Poland’s government coalition.

Aaron Fowles of p3 writes about young Polish friends who are planning to go to England to earn some money: “England is a shangri-la for many Polish people. It's the local version of the American dream: Work hard, earn money, be happy. Learn English for free.” Becca of Boo shares a story of one Pole's awkward encounter with an overly friendly - and overly emotional - Canadian salesperson: “‘We live in Poland' I answered, ‘Marek's Polish, I'm English'. The man looked geniunely interested as he turned to Marek. ‘I always raise my hat to Poles' Marek looked confused so the guy continued, ‘in World War Two they really held their ground.'”

Antropologi.info is justifiably troubled by the deportation and beating of Chilean Anthropologist Valentina Palma when she went to San Salvador Atenco on Thursday, May 4 to document protests that erupted there. We will have much more on San Salvador Atenco and the reaction it has inspired later in the week.

Jamaican Francis Wade at Chronicles from a Caribbean Cubicle thinks about customer service in the Caribbean. “There is not a single island I have visited in which there is a local company giving excellent service to local people.” He tries to understand why, and congratulates the Sandals resort chain for being an exception.

An online initiative takes off in Chennai to move volunteers to work towards being able to use the Right to Information Act.

Or how I leart to stop worrying comments on the information released on the two Bangladeshi detainees at Guantanamo Bay. “The information released by the Pentagon, on close examination, suggests that after 4 years of detention the United States Government does not have complete or accurate information on, at the very least, the Bangladeshi detainees.”

“Monday was Common Entrance Exam day in Barbados,” writes Titilayo at The Pan Collective. She explains why this exam (sometimes called 11-plus), which determines which secondary schools children will attend, is such a big deal. “To a child that age, it can probably feel like your entire future is hanging in the balance.”

Lahore Metroblogging on a young student Aamir. “Aamir Cheema was a student in Germany. Apparently he went to assassinate the editor of Die Welt newspaper for publishing the infamous cartoons. Security arrested him in the lobby of the building and he was allegedly carrying a knife and told the police that he was going to kill the editor.”

Text messaging in India has found use across sectors. From finding cricket scores, to booking rituals in a temple. Kamla on the SMS culture in India.