neweurasia is relaunching!
16 May, 2009
Up up and away!
Our website has been temporarily deactivated for the extent of this process. Contact Christopher Schwartz (schwartz@neweurasia.net) and Yelena Jetpyspayeva (yelena@neweurasia.net) for updates.
Сайт проекта neweurasia временно закрыт на реконструкцию. Уже совсем скоро Вы сможете видеть и читать его обновленную версию с новыми интересными возможностями. По любым вопросам, связанным с проектом, смело обращайтесь к Кристоферу Шварцу (schwartz@neweurasia.net) и Елене Джетпыспаевой (yelena@neweurasia.net). Мы будем рады ответить на них!
Ғафу етіңіз, «Жаңаеуразия» вебсайтында жаңалау жұмыстары жүргізілуде. Көп күттірмей сайт өзінің жаңа келбетімен көпшілікке қайта қызмет етпек. Қосымша мәліметтер үшін Кристофер Шварцқа (schwartz@neweurasia.net) немесе Елена Джетпыспаеваға (yelena@neweurasia.net) хабарласуыңызды сұраймыз.
The contest announced last week to make Uncle Sam a Central Asian is being extended to this Sunday, May 17, midnight (GMT).
- Please focus on trying to put a Central Asian “spin” on the image. Focus on the religious and ethnic heritage of the region.
- Please do not include any text in your image. neweurasia will provide our own slogans to accompany it.
- Send it to me as a jpg file.
Also, here are some tips:
- If you want to go for the “traditionally Soviet” style, check out this image and this image. These are Soviet recruitment posters from the Second World War.
- If you want to go for something more religious, remember, although Islam is the dominant faith tradition of the region, it is not the only one. Consider Russian Orthodoxy and Bukharan Judaism.
- If you want to go ethnic heritage, then you have a huge array of options, from the Mongolian to the Afghan to the Turkic. (Personally, I would love to see Uncle Sam in a woolen Afghan cap!)
- And if you’re feeling lazy, slap a turban on Uncle Sam and see how he looks.
Good luck!
To all graphic artists:
The neweurasia network is launching a new recruitment and advertisement drive. We need the image of America’s most famous icon, Uncle Sam, to be “Russianized”, “Sovietized”, or “Islamified”.
The winning image will first appear on the new neweurasia website. It will then appear on pdfs and posters that we will be spreading throughout the online and offline worlds.
Deadline:
- Midnight (GMT) this Sunday!
Prize:
- €50 / ≈$70
- “Uncle Sam image by…” credit on all reproductions
Keep in mind that hundreds of thousands of people will see this image and associate it with both neweurasia and your name. So use your imagination — but be quick!
Additional rules:
- Please do not include any text in your image.
- Send it to me as a jpg file.
Good luck!
Chris Schwartz
Managing Editor, English
Mobile: +31 6 191 51733
Skype: cschwartz2
World Press Freedom Day
3 May, 2009
Today is World Press Freedom Day, an annual day of advocacy for the freedom of the press, as well as commemoration for journalists who are suffering restriction and imprisonment, or have made the ultimate sacrifice, for the sake of the free flow of information. “As they investigate sensitive issues, unveil disturbing truths and question policies, journalists find themselves in the firing line of those directly or indirectly exposed by their reports,” writes the World Association of Newspapers.
In the lead-up to the event, four members of Reporters Sans Frontiers have have been on a hunger strike since this past Tuesday in support of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who has been sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran on a charge of spying for the United States. The day before, in Paris, the RSF also staged an event for the two Asian-American journalists currently being held by the North Koran government. “The detention of Saberi, Lee and Ling on arbitrary charges demonstrates more than ever the importance of World Press Freedom Day,” writes the RSF.
Obviously, if journalists from the world’s leading power aren’t safe, then imagine the insecurity faced by journalists and their support staff throughout the world. For example, according to a source who wishes to remain anonymous, Radio Free Europe’s Afghanistan service, Radio Azadi, routinely receives threats from the Taliban. Last year, two of its reporters were kidnapped by the insurgent group, but were later freed. As of this past Wednesday, group has threatened a suicide bombing against Radio Azadi’s main bureau in Kabul.
Freedom of the press saves lives. “Azadi has a real impact in the country,” the source writes in an e-mail “A would-be suicide bomber once called them and said, ‘Thanks to your programs, I have decided not to explode myself.’ Can you imagine?”
Read the full post @ neweurasia…
Well, it seems the memory card of my antique Olympus D-380 has finally croaked. Below are the last photos I was able to take before the untimely demise. Pictured is the Binnenhof, the “within (binnen) enclosure/fortress (hof)” which serves as the seat of parliament. The building, magisterial in countenance yet pointy with iron chimneys, dates back to the 18th Century. It’s quite possibly situated upon the “haag” (enclosing hedge) for which the city is named. Click on the photos to read other bloggers’ impressions of the building, as well as to see more photos.
Inside the courtyard is a plaque with a moving inscription memorializing the deaths of 54 Dutch intelligence agents who fought against the Nazi attack upon the building. It reads,
Zij sprongen in de dood voor onze vrijheid.
They leapt into death for our freedom.
Much to my joy, I was able to decipher this entirely on my own! I’ve thrown myself into the language here and I’m pleased to report that it’s been really enlightening me as to the what the Germanic languages have in common. The grammar is very simple and flexible, and Dutch expressions seem to have retained a faint dynamism long since lost in English, as exampled by the inscription.
I’ve been on a tour of the museums here. Thursday I went to the Mauritshuis where I saw the works of Rembrant and Vermeer, and let me tell you, in person you see why these men are called the “Masters”. Friday I went to the MC Escher museum, which, for the boy in me, was a dream come true. I saw some heretofore unpublished prints, including an early work of his entitled, “Paradise” (“Paradijs“). Today I’m going to the municipal historical museum. Would you believe that these are all within a few blocks of each other?!
By the way, the internet in my apartment is really spotty. If you don’t hear from me for a day or two, don’t worry. Hopefully the Apocalypse in the form of the Mexican Swine Flu hasn’t killed off me and the rest of the Netherlands. 
