Bahai Rights Day

Re-posted from the Muslim Network for Bahai Rights:

For many months, we have been thinking about creating a dayin which everyone can become aware of Baha’i human rights abuses. We approached our friends at Iran Press Watch with the idea and we agreed upon July 11 in order to mark Baha’i Rights Day, a day dedicated to support the human rights for members of the Baha’i faith.

We are working on developing content and more ideas to make this day as influential and effective as possible, however this is impossible without your help and participation.

[...]  We rely on people like you to help make this day possible, despite the short notice. Please start spreading the word as much as possible through all your networks and mailing lists and let’s achieve this worldwide Baha’i Rights Day where we all unite regardless of our race or religion to support Baha’is everywhere!

Thank you.

Go to the official Bahai Rights Day website or continue reading to see how you can help.

neweurasia is relaunching!

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.

Central Asian Uncle Sam contest extension (with tips)

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!

Contest announcement: Russianize this famous American icon

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

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…

Rocking the casbah @ barcamp

Above: Talking about neweurasia at the Almaty barcamp.  Click here to see the photos in full size.  Read coverage of the event by Mursya (ENG, RUS) and Elena (ENG, RUS).   The powerpoint presentation is available via SlideShare (ENG), and to view more photos, check out the barcamp blog (ENG, RUS).

Mursya reports on regular media coverage of the event (ENG, RUS).  Meanwhile, Musa reports on the Caspian region’s own barcamp event (ENG, RUS).

BarCamp Central Asia 2009 starts registering participants

The next “barcamp” format conference, i.e., an open, non-commercial educational conference for New Media specialists, for Central Asia will take place in Almaty on April 17-19.

By way of background, the term “barcamp” was invented by web 2.0 pioneer Tim O’Reilly to describe the difference between a traditional (i.e., boring) conference, wherein participants don’t really participate, simply listen, and a conference in which everyone potentially can become an organizer, speaker,and  presenter.

BarCamp Central Asia 2009 will be gathering together the “Kaznet” community – journalists, programmers, bloggers, web-designers, web-developers, etc., for three days during which they will be making presentations, sharing interests, exchanging experiences, actively and mutually listening, and co-creating the projects.

The conference is intended to have a worldwide effect, and already, we’re accomplishing that goal.  The conference’s website has been active for only one week, but according to Google Analytics, more than 700 visitors from 31 countries have already visited it.

The registration for participants starts on March, 19th, 2009, at www.barcampkz.net

Participation is free for private person.

Reposted from neweurasia’s homebase.