G8 SUMMIT IN ITALY

The G8, with its enlarged number of 40 states and organisations, is currently meeting in L’Aquila, in Italy. And many online initiatives are allowing net users to quiz world leaders on topics such as climate change.

The international NGO, Oxfam has set up a Twitter link to let net users express their concerns regarding the future of the world via messages or images.

The ‘World Vision’ organisation has launched a video campaign to call on G8 leaders to respect their commitments in terms of combating hunger in particular. A video which directs viewers to this online petition requesting that heads of state act for the well being of children around the world.

And it was to children that the UN’s Millennium campaign wished to give a voice. Here, Italian school children address their messages to the heads of state assembled in L’Aquila. This little boy states that he will no longer trust them if they go back on their word.

An Italian NGO, campaigning to combat hunger, posted online this interactive game to encourage net users to put pressure on G8 leaders. An initiative supported by many Italian celebrities.

Meanwhile, anti-globalisation demonstrators also rallied and organised a counter-summit. And as these videos, available online testify, several protests degenerated into clashes with police.

‘In Honduras, nothing serious is going on, the situation is stable!’ This is the very ironic message of this video, available on share sites. A message in response to the excessive recourse to force by the country’s authorities against deposed President, Manuel Zelaya’s supporters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCzkJf2vVnU

And on the web, videos like this, denouncing the repression by the army and the violence suffered by many citizens are multiplying. Images showing the brutality of clashes between police and protesters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JBKoEy5GyM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1_DxM9RKdU

On his Flickr page, this net user is diffusing photos taken since Zelaya’s deposition on June 28. Images which show the current tension in the streets of the capital, Tegucigalpa.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36569061@N04/

Others are using social networks Facebook in particular, to encourage mobilisation against what is considered a coup d’etat. Several groups have been created in recent days, requesting President Zelaya’s return.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=101420832530

But the deposed President’s detractors are also as active on the web. These videos of protests organised this week against his return to the country were widely broadcast online. And on the social networks, many net users describe him as a dictator.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c2zlIvhQMU

This US blogger living in Honduras, testifies to the situation in the country. He explains that teachers have been on strike since Zelaya’s deposition. A movement which could spread to other sectors and bring the country to a halt.

JAPANESE IMPERIAL ARMY MAPS

Japanese researchers are currently posting Imperial army maps online in order to study deforestation and urban expansion in Asia. These documents, of which the oldest dates back to 1880, offer a detailed land-survey of zones once occupied or colonised by the Empire of the Rising Sun. But given the military nature of the maps, the project has caused a wave of criticism in countries which were once under Japanese rule.

http://dbs.library.tohoku.ac.jp/gaihozu/

CYCLING AND LITTERATURE

The Tour de France has inspired many writers and this site allows you to discover them with a series of extracts, inviting visitors to consider the relationship between literature and cycling. The site’s creator offers a literary chronology of the Tour, information on doping, a cycling bestiary compiled from the literary works of famous authors and many texts available for download.

In 1992, the American association of software editors broadcast this video in which a rapper called MC DP attempted in vain, to dissuade young people from pirating videos by copying them onto disks. 17 years later, MC DP is back with a new video. And although technology has evolved, the message remains the same: “pirating is a crime that can land you in jail”.