No Vatican Love Online

Shocking News: No one is buying into the Vatican’s  YouTube channel.

From Times of London:

It only launched last Friday, but already the papal Youtube channel is losing viewers.

A total of 90,411 hits were registered on Vatican YouTube on its launch day, Jan 24. By Monday, the audience for the English language version of the site, which features videos of Pope Benedict’s addresses had fallen to 31, 558 views, according to the video measuring service TubeMogul.

The channel, which uses existing content broadcast on Vatican tv and radio channels. Users are not permitted to post comments or ratings while the Vatican Channel does not allow for its videos to be embedded on third-party sites, a factor which may prevent the google site from attracting a larger web audience.

The Vatican hopes to broaden Pope Benedict’s outreach through the channel. In his first appearance on Youtube on Friday, the Pope described the internet as a “great family that knows no borders.”

So long as the family doesn’t criticize other family members…

I guess Pope Benedict has at least one thing in common with Barack Obama and Dimitry Medvedev.

Cubans petition for human rights online

Repression of human rights has been a long standing issue in Cuba. Activist Yordis García Fournier is a member of the Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy (CYMD), an organization of students and young professionals that advocates for academic freedom, university autonomy and respect for human rights. He is also director of the independent newsletter, Porvenir. He joined young people from all over Cuba, along with opposition activists from various pro-democracy organizations, to publicly present the first 5,000 signed petitions of the University Students without Borders initiative, which calls for university autonomy, to an audience of diplomats and the media. Because of his activism on various issues, he has been in prison since Oct. 11, where he has been on a hunger strike. Now Cuban activists are rising to the occasion to help Fournier.

Raices de Esperanza is asking Internet users to use their emails to take action. On their website, there is a sample letter (in Spanish), addressing key Cuban officials about Fournier’s plight and seeking his expedient release. Email addresses of these officials are also listed with instructions on how to email them.

Blogging about Muslim Life

The tragic events around the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the July 2005 London bombings, as well as the growing number of Muslims living in Europe and the United States, has brought forth some attempts by many in Western nations to better understand the Islamic faith. Swedish newspaper, Svenska Dagbladet, recently launched Ramadan blog, which is run by three Muslim bloggers who are giving different perspectives on their daily lives throughout the Holy Month.

In recent years, there has been growing tension between Muslim immigrants from Africa and the Middle East and generally progressive Swedes, who lately have turned their attention to right-wing groups that support anti-immigration policies. From religious intolerance to the increasing number of supermarkets selling Halal foods, Ramadan blog gives viewers an alternative window into what it is like to be Muslim today, with the hope of bring peace and reconciliation in the Scandinavian country.

Global Burma Day has a Facebook presence

Description: This Friday marks the 20th anniversary of the Burmese Uprising, when university students began gathering in the capital city of Rangoon to protest the military junta’s suppression of democracy in the country. The uprising ended tragically on September 18 when 3,000 civilians were killed by the junta’s armed forces. These events brought world attention to the Southeast Asian country and made Aung San Suu Kyi an international icon for peace and reconciliation. This weekend protesters will be marking the anniversary with peaceful demonstrations around the world. They are using Facebook to organize their efforts.

Tools Being Used: Facebook

What Are They Doing: The Burma Global Action Network has set up a Facebook group to educate Internet users about the events around the 8.8.88 Uprising and what they see are problems that continue to plague Burma today. Many of the grievances include the Chinese government continuing to block a United Nations arms embargo on Burma while it sells weapons to Burma’s regime and the ongoing problem of getting aid to survivors of Cyclone Nargis. Users can learn about locations of demonstrations this weekend worldwide as well as view campaign videos from organizations like the U.S. Campaign for Burma.