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Kerry gets a helping hand from a young supporter in
Rome(Reuters) | |
The refrain "What happens in America
affects us all", is a common one coming from all four corners of the globe
these days, especially with the US elections just days away.
As
never before, foreigners are figuring out ways to make their views on the
election known. And to a large extent, they are doing it by going online.
From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, non-Americans want to weigh in on the US elections like
never before.
"All over the world, there is a need to have a say, or a wish to have a
say, in this election," says London-based Swedish writer Henrik Delehag.
He and his writing partner, Ben Carey, decided to give non-Americans
what they wanted, namely a chance to weigh in on who should be the next US
president.
The two launched a website called www.globalvote2004.org where
non-Americans can log in and cast their vote for US president.
The plan is to tabulate the votes, and release the results publicly 48
hours before the actual election.
Ben Carey says the internet makes it possible.
"People now understand that getting together in these mass virtual
actions can get through to the mass media and to everyone else as a
result." Mr Carey said.
The site is proving a hit. Late last week, 10 votes per second were
being logged.
"We're getting votes from Armenia, from Venezuela. I'm getting phone
calls from Macedonia. I mean, these are places even I have trouble putting
on the map."
He says the idea is simply to make Americans aware of how the rest of
the world sees the election.
His colleague, Henrik Delehag, admits that they have received some
angry e-mails from US citizens who want foreigners to keep their opinions
to themselves.
"It's a shame, because from the outset we said we do not want this
to come across as something intrusive," says Mr Delehag.
"We spent a lot of time making the site look America-friendly,
non-partisan and all that. But of course, we do get angry replies.
(Agencies) |
對來自世界各地的人們來說，“美國的動態(tài)會影響到我們所有人”的說法已經(jīng)不新鮮了，尤其是在美國大選日趨臨近之際。
和以往不同的是，不少外國人希望他們對大選的看法和立場能夠廣為人知。在很大程度上，他們通過網(wǎng)絡來實現(xiàn)這一目的。
從阿富汗到津巴布韋，“非美國公民”們比以往任何時候都更愿意參與美國大選。
現(xiàn)居住在倫敦的瑞典作家亨里克·德萊哈格說：“全世界的人們需要或希望能夠表達自己對此次大選的看法。”
他和他的寫作搭檔本·凱里決定讓那些“非美國公民”得到他們想要的——一個對誰會當選下一屆美國總統(tǒng)表達看法的機會。
他們兩人創(chuàng)立了一個名叫www.globalvote2004.org的網(wǎng)站，非美國公民們可以在該網(wǎng)站注冊并投票“選舉”美國總統(tǒng)。
他們計劃把投票結果制成表格，并在正式的選舉前48小時對外公布。
本·凱里說，是互聯(lián)網(wǎng)使這一切成為可能。
凱里先生說：“人們現(xiàn)在意識到如果大家能在虛擬網(wǎng)絡中凝聚起來，就能最終影響大眾傳媒和世界上每一個人。”
事實證明這個網(wǎng)站是成功的，上星期晚些時候，統(tǒng)計顯示每秒鐘就有10次投票。
“我們獲得了來自亞美尼亞和委內瑞拉的投票。我還接到了來自馬其頓王國的電話。我想說的是，這些地方連我都很難在地圖上找準。”
他說，這個想法僅僅是為了讓美國人意識到，世界上其他地方的人們是如何看待此次大選的。
他的同事亨里克·德萊哈格承認他們收到了一些言辭激烈的信件，這些信件來自那些希望外國人“少管閑事”的美國市民們。
德萊哈格先生說：“這真是令人羞愧。因為從一開始我們就說了，我們不想讓這件事干擾美國大選。”
“我們花了很多時間讓這個網(wǎng)站看上去對美國比較友好。沒有任何黨派傾向。當然了，我們確實會收到網(wǎng)友們憤慨的回復。”
（中國日報網(wǎng)站譯） |
Updated: 2004-11-01 09:51