The atheist bus campaign is going international… Or to be more precise a whole bunch of different people all over the place have liked what we’ve done in the UK and are doing similar things in their own towns and cities. Here’s a round-up of the international developments!
Bus Kampagne / Germany – the campaign to put buses on the streets in Germany (Köln, München, Berlin) is now online. Site visitors can choose their slogan and make online donations. Berlin and München transport authorities do not want the ads it seems, but the guys are determined to find alternatives.
Atheist Bus / Switzerland (DE | FR | IT) – local bus firms are resisting the advertisements, but this might also result in bans on religious advertising. Paypal donations are possible.
Atheist trams / Croatia – ads appeared for 1 day on trams in Zagreb but were removed after complaints. Freedom of speech in a formerly communist country? News in Croatian here, Google translation from Slovenian here.
Campagna Bus / Italy – despite some legal issues with the bus company the campaign continues in Italy, with €30000 raised so far.
Bus ateo / Spain – buses in Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga with slogans in Spanish and Catalan.
If there are other atheist buses anywhere else please do let us know in the comments!
We were invited to make a presentation at Re:publica ’09 in Berlin about the campaign. Here is the video of the presentation – click Jon’s face to start the video! Then fast forward 5 minutes into the video.
If you can speak Castillian or Catalan then please check out Bus Ateo, the site of the atheist buses in Madrid and Barcelona. If you’re in the United States then atheist buses with ads in a different style have appeared in Washington. If you’re keen on organising similar campaigns in other countries please do drop us a line via the contact page and we can put you in touch with humanists in the relevant countries.
We’ll also be doing a comprehensive press and blog review over the next 48 hours. We’ll manage to cover the mainstream media and blogs in English, French and German and some people have already sent us links (like this excellent list of the Spanish and Italian coverage) but if you’ve yourself written something, or have seen something interesting please comment here or contact us.
In the autumn when the idea of atheist buses first took off the major press coverage outside the UK was in the USA, Spain and Italy. This time around the picture is rather different – at the launch event and subseqently the campaign has been receiving excellent coverage in Germany. A long piece today at Spiegel Online has been so popular that it’s the ‘Most Wanted’ article on their website.
Also a few more photos from site visitors – click each photo to view the full size version. Route 73 in London from Carlosfelipe Pardo, route 122 in running from Cardiff to Tonypandy in South Wales from Gareth Rosser, and a bus in Manchester sent by Phil Moss. Keep sending those contributions to photos {at} atheistcampaign(.)org
A bus on route 4 in York, sent in by Leon Dumont with his enthusiatic colleague in the photo!
The buses are now starting to appear on the streets across the UK – have a look at the Google Map to see if there’s a bus near you. We’ve had confirmed sightings in London, York, Swansea and Oxford so far. If you’ve seen a bus please take a photo of it, and mail the photo to photos {at} atheistbus.org(.)uk
That’s exactly what Alan Perryman did, spotting the above banner on Route 149 in Southwark.
[UPDATE - Sheffield]
This picture from Sheffield has been mailed to us by Ian Anstey.
The atheist bus campaign is going international… Or to be more precise a whole bunch of different people all over the place have liked what we’ve done in the UK and are doing similar things in their own towns and cities. Here’s a round-up of the international developments!
A bus on route 4 in York, sent in by Leon Dumont with his enthusiatic colleague in the photo!
