[Foundation-l] [Wikimania-l] Wikimania 2008 will happen in Alexandria, Egypt

Wed Oct 10 18:37:09 UTC 2007

I personally object to the decision of the jury and hope the location
is changed and the decision overturned on the following basis:

Safety of conference participants, namely transgendered and
transsexual individuals. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals are at
a significantly lower level of risk.

The risk for T. individuals is so great that it would be totally
unsafe for them to enter the country at all.

This is not a matter of boycotting a country because we disagree with
its politics, this is a matter of not holding a conference in a
country because we cannot ensure the safety of ALL participants.

Just because you are not transgendered or transsexual yourself does
not mean it is not your responsibility to ensure that people who wish
to participate who ARE are not as safe as possible.

Mark

On 10/10/2007, Oldak Quill <oldakquill at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 10/10/2007, Aude <audevivere at gmail.com> wrote:
> > In this thread, I see people raising the issues regarding the Egyptian
> > government.  As we know, it's not a democracy and the Egyptian people did
> > not choose the government.  The government there is more repressive, but not
> > so much so (like Burma) that we can't have Wikimania there.  To penalize
> > Egyptian Wikimedians (and those from Jordan and other nearby places), for
> > what their government does is not cool with me.
>
> Deciding to not hold Wikimania in a particular country is not
> penalisation of those who live there. People from that country would
> be free to attend Wikimania, where ever it is held.
>
> > At the same time, I know plenty of people from Europe, Canada, the Middle
> > East and elsewhere in the world... I don't necessarily approve of things my
> > government does, and it's important that they distinguish me (as an
> > individual American), from what my government does (including providing
> > enormous amounts of aid to the Egyptian government and other undemocratic
> > regimes).
> >
> > http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0412/p07s01-wome.html
> > http://www1.usaid.gov/our_work/features/egypt/
> > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/12/AR2006061201286.html
> >
> > Thinking about that, if you are not happy with repressive things the
> > Egyptian government does, maybe it's time to write congress, ask questions
> > of the U.S. presidential candidates, etc. about our policy of supporting
> > such regimes.
> >
> > http://www.house.gov/writerep/
> > http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
>
> My objection to Egypt is more pragmatic than this. The fact that GLBT
> Wikimedians may be put in danger of arrest (and female Wikimedians in
> danger of harassment) by holding the conference in Egypt is enough to
> rule it out by my standards. This worry is particularly apparent if
> GLBT Wikimedians wish to attend the conference with their partners.
> Are two people of the same sex allowed to share double rooms in hotels
> in Egypt?
>
> Prosecution of homosexuality in Egypt:
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4302213,00.html
>
> en.wikipedia's "LGBT rights in Egypt" article
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Egypt) details arrests of
> gay tourists in Egypt.
>
> --
> Oldak Quill (oldakquill at gmail.com)
>
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