[Foundation-l] (Flashback) A short (and revised) FAQ about Wikimania in Alexandria

Sat Apr 19 17:09:36 UTC 2008

I'm going to be the odd one out here and agree with both Dan
and thank Mike for his input.

Mike, this is a great start! It gives a basic overview of many of
the questions raised. It needs some more work (consulting with
a specialized firm, in addition to the State Dept. and local team),
but it is certainly a good starting point thus far. Thanks.

Dan, I see where you're coming from I agree to some extent. While
we should not place blind faith in the local team due to their
potential conflict of interest, that does not make their information
inherently bad advice.

On that note, I don't believe Mike was calling out Jewish people
specifically; as someone said above, it's just street smarts. Just
as he said women should avoid overly suggestive clothing. By
that token, I would expect our LGBT members to not walk around
wearing pride shirts either.

Whether you think Egypt is a good choice or not isn't the point. The
point is that when you travel somewhere (ie: Wikimania in Egypt),
you (and everyone) need to remember that people there are different,
and some take heavy offense to something you find otherwise a normal
behavior (ie: yalmulka, bikini on the beach, LGBT pride clothing).

In an ideal world, it would be ok. Sadly, our world isn't ideal.

-Chad

On Sat, Apr 19, 2008 at 12:44 PM, Mike Godwin <mgodwin at wikimedia.org> wrote:
>
>  Guillaume writes:
>
>  > Thank you Mike for this FAQ. However, it seems to me this is the
>  > result of an "internal" assessment conducted by Foundation employees,
>  > with the help of local organizers.
>
>  I'm not sure what you mean by "internal" here, but I consulted with a
>  number of outside experts with relevant experience.  I expect to
>  continue consulting with them and others as the conference gets
>  nearer. The focus on the local team's responses in the FAQ reflects
>  the Egyptian consulate's advice -- that all international conferences
>  work with their local partners to get local advice about how to reduce
>  risk.
>
>
>
>
>  --Mike
>
>
>
>
>
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