[Foundation-l] Concern for the safety of Wikimedians at Wikimania in Alexandria.

Tue Mar 4 06:58:13 UTC 2008

I think Brianna has brought up some excellent points.  I haven't seen anyone
bring up traveler's registration for US citizens so I'll mention it now.

US citizens can go to https://travelregistration.state.gov and register
their travel with the US State Department.  When you provide your trip
details and e-mail address, the local embassy or consulates provide you with
contact information and any alerts you need to be aware of.  When traveling
to Istanbul over New Year's Eve, my group received an e-mail about an
attempted suicide bombing in their subway and the subsequent cancellation of
most activities in their equivalent of Times Square (Taksim Meydanuh).
Since we hadn't been paying as close attention to their English newspapers
as we should have, it ended up being very helpful.

Apparently in the extremely unlikely event that all US citizens were advised
to evacuate from wherever you're staying, they will assist in your
evacuation.  On the travel registration website, they also provide this
information in their FAQ:
**

   - *How can the embassy or consulate assist me while I am abroad?*

   - U.S. consular officers assist Americans who encounter serious legal,
   medical, or financial difficulties. Although consular officers cannot act as
   your legal counsel or representative, they can provide the names of local
   attorneys and doctors, provide loans to destitute Americans, and provide
   information about dangerous conditions affecting your overseas travel or
   residence. Consular officers also perform non-emergency services, helping
   Americans with absentee voting, selective service registration, receiving
   federal benefits, and filing U.S. tax forms. Consular officers can
   notarize documents, issue passports, and register American children born
   abroad. Most embassies and consulates have web sites with more information.

It seems like the kind of service you never expect to use, but is nice to
have anyways.  While I don't think there exists any credible reason for
anyone to avoid Alexandria, I think this is one free way you can minimize
risk and stay informed while abroad.

-Justin

On Tue, Mar 4, 2008 at 1:12 AM, Brianna Laugher <brianna.laugher at gmail.com>
wrote:

> On 04/03/2008, Dan Rosenthal <swatjester at gmail.com> wrote:
> >   It's not a hypothetical at all. The conference IS putting those
> >  individuals at significant security risk, says the Australian embassy.
> >  "We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in Egypt because
> >  of the high threat of terrorist attack." " Political developments in
> >  the region may prompt large demonstrations across the region,
> >  including in Egypt. These demonstrations could turn violent and should
> >  be avoided."
> [...]
> >  To characterize the above as mere unease is a grave disservice.
>
> The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT) rates
> travel destinations on a scale of 5, where 5 is "Do not travel" and 4
> is "Reconsider your need to travel". Egypt is level 3, "High degree of
> caution".
> Levels 2 and 1 are "Exercise caution" and "Be alert to own security".
> So it's not like at any time they are heaping encouragements on anyone
> travelling overseas.
>
> Canada's classification on Egypt is also level 2 of 4 (their 4 are
> Exercise normal security precautions / Exercise high degree of caution
> / Avoid non-essential travel / Avoid all travel).
>
> If you read the government advisories without interpreting them to
> your own sensibilities you would never travel overseas anywhere. And
> if you're that concerned then fine; don't travel overseas. But then
> you would probably not attend a Wikimania anyway.
>
> To quote government travel advisories verbatim as gospel is also a
> disservice. Most travellers will take those classifications into
> consideration... but it's not like they instantly mean it's a no-go
> zone. Limiting risk vs limiting interesting experiences. same
> trade-off as ever.
>
> regards,
> Brianna
>
> --
> They've just been waiting in a mountain for the right moment:
> http://modernthings.org/
>
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