Gerard, as a queer black trans person who feels unsafe even in San
Francisco (and has felt that way for years), I would really appreciate
you not pushing last night's election results in my face to make a point.
- Pax
On 11/9/16 8:24 AM, Gerard Meijssen wrote:
Hoi,
Do you blame me for not feeling safe going to the USA?
Thanks,
GerardM
On 8 November 2016 at 11:08, Gerard Meijssen <gerard.meijssen(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hoi,
> Not going to North Corolina is absolutely fine with me. We do not gain
> anything by going there arguably not to any state in the United States.
> What Wikimania is, is a platform for propaganda for what we have, what we
> do, who we are and how we do what we do. In many countries Wikipedia is not
> the house hold name it is in the USA.
>
> Wikimania is not aimed for the English Wikipedia, it is aimed to further
> our movement. Not going to places is similar to saying that those other
> people, speaking other languages, with an other culture do not matter. They
> do.
>
> We should go to Russia, India, South Africa, China. The people of those
> countries should matter to us, the people we could share the sum of all
> knowledge with.
>
> THAT is what we do, sharing the sum of all knowledge.
>
> When the choice of the venue is only about being safe, we should not go to
> the USA (I do not feel safe there), we should go to Germany, to Switzerland
> and move the office as well. It is not likely to happen, not what I want
> either.
>
> If there is one thing about LBGT, it is that that struggle is still being
> fought. Hiding and keeping away does not work. It does not help the LBGT
> community. More importantly in this context it does not help the Wikimedia
> community. For the latter it is vital to make our message heard.We aim to
> share the sum of all knowledge and many people have not even heard of us.
> Thank,
> GerardM
>
> On 18 October 2016 at 16:00, Pax Ahimsa Gethen <
> list-wikimedia(a)funcrunch.org> wrote:
>
>> Gerard, this isn't about "holiday destinations", it's about
human rights
>> and dignity. That's why I emphasized in my original post that I'm
concerned
>> not only about the safety of conference attendees, but also about those
>> living in the host country. The choice of a venue in a location with a poor
>> human rights record reflects poorly upon Wikipedia/Wikimedia and our
>> mission to share knowledge. There's a reason a number of major companies
>> pulled their events and funding out of North Carolina after the restrictive
>> restroom laws were passed for example...
>>
>> - Pax
>>
>>
>>
>> On 10/18/16 6:26 AM, Gerard Meijssen wrote:
>>
>>> Hoi,
>>> For me safety is to a large extend secondary to what we aim to achieve.
>>> Our
>>> primary goal is to improve on our primary goal and it is "sharing in
the
>>> sum of all knowledge". It is not for going to the perfect holiday
>>> destination.
>>> Thanks,
>>> GerardM
>>>
>>> On 18 October 2016 at 13:56, Fæ <faewik(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Gerard, could you provide some tangible examples of how other safety
>>>> aspects of Wikimania would be compromised if there is any specific
>>>> attention paid to the safety of LGBT+ Wikimedians? I cannot imagine
>>>> how such a thing could be true.
>>>>
>>>> Based on my reading, nobody in this thread has asked for the safety of
>>>> LGBT+ attendees to be "prioritized" over other safety aspects.
Please
>>>> don't make it appear as if they have.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Fae
>>>>
>>>> On 18 October 2016 at 11:42, Gerard Meijssen
<gerard.meijssen(a)gmail.com
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hoi,
>>>>> I do care that everybody can come to places where they are safe. All
>>>>> the
>>>>> specific LGBT attention to safety is however on many levels
problematic
>>>>> when we prioritise this over other safety aspects. The big picture
for
>>>>> me
>>>>> is that we need to go to places where bringing Wikipedia and what it
>>>>>
>>>> stands
>>>>
>>>>> for the most good. It is why I would go to Russia, to China to India
to
>>>>> South Africa.
>>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> faewik(a)gmail.com
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae
>>>>