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For me, i think it helped a lot to bring a printed version of that
announcement from Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Whenever they
asked me about what i will do/was doing there, i showed that piece
of paper and then my questions were much more easier than those that
some of you reported here. The most strange question was "why
Wikipedia needs volunteers". So maybe those talkings between
Wikimedia Israel and the airport staff showed some results and seems
a good idea for every future Wikimania. Every country has some
restrictions to visitors coming from some other country, i guess, so
all we can do is trying to facilitate these procedures, and i'm sure
Israeli team made their best on it.<br>
<br>
In Brazil, as in Israel, the security guards were very kind, and all
i can say is that El-Al is too complicated (messy, disorganized),
and i have to spend some hours waiting in wrong lines because they
couldn't explain me where to go. In my way back, i remember a cap
that i saw in Jerusalem: "my job is so secret i even don't know what
i'm doing". I think this perfectly applies for El-Al, too. xD<br>
<br>
Castelo<br>
<br>
Em 11/08/2011 08:03, Itzik Edri escreveu:
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAOi8FzXf02sWO5UqGYnf7JuLVvSEGwPsPoh+PB3GJy+vWx89WA@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">Hey,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>We reads every one of yours emails and twittets. I feel
shame that things like that happen to part of
the participates, but other things also need to say - it not
happen to everyone, and this is the Israeli security process. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>We talked before, and also today with the airport - they
know about Wikimania group, and they also to expedite
this process.. The manger told us today that August is the
most busy month on Ben Gurion - They doing as much as they can
to make things more quickly for Wikimania participates (so
again SHOW YOUR TAGS!), but they also
have security guidelines, that they cannot', in any case,
exceed them. The security of the other passengers is on their
highest priority.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The airport security has been asked again to make things
easier for you, and the staff is doing as much as they can to
help you - if their is specifies problematic cases, please
report things to us and we will try to check that with them.
They really listen to us and want to help us and you - but
again, their is still orders and guidelines that they must to
do. Don't know what they, and they of course can't tell us how
things works and their individual decision (as only small part
of the 450 participates from abroad has "suffer"..)</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Itzik</div>
<div><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 11:50 AM,
Harel Cain <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:harel.cain@gmail.com">harel.cain@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div dir="ltr">We at Wikimedia Israel are not ignoring the
stories told on this thread, actually we're taking them
very much to heart.<br>
<br>
We are now considering a strong letter of complaint to
various government agencies and a demand for formal
written apology. Details will follow once we have
decided on our course of action. <br>
<font color="#888888">
<br>
<br>
Harel Cain<br>
Secretary, Wikimedia Israel</font>
<div>
<div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at
11:07, James Hare <span dir="ltr"><<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:messedrocker@gmail.com"
target="_blank">messedrocker@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0
0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc
solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<div>On Aug 11, 2011, at 9:49 AM, "<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://church.of.emacs.ml"
target="_blank">church.of.emacs.ml</a>"
<<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:church.of.emacs.ml@googlemail.com"
target="_blank">church.of.emacs.ml@googlemail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
<br>
> On 08/10/2011 06:05 PM, Sumana
Harihareswara wrote:<br>
>><br>
>> […]<br>
>><br>
>> In both cases I was traveling
alone. And in both cases I was myself, a<br>
>> US citizen whose parents and name
and skin color came from South Asia.<br>
>> I can't pass as anything else.<br>
><br>
> This is simply racism and harassment.
There can be no excuse for that<br>
> kind of treatment.<br>
> If this is the way even a citizen of
the western world is treated, I can<br>
> understand very well why there were
(almost?) no members of the Arab<br>
> world in Israel.<br>
><br>
> I find it regrettable that next
Wikimania is going to be in Washington<br>
> D.C. Airport harassment might not be as
severe as in Israel, but perhaps<br>
> severe enough so that Arab Wikimedians
are prevented or discouraged from<br>
> attending.<br>
><br>
> Don't get me wrong, Wikimania in Israel
was fantastic and D.C. will<br>
> probably be, too, but we have to focus
more on accessibility for *all*<br>
> Wikimedians.<br>
><br>
> Regards,<br>
> Tobias<br>
><br>
>
_______________________________________________<br>
> Wikimania-l mailing list<br>
> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org"
target="_blank">Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br>
> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l"
target="_blank">https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l</a><br>
<br>
</div>
</div>
While no one has the power to exempt anyone from
security checks (in fact, whenever former
Secretary of State Colin Powell travels, he gets
the full check to show that everyone has to
follow the rules), we can coordinate with TSA,
tell them about our conference (including how
tech-oriented some of the attendees are), and
ask them for advice to make the security check
process as simple as possible. My impression,
though, is that while Israeli security focuses
on you as a person, TSA mostly focuses on your
stuff. Follow all their rules (take out laptop
for separate x-ray scan, only small bottles of
liquid, etc.) and I think you will be fine, but
unfortunately I only have the perspective of a
white US citizen.<br>
<br>
I actually think the bigger obstacle will be
obtaining a visa, for those who don't live in
visa exempt countries. As mentioned earlier, we
will do everything in our power to make the
process easier; we will even be looking into
visa scholarships. It helps that the US State
Department knows what Wikipedia is and that they
have sent people to two Wikimanias, 2006 and
2011.<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
James<br>
</font>
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</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
<br clear="all">
<br>
</div>
</div>
<div class="im">-- <br>
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.<br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
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</blockquote>
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