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(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On 10/10/2007, Aude <audevivere(a)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/AR200606120…
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(a)gmail.com)
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