Well I am going to put my two cents in because I have read just about
enough.
Here is why I am entirely opposed to Wikimania being in Egypt.
1) Since the announcement of this, the LGBT wikimedians have expressed
grave concern. As mentioned previously, this is a regime in which
"opresses" homosexuals and imprisons them. Me being gay, I am not sure I
would want to risk that. Not to mention my partner, if I had one and he
came, but yet the WMF states that they picked Egypt because of its
"geo-diversity
<http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimania-l/2007-October/000719.html>."
2) Human rights and "free" speech (free being the key word). Why hold a
conference of a foundation that is based entirely on FREE media when
that country and the government don't even support free speech? Why in
an country that limits the rights of women and humans in general? What
is so "free" about that?
3) Egypt is in too close proximity to several areas which are in a near
constant war: Israel and Palestine, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and
Afghanistan...not to mention holding this is the Middle East puts (for
the most part) Americans at risk and the rest at risk for a prime target
of violence or an attack. Was safety considered when making this decision?
4) Who are these people on the "jury"? I mean I know their names, but
who are they. Are they wealthy? Travel the world frequently? Seems like
it because in my opinion this place was picked because it was somewhere
they decided it would be nice to visit. More than half of all
wikimedians will likely NOT be able to afford the trip, in some cases
from literally on the other side of the globe. Might as well rob a bank
for the finances.
5) The "jury" was composed of, from what I see, 12 individuals who in
some way or another "work" for WMF (and that does NOT necessarily mean
getting paid). I see IMO a conflict of interest. The other 2 seem to be
just contributers, which is what most of this jury should have been
composed of. After all this is a conference for all Wikis.
I am NOT against ever having a Wikimania in the Middle East or
eventually in Egypt. But right now, it's not the right time. We need to
think about how diverse our contributers are and base a decision off
that. In my opinion there are a lot better, safer and more
"geo-diversed" places than somewhere where there is a potential for
people to be injured or killed or go broke just getting there.
Jason Safoutin, (a.k.a. DragonFire1024 on en.wikinews)