Ray Saintonge wrote:
The concern that becomes apparent from reading this thread is that living in St. Pete's would very strongly favour having this job go to an American. To be sure some of the paying jobs can only be done at the headquarters, but this is very much an international organization which should do more to open opportunities for citizens of other nations. The nature of this opening suggests that the work could be done anywhere in the world without the need to move to the United States.
Ec
I think that any specific location anywhere in the world is going to favor one nationality over another. Even Brussels is going to be very Euro-centric, and I could go on and on about other major cities throughout the world. This is not really a very legitimate reply.
I will say in defense of Florida (although Miami would be a bit better in this regard), this is America's gateway to the Caribbean Islands, and home to a very diverse number of ethnic groups that I would challenge you to find anywhere in the world outside of perhaps NYC or San Francisco.
To me, this is a very anti-American attitude that is strongly suggesting that perhaps the WMF needs to re-incorporate somewhere in the EU. If somebody from say South Africa were to work with somebody from Japan on a daily and face to face basis, where would you suggest that they find as a common location to meet, work, and live?
I will also defend keeping the WMF in America at least so far as I think you would have a very hard time trying to find a place that is more politically stable or has similar economic stability and 1st world infrastructure necessary to carry out the mission of the WMF. The last realistic attempted military invasion to the heartland of America took place in 1812. Can you say that about any other country in the world except perhaps Switzerland? Even that could be argued in light of WWII, but I won't belabor that point. In addition, the WMF is already in America, and much of the legal underpinnings and relationships are based upon American law.
I guess I just don't see the point to all of this anyway or why this thread has brought out the attitudes that this has. We are a very diverse group of people all working together, where I, as an American living in rural America in the heart of the Rocky Mountains have nearly daily conversations with people from Poland, the UK, and South Africa on collaborative writing projects. Often I don't even know the nationality of the people that I am working with, or even what continent of the world they are really at when I am having these discussions. I fail to see why this particular position as a Volunteer Coordinator would have to be any different in this regard.
-- Robert Horning