Robert Horning wrote:
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.
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 said nothing about moving the headquarters. What I sought to
emphasize was that opportunities should be equal for citizens of all
coountries.
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.
As far as which city in the United States should have the headquarters,
I have no complaints about having it where it is. Seattle might
personally be more convenient for me, but on that level we would
probably all like to hav it closer.
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?
It's more pro-internationalist than anti-American. I said nothing about
re-incorporating anywhere.
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.
See [[War of 1812]]. The United States was not invaded; it did the
invading. It was an opportunistic and expansionist attempt to take
advantage of the fact that most British troops were tied down by the
little Corsican.
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.
That seems more like an excuse than a reason.
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.
Sure. Why would it not then be acceptable that the volunteer
co-ordinator from any of these countries? If the person is unable to
secure the needed visas to work at the U.S. headquarters that should not
be an impediment to getting the job.
Ec