[Foundation-l] Concern for the safety of Wikimedians at Wikimania in Alex...

[daniwo59 at aol.com]

Just a quick comment here:
 
I think the problem is that various issues are being conflated and  confused, 
so that each person participating has valid points, but they are  talking 
about different circumstances and therefore talking past one  another.
 
1. Respecting local customs: This is a given anywhere you travel, and  should 
be considered as such. For instance, when entering a mosque, you remove  your 
shoes. When having dinner with the queen, you do not burp at the end of the  
meal to show your satisfaction. Most of this is common courtesy. There are,  
however, some societies where accepted social norms would truly impinge on the  
freedom of Wikipedians. For example, I am hard pressed to believe that 
Wikimania  will be held in Saudi Arabia, where women are required to cover 
themselves in  what Westerners would consider a restrictive fashion, or where someone 
like  Florence would need a note from her husband or son to appear outside in 
public  alone. That said, Egypt is not, I repeat, is NOT, in any way like that. 
It is a  country whose economy is fueled by tourism, and they have seen 
Western women  before.
 
2. Respecting local laws: I am not going to discuss the Egyptian sodomy  laws 
per se, but suffice it to say that among Egypt's many tourists are many gay  
tourists, and I don't know of anyone arrested for that. In fact, it is harder 
to  get into the Cayman Islands if you are gay. That said, do not have sex 
with your  partner in midday in a bustling market. But hey, I would go so far as 
to suggest  the same behavior in Amsterdam.
 
3. Travel advisories and terrorism: Yes there are travel advisories and yes  
there is terrorism. Such is the world we live in. There is terrorism in New 
York  and London and Madrid too, and any discussion about which is more 
"dangerous"  is, to me at least, like discussing in which make of automobile you are 
likely  to be rearended (in the traffic sense). You wear your seatbelt and take 
the  right precautions, and Fate does what it pleases. In 2002 no one avoided 
 Indonesia because of threats of a tsunami.
 
4. Wikimedia stuff: This is perhaps the most interesting conundrum. I  
remember some dumb film where they dumped a bunch of bad guys off in Harlem with  
White Power t-shirts. They were not happy. In other words, the real question is, 
 to what degree will the Muhammad image controversy impact the local 
population  at the time of teh conference. Will the issue exacerbate? Are there angry 
people  looking specifically for infidel Wikimedians, while they ignore the 
South Korean  tour bus across the street? Could there be peaceful 
demonstrations? Could these  demonstrations turn violent? Could the whole thing blow over? I 
think that this  is the real issue and what Florence asked Sue to 
investigate. It seems to  be the most intelligent next step.
 
Danny



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