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

[Robert Horning]

Gerard Meijssen wrote:
> Hoi,
> Safety is not an absolute and it will never be. When you approach safety as
> an absolute you will never achieve it. Me and you are more safe in the
> Netherlands then we would in the USA and the statistics back me up on this.
> This does not mean that a Wikimania in the USA can not be considered to be
> safe enough.
>   

I don't know how you are massaging these statistics or what Hollywood 
movies are giving you the impression that America, as a country, is more 
dangerous or less dangerous than Europe.  America is a big place, and 
yes, there are some places I wouldn't travel without an armed escort.  
But the comparison should be more like trying to compare the Netherlands 
and Connecticut than all of America.

BTW, the worst personal threat to my own life actually came from the 
Netherlands... on a matter won't go into here.  And I've been in some 
pretty tough neighborhoods over the years, even though my current 
residence happens to be in the #1 safest MSA for America, in terms of 
criminal statistics.

I don't know of any specific group of individuals who might be targeted 
because of their ethnicity or even political viewpoints here in America 
by armed terrorists.  You might have some protests over the issue of the 
Wikipedia images of Mohammed, but those would be peaceful and have 
active involvement of local police officials if that happened.  I think 
the concerns that the local government in Egypt not protecting 
foreigners, particularly Jews and Christians (aka "non-believers" from a 
Muslem viewpoint) is something worth consideration, unless there are 
leaders from the Islamic community of Egypt who are actively condemning 
these sort statements and anti-Christian/Jewish rhetoric.  Particularly 
in light of this whole flame war over the use of images of early Islamic 
leaders  (heaven forbid an image of "Allah" himself) there are very 
legitimate concerns about radical groups of Islamic society would react 
to a conference like Wikimania.

These concerns are very well founded, and I hope they are addressed 
somehow, including something coming from the local law enforcement 
community in Alexandria that is more or less official in terms of what 
level of protection they will be providing to Wikimania participants.  
Even "we won't do anything to help out" is at least something from the 
local police, and I haven't heard about that.  I think this is a 
legitimate issue to raise on this level.

-- Robert Horning