[Foundation-l] Partecipation in Wikimania 2011

[Mariano Cecowski]

Osama, I'm afraid your view is very self-centric.

We Southamericans have a really hard time getting into USA; and I'm sure many couldn't go to that Wikimania because of visa problems. As many couldn't go to Thailand because because of economic reasons. And some didn't go to Egypt because of religious issues. There is always something that will prevent some people to assist to a Wikimania; that's why we rotate the host!

I can't believe people complaining about getting the visa in their passports that will later prevent them to visit an Arab country; 20 bucks and an hour standing in line and you have a new one!! (unless you live in Cuba, or Northern Korea).

Please, let's concentrate on making life easier for those with problems who *do* want to assist to Wikimania 2011; the rest is just wining, and trying to take political advantage of the current situation.

MarianoC.-

--- El jue 12-ago-10, Osama Khalid <osamak at gnu.org> escribió:

> De: Osama Khalid <osamak at gnu.org>
> Asunto: Re: [Foundation-l] Partecipation in Wikimania 2011
> Para: "Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List" <foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
> Fecha: jueves, 12 de agosto de 2010, 8:17
> On Thu, Aug 12, 2010 at 03:59:38AM
> -0700, Mariano Cecowski wrote:
> > I beg to disagree; getting into United states is
> anything but easy.
> 
> Maybe it depends, but I assume it won't be much harder for
> a European,
> Asian or African to get one than a Saudi. Why are we
> discussing this
> anyway?
> 
> > And is not that Israel won't give visas to potential
> attendees; in
> > this case is the home nation of the interested ones
> that sets
> > obstacles.
> 
> That's not the issue I'm trying to address here. I'm saying
> it's
> difficult. Maybe Israel wants Arabs to be there (this is
> out of topic,
> but I'd assume that they surely don't like the fact that
> they're being
> disrespected for their actions). But what's important here
> is, again,
> that many, many people won't be able to come.
> 
> > Additionally, the current political situation between
> given
> > countries should not affect the realization of this
> apolitical,
> > non-religious global conference that seeks worldwide
> collaboration.
> 
> It's not about what Wikimania is what it is not.
> 
> -- 
> Osama Khalid
> English-to-Arabic translator and programmer.
> http://osamak.wordpress.com | http://tinyogg.com
> 
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