[Wikimania-l] CD

Thu Aug 11 12:05:47 UTC 2011

For me, i think it helped a lot to bring a printed version of that 
announcement from Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Whenever they 
asked me about what i will do/was doing there, i showed that piece of 
paper and then my questions were much more easier than those that some 
of you reported here. The most strange question was "why Wikipedia needs 
volunteers". So maybe those talkings between Wikimedia Israel and the 
airport staff showed some results and seems a good idea for every future 
Wikimania. Every country has some restrictions to visitors coming from 
some other country, i guess, so all we can do is trying to facilitate 
these procedures, and i'm sure Israeli team made their best on it.

In Brazil, as in Israel, the security guards were very kind, and all i 
can say is that El-Al is too complicated (messy, disorganized), and i 
have to spend some hours waiting in wrong lines because they couldn't 
explain me where to go. In my way back, i remember a cap that i saw in 
Jerusalem: "my job is so secret i even don't know what i'm doing". I 
think this perfectly applies for El-Al, too. xD

Castelo

Em 11/08/2011 08:03, Itzik Edri escreveu:
> Hey,
>
> We reads every one of yours emails and twittets. I feel shame that 
> things like that happen to part of the participates, but other things 
> also need to say - it not happen to everyone, and this is the 
> Israeli security process.
>
> We talked before, and also today with the airport - they know about 
> Wikimania group, and they also to expedite this process.. The manger 
> told us today that August is the most busy month on Ben Gurion - They 
> doing as much as they can to make things more quickly for 
> Wikimania participates (so again SHOW YOUR TAGS!), but they also 
> have security guidelines, that they cannot', in any case, exceed them. 
> The security of the other passengers is on their highest priority.
>
> The airport security has been asked again to make things easier for 
> you, and the staff is doing as much as they can to help you - if their 
> is specifies problematic cases, please report things to us and we will 
> try to check that with them. They really listen to us and want to help 
> us and you - but again, their is still orders and guidelines that they 
> must to do. Don't know what they, and they of course can't tell us how 
> things works and their individual decision (as only small part of the 
> 450 participates from abroad has "suffer"..)
>
> Itzik
>
> On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 11:50 AM, Harel Cain <harel.cain at gmail.com 
> <mailto:harel.cain at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     We at Wikimedia Israel are not ignoring the stories told on this
>     thread, actually we're taking them very much to heart.
>
>     We are now considering a strong letter of complaint to various
>     government agencies and a demand for formal written apology.
>     Details will follow once we have decided on our course of action.
>
>
>     Harel Cain
>     Secretary, Wikimedia Israel
>
>
>
>     On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 11:07, James Hare <messedrocker at gmail.com
>     <mailto:messedrocker at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>         On Aug 11, 2011, at 9:49 AM, "church.of.emacs.ml
>         <http://church.of.emacs.ml>"
>         <church.of.emacs.ml at googlemail.com
>         <mailto:church.of.emacs.ml at googlemail.com>> wrote:
>
>         > On 08/10/2011 06:05 PM, Sumana Harihareswara wrote:
>         >>
>         >> [...]
>         >>
>         >> In both cases I was traveling alone.  And in both cases I
>         was myself, a
>         >> US citizen whose parents and name and skin color came from
>         South Asia.
>         >> I can't pass as anything else.
>         >
>         > This is simply racism and harassment. There can be no excuse
>         for that
>         > kind of treatment.
>         > If this is the way even a citizen of the western world is
>         treated, I can
>         > understand very well why there were (almost?) no members of
>         the Arab
>         > world in Israel.
>         >
>         > I find it regrettable that next Wikimania is going to be in
>         Washington
>         > D.C. Airport harassment might not be as severe as in Israel,
>         but perhaps
>         > severe enough so that Arab Wikimedians are prevented or
>         discouraged from
>         > attending.
>         >
>         > Don't get me wrong, Wikimania in Israel was fantastic and
>         D.C. will
>         > probably be, too, but we have to focus more on accessibility
>         for *all*
>         > Wikimedians.
>         >
>         > Regards,
>         > Tobias
>         >
>         > _______________________________________________
>         > Wikimania-l mailing list
>         > Wikimania-l at lists.wikimedia.org
>         <mailto:Wikimania-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
>         > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>
>         While no one has the power to exempt anyone from security
>         checks (in fact, whenever former Secretary of State Colin
>         Powell travels, he gets the full check to show that everyone
>         has to follow the rules), we can coordinate with TSA, tell
>         them about our conference (including how tech-oriented some of
>         the attendees are), and ask them for advice to make the
>         security check process as simple as possible. My impression,
>         though, is that while Israeli security focuses on you as a
>         person, TSA mostly focuses on your stuff. Follow all their
>         rules (take out laptop for separate x-ray scan, only small
>         bottles of liquid, etc.) and I think you will be fine, but
>         unfortunately I only have the perspective of a white US citizen.
>
>         I actually think the bigger obstacle will be obtaining a visa,
>         for those who don't live in visa exempt countries. As
>         mentioned earlier, we will do everything in our power to make
>         the process easier; we will even be looking into visa
>         scholarships. It helps that the US State Department knows what
>         Wikipedia is and that they have sent people to two Wikimanias,
>         2006 and 2011.
>
>         James
>         _______________________________________________
>         Wikimania-l mailing list
>         Wikimania-l at lists.wikimedia.org
>         <mailto:Wikimania-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
>         https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>
>
>
>
>     -- 
>     Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.
>
>     _______________________________________________
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>     Wikimania-l at lists.wikimedia.org
>     <mailto:Wikimania-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
>     https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>
>
>
>
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