Re: Call for hosts for GUADEC 2009

[Behdad Esfahbod <behdad behdad org>]

On Tue, 2008-04-22 at 22:57 -0400, Richard Stallman wrote:
> GNOME is People.  Do you have any evidence that the Moroccan *people*
>     are opposed to the values GNOME stands for?
> 
> I think the Moroccan *people* are not the issue.
> 
>       "Those people have an oppressing
>     regime, ignore them" is not a really compelling idea to me.
> 
> If the purpose of holding GUADEC in any given place were paying
> attention to the people who live there, that would be a valid
> response.  However, the purpose of GUADEC is for GNOME developers to
> meet.  I don't think that the response relates to that.

One of the deciding factors when considering GUADEC bids is that which
user community can better use a boost.  So, I wouldn't say that paying
attention to local people is not one of the goals of GUADEC.


> Political endorsement of the government of the country where GUADEC is
> held is not its purpose either, and I would not suggest choosing the
> place to hold it by comparing the laws or policies of various European
> countries.  (Thanks to the EU, they are all bad in the areas that most
> directly relate to us.)
> 
> But there are some situations where you cannot ignore politics.
> Recall how people ridiculed the holding of the WSIS conference in
> Tunisia, a country that imprisons people for what they say on the
> Internet.  Morocco may be a similar case -- I am not sure.

Originally coming from a country that definitely fits that bill too, I
don't appreciate being exclusive to people based on their government.
Moreover, where do you set the limit?  What about China for example?  We
are having a GNOME.Asia Summit there this year...  Did boycotting ever
solved any problem BTW?

-- 
behdad
http://behdad.org/

"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little
 Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
        -- Benjamin Franklin, 1759