Hi, wow! A huge amount of questions. So, this email became a bit longer as well..
As someone, who has been around in Asia for several years - Afghanistan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam - I can just say: Come over and have a look. It is very difficult to answer all your concerns precisely. Freedom - it is a vast topic. As a "bynote" I feel much more restricted in Europe than in most Asian countries. The question I see: Is Vietnam the right place to do an LGM now? I want to see Free Software and Openess growing and it is the best to do this by getting in touch directly. Having seen and having organized events throughout Vietnam and Asia and seeing the enthusiasm and commitment for LGM I am sure we can put together a great LGM in Vietnam, also considering the support of this bid locally. What we need to focus on, if Vietnam becomes the host: How can the event in Vietnam help to maximize our efforts to join up with Asian contributors, rather than just getting the existing community to an exciting location? I think the chances to achieve this are pretty good. Besides ideas Hong Phuc mentioned in her talk at LGM, I see that it would be very helpful to involve community members, who are already active in the region. I see that there is a good momentum to link up with the local communities in Vietnam, China, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Korea, Japan... We have a lot of Open Source designers in Thailand as seen a couple of weeks ago at MekongICT in Chiang Mai. Linking up with people spontaneously on the net requires quite some effort. Bringing people together around an event like LGM offers more chance of success and is more fun. There are networks of the community that exist in Asia already. Let's connect with these networks at LGM and let's feel and see how things are. We also need to understand that "Western concepts" that to a large extent go back to the idea of the Greek democracy and the French revolution do not always "translate" to the exact same meaning in Asia, where we have a different historic background. This might be the reason why some Vietnamese might not understand, when you ask them about Human Rights. Liberation and Freedom - these words were/are used by the Japanese, French, Americans ... justifying invasions and war and most Asian countries have experienced this. Please be aware that words you are using in a Western context might transfer into different meanings or even several different meanings in languages that are not closely related to ours. There are many people in Asia who want to work together with us. So many people are excited about international sharing and collaboration. So many people share our goals (even though they might use a different wording their actions show that we are in line). We have the chance to make this event possible in Vietnam and to bring this world together. I would be extremely - extremely - surprised, if anyone would have his/her laptop searched at the airport and followed by security during the whole trip (I wonder if they have facilities and staff that speaks English, French, Portuguese, German.. to do this at all). LGM does not plan to overthrow the Vietnamese government by organizing a human rights event (again the wording and justifications of foreigners for involving into local politics). So, I would not believe there would be a problem with the event at all. About FOSS - as part of a EU funded project I organized FOSS Bridge (http://fossbridge.org) 2007/2008 in Vietnam. Vietnam has a strong Open Source policy. Before Vietnam joined the WTO, the US demanded a stricter implementation of copyright policies. Vietnam agreed to that. In the following years the country decided in 2003/2004 to switch its IT infrastructure to Free and Open Source Software in order to comply. Nevertheless copyright and patents restriction are usually unknown around IT users (you can get anything). In my experience the government would like to see much more Open Source implemented, however, it is often difficult to find qualified people. LGM can help to push knowledge around Free Software. Leading to the event, I can imagine to set up initiatives for translating books, founding students groups and more. Things will happen anyways, but LGM in Vietnam would give all this a fantastic push in the region. As someone living in Vietnam, I would be happy to tell you more about life there or to put you in touch with other people. I know Serge Stinckwich for example from France who lives currently in Hanoi (put him in CC). I would also vouche to involve other local community organizers on a kind of advisory board, e.g. Arthit Suriyawongkul from Thailand, the Khmer-OS makers from Cambodia and people from Singapore like Preetam Rai who supports Barcamps throughout the region. Of course Andy Fitzsimon and Jon Phillips are already involved and work in the region. So, I am curious to see the outcome of this discussion. Please get in touch with me, if I can help in any way. All the best, - Mario On Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 9:11 PM, ricardo lafuente <boll...@sollec.org> wrote: > Wonderful way to wrap the issues up. +1 > > On 06/14/2010 07:09 PM, Susan Spencer wrote: >> >> My 2k on holding LGM in Vietnam: >> >> LGM embraces and promotes the open source model. >> But an open source model of government doesn't exist anywhere on earth. >> Compromise will happen no matter our destination. >> Let's be who we are anywhere we go. >> >> I'd love to see even a small part of Vietnam. >> And there's a lot happening there right now. >> We can be a part of what's to come. >> Let's go. >> >> - Susan _______________________________________________ CREATE mailing list CREATE@lists.freedesktop.org http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/create