[global-south] next steps from Tor Meeting

Gunnar Wolf gwolf at gwolf.org
Sat Apr 22 05:27:26 UTC 2017


Alison dijo [Fri, Apr 21, 2017 at 07:25:00PM +0000]:
> > Wow! This fits us perfectly. I'm just starting a group effort to get
> > some students to work on Tor in the University I work at (Facultad de
> > Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), setting up at
> > least a relay, but quite probably a full exit node... Lets see how
> > this develops. But so far, it looks like I *have* to be in this list
> > :)
> 
> That's great to hear. What kind of help do you need? Where can we send
> some Tor stickers for you all? Have you met ilv? He's on this list and
> he runs relays in Latin America.

I will be happy to give stickers away! Please send them to:

    Gunnar Wolf
    Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas
    Cto. Mtro. Mario de la Cueva S/N
    Ciudad Universitaria 04510, Coyoacán
    Ciudad de México
    MÉXICO

No, I don't think I've met ilv (not by alias, at least). ilv, ¿quién
eres? ¿dónde estás?

> I understand your reasoning here, but we discussed this a lot at the
> Amsterdam meeting and many people agreed that it's imperative to have
> some of our annual meetings in the Global South for the sake of building
> community in those regions. We also talked about ways to make it easier
> for people from the Global South to come to meetings in EU or US/Canada,
> like simply getting the invites out earlier so that people could have
> time to work out their visas.

In my experience (personal and organizing various conferences),
"regular" tourist visas are much easier to get than for-conference
visas. Some ountries, as the USA, have basically stopped issuing
single-entry visas (as a Mexican, the only USA visa I can get is a
multiple-entry, 10 year one). So, my recommendation would be to "just"
apply for a USA visa. I got mine a very long time ago (it's about to
expire), but IIRC it was before I got my tickets, so I didn't have
specific travel plans.

This varies from country to country (both on the applicant's
nationality and on the granter's), but I have found that visas are
easier to get if no particular reason is specified. Even more if that
reason were to be, "oh, I want to help avoid your stupid government
monitoring our lives".

> > I jumped upon reading this. As I explained in my previous paragraph,
> > even though I'd *love* it to be in Mexico City, I think we are too
> > much on the edge of the region. Also, our country is not (by far) the
> > most visa-friendly to Latin Americans.
> 
> The visa issue is one that gives Mexico City a heavy downvote. Some
> things in its favor: very inexpensive for US/Canada travel and pretty
> inexpensive for EU travel, great food and culture. But I also have a
> bias because the flight there for me takes only about an hour from Texas! :)

There are some tips that ease entry to Mexico: Our visa requirements
were heavily tightened some years ago, as part of a negotiation for a
migrations deal with the USA authorities that never came. But,
recognizing that, our government decided that anybody (at least from
Latin America) with a valid USA visa in their passport can enter
Mexico.

> > But, FWIW, if Mexico were to be chosen (and you don't have any better
> > contacts in here), I can provide (with 90% probability) very good
> > facilities at my workplace, the country's largest university, either
> > at a research institute or at a faculty surrounded by eager students.
> 
> This is another big vote for Mexico then!

\o/
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