Developing the global south

At #Wikimania the meeting about the "global south" will probably be the most relevant meeting. Relevant because the Wikimedia Foundation aims to dramatically increase both the number of readers and the number of editors from the global south. When this does not happen, never mind what else is happening, the year will be considered a failure.

In the bus from the airport to Haifa, a Brazilian was sitting next to me. Brazil is considered to be part of the global south. They speak Portuguese in Brazil. He told me that the Portuguese community cannot get FlaggedRevisions and ArticleFeedback for their project. He was not bitter, he was resigned; his feeling is that Portuguese is considered second best.

I told him about the global south meeting on Tuesday. It dawned on him that this is the place and the moment when the WMF can be asked to take the other languages seriously. Seriously, this is what it takes to move the global south in the fast lane.
Thanks,
      GerardM