Posted on 04/13/2025 4:49:17 PM PDT by Angelino97
The time has come to cancel or move the 2025 Seattle Worldcon.
And to cancel or move the 2026 Los Angeles Worldcon.
It has to be done, in order to honor a century-old tradition of science fiction.
From its beginnings as a recognized genre in 1926, science fiction has warmly embraced writers and readers from around the world. Hugo Gernsback happily published letters from foreign readers in his magazines and featured stories by several foreign authors. When he established the Science Fiction League in 1934, he included chapters in other nations. The first major science fiction convention in 1939 was proudly named the World Science Fiction Convention, which has been the case for every subsequent event, including two dozen held in foreign countries. Science fiction scholars have also embraced the international community by inviting foreign experts to visit America and having several conferences of the Science Fiction Research Association in other countries. As David G. Hartwell said,
Internationalism has been appealing to the Anglo-American SF community since the 1940s; for more than four decades the colorful fan, agent, and Esperantist Forrest J. Ackerman, for example, has traveled widely to spread the greetings of American SF. In the 1970s there was a large enough international science fiction community among the peoples of the developed nations for Harry Harrison to call a conference in Ireland in order to found World SF, the world SF professional association, which now awards prizes for translations in many languages and promotes the cross-fertilization of SF literatures, inviting international responses to English-language SF.
In sum, science fiction has always welcomed, and should always welcome, writers and fans from all over the world.
Unfortunately, due to the current political situation, we can no longer welcome them to come to the United States.
Every day, there is some new horror story about a foreign visitor to America who, usually for no clear reason, has been detained at the border, thrown into prison, and subjected to brutal behavior until they thankfully are finally released and deported back to their home country. This is precisely the sort of treatment that we can anticipate some foreign fans may experience if they come to Seattle this year.
And this simply cannot be tolerated.
There are alternatives that should be considered. Even though there will be awkward and expensive cancellations, it should not be too much trouble to move this year’s Worldcon to the nearby city of Vancouver, in Canada, to ensure that none of our friends from other countries are mistreated. If this is impossible, the conference organizers should contact every foreign member, advise them not to come to Seattle, and set up numerous options from them to participate in the conference remotely. And if foreign fans insist on coming, the convention should establish a Legal Defense Fund to assist any of them if they are detained during their stay. As for the 2026 Worldcon, there will be ample time to find an alternate venue. Canceling or moving these conventions will also enable the science fiction community to make its own statement of protest against the government’s unrelenting hostility to all foreigners, including those that come to our country legally.
Today, given recent developments, a resident of a foreign country will have to exercise great care in coming to the United States. Tourists should go someplace else; students should seek advanced degrees in other countries; and science fiction fans should reconsider venturing into our country.
Until our nation returns to treating foreign visitors in a lawful and humane manner, the science fiction community should think long and hard before offering another Worldcon in the United States.
oops, I was thinking of Neil Breen.
bttt
I’ve lived in Maine for 33 years and I have never been to Canada. I have no desire to go there.
They held the 2023 WorldCon in China so I really don’t care about their option that much on people being thrown in prison. Trust me, anyone with an account on this board would not be welcome. WorldCon is not completely dead but they are getting closer every year.
Are they unfriendly to female Americans? I’ve never been to Canada and almost made it once. I would rather go to Canada than to Mexico, but that might be a mistake nowadays.
Good.. Maybe this next generation will focus more on reality instead of living in fantasy worlds, manga, and anime.
LOL...this is probably chauvinistic and unrealistic, but I suspect there is a possibility they might not treat females the same as males.
I have a suspicion it is more enjoyable for sadistic border guards to get a rise out of mistreating men, but I cannot discount the occasional misogynistic male or female guard who might get their jollies the other way.
To be fair-I generally have no issues with individual Canadians I have known. I only seem to have these kinds of issues with the Canadian Border Patrol.
I can’t argue with you, though I have gone up to Canada for hockey games, winter carnivals and such.
But yes-I kind of feel the same way you do.
Thanks. So if I ever get to Canada, I can hope to have a better experience than you did.
If I go, I will try to go with a tour group; that might give me some protection.
Or I am on a list shared by by the previous Administration with Canadian authorities in which Im classified as a Domestic Terrorist, Christian, White Supremacist. That is possible too...:)
Reality is for those who can’t face science fiction...
Im classified as a Domestic Terrorist, Christian, White Supremacist.
______________________________________________________
And heterosexual male. You check all the wrong boxes for Progressives.
LOL, I forgot that one!
Progressives sure won’t forget.
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