I am having a difficult time right now. This person Georgia shares
several years of experience working at FSF and directly with RMS. Ali,
their testimony makes me think that maybe the free software movement
needs to move beyond RMS. Here are their words, copied from
https://twitter.com/georgialyle/status/1374504389155508232
<https://twitter.com/georgialyle/status/1374504389155508232>:
“I worked at the FSF from 2015-2018 & was shop steward for a while. I
recall having a months (MONTHS) long conversation with ED John Sullivan
about why racist & sexist 'hacker humor' from the 90s needed to be
removed from gnu.org <http://gnu.org>. rms didn't get why it was harmful.
Also the abortion joke ('contributed' by rms) in a technical manual? He
threw a fit when it was removed, & the energy many people (who respected
him!!) put in to attempting to educate him in why that wasn't cool.
The thing that randos who have never had to actually work with rms don't
understand is that MANY people who deeply respected him tried to help
him learn to not objectify women, shout over others at Libreplanet as if
it was his birthday party, stop shit like 'emacs virgins'
Meanwhile that energy, utterly wasted, could've been spent advocating
for free to software and building the inclusive, impractical community
so many people WANT. Spent, instead, on a man's ego, over and over.
This whole thing is incredibly depressing. The free software community
is largely full of interesting, rad people - I got to work with a bunch
of people I like & respect & feel inspired by, organizing Libreplanet
was my job & introduced me to amazing people from across the world
free software has the ability to do so much good, but there's an ugly
cult of personality around rms, & the fact that he faced consequences
for his creepy Epdtein-adjacent comments and not the decades of shitty
behavior towards women is infuriating & excuses his return
It's easy for people to dismiss shitty words, & because we don't focus
on shitty actions (& actions are easily dismissed by assholes sealioning
for 'evidence' - bc "I saw it/experienced it" is NEVER enough) it's
possible for a floundering FSF to 'uncancel' rms now. DON'T LET THEM
My github account was, uh, dusty, to say the least, but I made a pull
request in order to sign on to this letter.
https://rms-open-letter.github.io/ <https://rms-open-letter.github.io/>
One final thing: do not shit on FSF staff about this. They didn't ask
for this, they weren't notified in advance of rms' apparently impromptu
announcement, they labor for the organization and for the community
every day. Put pressure on the board and the executive director.”
The letter is signed by 40 organizations and over 500 individuals,
including dozens of former FSF staff and board members.
On Thu, Mar 25, 2021 at 6:04 PM Ali Reza Hayati <hayati@riseup.net
<mailto:hayati@riseup.net>> wrote:
Recently, RMS announced that he's back on FSF board of directors. Now,
some organizations and people are attacking FSF and RMS and are asking
them to resign.
Since the accusations are false, we're asking FSF to resist this
pressure and continue work for the good of the software libre movement.
Sending message to info@fsf.org <mailto:info@fsf.org> is a way of
showing your support. They
are acting like mobs and bullies, we should not step down from our
principals, which are fighting for justice and truth.
On 26/03/2021 04:49, Danny Spitzberg wrote:
> I’m not clear on why I should send a message of support for RMS.
>
> On Thu, Mar 25, 2021 at 4:57 PM Ali Reza Hayati
<hayati@riseup.net <mailto:hayati@riseup.net>
> <mailto:hayati@riseup.net <mailto:hayati@riseup.net>>> wrote:
>
> People,
>
> FSF board has received lots of messages today and there's no
need to
> add
> to the pile. Please send your support for RMS to info@fsf.org
<mailto:info@fsf.org>
> <mailto:info@fsf.org <mailto:info@fsf.org>> and ask
> them to resist pressures and stay with us.
>
> Software libre is a matter of justice. If we can learn one
thing from
> the whole movement is to keep our principals and fight for
justice. FSF
> made a mistake back in 2019 and that was not to defend RMS
against
> false
> accusations. Today, we can make that right by supporting a
wonderful
> honorable man.
>
> Show your support by sending messages to info@fsf.org
<mailto:info@fsf.org>
> <mailto:info@fsf.org <mailto:info@fsf.org>>. Do it now, later
> may be late.
>
> Best.
> --
> Ali Reza Hayati (https://alirezahayati.com
<https://alirezahayati.com> <https://alirezahayati.com
<https://alirezahayati.com>>)
> Libre culture activist and privacy advocate
> PGP: B7DC C419 C0ED 05D5 6535 1BD3 2A7F A925 75A3 C354
>
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>
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>
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>
--
Ali Reza Hayati (https://alirezahayati.com <https://alirezahayati.com>)
Libre culture activist and privacy advocate
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