Re: Support RMS

[Ali Reza Hayati]

Hello Deb,
I hope you're well.

Sorry for your experience. However, I should mention that I've been working 
directly with RMS along with many women and never seen such thing. I can't 
explain anything on behalf of RMS or GNU, but I can talk about my personal 
experience and my women colleagues which was nothing but nice.

You mentioned people leaving, I should mention thousands who are coming back 
because of RMS.

As far as I'm concerned, RMS is not convicted of anything and there is no proof 
of harassment. Until then, I urge everybody to defend truth against false 
accusations.

On March 26, 2021 1:18:13 PM UTC, Deb Nicholson <deb@eximiousproductions.com> 
wrote:
>Hi,
>I'm a former FSF staff person and a former GNU maintainer who has left most
>of the FSF & GNU mailing lists that I was on because of the extremely
>toxic, harassment-filled environments on those lists. I stayed on the
>LibrePlanet list because it's usually ok and I appreciate seeing the
>occasional campaign messages and actions to take in support of free
>software.
>
>RMS inspires a toxic, sexist and unrepentant culture. I'm one of the people
>who has asked him -- many times -- to take a strong stance against sexism
>in GNU, to stop treating women as second-class citizens, and to re-consider
>his utterly clueless and disrespectful treatment of transgender people in
>our communities.
>
>I want free software to win. I want everyone to be able to choose free
>software for everything. There is no way for free software to win if
>hundreds of previously interested people are leaving after they get sick of
>the hateful, sexist and intolerant parts of our communities. People take
>their cue from RMS and he has demonstrated over and over again that he is
>not interested in removing intolerance. If we want a movement that grows,
>instead of a quirky and toxic private club, then RMS shouldn't lead.
>
>Sincerely,
>Deb Nicholson
>
>On Fri, Mar 26, 2021 at 8:31 AM Ali Reza Hayati <hayati@riseup.net> wrote:
>
>> Hello Danny.
>>
>> I'm sorry that your feelings are hurt but I don't see anything wrong
>> here. Dark humor is everywhere and many people like it. I've seen gay
>> people liking dark humor about gays for example. As I said, after all,
>> that's just jokes and humor.
>>
>> About being offended, again that's not a problem with RMS. Maybe he
>> hasn't be nice to you or people you know but if you want a nice person
>> to lead a foundation, you may need a kid, not a grown up person. Every
>> person may upset you or others in some way. I've upset many people in my
>> life without any intention, to that I apologize to them.
>>
>> If you believe RMS is not a good person, that's your opinion and
>> respectable. If you don't think RMS is a good leader, that's again
>> respectable and may even be a fair point if presented well.
>>
>> However, that's not where RMS opposers stand today. What you've signed
>> is based on false accusations and lies. When it comes to defending
>> truth, that statement/letter is completely false.
>>
>> I still urge people to support RMS in this matter because defending
>> truth is important.
>>
>> Again, I'm sorry that your feelings have been hurt but that's just your
>> personal conflict/disappointment.
>>
>> On 26/03/2021 09:06, Danny Spitzberg wrote:
>> > 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
>> >      >
>> >      >     _______________________________________________
>> >      >     libreplanet-discuss mailing list
>> >      > libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org
>> >     <mailto:libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org>
>> >      >     <mailto:libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org
>> >     <mailto:libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org>>
>> >      >
>> >     https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss
>> >     <https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss>
>> >      >
>> >       <
>> https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss <
>> https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss>>
>> >      >
>> >
>> >     --
>> >     Ali Reza Hayati (https://alirezahayati.com <
>> https://alirezahayati.com>)
>> >     Libre culture activist and privacy advocate
>> >     PGP: B7DC C419 C0ED 05D5 6535 1BD3 2A7F A925 75A3 C354
>> >
>>
>> --
>> Ali Reza Hayati (https://alirezahayati.com)
>> Libre culture activist and privacy advocate
>> PGP: B7DC C419 C0ED 05D5 6535 1BD3 2A7F A925 75A3 C354
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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-- 
Ali Reza Hayati (https://alirezahayati.com)
Libre culture activist and privacy advocate
PGP: B7DC C419 C0ED 05D5 6535 1BD3 2A7F A925 75A3

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