Re: Support RMS

[Ali Reza Hayati]

So basically some people are claiming RMS helped to set up a union to protect 
people from himself and that's one reason not to support RMS.

You guys are making me support him more.

On March 26, 2021 5:51:57 PM UTC, Thomas Lord <lord@basiscraft.com> wrote:
>"It is union to try to protect people from RMS. / That's it. That's the
>reason." 
>
> As a matter of history that is simply and purely a lie.   
>
>I don't see any of that kind of complaint, at this point, as anything
>less or more than direct attempts to sabotage the FSF, the FSM, and GNU.
>    It has no place here.  You are free not to associate with the FSF
>and you should, it would seem, take that option. 
>
>-t 
>
>On 2021-03-26 10:46, Danny Spitzberg wrote:
>
>> A union certainly helped everyone set and keep healthy boundaries. I have no 
>> doubt RMS was supportive. Like Paul suggested, a set of community agreements 
>> or a code of conduct or a contributor covenant or whatever is generally a 
>> good thing. 
>> 
>> But as for the reason why staff organized the union -- you may call it 
>> silly, but here is the testimony in their own words: 
>> 
>> " I think that many people do not know that the FSF is a union shop, or why. 
>> 
>> It is union to try to protect people from RMS. 
>> 
>> That's it. That's the reason. 
>> 
>> Knowing some of the story about how this came to be, it really informed my 
>> own thinking about what a union can do, and can't do. 
>> 
>> Unionizing provided protections and standard benefits (like berievement 
>> leave) for workers at FSF. It could not remove RMS from a position of power. 
>> 
>> I think the issue for workers at the time was that RMS held unchecked 
>> authority. It did not matter that there was a board of FSF: you could not 
>> tell RMS what to do. 
>> 
>> Using the power that the law provides to force negotiations on a written 
>> contract was the only option. 
>> 
>> That is just... Not normal. Right?" 
>> 
>> From  
>> https://twitter.com/_msw_/status/1374538607982088197 
>> 
>> On Fri, Mar 26, 2021 at 10:40 AM Thomas Lord <lord@basiscraft.com> wrote: 
>> 
>> That's silly.  The FSF was unionized with the encouragement and support of 
>> the FSF executives and board, including RMS, because unions are good, at 
>> least while the injustice of wage labor still exists. 
>> 
>>> he also caused harm to people and to the FSF organization and the free 
>>> software movement. 
>> 
>> I regard that as a straight up lie because none of the derogatory things 
>> said about him have supported that conclusion. 
>> 
>> Once again,  you are free not to associate with the FSF or the movement, but 
>> pretending to be an ally while repeating slanders should not be tolerated 
>> here or anywhere. 
>> 
>> -t 
>> 
>> On 2021-03-26 10:32, Danny Spitzberg wrote: 
>> Consider the fact that several FSF staff are going public for having 
>> organized and joined a union in order to protect themselves against the 
>> whims and wills of RMS, like if he suddenly decided to take away health 
>> insurance for everyone or other workplace dysfunction. 
>> 
>> Forming a union and finally talking about it isn't "whistleblowing" because 
>> obviously the staff and board chose to contain the problem rather than solve 
>> or eliminate it.  
>> 
>> However, I think we can agree that it's compelling nonetheless and adds to 
>> the view that while RMS contributed good things, he also caused harm to 
>> people and to the FSF organization and the free software movement.  
>> 
>> On Fri, Mar 26, 2021 at 10:25 AM Thomas Lord <lord@basiscraft.com> wrote: 
>> It's wrong to describe people as "whistle blowers" when they
>> have not produced a complaint that stands up to scrutiny.
>> 
>> -t
>> 
>> On 2021-03-26 08:54, Aaron Wolf wrote:
>>> I really appreciate seeing the perspective from Georgia. Thanks also
>>> deeply to Deb Nicholson for engaging here in this space. Obviously,
>>> these negative reports about RMS being presented *here* amounts to the
>>> opposite of an echo-chamber. These voices are bring extremely valuable
>>> perspective -- the sort we *lose* if we aren't careful to assure that 
>>> our
>>> spaces are not only open to anyone but actually in *practice* have them
>>> feel welcome and stay.
>>> 
>>> The Free Software movement is weaker for every loss of perspective. We
>>> have a duty to be not only gracious but appreciative of people like Deb
>>> for engaging and staying with us despite the tensions.
>>> 
>>> Georgia's line is exceptionally important: "...the fact that he faced
>>> consequences for his creepy Epdtein-adjacent comments and not the
>>> decades of shitty behavior..."
>
>>>> 
>>>> These are not people who are dogpiling on hearsay or gotcha online
>>>> statements or whatever else. Those anti-patterns do indeed happen, and
>>>> they polluted and harmed the credibility of the recent open letter
>>>> against RMS. But here we have people who fully understand the 
>>>> unfairness
>>>> and yet can express from extensive personal experience the *actual*
>>>> reasons why RMS's leadership is problematic.
>>>> 
>>>> As someone who deeply and profoundly respects RMS for various reasons, 
>>>> I
>>>> still don't just simply support his leadership role. I do not want him
>>>> banished, I want him to learn and do better on his pain points. I don't
>>>> want to be naive though, efforts in this direction have obviously been
>>>> done for years and not been enough.
>>>> 
>>>> I would like to continue to get RMS' insightful and pointed 
>>>> perspectives
>>>> without having him lead the organization. I would like him to live in
>>>> the zone where his genius most thrives and he contributes the most, and
>>>> I suggest that the other roles he has had would be better filled by 
>>>> others.
>>>> 
>>>> If we want a resilient movement, we need to be really open to engaging
>>>> with complaints. An organization that defends the status quo against
>>>> such critics is like the NSA attacking Ed Snowden and people 
>>>> insinuating
>>>> that Snowden is working for Russia (similar to people talking about how
>>>> Deb now works for the OSI and the OSI is connected to corporations).
>>>> 
>>>> I'm not suggesting deference to the outside unfair critics, the people
>>>> who do indeed levy unfair attacks, mine quotes, spread FUD, etc. That
>>>> stuff can be real, and we need to defend against it.
>>>> 
>>>> But people like Deb are our whistleblowers, they are insiders who are
>>>> bringing attention to serious issues. If we ignore or attack
>>>> whistleblowers, we will fail to learn important lessons. This attitude
>>>> can be fatal to a movement.
>>>> 
>>>> In solidarity,
>>>> Aaron Wolf
>>>> (FSF member since 2014, co-founder of Snowdrift.coop)
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
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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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