Re: Support RMS

[Danny Spitzberg]

   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 <[1]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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References

   1. mailto:lord@basiscraft.com
   2. mailto:libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org
   3. https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss
   4. mailto:libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org
   5. https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss