Re: Support RMS

[Danny Spitzberg <stationaery@gmail.com>]

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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:
“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. 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/

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> 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 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>> 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> 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>. Do it now, later
> >     may be late.
> >
> >     Best.
> >     --
> >     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
> >
> >     _______________________________________________
> >     libreplanet-discuss mailing list
> >     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>
> >
>
> --
> 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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   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
   [1]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 [2]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.
   [3]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 <[4]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 [5]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
     <[6]hayati@riseup.net
     > <mailto:[7]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
     [8]info@fsf.org
     >     <mailto:[9]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 [10]info@fsf.org
     >     <mailto:[11]info@fsf.org>. Do it now, later
     >     may be late.
     >
     >     Best.
     >     --
     >     Ali Reza Hayati ([12]https://alirezahayati.com
     <[13]https://alirezahayati.com>)
     >     Libre culture activist and privacy advocate
     >     PGP: B7DC C419 C0ED 05D5 6535 1BD3 2A7F A925 75A3 C354
     >
     >     _______________________________________________
     >     libreplanet-discuss mailing list
     >     [14]libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org
     >     <mailto:[15]libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org>
     >
     [16]https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discu
     ss
     >
     <[17]https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-disc
     uss>
     >
     --
     Ali Reza Hayati ([18]https://alirezahayati.com)
     Libre culture activist and privacy advocate
     PGP: B7DC C419 C0ED 05D5 6535 1BD3 2A7F A925 75A3 C354

References

   1. https://twitter.com/georgialyle/status/1374504389155508232
   2. http://gnu.org/
   3. https://rms-open-letter.github.io/
   4. mailto:hayati@riseup.net
   5. mailto:info@fsf.org
   6. mailto:hayati@riseup.net
   7. mailto:hayati@riseup.net
   8. mailto:info@fsf.org
   9. mailto:info@fsf.org
  10. mailto:info@fsf.org
  11. mailto:info@fsf.org
  12. https://alirezahayati.com/
  13. https://alirezahayati.com/
  14. mailto:libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org
  15. mailto:libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org
  16. https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss
  17. https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss
  18. https://alirezahayati.com/

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