Not everything is as you plan ... thousands ask Stallman to return command and leave

The pressure increases every moment for Richard Stallman (RMS) after you have announced that you are back with the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and that is thousands of people have raised their voices so that he can be expelled of the organization he created and of which he has been a symbol for decades. In fact, following the reaction of the Open Source Initiative (OSI), hundreds of free software supporters signed an open letter asking the founder of the Free Movement to give back his apron, but also the entire free software council.

La Free Software Foundation is an organization non profit founded by Richard Stallman in 1985 with the mission of promoting free software. Since then, he has held the presidency of the FSF in addition to being a member of the board of directors, until he was forced to resign in 2019.

As a consequence of the position he assumed in the Epstein case that refers to sexual assault on minors. That year, Richard Stallman spoke about the case of Marvin Minsky, an MIT artificial intelligence expert with whom he appeared to be friends. Marvin Minsky was charged with sexually assaulting one of Jeffrey Epstein's victims. But in a comment, Stallman questioned this act considered rape by evoking a kind of consent on the part of said victim. The comments outraged both MIT and the free software community, prompting RMS to resign from their positions at MIT and the FSF.

Less than two years later, RMS signs its return to the Free Software Foundation (FSF), at least as a member of the board of directors and perhaps with the intention of taking over the reins of the organization that he created.

I have an announcement to make. I'm back on the board of the Free Software Foundation… Some of you will be happy about this, and some will be disappointed, but who knows? In any case, it is so, and I have no intention of resigning a second time, ”he announced during the FSF LibrePlanet virtual event.

Expressing outrage at the reinstatement of Richard Stallman, the Open Source Initiative (OSI) announced that it will stop collaborating with the Free Software Foundation if RMS does not re-resign from the organization's board of directors.

And it is that almost at the same time that OSI denounced the reestablishment of RMS, hundreds of free software advocates wrote a letter communication demanding his resignation and that of all the other members of the board.

Among the signatories of the letter are developers, taxpayers and senior officials of free and open source organizations and projects, including the GNOME Foundation, the Open Source Initiative, Software Freedom Conservancy, Apache Software Foundation, Wikimedia Foundation, EFF, etc. There are also academics and even a former MEP from the Swedish Pirate Party, in this case Amelia Andersdotter. Everyone speaks out against behavior deemed undesirable by RMS, which they believe is a thorn in the side of the free and open source software community.

Richard M. Stallman has long been a dangerous force in the free software community. He has been misogynistic, capable and transphobic, among other serious accusations of impropriety. These kinds of beliefs have no place in the free software, digital rights, and technology communities. With his recent reinstatement on the board of the Free Software Foundation, we are calling for the entire FSF board to resign and for RMS to be removed from all positions of responsibility.

We [the signatories] believe in the need for digital autonomy and the powerful role that user freedom plays in protecting our basic human rights. To fulfill the promise of all that software freedom makes possible, there has to be a radical change within the community. We believe in a present and a future where technology liberates, does not oppress, people. We know that this is only possible in a world where technology is designed to respect our rights at their most basic levels. While these ideas have been popularized in one way or another by Richard M. Stallman, he does not speak for us. We do not tolerate your actions or opinions. We do not recognize her leadership or the leadership of the Free Software Foundation as it is presented today ”, we can read in the open letter. Before being more aggressive with the founder of the FSF.

As if that wasn't enough are calling on sponsors and all community members to boycott the FSF and Richard Stallman.

Source: https://rms-open-letter.github.io/


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  1.   José said

    Richard M. Stallman, is a person who does not follow the crowd like a sheep, has an unwavering character and social conscience, is to be admired and applauded, I understand that there are issues where he does not perform well as expected, but instead of isolating him and condemn him, because not reaching out to help him better understand the situation to which he is exposed, any human being learns by making mistakes if he cannot improve, the problem of many entrepreneurs or people in managerial positions is that they have bad advisers, and It is due to such ignorance that they see people like Richard Stallman or the GPL licenses as possible threats, ignorance increases fear and greed, from my perspective we should put aside hypocrisy and pride, be humble to accept that we do not know everything and that we need to learn from others, understand their position and try to put ourselves in their shoes to find out why they reached a certain conclusion. Best regards, success in your activities and happy weekend.

  2.   emre ONGUN said

    Those who want Stallman to leave again are those who want to damage free software.

  3.   Frank said

    Welcome back RMS

  4.   Luigino Bracci Roa said

    Thousands more are supporting Richard Stallman, demanding that he not be removed from the FSF.

    https://rms-support-letter.github.io/

  5.   Chicxulub Kukulkan said

    Easy, the complainers make their fork.