The other side of the coin, Stallman supporters call on the FSF to resist pressure

Following Richard Stallman's announcement of his return to the board of directors of the Free Software Foundation, founded by himself in 1985. Her return it has not been to the liking of thousands of people and free software organizations and the community of the open source Initiative, Software Freedom Conservancy, Apache Software Foundation among others) who demand his departure.

And it is that Richard Stallman announced at the LibrePlanet virtual event of the Free Software Foundation who has joined the board and has no plans to resign again.

Hundreds of Free Software Supporters and open source have signed an open letter asking the founder of the Free Movement to return his apron, but also the entire FSF board of directors to resign. Signatories to the petition include developers, contributors, and senior officials from free software and open source organizations and projects, including the GNOME Foundation, Open Source Initiative, Software Freedom Conservancy, Apache Software Foundation, Wikimedia Foundation, EFF.

Given this, Stallman's supporters they are organizing to make the Free Software Foundation resist the pressure. Stallman's return to the ruling circle of the FSF not only provoked anger, as on the other hand some have welcomed him, since Leah Rowe is a British electronics engineer, free software and transgender rights activist.

He has made his position known to others and I comment the following:

“I am very happy to see Richard Stallman reinstated on the FSF board of directors. This was announced today in the LibrePlanet sources. He is not president, but he is on the board. FSF is not the same without it. They need his strength and his passion ”.

Faced with the strong reactions to his return, sus supporters pledged to write an open letter to express their support in these terms:

Richard M. Stallman, also known as RMS, has been a driving force in the free software movement for decades, with contributions that include the GNU operating system and Emacs.

“Recently there have been vile attacks online seeking to remove you from the FSF board for expressing your personal views. We have already seen this happen in an organized way with other prominent free software activists and programmers. We will not sit idly by at this point when an icon of this community is attacked.

“The FSF is an autonomous body capable of treating its members fairly and impartially and must not give in to external social pressure. We urge the FSF to objectively examine the arguments against RMS and truly understand the meaning of their words and actions.

“Historically, RMS has expressed its views in a way that has shocked a lot of people. He generally focuses more on philosophical foundations and pursues objective truth and purism of language, while underestimating people's feelings on the topics he discusses. This leaves their arguments vulnerable to misunderstandings and misrepresentations, which we believe occurs in the open letter calling for their revocation. His words should be interpreted in this context and bearing in mind that, in most cases, he does not seek to present things diplomatically.

Either way, Stallman's views on the issues he's being hunted for are irrelevant to his ability to lead a community like the FSF. In addition, you have as much opinion as anyone else. Parliamentarians and supporters may disagree with their views, but they must respect their right to freedom of thought and expression ”.

A note was sent to the FSF saying:

“The removal of RMS will damage the image of the FSF and will be a blow to the momentum of the free software movement. We urge you to think carefully about your actions, as what you decide will have a major impact on the future of the software industry.

»To the ambush mob that rises against Richard Stallman for reasonable arguments in the debate and various opinions and beliefs expressed over decades as a public figure:

You have no role to play in choosing any leadership. Community. Especially not through another mob attack that doesn't seem like a far enough debate as better people like Richard Stallman illustrate. "

This letter has already had more than 1400 signatures.


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  1.   Beli said

    A day later there are more than 3,600 developers who have signed the letter of support, this is encouraged :)

    1.    Marcelo said

      Could you put the link to the letter? Can anyone sign it?

  2.   Ivan said

    OMG, what do you translate the quotes you mention in the article with? Not even Google Translator translates so ugly. You can try Deepl to see if they are clearer ...

  3.   Charly said

    lvl5:
    Stallman creates the FSF.
    FSF accepts money from companies to continue the project.
    Stallman gets kicked in the ortho.
    Fuck himself for being the businessman.