commit: 0ea680326cb4f4fa1cb39539f0b3a30d92051446
parent 7477e7b588642c8d69597e26a595abd457af8191
Author: Drew DeVault <sir@cmpwn.com>
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2025 11:16:11 +0100
Update on FOSDEM protest
Diffstat:
1 file changed, 92 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
diff --git a/content/blog/2025-01-20-FOSDEM-protest.md b/content/blog/2025-01-20-FOSDEM-protest.md
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+---
+title: "FOSDEM '25 protest"
+date: 2025-01-20
+---
+
+[Last week][previous], I wrote to object to Jack Dorsey and his company, Block,
+Inc, being accepted as main track speakers at FOSDEM, and proposed a protest
+action in response. [FOSDEM issued a statement in response][statement] on
+Thursday.
+
+Today, I have some updates for you regarding the planned action.
+
+[previous]: /2025/01/16/2025-01-16-No-Billionares-at-FOSDEM-please.html
+[statement]: https://fosdem.org/2025/news/2025-01-16-protests/
+
+I would like to emphasize that we are not protesting FOSDEM or its organizers.
+We are protesting Jack Dorsey and his company, first and foremost, from
+promoting their business at FOSDEM. We are members of the FOSDEM community. We
+have variously been speakers, devroom organizers, volunteers, and attendees for
+years -- in other words, we are not activism tourists. We have a deep
+appreciation for the organizers and all of the work that they have done over the
+years to make FOSDEM such a success.
+
+That we are taking action demonstrates that we value FOSDEM, that we believe it
+represents our community, and that we want to defend its -- our -- ethos.
+Insofar as we have a message to FOSDEM organizers, it is one of gratitude, and
+an appeal to build a more open and participatory process, in the spirit of open
+source, and especially to improve transparency on the talk selection process,
+sponsorship terms, and conflict of interest policies, so protests like ours are
+not necessary in the future. To be clear, we do not object to the need for
+sponsors generally at FOSDEM -- we understand that FOSDEM is a free, volunteer
+driven event, many of us having volunteered for years -- but we do object
+specifically to Jack Dorsey and Block, Inc being selected as sponsors and
+especially as speakers.
+
+As for the planned action, I have some more information for anyone who wishes to
+participate. Our purpose is to peacefully disrupt Dorsey's talk, and *only*
+Dorsey's talk, which is scheduled to take place between 12:00 and 12:30 on
+Sunday, February 2nd in Janson. If you intend to participate, we will be meeting
+outside of *upper* entrance to Janson at 11:45 AM. We will be occupying the
+stage for the duration of the scheduled time slot in order to prevent the talk
+from proceeding as planned.
+
+To maintain the peaceful nature of our protest and minimize the disruption to
+FOSDEM generally, we ask participants to strictly adhere to the following
+instructions:
+
+1. Do not touch anyone else, or anyone else's property, for any reason.
+1. Do not engage in intimidation.
+1. Remain quiet and peaceful throughout the demonstration.
+1. When the protest ends, disperse peacefully and in a timely manner.
+1. Leave the room the way you found it.
+
+Dorsey's time slot is scheduled to end at 12:30, but we may end up staying as
+late as 14:00 to hand the room over to the next scheduled talk.
+
+I've been pleased by the response from volunteers (some of whom helped with this
+update -- thanks!), but we still need a few more! I have set up a mailing list
+for planning the action. If you plan to join, and especially if you're willing
+and able to help with additional tasks that need to be organized, please
+[contact me directly](mailto:sir@cmpwn.com) to receive an invitation to the
+mailing list.
+
+Finally, I have some corrections to issue regarding last week's blog post.
+
+In the days since I wrote my earlier blog post, Dorsey's talk has been removed
+from the list of keynotes and moved to the main track, where it will occupy the
+same time slot in the same room but not necessarily be categorized as a
+"keynote".
+
+It has also been pointed out that Dorsey does not bear sole responsibility for
+Twitter's sale. However, he is complicit and he profited handsomely from the
+sale and all of its harmful consequences. The sale left the platform at the
+disposal of the far right, causing a sharp rise in hate speech and harassment
+and the lay-offs of 3,700 of the Twitter employees that made it worth so much to
+Jack's net worth in the first place.
+
+His complicity, along with his present-day activities at Block, Inc and the
+priorities of the company that he represents as CEO -- its irresponsible climate
+policy, $120M in fines for enabling consumer fraud, and the lay-offs of another
+1,000 employees in 2024 despite posting record profits on $5B in revenue -- are
+enough of a threat to our community and its ethos to raise alarm at his
+participation in FOSDEM. We find this compelling enough to take action to
+prevent him and his colleagues from using FOSDEM's platform to present
+themselves as good actors in our community and sell us their new "AI agenitic
+framework".
+
+The open source community and FOSDEM itself would not exist without collective
+action. Our protest to defend its principles is in that spirit. Together we can,
+and will, de-platform Jack Dorsey.
+
+I'll see you there!
