commit: 10b537b916be73433f238916fba678cc9386a1c6
parent d32e77a0ef39e8c32a054dd161e5dc40cc8cc202
Author: Drew DeVault <sir@cmpwn.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2025 17:18:46 +0100
Update on protest plans
Diffstat:
3 files changed, 117 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
diff --git a/content/blog/2025-01-16-No-Billionares-at-FOSDEM-please.md b/content/blog/2025-01-16-No-Billionares-at-FOSDEM-please.md
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ title: No billionaires at FOSDEM
date: 2025-01-16
---
+*Update: Dorsey's talk was cancelled! [See the update here](/2025/01/23/2025-01-23-Transparency-and-governance-FOSDEM.html).*
+
Jack Dorsey, former CEO of Twitter, ousted board member of BlueSky, and grifter
extraordinaire to the tune of a $5.6B net worth, is [giving a keynote at
FOSDEM][0].
diff --git a/content/blog/2025-01-20-FOSDEM-protest.md b/content/blog/2025-01-20-FOSDEM-protest.md
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ title: "FOSDEM '25 protest"
date: 2025-01-20
---
+*Update: Dorsey's talk was cancelled! [See the update here](/2025/01/23/2025-01-23-Transparency-and-governance-FOSDEM.html).*
+
[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 about our plans][statement] on
diff --git a/content/blog/2025-01-23-Transparency-and-governance-FOSDEM.md b/content/blog/2025-01-23-Transparency-and-governance-FOSDEM.md
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+---
+title: Join us to discuss transparency and governance at FOSDEM '25
+date: 2025-01-23
+---
+
+Good news: it appears that Jack Dorsey's FOSDEM talk has been cancelled!
+
+*This is a follow up to two earlier posts, which you can read here: [one] and
+[two]*.
+
+I say it "appears" so, because there has been no official statement from anyone
+to that effect. There has also been no communication from staff to the protest
+organizers, including to our email reaching out [as requested] to discuss fire
+safety and crowd control concerns with the staff. The situation is a bit
+unclear, but… we'll extend FOSDEM the benefit of the doubt, and with it our
+gratitude. From all of the volunteers who have been organizing this protest
+action, we extend our heartfelt thanks to the staff for reconsidering the
+decision to platform Dorsey and Block, Inc. at FOSDEM. All of us -- long-time
+FOSDEM volunteers, speakers, devroom organizers, and attendees -- are relieved
+to know that FOSDEM stands for our community's interests.
+
+More importantly: what comes next?
+
+The frustration the community felt at learning that Block was sponsoring FOSDEM
+and one of the keynote slots[^1] had been given to Dorsey and his
+colleagues uncovered some deeper frustrations with the way FOSDEM is run these
+days. This year is FOSDEM's 25th anniversary, and it seems sorely overdue for
+graduating from the "trust us, it's crazy behind the scenes" governance model to
+something more aligned with the spirit of open source.
+
+We trust the FOSDEM organizers --- we can extend them the benefit of the doubt
+when they tell us that talk selection is independent of sponsorships. But it
+strains our presumption of good faith when the talk proposal was [rejected by 3
+of the 4][rejection] independent reviewers and went through anyway. And it's
+kind of weird that we have to take them at their word --- that the talk
+selection process isn't documented anywhere publicly, nor the conflict of
+interest policy, nor the sponsorship terms, nor almost anything at all about how
+FOSDEM operates or is governed internally. Who makes decisions? How? We don't
+know, and that's kind of weird for something so important in the open source
+space.
+
+[^1]: Later moved to the main track, same time, same room, before it was ultimately cancelled.
+
+[rejection]: https://chaos.social/@phoenix/113849512507355397
+
+Esther Payne, a speaker at FOSDEM 2020, [summed up these concerns][onepict]:
+
+> Why do we have so little information on the FOSDEM site about the budget and
+> just how incorporated is FOSDEM as an organisation? How do the laws of Belgium
+> affect the legalities of the organisation? How is the bank account
+> administrated? How much money goes into the costs of this year, and how much
+> of the budget goes into startup costs for the next year?
+
+[onepict]: https://www.onepict.com/20250122-mirror.html
+
+Peter Zaitsev, a long-time devroom organizer and FOSDEM speaker for many years,
+[asked similar questions last year][peter]. I've spoken to the volunteers who
+signed up for the protest -- we're relieved that Dorsey's talk has been
+cancelled, but we're still left with big questions about transparency and
+governance at FOSDEM.
+
+[peter]: https://www.percona.com/blog/in-search-of-transparency-at-fosdem/
+
+So, what's next?
+
+Let's do something useful with that now-empty time slot in Janson. Anyone who
+planned to attend the protest is encouraged to come anyway on Sunday at 12:00
+PM, where we're going to talk amongst ourselves and anyone else who shows up
+about what we want from FOSDEM in the future, and what a transparent and
+participatory model of governance would look like. We would be thrilled if
+anyone on the FOSDEM staff wants to join the conversation as well, assuming
+their busy schedule permits. We'll prepare a summary of our discussion and our
+findings to submit to the staff and the FOSDEM community for consideration after
+the event.
+
+Until then -- I'll see you there!
+
+---
+
+P.S. It's a shame we won't end up handing out our pamphlets. The volunteers
+working on that came up with this amazing flyer and I think it doesn't deserve
+to go unseen:
+
+[one]: /2025/01/16/2025-01-16-No-Billionares-at-FOSDEM-please.html
+[two]: /2025/01/20/2025-01-20-FOSDEM-protest.html
+[as requested]: https://fosdem.org/2025/news/2025-01-16-protests/
+
+<style>
+.flyers {
+ display: flex;
+ justify-content: space-around;
+}
+
+.flyers a {
+ max-width: 45%;
+}
+</style>
+
+<div class="flyers">
+ <a href="https://redacted.moe/f/abaeed07.pdf">
+ <img
+ alt="Front face of the flyer: 'No billionares at FOSDEM' over a picture of Jack Dorsey with the 'X' logo over his mouth."
+ src="https://redacted.moe/f/261d03ea.jpeg" />
+ </a>
+ <a href="https://redacted.moe/f/abaeed07.pdf">
+ <img
+ alt="Reverse face of the flyer, detailing Dorsey and Block, Inc's numerous misdeeds"
+ src="https://redacted.moe/f/adab02ce.jpeg" />
+ </a>
+</div>
+
+We will be doing a modest print run for posterity --- find one of us at FOSDEM
+if you want one.
