X.org calls for the removal of the of the entire FSF BoD

[Lyude Paul]

On Wed, 2021-03-24 at 20:06 +0100, Marc Balmer wrote:
> Paul,
> 
> can you please explain to me which article of the X.Org bylaws allows the
> board of directors to take such action without prior voting by the
> X.Org members?  I am not enciting that it is wrongful, I just did not find it
> in the bylaws.

JFYI - I think you have a misunderstanding on how by-laws work; something that
isn't mentioned in by-laws does not mean that something is disallowed. It's the
other way around, so you've kind of answered your own question there.

Either way, there are explicit by-laws that actually do explicitly enable these
actions: see Article 4 sections ii and iii (also, section i makes a vague
mention of this). There's also no actual situations described in the by-laws
that require member votes other then elections (of course), and I don't think
I've ever heard of a foundation which has all of it's members vote on any PR
statements before they're made. 

> 
> Thanks,
> Marc
> 
> 
> > Am 24.03.2021 um 17:56 schrieb Lyude Paul <lyude at redhat.com>:
> > 
> > Hello. As many of you are already likely aware, yesterday Richard M.
> > Stallman
> > rejoined the Board of Directors for the Free Software Foundation. This is an
> > incredibly disappointing decision, one which runs contrary to the values
> > that
> > the X.org and freedesktop.org communities are built-upon.
> > 
> > Richard M. Stallman, or RMS for short, has an infamously well documented
> > history
> > of causing problems both for the FSF, it's associated projects, and open
> > source
> > as a whole. On numerous occasions he's exhibited seriously inappropriate
> > behavior and views that are transphobic, ableist, and misogynist among many
> > other things that are wholly unacceptable and which have no place in the
> > open
> > source community. In doing so he's set a dangerous and irresponsible
> > precedence
> > for the open source community that has tarnished its reputation for ages.
> > 
> > As well, the board for the Free Software Foundation must also be held
> > accountable for his actions and presence back on the board. While RMS
> > himself is
> > a huge problem, he would not be able to hold a place on the FSF BoD without
> > the
> > board being complacent with his behavior and allowing him to return. This is
> > also part of a long recurring pattern with the FSF board encouraging RMS's
> > behavior and refusing to hold him accountable. It is not enough for RMS to
> > step
> > down again, the entire board of directors must step down.
> > 
> > It is for these reasons that the X.org foundation's Board of Directors have
> > overwhelmingly voted to join in the call for the FSF's Board of Directors to
> > step down, and additionally for RMS to be removed from all leadership
> > positions
> > including the GNU project. You can find our endorsement of this along with
> > more
> > information here:
> > 
> > https://rms-open-letter.github.io/
> > 
> > We encourage members of X.org, freedesktop.org, and the open source
> > community as
> > a whole to endorse this letter and boycott involvement with the FSF and
> > associated projects.
> > 
> > Sincerely,
> > Lyude Paul - X.org board member and Secretary
> > On behalf of the X.org foundation
> > 
> 

-- 
Sincerely,
Lyude Paul (she/her)
Software Engineer at Red Hat

Note: I deal with a lot of emails and have a lot of bugs on my plate. If you've
asked me a question, are waiting for a review/merge on a patch, etc. and I
haven't responded in a while, please feel free to send me another email to check
on my status. I don't bite!
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