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

[Daniel Vetter]

On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 8:42 PM Lyude Paul <lyude at redhat.com> wrote:
>
> 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.

Also quoting our mission statement:

"... and defend a free and open accelerated graphics stack."

Defense is generally something that's done towards the outside of our
own community, for example by clearly distancing us from the actions
of the oldest free software foundation there is when they end up
dragging the entire free software world into a rather bad light
through that.
-Daniel

>
>
> 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!
> _______________________________________________
> members at foundation.x.org: X.Org Foundation Members
> Archives: https://foundation.x.org/cgi-bin/mailman/private/members
> Info: https://foundation.x.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/members



-- 
Daniel Vetter
Software Engineer, Intel Corporation
http://blog.ffwll.ch