Richard Stallman's return to the board of the Free Software Foundation has sparked negative reactions from various organizations and developers. In particular, the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC), whose director recently received an award for contributions to the development of free software, announced the termination of all relations with the Free Software Foundation and the cessation of any activities intersecting with this organization, including refusing the funding provided by the Free Software Foundation for the work of a participant in the Outreachy program (the required $6,500 will be allocated from SFC's own funds).
The Open Source Initiative (OSI), which verifies the compliance of licenses with Open Source criteria, stated its refusal to participate in events involving Stallman and will suspend cooperation with the Free Software Foundation until Stallman is removed from leadership positions in the organization.
It has been noted that the community has recently been striving to provide an inclusive environment that welcomes all participants. According to OSI, creating such an environment is impossible if leadership positions are held by those who exhibit behavior contrary to this goal. OSI believes that Stallman should not hold leadership positions in communities related to free and open source software. OSI urges the Free Software Foundation to remove Stallman from involvement in the organization's activities and to take measures to compensate for the harm that Stallman has caused in the past with his words and actions.
Additionally, an open letter was published, signed by those demanding the resignation of the entire board of the Free Software Foundation and Stallman's removal from all leadership positions, including the leadership of the GNU project. The other board members are presented as having contributed to the increase of Stallman's influence for many years. Until this demand is met, it is suggested to cease any support for the Free Software Foundation and participation in events organized by it. The letter has already been signed by nearly 700 individuals, including leaders from the GNOME Foundation, Software Freedom Conservancy, and OSI, former leader of the Debian project, former director of the Apache Software Foundation, as well as some well-known developers like Matthew Garrett.
It is claimed that in the past he demonstrated inappropriate behavior, misogyny, a negative attitude towards transgender individuals, and ableism (unequal treatment of ordinary people and those with disabilities), which is unacceptable for a community leader in today's world. The letter states that those around him have already tolerated Stallman's outbursts long enough, and that there is no place for someone like him in the open and free software development community, as his leadership may be seen as an endorsement of harmful and dangerous ideology.
Note: It is overlooked that Stallman's primary ideology is the creation of the free software movement, including its principles and ideals. Stallman's opponents refer to his careless and outspoken remarks from the past, which were not perceived in the same way back then, made not in public speeches but in niche discussions, and often taken out of context once brought to light (for example, Stallman did not justify Epstein's actions but attempted to defend Marvin Minsky, who was already deceased and unable to defend himself; the letter describes support for abortion as ableism, and a refusal to require the use of each invented neologism pronoun as transphobia). Stallman's supporters see these actions as a witch hunt and an intent to divide the community.
Addition: The organizations X.Org Foundation, Organization for Ethical Source, and Outreachy have joined the call for Stallman's resignation and decided to sever ties with the FSF. The Processing Foundation announced it would discontinue the use of the GPL license in protest. In turn, representatives of the FSF assured the public that the FSF and the organizers of the LibrePlanet conference were not informed about Stallman's decision to return and learned about it during his speech.
Source: opennet.ru
