Mark J. Wielaard

To the FSF leadership,

Last year I wrote you the following:

My membership name is mark and I am FSF associate member #6. I am currently contributing $10 + $32, for a total of $42 dollars a month.

Besides membership fees of more than $500, I also donated $2000 last year to the FSF because I believe in the Free Software mission and want to support the GNU project.

But I am very disappointed in how the FSF has been handling the recent changes in leadership and the efforts of various GNU volunteers (which includes myself as a GNU maintainer since 2000) to be more welcoming and creating a more flexible governance structure for GNU. The FSF keeps ignoring our calls for a neutral discussion space. And I think it is unacceptable that people are afraid to publicly discuss these issues because they feel intimidated and fear to get personal threats or have to endure racist or sexist language. The FSF really has a responsibility to the GNU volunteers to be able to work and communicate with each other without having to feel harassed all the time

So I am reducing my membership fee to a minimum $10 a month and won’t be making any additional contributions till these issues have been resolved

Since then we setup the GNU Assembly without any resources from the FSF. And created the GNU Social Contract for GNU maintainers and developers to promote the GNU system and create a welcome environment for everybody to be able to create more user freedom. The FSF never officially helped or even replied to our requests to formulate an open and welcoming working relationship with us as GNU volunteers.

• https://gnu.tools/
• https://wiki.gnu.tools/gnu:social-contract
• https://gnu.wildebeest.org/blog/mjw/2019/12/02/a-public-discussion-about-gnu/
• https://gnu.wildebeest.org/blog/mjw/2019/12/27/proposals-for-the-new-gnu-fsf-relationship/

And now, instead of taking the opportunity to diversify the FSF leadership with a view towards the future and more inclusiveness, the FSF simply reinstated Richard Stallman as board member without any explanation how this addresses the original issues or the changes needed in the FSF.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founder’s_syndrome

This makes the FSF a negative force in promoting Free Software and it negatively impacts the GNU system, the GNU developers and users.

Hopefully the FSF will be able to find new leadership, so that it can again be a positive force for Free Software, support the GNU project as a welcoming community and promote user freedom. But for now I am canceling my FSF Associate Membership.

Sincerely,

Mark Wielaard