[Wikimedia-l] Re: WMCUG Response for recent office actions
They got the statement translated by themselves: https://qiuwen.wmcug.org.cn/archives/403/on-wmf-office-action-en-1/ Interesting. They, if I remember correctly, already got conduct warnings against them, as mentioned by them during the FRAM case. https://archive.is/3Tffv Regards, William Chan On Tue, 14 Sept 2021 at 16:30, Andreas Kolbe wrote: > Here is a machine translation, by DeepL.com (Google Translate produces > gobbledygook by comparison!) > > Qiuwen - Wikimedians of Mainland China > > Drop the illusion and prepare for the fight - a comment on the > Foundation's region-wide lockdown of Chinese Wikimedians and Maggie > Dennis's "statement" > > Posted by Qiuwen on September 14, 2021 in Drop the illusions, prepare for > the struggle - A comment on the Foundation's region-wide targeting of > Chinese Wikimedians and Maggie Dennis' "statement" > > [This commentary, by Lu Zu, takes the form of an open letter and will be > translated into English shortly.] > > September 13, 2021 will be remembered by all Chinese Wikipedians. > > The Wikimedia Foundation has locked out all Chinese Wikipedians, including > members and liaison members of my group, for no apparent reason, and has > removed the administrator and administrative privileges of many more > Wikipedians. This decision was made by the Foundation at the instigation of > some people in the Chinese wiki community, without any consideration, > without listening to the views of the community, and without any basis for > believing the slander of a small group of people. > > It is no accident that the Foundation has decided to take action at this > point in time. The Foundation has torn off its mask of hypocrisy towards > us, and indeed towards the entire mainland Chinese community, and has > revealed its green fangs. Following the Foundation's decision, the > perpetrators of this farce are rejoicing that their imagined greatest > rival, our own Wikipedians of Mainland China (WMC), has been knocked off - > just as they were four years ago when they were region-wide locked out at > Watchtower Ai Meng. > > The Chinese government and the Communist Party of China have been > criticized for blocking foreign websites and suppressing Wikipedia's > development in China. But the Foundation has done what even the Chinese > government has failed to do - the Chinese government has not stopped us > from organising meetings or events, and has not declared our grey area, > university club-like organisation an "illegal group". Zero Wikipedians have > been arrested, threatened, or in any way obstructed by the Chinese > government, and the Foundation has banned seven people and removed the > administrative powers of 12 others with a single move. > > These people have done the dirtiest and toughest work in China, a country > where Wikipedia has been blocked until now, to grow the community to its > current size. Now, they have to be slapped backwards and bitten back by the > Foundation. > > The Foundation has clearly learnt its lesson from when Fram, the > administrator of the English Wikipedia, was banned in 2019. At that time, > Fram's administrator was pulled from his post and was also banned from the > English Wikipedia. This caused an uproar in the English Wikipedia community > at the time. The Foundation never dreamed that the community would react so > strongly to the banning of Fram. The foundation may have had an external PR > team, but they didn't realise that it was the community that needed PR the > most. It took the Foundation over a month to put out the fires in the > community. Even though the vast majority of the English wiki community > objected to the Foundation's forced involvement in the community, the > Foundation did not budge: the Fram, who had his administrator privileges > removed for no good reason, was not reinstated after weeks of protest and > opposition from the community. > > We know that there are many people in the community who care about us, who > want Wikipedia to be unblocked in China, who want the Wikimedia movement to > grow in China, who recognise the efforts and even sacrifices that WMC has > made for the development of Wikimedia in China, or at the very least, who > think that the Foundation should not have banned so many administrators > overnight and without warning. You may also be under the illusion that the > Foundation has the possibility to admit its mistake or to retract their > decision. The truth, dear friends, may have disappointed you. Like you, we > hope that today is just a nightmare. However, I am here to give you a > precautionary note: lose your illusions and prepare to fight. > > Having seen what happened with Fram, this time the Foundation accompanied > the lockout and de-prioritisation with a "statement" in an attempt to > obfuscate and justify its unjustified actions before the community could > react. This "statement" by Maggie Dennis, the Foundation's community > development officer, also officially sounds
[Wikimedia-l] Re: WMCUG Response for recent office actions
Here is a machine translation, by DeepL.com (Google Translate produces gobbledygook by comparison!) Qiuwen - Wikimedians of Mainland China Drop the illusion and prepare for the fight - a comment on the Foundation's region-wide lockdown of Chinese Wikimedians and Maggie Dennis's "statement" Posted by Qiuwen on September 14, 2021 in Drop the illusions, prepare for the struggle - A comment on the Foundation's region-wide targeting of Chinese Wikimedians and Maggie Dennis' "statement" [This commentary, by Lu Zu, takes the form of an open letter and will be translated into English shortly.] September 13, 2021 will be remembered by all Chinese Wikipedians. The Wikimedia Foundation has locked out all Chinese Wikipedians, including members and liaison members of my group, for no apparent reason, and has removed the administrator and administrative privileges of many more Wikipedians. This decision was made by the Foundation at the instigation of some people in the Chinese wiki community, without any consideration, without listening to the views of the community, and without any basis for believing the slander of a small group of people. It is no accident that the Foundation has decided to take action at this point in time. The Foundation has torn off its mask of hypocrisy towards us, and indeed towards the entire mainland Chinese community, and has revealed its green fangs. Following the Foundation's decision, the perpetrators of this farce are rejoicing that their imagined greatest rival, our own Wikipedians of Mainland China (WMC), has been knocked off - just as they were four years ago when they were region-wide locked out at Watchtower Ai Meng. The Chinese government and the Communist Party of China have been criticized for blocking foreign websites and suppressing Wikipedia's development in China. But the Foundation has done what even the Chinese government has failed to do - the Chinese government has not stopped us from organising meetings or events, and has not declared our grey area, university club-like organisation an "illegal group". Zero Wikipedians have been arrested, threatened, or in any way obstructed by the Chinese government, and the Foundation has banned seven people and removed the administrative powers of 12 others with a single move. These people have done the dirtiest and toughest work in China, a country where Wikipedia has been blocked until now, to grow the community to its current size. Now, they have to be slapped backwards and bitten back by the Foundation. The Foundation has clearly learnt its lesson from when Fram, the administrator of the English Wikipedia, was banned in 2019. At that time, Fram's administrator was pulled from his post and was also banned from the English Wikipedia. This caused an uproar in the English Wikipedia community at the time. The Foundation never dreamed that the community would react so strongly to the banning of Fram. The foundation may have had an external PR team, but they didn't realise that it was the community that needed PR the most. It took the Foundation over a month to put out the fires in the community. Even though the vast majority of the English wiki community objected to the Foundation's forced involvement in the community, the Foundation did not budge: the Fram, who had his administrator privileges removed for no good reason, was not reinstated after weeks of protest and opposition from the community. We know that there are many people in the community who care about us, who want Wikipedia to be unblocked in China, who want the Wikimedia movement to grow in China, who recognise the efforts and even sacrifices that WMC has made for the development of Wikimedia in China, or at the very least, who think that the Foundation should not have banned so many administrators overnight and without warning. You may also be under the illusion that the Foundation has the possibility to admit its mistake or to retract their decision. The truth, dear friends, may have disappointed you. Like you, we hope that today is just a nightmare. However, I am here to give you a precautionary note: lose your illusions and prepare to fight. Having seen what happened with Fram, this time the Foundation accompanied the lockout and de-prioritisation with a "statement" in an attempt to obfuscate and justify its unjustified actions before the community could react. This "statement" by Maggie Dennis, the Foundation's community development officer, also officially sounds the death knell for the Wikimedia movement in mainland China under the Foundation's leadership - I'm not saying here that the Wikimedia movement is dead in China, I'm saying that the Foundation I am saying that the Wikimedia movement under the leadership of the Foundation is dead.. The Wikimedia movement is much more than the Foundation: it is about opening up one's copyright, respecting the copyright of others, being willing to share, treating everyone with courtesy, and so on. This is the
