Oops, I said that already. Sorry, carry on 😅. On Thu, Oct 9, 2025, 10:58 a.m. Hannah Clover <[email protected]> wrote:
> I also wanted to say that I welcome other people's voices on the > discussion page on my reform petition. My story is just one of many and our > collective voices matter. > > On Thu, Oct 9, 2025, 10:44 a.m. Owen Blacker <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hi Victoria, >> >> Thank you for at least presenting your personal perspective on the >> disqualification of these 2 candidates. >> >> I have to say, though, this seems to me like the least charitable >> possible view anyone could have taken from both candidates' statements. >> >> I'm sure this is not what you intended, but what I read from your message >> is that: >> >> 1️⃣ A bad-faith smear campaign from Israel will be enough to rule out any >> candidate who posts pro-Palestine, anti-Zionist messages, and >> disenfranchise voters who would support a candidate who opposes Israel's >> genocide of the Palestinians. >> >> 2️⃣ A single Board member having expressed anti-Israel comments on social >> media is more likely to bring the WMF into disrepute than rumours of the >> Foundation being careful to appease the ADL, a propagandist organisation >> that disseminates disinformation, that conflates any criticism of Israel >> with antisemitism and that denies that a genocide is currently occurring in >> territories under Israeli control. >> >> 3️⃣ A candidate who is looking to increase transparency and help the >> community better understand the work of the Board is immediately assumed to >> be incapable of recognising a need for privacy around any of those areas — >> even despite that candidate already being trusted by 2 different Affiliates >> with equivalently sensitive Board-level information. >> >> If the vetting process is immediately assuming pro-Palestinian viewpoints >> and pro-transparency viewpoints to be incompatible with Board membership, >> then the vetting process is not fit for purpose. >> >> I am finding it increasingly difficult to trust the judgement of a Board >> who thinks these 2 candidates are so dangerous that they cannot be voted on >> or trusted to be onboarded appropriately. This is exacerbated when the most >> recent other activities I have seen from the Board are replacing a queer >> woman of colour from a non Free nation-state of the Global South with a >> white financier from New York City (who I am sure is very competent) and >> publishing a policy that seems solely designed to stop the Arabic-language >> Wikipedia from displaying a flag on its logo because it makes some people >> who are currently supporting a genocide feel uncomfortable. >> >> The Board seems to think the extremist viewpoints of the news media of a >> country that is being condemned by a substantial proportion of the planet >> are more important to its reputation than representing the wider community >> and its diversity. Given that the Foundation is hosted and staffed >> predominantly from a country that is currently falling to anti-democratic >> extremism, it is hard to have trust and hope that the Foundation is willing >> and able to fight for knowledge and diversity in the face of rising hate >> and disinformation. >> >> (To be clear, I too am writing as an individual, not as a representative >> of any organisation I am a part of.) >> >> -- >> Owen Blacker, Cardiff GB, he/him >> User:OwenBlacker >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines >> at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l >> Public archives at >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/RXF3WVGJDYYQCNILC2EREKXSXTSBXN2V/ >> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > >
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