[FSFLA] removing the "President" title in FSF sister organizations

[Kaio Duarte Costa]

Em 2022-02-24 18:04, Daniel Pocock escreveu:
> On 24/02/2022 21:54, Kaio Duarte Costa wrote:
>> Em 2022-02-24 17:12, Daniel Pocock escreveu:
>>> Hi all
>>>
>>> When I was an FSFE member (I resigned), I would sometimes ask people if
>>> they wanted the FSFE President to come and speak at an event.
>>>
>>> Whenever I used the phrase "FSFE President", without mentioning any
>>> names, people would ask me "are you talking about Richard Stallman?"
>>>
>>> Quite simply, outside the elites of open source politics, most people
>>> don't understand the difference between FSF and FSFE and they only
>>> recognize the name of one person, Dr Stallman.
>>>
>>> Out of respect for this phenomena I feel it would be good for all other
>>> FSFs, e.g. FSFELA and FSFE, to simply remove the title "President" from
>>> their board and use some alternative term.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Daniel
>>
>> Hey Daniel,
>>
>> In FSFLA's constitution, there is no express determination, about the
>> existence of a "president" (or a presidential figure) on the board of
>> directors. (https://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/about/constitution.pt.html)
>>
>> Therefore, I understand that there is no need to use such a
>> nomenclature, since all members seem to have the same authority and
>> power within this board. However, I understand the need to end the
>> centralism in Richard Stallman's image within and outside the free
>> software community by showing more breadth and diversity about the
>> movement's leadership figures.
>>
>> I believe, regardless of the name to be used, that centralism in a
>> single name can bring several disadvantages, and so it is always good to
>> clarify differences and positions when it is questioned.
> 
> That can be achieved by creating other organizations with names that are
> not similar to FSF

Yes, that is a great step. Every time you create something, linked
directly to the FSF name, people will link to RMS (Since he founded the
foundation, people will always link to him). However, you will also need
the entities/foundations, to do this process of explanation and
clarification to decentralize this.

To be clear, I am not against RMS, I don't know him (directly) and have
no position about his person, his work or his thinking. I follow the
philosophy of free software, which is based on a collective construction
(in good part, written by him), and I understand the need to create a
broader, more inclusive movement, with more leadership figures and
representation.

-- 
Kaio Duarte Costa 

Trainee at the National Institute of Social Security of Brazil (INSS),
Director of Student Councils of the União Colegial de Minas Gerais
(UCMG), Member of the Social Council of the Fund for Maintenance and
Development of Basic Education (consFUNDEB-MG), Substitute Member of the
Permanent State Forum on Education of Minas Gerais (FEPEMG), Member of
the Committee of the National Association of Data Protection
Professionals (ANPPD), Affiliated to the Brazilian Computer Society
(SBC), Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC) and Free
Software Foundation (FSF).