free software resistance

 the cost of computing freedom is eternal vigilance

### the-coup *originally posted:* nov 2023 the anti-stallman coup was a series of events ranging from as far back as late 2018 to as recent as mid 2022. any significant events since that time were likely peripheral at most, if related. this is not to assume that more events will not happen. for better or worse, these events led to the decreased influence of stallman from free software. there are arguments to be made that his influence had already decreased before the coup, but the coup certainly decreased his influence further. one of the profound effects of the coup is that people wishing to criticise stallman (which absolutely should be possible) have an easier time doing so without being labeled as bullies or shills. this doesnt mean you wont be accused of either, nor does it prove you definitely arent one or more of these things, but it means if you have a legitimate gripe that you now have plenty of company that understands the problem. it is also harder to defend stallman than ever before, but serious efforts have been made in that direction. i personally came out on the side of stallman for years, and i admired leah rowe for doing the same. but im also tired of defending stallman when i consider the ways in which the fsf of today still discriminates against developers and subjects contributors to terrible double standards. if stallman had done better about this, the fsf would have done better about this. did stallman do adequately regarding these matters? not at all. originally, and for quite some time my take on the coup was that it was entirely opportunist and simply wielded issues that do of course matter, but in a way that was neither honest nor relevant to stallman or the fsf. today, my take on the issue is that too many people had legitimate grievances that went unaddressed for years, and stallman CAN be blamed for that. so can some of his supporters, particularly some of those still at the fsf. i spent years studying the coup, which is what it took for my position on the actors to soften, but i still note the exceptional groups of people who had more than a social justice axe to grind with stallman and the fsf. my take is more nuanced now: we cant ignore the people who had legitimate grievances- though i never thought we should be against any participants who were honest. the other component of the coup was that it was the perfect storm for usurpers, corporations and open source to hit free software where it matters. in the aftermath, i dont think the gnu project will survive- but i think most of the problems there are PRIMARILY unrelated to the coup, and secondarily connected and relevant. in particular, gnome, red hat and debian featured prominently in the coup. a number of stallmans rivals featured prominently. this doesnt mean those rivals werent there simply because they supported social justice; if only the matter were as simple as that. some of them may only be involved for good reasons. its far from easy to say definitively. this is an important part of the history of free software, and it was downplayed a number of times, while addressing the fact that corporate media did spread some very serious and debunkable falsehoods- against stallman. i think the coup had cause to exist, and i might have supported it more at the time if id been more aware of some of the issues it raised. im still against those who were purely opportunistic and those who knowingly spread false information. the main difference between my take before and my take now, is that i take some of the anti-stallman voices more seriously than before. my feelings about some of those grievances have changed, but my feelings about anyone who seized the opportunity to use the event against a rival really havent changed at all. the coup was a mixed bag, with some aspects at least probably being inevitable. for many years the fsf ignored a growing list of problems, including some the coup brought up that make todays fsf inexcusable. the job of open source on the other hand, is to hold free software accountable for problems that are created and weaponised by monopolies against all computer users- and while the fsf has gotten too soft to fight against any of that, im neither content to blame the victim solely or to absolve those who take money on pretense of "fighting for your freedom" when they do anything but. the fsf was a good organisation once. it had, it offered, no backup plan for when its leadership was attacked and its mission left in the rear view mirror. the coup merely hastened its demise, but some aspects of it were certainly dirty. i think its a mistake to conflate the dirty (and historically important) aspects of the coup with the legitimate grievances. stallman continues to lose support- some will never abandon him- and the exodus that has been going on for most of a decade continues. license: 0-clause bsd ``` # 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 # # Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any # purpose with or without fee is hereby granted. # # THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES # WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF # MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR # ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES # WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN # ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF # OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE. ``` => https://freesoftwareresistance.neocities.org