You know, Miloš, our world is full of imperfection. We’ve had patriarchy at least since the incursions of the Indo-Europeans into the Balkans in the 4th millennium BC. We’ve survived wars and persecution perpetrated for purposes of land, money, religion, sex, kin-colour, sexuality, and other kinds of power.
This group exists to help people make encyclopaedias in their own language. That is, on its own, a strong indication that we all care about those who lack privilege. Many of us on this list are privileged. Most of us are men. Most have a Fitzpatrick skin type of 1 or 2. Most are probably heterosexual. Some are atheists. Some are native speakers of English. All have plenty of electricity and education and tech.
For you to perceive the smallest injustice or infelicity and label it “racism” and then to attack another member of the group is not wise. There is a fairly large movement going on right now, reported widely in the media, which considers accusation and denunciation to be some kind of cure of all the woes patriarchy has foisted upon our civilization.
Not one of us here is a racist. Not one of us here is perfect. All of us have some privilege even if that intersects with one or more unprivileges.
Please calm down. You have been a valuable member of this group for a long time. Please resolve not to attack Gerard or anyone else with the word “racist”. Using the word doesn’t make it so, and your using it hasn’t made us all realize how right you are.
I remember well the positive meetings we had in Berlin. I even remember discussions of how we might tap into some oligarch funding via Serbian connections to achieve some of our goals. But it is our goals which are important.
Michael