A few weeks ago I think I found a copy of WMFR's chapter agreement on a Wiki somewhere. I had the impression (maybe wrongly) that it renewed each January, and had to be cancelled by either party 3 months in advance if they did not wish to renew it.
That puts the WMF's decision point somewhere in late September or early October.
I believe that if there is no change in WMFR's position then the WMF owes a duty to the wider movement to withdraw the Chapter Agreement at that point. (And if I were on the WMF Board, which of course I'm not, this is what I would be saying). I don't know if WMF is officially thinking along these lines, but I'd be surprised if they didn't have a plan for a worst case scenario
The special GA is the only opportunity WMFR has to demonstrate it's changing before the WMF has to make up its mind. So if WMFR Board manipulates the special GA to prevent criticism or change, then I imagine that will not be helping their position at all.
Regards,
Chris
On Fri, Aug 4, 2017 at 11:03 AM, Gilles Chagnon contact@gchagnon.fr wrote:
I think the two audits the board refers to as those by IDEAS.
However, except of the announcement of the final label, there was no report to the community. An audit usually comes with recommendations and a series of good points/concerns but as far as I know, no result was shared outside of the board/the direction. I can understand that some points may be confidential, but I also think that some conclusions could have been shared, provided the auditing organism had been told to write their conclusion in a suitable way.
G. ChagnonLe 04/08/2017 à 11:45, Ilario Valdelli a écrit :
Only an audit can answer. To switch from rumors to facts, this is the most appropriate solution.
It seems that Wikimedia France had two audits (but it would be interesting to know if limited only to the financial aspects) and another by the FDC.
The General Assembly can have the power to claim for an audit too, defining the auditing entity.
Kind regards
On 04/08/2017 11:27, Leigh Thelmadatter wrote:
Assuming of course that a chapter actually follows its bylaws....
From: Wikimedia-l wikimedia-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org on behalf of Ilario Valdelli valdelli@gmail.com Sent: Friday, August 4, 2017 1:34:34 AM To: Wikimedia Mailing List; James Salsman Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Update on Wikimédia France
The power of WMF, defined in the agreement, is basically limited to revoke the chapters agreement.
There is no mention in the Chapters agreement that WMF can take a control of a chapter and to manage a General Assembly.
You forget that the legal pilaster of a chapter is the bylaws.
On 04/08/2017 10:02, James Salsman wrote:
Rogol,
What content protected by safe harbor provisions would the Foundation be exerting editorial control over by requiring governance standards of a Chapter?
Is there some French law that requires charities to be more independent of their international affiliates than would be under such a requirement?
The chapter agreements already contemplate this sort of control, because they state, "The Chapter agrees ... to refrain from ... engaging in any activity that might negatively impact the work or image of the Wikimedia Foundation," and are revocable upon three months notice.
On Fri, Aug 4, 2017 at 2:38 PM, Rogol Domedonfors domedonfors@gmail.com wrote:
If the Foundation is seen to be directing the activities of a chapter at the proposed level of micro-management then it would jeopardise the legal status both of the Foundation (in terms of their safe harbour status) and of the chapter (as an independent and charitable body). The Foundation is free to fund or not fund, to recognise or derecognise. But not to control. _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
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