On Sat, Apr 25, 2020 at 11:50 AM John Erling Blad jeblad@gmail.com wrote:
It is said quite often that the Wikimedia-movement is apolitical.
I'm not sure I've seen anybody say that. I have seen people say that we should avoid political activism or lobbying when it is not part of our core mission, and that we should try to maintain the appearance of being apolitical when we can. Being political is not a binary thing; it is entirely possible for us to choose to be activists when it comes to some issues but not others.
It's true that remaining silent is in some sense an act in favor of the status quo, but activists make strategic calculations all the time in deciding whether taking a particular stand is worth the risks of fragmentation of their coalition and dilution of their message. They also make decisions about how strong a message to send--when should the language be dialed to 11, and when is a polite expression of disapproval sufficient?
Saying "we are not apolitical" tells us nothing about whether we should send a particular political message at a particular time. It also tells us nothing about how we should make those decisions. The movement, however we define it, ought to have input to ensure that campaigns reflect our shared values and (sometimes-conflicting) goals.
Emufarmers