Hi,
There isn't such a thing as just one politics, therefore, the subject line question is really broad.
We are not apolitical about free knowledge, no doubt about that. On the other hand, we as a movement can be or become apolitical in other political fields. All this discussion, in my opinion, has to be addressed from the correct political field that we are standing (or not). Which is the political field of the question proposed then? (this is just a rhetorical question.)
In the free knowledge political field, I repeat, we are not apolitical from the moment we advocate for free knowledge, free content, free licenses, free software, etc. I also do not wish that we ever become apolitical about that, even if mistakes are made in the way.
Cheers,
On Sat, Apr 25, 2020 at 7:44 PM Tito Dutta trulytito@gmail.com wrote:
Greetings, It is asked: "are we apolitical?" A spin-off question: "are we unbiased?" On Wikipedia, we (are to) provide and serve knowledge/information, not any particular view(s)
Thanks Tito Dutta
On Sun, 26 Apr 2020 at 00:34, Chris Gates via Wikimedia-l < wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org> wrote:
Agreed. There is no way to get around the fact that some people oppose
our
message of free access to our projects for everyone, and the actions we make in favor of that goal are often political.
However, there is a very large gap between publicly supporting such policies as a less regulated internet, copyright advocacy, etc., and
Earth
Day Live's endorsed viewpoint.
If they were solely about Earth Day, we'd have no issues, as the few
people
who oppose Earth Day are probably living in the mountains somewhere with
a
half dozen solar panels and tinfoil hats to protect themselves from the flying saucers surveying the flat earth.
The problem I have with Earth Day Live is that, were the Wikimedia Foundation to publicly endorse those views, it would inherently be isolating of people who do not share them. For example, there were many people on the endorsed streams advocating for all industries to have
unions
and a universal $15 minimum wage. Ignoring the fact that it's
specifically
American and was shown to everyone globally, I do not support either of those policies for various reasons (primarily that much of my work is
done
for under $15/hr, and I would likely lose some of those jobs), and should not be forced at odds with the WMF's party line.
If the Foundation begins publicly endorsing certain policies or
viewpoints
that are not directly a part of the mission which we all agree with and work towards, people who disagree with those viewpoints would be forced into opposition of the foundation intended to represent the work they volunteer for Wikimedia projects. Our intention is to deliver unbiased information to people, and if the Foundation has a declared political stance other than our mission statement, it also opens the Foundation to legitimate criticism on claims of bias.
There is also the argument of timelessness. Two hundred years ago there
was
a very different political landscape with very different arguments taking place. Two hundred years from now, provided humanity still exists, would likely be very different than today. Assuming that the WMF and Wikipedia will still be around, is it better to attempt to remain out of political advocacy (with the exception of our mission), or to take distinct
political
stances whenever the political field shifts? I fall in the former
category.
Best regards, Chris Gates (User:Vermont)
On Sat, Apr 25, 2020 at 12:45 PM Camelia Boban camelia.boban@gmail.com wrote:
Absolutely agree with both. Everything we do in the wiki movement (as everything we do in our whole life) has (also) a political meaning. As we have certain goals and we take certain positions.
Camelia
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Il giorno sab 25 apr 2020 alle ore 18:12 Rebecca O'Neill < rebeccanineil@gmail.com> ha scritto:
Well said. Everything is political, and when the movement choses not
to
speak out or state an opinion on something, then we are giving our
support
to the status quo.
Believing yourself to be apolitical is as much a fantasy as being completely objective, it is inherently impossible.
Rebecca
On Sat, 25 Apr 2020, 16:50 John Erling Blad, jeblad@gmail.com
wrote:
It is said quite often that the Wikimedia-movement is apolitical.
In
strongly believe the movement with its goal has never been, and
never
will
be apolitical. When we say that knowledge should be free and fully available for everyone, then we make a political statement. It may
not
align with you favorite love/hate political party, but it is still
a
very
strong political statement.
So please, don't claim the movement to be apolitical. We may not
align
with
any specific political party in any specific country, but we are
still
not
apolitical.
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