Hi Lodewijk,
I will try and simplify
(a) *What is the exact and complete set of reasons that Affcom put the chapter on suspension?* This has been listed under six bullet points in my initial mail. I encourage you and everyone reading here to have a look at them. I have further shared a synopsis for the same again in part (c) along with WMIN responses.
(b)* what additional complaints are part of the big picture ?* The trouble of having a Staff-based organisation (CIS-A2K) at national level where there is lesser transparency such that there MoU is not in public domain [1] and the trouble caused to India Chapter like attribution grabbing for WMIN's self-financed projects etc. [2]
(c) w*hat is the response from WMIN.* Our primary concern remains that Affcom on a good-faith could have asked for a clarification and if found they could have proceeded with the suspension. They took an official position without even hearing us once. There basis has been further described again in brief
* Legal Structure : Affcom asked WMIN to resolve their necessary financial licenses. WMIN informed them that Government directives [3] have been restrictive in this regard, however, to keep the movement active, activities have been happening by members self-financing programs. Affcom has further cited problems with WMIN's leadership. WMIN regrets such statements, it is a nation-wide problem.
* Open Governance : WMIN has repeatedly informed Affcom that a member need not be in physical presence to cast vote or raise voice during assembly. To do so as claimed by Affcom, WMIN would have to change it bylaws and also inform WMF as per Chapter Agreement. No evidence have been brought to notice for any violation.
* Active Contributor Involvement : Affcom claims we do not have members and have made some allegations (check initial mail for details) but haven't provided any evidence. WMIN is always open to sharing its member's data base with them after discussing privacy.
* Capacity : Affcom claims that WMIN has not been doing activities and Chapter has repeatedly informed that WMIN has been hosting zero-budget, self-financed activities. All reports are available [4]. Affcom has also cited concerns over delay in report submission and WMIN has informed about problems with government regulations. Detailed response in initial mail.
* Organizational Best Practices : Affcom claims that WMIN has not been abiding to Best Practices, however they haven't informed the respective areas. WMIN has shared the document with them, however they say late submission hence proceeding with de-recognition.
* Action Plan : Based on all five points, WMIN has been asked to prepare an action plan. WMIN continues to contest all the five basis and asked Affcom to review Organizational Best Practices to understand the action-items. Affcom claims late hence proceeding with de-recognition.
Also responding to few other statements categorically from your mail
* *It sounds more like they heard your responses * As stated in my initial mail, WMIN has been providing justifications in writing over mail however Affcom does not address them and invites for a Call and shares expectation gap response over Cloud Document. Hence, during Call,clarifications are again provided for they being not justified (eg - Affcom finding WMIN's leadership flaws when 13,000 institutes struggle with foreign funding) however nothing is taken into consideration.
* *it is their job to make the best decision both for the best decision both for the movement as a whole and the Wikimedia movement in India.* Absolutely, it is for the very reason I ask them to make this public. If Affcom is more transparent about its investigation and decision making, community can provide valuable inputs and no reason to question them.
* *I was unable to find the resolution that explains this decision* WMIN has been repeatedly asking Affcom to put everything in public domain including the resolution. Please find Annexure [A] in my initial mail.
[1] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2013-November/010627.... [2] Board of Directors at CIS, acknowledged in March, 2019 for a compliant made in August, 2018 for CIS-A2K Staff not doing their duty to the order. [3] Foreign Currency (Regulation) Act, 1960 compliance do not permit India Chapter to receive money from its primary fiscal sponsor, Wikimedia Foundation. [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters/Reports/Wikimedia_India#W...
On Tue, 9 Jul 2019 at 08:52, effe iets anders effeietsanders@gmail.com wrote:
Thanks Abhinav for your email. I'm having a hard time splitting the email out in a) what is the exact and complete set of reasons that Affcom put the chapter on suspension. b) what additional complaints are part of the big picture. c) what is the response from WMIN.
I realize it is really hard for you to separate these components, because you have been living this discusion for the past 8 months (at least), if I read this correctly.
You mention that AffCom has not heard your objections, but from the rest of your email, it sounds more like they heard your responses (you mention both written and oral communication), but they hold a different opinion on the value of those objections. That may be because of a different set of expectations. I know these discussions are always painful for everyone, and I'm confident that AffCom does not enjoy suspending chapters. While this is no legal procedure, it is their job to make the best decision both for the movement as a whole and the Wikimedia movement in India.
Anyhow, I was unable to find the resolution that explains this decision, so it's hard to really understand it. I do hope that you and affcom will be able to work towards a solution together - probably by addressing the underlying concerns.
Best, Lodewijk
On Mon, Jul 8, 2019 at 4:19 PM ravinder jadeja tnkpndy@gmail.com wrote:
It is such a long message and what I understand a very painful one for
the
writer. Asking Affcom to come in public with data is a right demand everyone can read then.
I know FCRA is very tough thing today and I feel sorry reading that point
What is this problem with CIS I am new and would like to know.
On Tue, 9 Jul 2019 at 00:04, Subhashish Panigrahi <psubhashish@gmail.com
wrote:
Forwarding esp. for those Indian Wikimedians who are on the Wikimedia-l list
Subha
---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Abhinav srivastava abhinav619@gmail.com Date: Sun, Jul 7, 2019 at 2:20 PM Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Open Letter to Affiliations Committee : Wikimedia India's Demand For A Fair And Transparent Hearing To: Wikimedia Mailing List wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Dear Friends From Affcom,
I am posting an open public request for your notice of Suspension moved
at
Wikimedia India (WMIN) which we continue to contest and to our ignored demand of having a public hearing as shared with you all over mail and shared again here under Annexure [A]. You have taken an official
position
on suspension without even hearing us even once, unexplained accusations have been provided and we continue to believe Affcom has been insufficiently investigating facts before making judgements. We
repeatedly
over and over again provided justifications over Mail but you never took them to your notice and only over calls you heard us, provided your rationale for expectation gaps but never took our oral commentary which refutes your claims,in any action, anywhere. Now you say WMIN won’t
remain
a Chapter after 14th September and be transformed into a User Group.
Republic of India happens to be one of the only few countries where besides volunteer driven Chapter and User Groups has a full-time staff based
WMF’s
Allied Organisation CIS-A2K [1]. Wikimedia India activities [2] may be less due to no source of funds [3] however, Community Members from India put their efforts, strive hard to take the movement ahead. Whether it be
the
previous financial year or the present, no Wikimedia Foundation Grants like Rapid Grant, Project Grant etc have been applied by Wikimedia India members to support any Chapter activity. They remain self-financed. We received your notice last year when Wikimedia India was contesting a dispute with CIS-A2K over attribution grabbing for our self-financed projects and ignoring Chapter at important National level initiaves [4]. While
working
with virtually no source of funds and struggles with WMF’s Allied Organisation, your notice of suspension was the least bad we could have had.
We continue to contest your suspension notice. It was Suo Moto (on its own) decision making and as found and re-stated above and below in detail, there were gaps and misunderstanding in your basis. We also continue to
contest
there has been a Rush-to-decision making. No written responses via Mail
to
Chapter’s clarification are being provided and invitation for calls are initiated where brief responses are shared on a Cloud Document. It has been subsequently found by both parties on there being gaps in communication. However, even after clarity during call, Affcom has not taken any action over them.
The basis of your suspension notice has been shared here for the wider audience.
Legal Structure : Affcom asked Wikimedia India to resolve and obtain its necessary license in order to obtain funds. At present, as per Government of India restrictions it is difficult to obtain foreign funding. Wikimedia India informed the Affcom on roughly 13,000 Non-Government Organisations (NGO)s [5] are struggling with a similar crisis to which Affcom responded, “reconsider applying for a User Group.” and “no evidence that the current organization’s leadership will be able to drive this problem toward resolution”. Chapter efforts and commitment in resolving the said crisis cannot be dusted in few words. A Government restrictive policy which has an impact on 13,000 NGOs and Affcom finding flaws in WMIN Board Members capability. WMIN would leave it for public interpretation.
Why not a capability audit for hosting zero-budget activities? While
most
of the time are being spent on resolving the said crisis, WMIN continues to undertake activities as listed. Taking the Open Knowledge Movement
forward
remains a commitment for the Chapter irrespective of whatsoever
political
climate may remain. Affcom was asked two questions respectively in this regard however no response has been attained. The questions are
Would zero-budget activities, those self-financed not meet
sufficiency
? Please elaborate for us to stand better and to improve upon. 2.
Would resolving Legal Structure and being able to receive WMF Grants
be
a necessary criteria for WMIN to meet sufficiency or continued activities not meet the fulfilment criteria?
(2) Open Governance : Affcom informed Chapter that a member needs to be
in
physical presence at the Chapter Assembly to cast vote and raise voice
and
asked The Chapter to change its bylaws. This information is anything but false. This was communicated during the Call but Affcom did not bring anything in action. Also, as per the Chapter Agreement between WMF and WMIN, a copy of bylaws was provided in English Language to WMF. The
bylaws
were approved by the then Chapter’s Council. No evidence has been
brought
to notice on WMIN violating the Clause 7.2 of the Chapter’s Agreement,
“The Wikimedia Chapter shall be required to advise the Foundation of any planned or actual change in the bylaws or status of the Chapter which might affect the Foundation or the continued existence or effectiveness of
this
Agreement.”
(3) Active Contributor Involvement :The November 10 email carried the statement, “The chapter lacks broad and diverse membership, community representation, as well as buy-in and involvement “ and “Membership
seems
to be sourced through university leadership rather than through open community participation and representation.” Chapter till date received no evidence or logic construction on how the said argument was reached.
Later
during the call, Affcom did acknowledge that there has been a communication gap. Chapter further floated the idea of sharing the Member’s data base after discussing privacy policy over them.
(4) Capacity : WMIN was able to submit its annual reports on 21st December, 2018 (3.5 months late) due to a notice by Income-Tax department which caused delay in preparing our Financial reports. Although we do not have any annual grants or use any money to support any activity, as per Chapter’s agreement, affiliate is required to submit Financial Results. Meanwhile, WMIN reported its activities on every quarterly basis and shared it with the wider Indian community via India Mailing List and also other channels [6], [7], [8],[9]. Annual activity report is a compilation from the quarterly reports.
Affcom claimed via Cloud document that no high level response submitted and repeated delay is not accepted. WMIN informed Affcom that previous delay needs to be looked at independently from earlier financial period and suspension notice (WMIN then had a grant), but we received no response.
(5) Organizational Best Practices : Affcom asked us to ‘Resolve’ issues relating to Organizational Best Practices, however, no information had been received on respective deliverables not been met. The November 10, email carried the statement, “There are concerns about whether” referring that Affcom was also not sure themselves. WMIN shared the best practices
after
placing it in front of the community on member’s mailing list for more than 15 days. To this Affcom responded that you are late with your submission hence we are terminating your contract. They never shared an evidence
and
when WMIN took its time placed it in-front of the community and then submitted, they said delayed and instead of sending their response in writing over mail they again invited us for a call. We continue to
insist
on providing a written response via Mail but no action.
(6) Action Plan : Affcom asked us to submit an Action Plan and we kept asking what deliverable are needed. We cannot commit on resolving Government restrictions within a said timeline as more than 13,000 NGOs struggle with the similar crisis. We emphasised again and again we have been running zero-budget activities and working for the movement. We
asked
them to review Organizational Best Practices, based on gaps we could
have
taken things into consideration. They rather said, you have missed the deadline, so WMIN has to be closed now.
To sum up, Affcom friends, you made up your own decision, you made up
you
own hearing and you made up your own decision. It was a monologue masked in the name of a dialogue.
I encourage you all to be in our boots someday, hosting activities on zero-budget, fighting with the Government bureaucracy to attain some funding as a help, the challenge of having a staff-based organisation in parallel, struggle with self-financing activities and most importantly working with Affcom to save yourself from their de-recognition threats.
If you believe you are correct, please abide to the request made under Annexure [A] and put everything in public domain. Let community read for themselves and decide. If Affcom is more transparent about its investigation and actions then community would be able to better understand the work and provide an opinion.
Regards, Abhinav
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K
[2]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2019-April/013994.htm...
\
[3] Foreign Currency (Regulation) Act, 1960 compliance do not permit
India
Chapter to receive money from its primary fiscal sponsor, Wikimedia Foundation.
[4] Board of Directors at CIS, acknowledged in March, 2019 for a
compliant
made in August, 2018 for CIS-A2K Staff not doing their duty to the
order.
[5]
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/06/07/democracies-need-a-little-help-from-the...
[6]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2017-July/013030.html
[7]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2017-October/013089.h...
[8]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2018-January/013188.h...
[9]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2018-April/013295.htm...
Annexure
[A] Reallocating the Affcom - WMIN Communication To Meta : No communications over email, video call, social media, instant messaging,
or
anywhere but wiki! While this would not just be aligned with the editing spirit, it would promote greater transparency and also helpful for us to communicate the message to our community members. While, we understand Affcom had been advocating the same, however, taking care of privacy concerns, do let us. Once we hear from Affcom on having no privacy concerns, we may reallocate the discussions.
If there a consent to this, would request a green light also for
Archiving the entire email conversation over a cloud document and linking it to the relevant Meta page. 2.
Documenting Internet Calls in an attempt to resolve communication
gaps
and linking them to Meta page for greater transparency. 3.
Based on Principal of Free Speech, allowing anybody to use the discussion page for expression of their views. 4.
Any Volunteer is free to translate the text into the language of
their
choice. 5.
Upload All PDF sent via Mails to Commons and link them to the Meta Page. 6.
All relevant customs and procedures which exist for any Meta page to
be
in action. _______________________________________________ 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 _______________________________________________ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
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