Seven Wikimedia chapters rejected as permanent observers to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) - Wikimedia-l

Jan Gerlach

25 Jul 25 Jul

8:35 p.m.

Hi Andreas China was in fact the only country to oppose the Wikimedia chapters' request for observer status. Other countries for political or unknown reasons may have aligned with China's position on process, but no country besides China unilaterally or independently opposed the Wikimedia chapters' request. Relatedly, you may have seen that the Wikimedia Foundation just obtained accreditation at the UN's Economic and Social Affairs Council where a similar situation was unblocked by a vote of the member countries: https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2022/07/22/wikimedia-foundation-earns-… Best, Jan == Jan Gerlach Public Policy Director Wikimedia Foundation 1 Montgomery Street, Suite 1600 San Francisco, CA 94104 jgerlach(a)wikimedia.org Andreas Kolbe <jayen466(a)gmail.com> schrieb am Fr., 22. Juli 2022, 19:44:

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Dear all, A week ago, the WMF issued a press release, "Seven Wikimedia chapters rejected as permanent observers to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)": https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2022/07/15/seven-wikimedia-chapters-re… This stated, in part, "China was the only country to oppose the Wikimedia chapters’ request for observer status, again, claiming that chapters were complicit in spreading disinformation and are subsidiaries of the Wikimedia Foundation. These statements are unfounded and misrepresent Wikipedia’s model which prioritizes accuracy, neutrality, as well as the fact that the chapters are completely autonomous." About a week ago, I had seen and retweeted a Twitter thread[1] by James Love[2], the Director of Knowledge Ecology International, listing a whole litany of countries that had supported China's position. I checked the webcast of the July 15 WIPO proceedings today,[3] and there were over a dozen countries – Russia, Belarus, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Iran, Syria, Algeria, Zimbabwe, Nicaragua, Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela, North Korea – that took the floor to support and endorse China's position – more, in fact, than took the floor to support the chapters' approval. Would it be possible to amend the press release accordingly? Best, Andreas [1] https://twitter.com/jamie_love/status/1550520525180518400 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Love_(NGO_director) [3] Available here: https://webcast.wipo.int/ (afternoon session of July 15, part 6. Admission of Observers) _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org… To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave(a)lists.wikimedia.org

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The Cunctator

26 Jul 26 Jul

7:51 a.m.

Having read the Foundation press release, I have to say that if it were a Wikipedia page, I would have edited it since it is quite misleading as written. I understand the reticence to mention other countries since I expect you want to portray China as a rogue actor here and I'm sympathetic to that agenda but, on the other hand, being encyclopedic and truthful really is kind of our brand. On Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 11:16 AM Andreas Kolbe <jayen466(a)gmail.com> wrote:

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Dear Jan, Well, the accuracy of the press release would be enhanced if it mentioned the support China received from over a dozen other countries. This isn't just my opinion: https://twitter.com/Wikiland/status/1550515724673761280 Congratulations on the ECOSOC accreditation. Andreas On Mon, Jul 25, 2022 at 1:36 PM Jan Gerlach <jgerlach(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

Hi Andreas China was in fact the only country to oppose the Wikimedia chapters' request for observer status. Other countries for political or unknown reasons may have aligned with China's position on process, but no country besides China unilaterally or independently opposed the Wikimedia chapters' request. Relatedly, you may have seen that the Wikimedia Foundation just obtained accreditation at the UN's Economic and Social Affairs Council where a similar situation was unblocked by a vote of the member countries: https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2022/07/22/wikimedia-foundation-earns-… Best, Jan == Jan Gerlach Public Policy Director Wikimedia Foundation 1 Montgomery Street, Suite 1600 San Francisco, CA 94104 jgerlach(a)wikimedia.org Andreas Kolbe <jayen466(a)gmail.com> schrieb am Fr., 22. Juli 2022, 19:44:

Dear all, A week ago, the WMF issued a press release, "Seven Wikimedia chapters rejected as permanent observers to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)": https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2022/07/15/seven-wikimedia-chapters-re… This stated, in part, "China was the only country to oppose the Wikimedia chapters’ request for observer status, again, claiming that chapters were complicit in spreading disinformation and are subsidiaries of the Wikimedia Foundation. These statements are unfounded and misrepresent Wikipedia’s model which prioritizes accuracy, neutrality, as well as the fact that the chapters are completely autonomous." About a week ago, I had seen and retweeted a Twitter thread[1] by James Love[2], the Director of Knowledge Ecology International, listing a whole litany of countries that had supported China's position. I checked the webcast of the July 15 WIPO proceedings today,[3] and there were over a dozen countries – Russia, Belarus, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Iran, Syria, Algeria, Zimbabwe, Nicaragua, Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela, North Korea – that took the floor to support and endorse China's position – more, in fact, than took the floor to support the chapters' approval. Would it be possible to amend the press release accordingly? Best, Andreas [1] https://twitter.com/jamie_love/status/1550520525180518400 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Love_(NGO_director) [3] Available here: https://webcast.wipo.int/ (afternoon session of July 15, part 6. Admission of Observers) _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org… To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave(a)lists.wikimedia.org

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Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov

3:56 p.m.

Hi all, I just saw this thread. I hardly engage with this list nowadays, in order to keep my sanity, but I need to set one thing straight: The initiative to join WIPO came from (a couple of) European chapters years ago. It was these chapters and me personally who were asking (even pressuring!) the WMF to apply. Then when the WMF finally applied and was rejected (because of China, not because of any other delegation) it was an initiative by these chapters to try it themselves the next year. They then contacted other chapters to join them. I strongly reject the notion of strings being attached to affiliates through funding to apply to join WIPO. It is simply not the case and it sounds like you are charging the WMF and the affiliates with conspiracy. Writing this without any proof or prior knowledge of the subject is neither encyclopaedic, nor neutral. There's no complot here. As for the press release. Yes, it would have been more accurate to point to all these countries, point taken. It is also obvious for anyone who has followed the process that these countries wouldn't have opposed it without China picking this fight a few years ago, so singling China out is not misplaced in my mind. Still, the criticism will be taken into account for future communications. Cheers, Dimi На вт, 26.07.2022 г. в 5:06 ч. Gnangarra <gnangarra(a)gmail.com> написа:

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I acknowledge the disappointment of those Affiliates, and movement in general this is worth a statement from the WMF but its very poor politics to single out China. It reads as if its almost an AUKUS driven <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AUKUS> press release, I think its wrong to ignore the other countries like Russia, Belarus, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Iran, Syria, Algeria, Zimbabwe, Nicaragua, Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela, and North Korea(thanks Andreas i copied your list rather than typing). Our biggest pillar is being neutral in how we present information and the WMF should never take a stance of breaking that neutrality on an issue without first seeking community support as was done with SOPA. Its that aspect I find more disappointing than not being admitted to WIPO as permanent members. As a side issue I would also question the motivation around the underlying reason for Affiliates trying to do this whether its a back door move by the WMF due to it being rejected twice previously. It makes me wonder what other strings are being attached to funding for what should be independent Affiliates. Gnangarra On Tue, 26 Jul 2022 at 07:52, The Cunctator <cunctator(a)gmail.com> wrote:

Having read the Foundation press release, I have to say that if it were a Wikipedia page, I would have edited it since it is quite misleading as written. I understand the reticence to mention other countries since I expect you want to portray China as a rogue actor here and I'm sympathetic to that agenda but, on the other hand, being encyclopedic and truthful really is kind of our brand. On Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 11:16 AM Andreas Kolbe <jayen466(a)gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Jan, Well, the accuracy of the press release would be enhanced if it mentioned the support China received from over a dozen other countries. This isn't just my opinion: https://twitter.com/Wikiland/status/1550515724673761280 Congratulations on the ECOSOC accreditation. Andreas On Mon, Jul 25, 2022 at 1:36 PM Jan Gerlach <jgerlach(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

Hi Andreas China was in fact the only country to oppose the Wikimedia chapters' request for observer status. Other countries for political or unknown reasons may have aligned with China's position on process, but no country besides China unilaterally or independently opposed the Wikimedia chapters' request. Relatedly, you may have seen that the Wikimedia Foundation just obtained accreditation at the UN's Economic and Social Affairs Council where a similar situation was unblocked by a vote of the member countries: https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2022/07/22/wikimedia-foundation-earns-… Best, Jan == Jan Gerlach Public Policy Director Wikimedia Foundation 1 Montgomery Street, Suite 1600 San Francisco, CA 94104 jgerlach(a)wikimedia.org Andreas Kolbe <jayen466(a)gmail.com> schrieb am Fr., 22. Juli 2022, 19:44: > Dear all, > > A week ago, the WMF issued a press release, "Seven Wikimedia chapters > rejected as permanent observers to the World Intellectual Property > Organization (WIPO)": > > > https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2022/07/15/seven-wikimedia-chapters-re… > > This stated, in part, "China was the only country to oppose the > Wikimedia chapters’ request for observer status, again, claiming that > chapters were complicit in spreading disinformation and are subsidiaries of > the Wikimedia Foundation. These statements are unfounded and misrepresent > Wikipedia’s model which prioritizes accuracy, neutrality, as well as the > fact that the chapters are completely autonomous." > > About a week ago, I had seen and retweeted a Twitter thread[1] by > James Love[2], the Director of Knowledge Ecology International, listing a > whole litany of countries that had supported China's position. > > I checked the webcast of the July 15 WIPO proceedings today,[3] and > there were over a dozen countries – Russia, Belarus, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, > Tajikistan, Iran, Syria, Algeria, Zimbabwe, Nicaragua, Cuba, Bolivia, > Venezuela, North Korea – that took the floor to support and endorse China's > position – more, in fact, than took the floor to support the chapters' > approval. > > Would it be possible to amend the press release accordingly? > > Best, > Andreas > > [1] https://twitter.com/jamie_love/status/1550520525180518400 > [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Love_(NGO_director) > [3] Available here: https://webcast.wipo.int/ (afternoon session of > July 15, part 6. Admission of Observers) > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org, > guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org… > To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave(a)lists.wikimedia.org _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org… To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave(a)lists.wikimedia.org

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