Dear Mehman (and Wikimedia folks in copy for transparency),
I am contacting you as you are currently the highest responsible person
(Vice-Chair) in the Affiliations Committee.
As Manavpreet Kaur (current AffCom's Staff Liaison) is candidating for
a Movement Charter Drafting Committee, and AffCom is for (at least) months
showing issues about its work, which I consider that would be detrimental
for the work of the Movement Charter Drafting Committee if they would be
present there, and it is unclear what it Manavpreet's role in these
AffCom's issues, I ask you to publicly respond to the questions below. (I
have already asked Manavpreet to respond them but she have stated that she
won't be able to respond them [1] [2])
(I present the questions first and the context below, so it is easier for
low-involved folks to get the core part)
*Questions:*
1. *Do you personally consider the AffCom's happenings presented below
to be in line with Wikimedia Foundation Guiding Principles
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Guiding_Principles>
(especially Transparency and Accountability)?*
1. *If not, has Manavpreet done already something to rectify AffCom's
activity to be in full alignment with them? What has Manavpreet done?*
2. *If yes, please briefly clarify how (in your opinion) they are
showing Transparency and Accountability.*
2. *What is Manavpreet's role in the AffCom's happenings presented
below?* (have Manavpreet supported / encouraged / decided them? or have
Manavpreet tried to prevent them / discourage them? or have Manavpreet just
fully neutraly executed decisions that leaded to them? have Manavpreet
presented objections that the decisions are against Wikimedia Foundation
Guiding Principles or similar rules / recommendations / ...? or something
else? please be concrete)
3. As much of the presented cases show AffCom's issues about clear,
proactive communication, *do you consider Manavpreet to be capable
enough to clearly, proactively, helpfully communicate in the high
responsibility role of Movement Charter Drafting Committee member?*
1. *If it is not Manavpreet who is the source of AffCom's
communication issues, who is?*
4. *Do you believe that Manavpreet will not "import" AffCom-like issues
to the Movement Charter Drafting Committee? If yes, on what basis?*
*Context:*
I am in contact with Manavpreet mostly because of her role of Staff Liaison
of Affiliations Committee
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee> (AffCom), which
relates with my roles of (ex)Chair of some Wikimedia Affiliations. While
AffCom have for years reputation of slowresponsedness, it was understanable
because of its structure (which, in turn, is understanable because of its
high responsibilities) and was rather only a little anoyance, not a big
deal. But that have changed (for worse) at least several months ago and
AffCom is still very reluctant to provide more information about it.
Several specific cases for ilustration:
- AffCom put on hold the recognition of User Group Esperanto and Free
Knowledge
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Esperanto_kaj_Libera_Scio>
as
a Thematic Organisation and informed the UG only reactively (after my
question), after unreasonably long time (after the expected deadline for
recognition) and provided false information as the reason; even after
several messages AffCom haven't revealed the requested information about
the pausing
- In February 2021, Meta admins deferred to AffCom the determination of
some specific hard Requests for deletion
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meta:Requests_for_deletion/Archives/2020#Wikimedians_of_Slovakia's_Annual_Report_2018>
with
intention to implement AffCom's determination; despite Manavpreet (in
her official WMF role) have considered it as a priority concern
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Diff/21238644>, Affcom have not
provided its determination to Meta admins even after 7 months (as stated by
3 Meta admins - 2 of them confirming publicly: Xaosflux
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Diff/21998260> and Camouflaged
Mirage <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Diff/22000846> (by their
alternative account))
- AffCom was for several months totally unresponsive about proposed
recommendations to make WUG Wikimedians of Slovakia
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Slovakia> to obey its
User Group Agreement
- For quite long time AffCom have been requiring (that time not yet a
WUG) Wikimedians of Slovakia
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Slovakia> (WUG WMSVK) to
change its legal name to be recognized as a WM User Group, what blocked the
recognition for more than year, but suddenly after the recognition , AffCom
agreed to accept Wikimedians of Slovakia
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Slovakia>'s prefered
official name which was for long time totaly unaccepted by AffCom
- Allegedly AffCom informed representatives of WUG WMSVK that it was me
who canceled the proposed mediation about WUG WMSVK's long-term bylaws
violations (while it is false - I haven't cancelled it) and AffCom never
ever confirmed to me whether it really provided this false information (to
my best Knowledge it was AffCom (or maybe someone who ordered it to
AffCom?) who canceled the mediation; but AffCom never clarified it to me
even after my explicit requests)
- AffCom is for months in silence about various questions and proposals
about WUG WMSVK for whom is AffCom fully responsible since December 2020
- As AffCom in December 2020 took full responsibility for WUG WMSVK,
AffCom is fully reponsible for:
- WUG WMSVK falsely publicly presents the meeting on March 2019 as a
valid Meeting of General Assembly
<http://wikimedia.sk//wp-content/uploads/2019/07/WMSK-VZ-20190309-ZAP.pdf>
despite
it clearly violates WUG WMSVK's bylaw and several WUG WMSVK's
board members
have already stated it, also publicly
- It is still not clear whether WUG WMSVK's meeting in March 2021 was
a valid Meeting of General Assembly, as evidence suggest it was not,
despite AffCom being repeatedly warned in advance about this possibility
- WMF is publicly hosting documents produced by WUG WMSVK that
contain false, defamatory information about myself (en
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Slovakia/Reports/2018/en>
, sk
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Slovakia/Reports/2018/sk>)
despite Manavpreet assurance that WUG WMSVK will rectify them
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Diff/21238644>
- WUG WMSVK is no longer publicly presenting its *Annual plans*
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Slovakia/Annual_agendas>
despite
its tradition of presenting them publicly, and is not presenting publicly
its *Financial reports* and *Annual Budgets* despite the tradition of
publicly presenting such documents and having the capacity to create at
least *Annual budget* since at least 2018. All of these 3 documents
are required to be prepared every year by WMSVK's Board.
I understand that Manavpreet personally is not an AffCom and not a voting
member. At the same time, I understand that Manavpreet is a paid staff
member whose job is liaisoning for AffCom and is often in contact with at
least some affiliations and proposed affiliations. So Manavpreet's
responsibility to AffCom is still present, although I do not know what is
its span.
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Manavpreet_Kaur#Your_role_in_AffC…
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Diff/22236019
Looking for your answers!
KuboF Hromoslav (Michal Matúšov)