Dear WMTNUG administrators,
I was so astonished and chocked by this decision. At the time I'm expecting a decision or a word regarding our current activities and mainly WikiIndaba, I got an email dismissing the person who is moving things forward !! This is very bizarre and not reasonable for many reasons:
1- The problem is between Carthagina and Mounir. Carthagina have all the right to dismiss Mounir and not working with him in our collaborative projects for whatever reason. In the other hand, WMTUG have many other projects not in collaboration with Carthagina, why banning Mounir from them ?
2- Now, members of Carthagina are also members of WMTNUG, they may not going along with him and request his banning. How we can resolve the issue ? That happen in many organization, it's a normal thing. Administrators usually in this case bring the members who are directly involved in the issue and discuss with them in person in a closed meeting. Surprisingly, this was not followed to take this impacting decision.
3- The decision making process was not in accordance with the size of the decision. It was based mainly on two emails, and maybe feedbacks of some members of one side. I have been informed that administrators didn't even talk with Mounir in person before the decision, or request more clarification in a second email since the first one was not convincing. As long as I know, WTNUG administrators stand from equal distances from all members, but this rapid decision may really say the difference !
4- Regarding the accusations themselves, Mounir recognized some of them and rejected others. Administrators can reproach him and send a warning for true accusations. But what if the other accusations are not genuine ? What will the response regarding the defamation of his person because of the wrong accusations ? Then, if someone didn't have the sufficient writing skills to make a structured response to defend himself, we just dismiss him ?!
5- We cannot say that Mounir did an infraction of the code of conduct of our community since there was not a deep and thorough analyze of the situation as I explained above.
For all these reasons, I consider that the decision is irrelevant, at least for me, and to resolve this issue I propose the following:
1- Administrators hold a closed meeting with Mounir and Emna to make a reconciliation as they are two main active members of WMTNUG (in project management we call it a win-win situation). If the discussion didn't reach the reconciliation, administrators have to find a compromise between those members (lose-lose situation).
2- Administrators withdraw their decision of banning Mounir and informing communities and WMF. This have a very negative impact on our community. Those members have international portfolio and we don't like to expose our conflict outside the group as we don't like to see clans within our community. I still remember how badly WMF talked about divided user groups in some counties. We don't absolutely like such scenario in our group, and it's among the responsibility of the administrators to save the integrity of the group.
3- I highly looking forward fo administrators to intervene in WikiIndaba. I really wonder, is administrators not concerned ? Mounir did a lot of effort. I also tried to make the team, but I found a terrible silence ! Except Hossem Eddine and some other rare comments from other members, there is no serious actions for making this event true. I beg the community to make conflict behind and focus on this project. Administrators can appoint a neutral conference coordinator so all members work in harmony toward succeeding the event.
This is what I see and what I recommend for the wellbeing of WMTNUG. Yamen, Habib, Emna, and Mounir are all my friends and it really hurts me when friends cut off their relationship for any reason. Please we are doing volunteering for noble values, we may have problems how we do things, but it does not have to reach such level.
Looking forward to hear from Yamen or Habib that they arranged a closed meeting and resolved this issue, and proposed dates for another open meeting for wikiIndaba.
Hope so !
On 21 September 2017 at 14:05, Ayoub FAJRAOUI ayoub.fajraoui@enit.utm.tn wrote:
Dear all , I was surprised at this sudden decision that was taken on one side, usually these decisions must be taken with all members of Wikimedia TN user group, at least, everyone gives his opinion about this misunderstanding. I do not defend Mounir or any other person, but Mr Yamen and Mr Habib this decision is not shared and granted by all the members of this group and as Abdelwaheb said,Mounr is a potential member in this group,even he took the initiative to organize the WikiIndaba 2018. Thank you for reviewing this decision. Greetings.
ᐧ
2017-09-21 10:40 GMT+01:00 abdelwaheb turki turkiabdelwaheb@hotmail.fr:
Dear Friends,
I do not think that this decision is excellent now because we are preparing for WikiIndaba 2018 and because such decisions can cause some problems in the organization of the conference. In fact, Mounir had made the grant application to organize WikiIndaba 2018 on behalf on Wikimedia TN User Group. He has even discussed with some people for Wikimedia Foundation and WikiAfrica. If we drop him from the group, we will have to repeat this discussion from its beginning. I propose instead to discuss this problem with Mounir directly or by phone and not by email messages so that we can have an arrangement to the problem for the benefit of our community. Yours Sincerely, Houcemeddine Turki
*De :* Wikimedia-tn wikimedia-tn-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org de la part de Wikimedia Tunisia contact@wikimedia.tn *Envoyé :* mercredi 20 septembre 2017 21:39 *À :* wikimedia-tn@lists.wikimedia.org; Mounir Touzri *Objet :* Re: [Wikimedia-tn] Reporting an issue from [Carthagina] - WMTNUG Decision
Dear Mounir Touzri,
It was not easy for us to write this email but we had to do it for the sake of keeping a healthy community and avoid harassment and disruptive behavior within our group.
We have read your answer to the harassment and other accusations reported by Emna Mizouni on behalf of some members of our community.
Even though there was something in our hearts trying to believe you or maybe hoping for more arguments, your official reply (received after more than two weeks from Habib’s email) was not convincing.
Unfortunately the collected evidences and the number of members that we contacted and who confirmed the accusations, that were mentioned in the incident received, add to that the official ban from our partner Carthagina, brought us to take a hard decision and to take this case to an upper level.
We do believe that all our members deserve a safe and harassment-free working space in which they can contribute productively and debate constructively.
As a wikimedian you must know that within our movement we preach for certain code of conduct based on civility and respect and as founders of this group it belongs to us to look after this and to not tolerate any disruptive behavior.
With all the respect that we have for your valuable contributions to the wikimedia projects and to the group activities, we, as co-founders of the Wikimedia TN User Group, regret to inform you that based on
+ the Wikimedia Foundation's Community health initiative, + the Friendly space policy for Wikimedia Foundation events, + and our community code of conduct that the following decisionshave been discussed and approved to:
1- Withdraw your membership from the Wikimedia TN User Group and kindly ask you to not organise any activity or project on behalf of the group,
2-Inform the Wikimedia Foundation about this decision,
3-Inform all the other Wikimedia affiliates (user groups, chapters etc.) that you, no longer, represent the Wikimedia TN User Group in any activity,
4-Handover any ongoing activity initiated on behalf of the group.
It saddens us to take this decision but we do believe that it’s the right thing to help our community moving forward without any distraction in order to fulfill our commitments.
Wikimedia TN User Group
Agreement signers
Habib Mhenni
Yamen Bousrih-- ....................... Wikimedia TN User Group http://wikimedia.tn Wikimédia Tunisie – Wikimedia TN User Group http://wikimedia.tn/ wikimedia.tn ويكيمانيا هو مؤتمر سنوي لمستخدمي مشاريع الويكي التي تديرها مؤسسة ويكيميديا، عقد حتى عام 2016 ...
Le 19/08/2017 à 22:45, Mounir Touzri a écrit :
أعضاء ويكيميديا تونس أولا وقبل كل شيء أنا آسف لتأخير جوابي كما أشكر حبيب على الرد الرزين و المتعقل، هذه الرسالة خطيرة جدا و هنالك العديد من المغالطات،ثانيا سأجيب فقط على الأسئلة التي طلبها مني حبيب ، ، كان هدفي دوما دعم مجتمع ويكيميديا تونس بكل الطرق لكن و للأسف بعض الأعضاء لا يرغبون بي في المجموعة، أولا بالنسبة للإهانةوالمضايقة انا لم أقم بذالك ثانيا بالنسبة للأصوات نعم اقترحت على بعض الأعضاء دعم عضو معين لحضور مؤتمر و لم افرض عليهم التصويت له ،فقط كان اقتراح و هذا لكي يتمكن كل الاعضاء من المشاركة في مؤتمرات ويكيميديا وتحفيز كل الأعضاء و كان كل الاعضاء متفقين في هذه النقطة بعد الاتصال بهممع العلم العضو المقترح لم يشارك في أي مؤتمر سابق ، و على كل حال كل شخص حر في رأيه و كانوا قادرين على التصويت لشخص آخر او رفض التصويت مثل باقي الأعضاء بالنسبة للمنح أولا يجب التذكير هنالك نوعان من المنح منح شخصية و منح مع مجموعات انا لم أقم بتقديم طلب منحة باسم ويكيميديا تونس بعد اجتماع سوسة و بالنسبة للمنحة الشخصية فهو أمر شخصي بيني و بين مؤسسة ويكيميديا و لا علاقة له بالمجموعة ، مع العلم تم ذكر هذا الموضوع في اجتماع سوسة، كل شخص يمكنه أن يقدم طلب منحة شخصية و يتحمل المسؤولية كاملة مع مؤسسة ويكيميديا و لا دخل للمجموعة بهذه المنحة، و هذا الأمر يقومون به في كلالدول ،
بمناسبة المنح يجب القيام بمنحة سريعة أو إرجاع المبلغ المتبقي للمؤسسة في خصوص المبلغ المتبقي من منحة اجتماع سوسة
أخيرا انا اسف على هذا الأمر و حز في نفسي بعد ثلاث سنوات كعضو في المجموعة ان اجد نفسي في هذا الموقف ،2017-08-14 16:11 GMT+01:00 Habib M'henni <habib.mhenni@gmail.com <mailto:habib.mhenni@gmail.com habib.mhenni@gmail.com>>:
Dear Mounir, Can you please comment this issue? By the end of this week (Sunday, August 20th) we will move to the next step on discussions. Cordially, Habib Mhenni On behalf of the Wikimedia TN User Group (legal final agreementsigner)
------------------------------------------------------------
*De :* Habib M'henni <habib.mhenni@wikimedia.tn <mailto:habib.mhenni@wikimedia.tn <habib.mhenni@wikimedia.tn>>> *Envoyé :* 7 août 2017 14:24:10 GMT+01:00 *À :* Emna Mizouni <emna.mizouni@gmail.com <mailto:emna.mizouni@gmail.com <emna.mizouni@gmail.com>>>,Wikimedia TN User Group Mailing
List <wikimedia-tn@lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:wikimedia-tn@lists.wikimedia.orgwikimedia-tn@lists.wikimedia.org>>, Yamen Bousrih
<bousrihyamen@yahoo.com <mailto:bousrihyamen@yahoo.com*Objet :* Re: [Wikimedia-tn] Reporting an issue from [Carthagina] Dear Emna, Thanks for sharing this report with our community. Carthagina and it's members belong in our beliefs and concerns about sharing knowledge and preserving our heritage. We are still pleased to collaborate together to promote our activities in a safety way. Dear Wikimedians of the *Wikimedia TN User Group* we (as Co-founder of the group) are very sorry to hear such statements. Mounir is a very active member and helped so much to achieve many of our programs. Dear Mounir, I would hear about your comments upon this points: 1. Do you confirm any of these behaviours from the report? 2. If not, would you explain to our community what did really happened, and I insist about a- the *harassment* point ; b- gossiping (vote issues) ; c- asking grants without informing the community. Dear members, please abstain from any comments until Mounir replies. I remind you that this ML is not restricted (views). Cordially, Habib M'henni Le 7 août 2017 11:51:48 GMT+01:00, Emna Mizouni <emna.mizouni@gmail.com <mailto:emna.mizouni@gmail.comemna.mizouni@gmail.com>> a écrit :
Dear co-founders of the group, Dear Wikimedia TN User Group members, I trust my email finds you all in good shape. I'm writing to you on my capacity as Carthagina current President. I’m addressing this email to the co-founders of the group as the legitimate co-chairs and to the community as well because we are partners in several successful projects (MedinaPedia, GLAM) and contests (WLM, WLA,...). We strongly value this partnership and we would like to maintain it for more joint work (the ongoing GLAM project in the Diocesan Library, the upcoming photo contests, the next MedinaPedia Dougga and Sfax,...). I would like to report an issue between a member of this community and some members of my team - Carthagina that has gone bigger than expected. In Carthagina, we value people and we value our team's work and of course our partners. Partner for once, partner forever. We, as well, prioritise the diversity and homogeneity of the team. Jamel Ben Saidane (a wikimedian and Human Resources Officer - Carthagina) and I received a complaint from Afek Ben Chahed and Zeineb Takouti, two members of Carthagina and active Wikimedians. They reported several times the misbehaviour of the Wikimedian Mounir Touzri. The situation kept escalating to the point of insulting Zeineb and devaluing her work. Harassing Afek and trying to influence her to split Carthagina and Wikimedia TN UG members. Afek reported as well that Mounir has stolen one of her ideas of Wiki University Clubs. Side conversations took place containing gossiping, shouting on the phone and depreciation toward these members. It became an unhealthy environment to volunteer. It suddenly became a very contagious atmosphere where my teammates felt frustrated and affected in a way to have incidents within the core staff of Carthagina (when Mounir started reaching out to Issam Barhoumi and Samy Mlouhi). /I would like to thank Habib and Yamen who called the members to motivate them in several occasions showing a good model of leadership./ But this is not all. The complaint that I would like to hand to you as a Wikimedian, contains influencing voting. Several members confirmed that Mounir contacted them privately to ask them to vote for a specific person. The way that he acts as the owner of the every new members faith; X person can go to attend Y conference while Z person is not welcome to attend ... May I remind you that this kind of behaviour made us lose one of the active and enthusiastic wikipedian few year ago (I’m talking here about Wael Ghabara). I would like to also highlight that myself as well as other wikimedians, have concerns about the grants that Mounir is receiving without letting us know. I recall our Wikimedia TN meeting organised by Mounir himself in Sousse early March, when we all agreed that all grant requests should be known by the community and go through our unique fiscal sponsor CLibre. From our side in Carthagina, for the first time in our history we activated our policy and decided unanimously to ban definitely Mounir Touzri from all our activities, projects and venue. We declare him as a "Persona non grata". This decision was taken based on our code of conduct and all our members, observer-members and board of trustees voted for it. This is the hardest decision, we took in Carthagina, especially that Mounir was considered part of our community and that he helped us in the WM-Carthagina events. But unfortunately, we cannot allow/accept this kind of behaviour from someone who's supposed to know our policy as well as the Wikimedia friendly spacepolicy.
The Carthagina meeting minutes would be shared with Yamen and Habib and if you would like to hear more concerns from our team about the Wikimedia related issues, my team and I are happy to collaborate. It saddens me to write this email but the situation needed an action to stop the abuse from growing bigger than it is. Sadly Emna -- Digital Manager - British Council Tunisia Affiliations Committee Member - Wikimedia Foundation Founder & President of Carthagina -- Emna Mizouni http://about.me/emna.mizouni <http://about.me/emna.mizouni> *Mobile:* *+21623550150 <+216%2023%20550%20150> * <mailto:mehdi.dahmen@hotmail.fr <mehdi.dahmen@hotmail.fr>> Habib M'henni User:Dyolf77 Wikimedia TN User Group -- Habib M'henni http://about.me/habibmhenni — Envoyé de mon appareil Android avec Courriel K-9 Mail. Veuillez excuser ma brièveté.-- Amicalement Mounir Touzri Touzrimounir@gmail.com <mailto:Touzrimounir@gmail.com
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