I would like to add that I have been following Susanna's work in Armenia
since 2011, and have had occasion to evaluate it as a grants officer.
During these five years, Susanna has been an exemplary Wikimedian, building
community around her, empowering other volunteers to do their best work,
and building partnerships with cultural institutions as well as government
in her country. I have had the pleasure of visiting Armenia last year and
seeing up close one of Susanna's impressive projects -- the Wikicamp -- as
well as attending and speaking at a conference at Matenadaran (the national
archive) and meeting many Armenian Wikipedians.
Nothing I have seen leads me to be concerned about Susanna's commitment to
movement values, *despite* working in a country struggling with
corruption[1], ongoing military conflict, and relatively weak democratic
discipline. Indeed, I have personally witnessed Susanna *resist* attempts
at co-optation of Wikimedia Armenia's work.
I encourage Andreas to retract his accusations ("clearly" etc.).
Expressing a concern that there *might* be government interference was
perhaps legitimate, but proceeding to besmirch Susanna and her work without
evidence is unacceptable.
Asaf
[1] let us remember countries in the west struggle with tremendous
corruption too, albeit manifested more financially than ideologically.
On Wed, Mar 2, 2016 at 4:10 PM, Cristian Consonni <kikkocristian(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
2016-03-03 0:15 GMT+01:00 Andreas Kolbe
<jayen466(a)gmail.com>om>:
I don't know Susanna, and in fact until
yesterday had never heard of her.
She may well be a delightful and charming person with a genuine
enthusiasm
for open knowledge. There are after all many
encyclopedic topics that
have
no political sensitivity or relevance at all. But
she is clearly part of
a
government-sponsored effort to control the
Armenian Wikipedia.
[...]
2016-03-03 0:26 GMT+01:00 Risker <risker.wp(a)gmail.com>om>:
Wow, Andreas. That's taking several major
leaps of logic. Sometimes a
cigar is just a cigar. Any reason why you brought these rather
extraordinary assumptions to this mailing list before Susanna had even
had
a chance to respond to your question at her
nomination page?
[...]
2016-03-03 0:33 GMT+01:00 Nathan <nawrich(a)gmail.com>om>:
Is there any actual connection between Susanna
and the high-level
government interest or effort around the Armenian Wikipedia? What I'm
asking is if there is anything here, other than supposition that because
she is Armenian and the Armenian government is interested in Wikipedia
that
Susanna must be guilty of corruption and
repression by association?
Andreas,
You are making very strong and, what's worse, completely
unsubstantiated accusations towards a person while admitting of not
knowing her, her history and her contributions to the movement.
The only person that thinks that "she [Susanna] is clearly part of a
government-sponsored effort to control the Armenian Wikipedia" is you.
As Risker already noted your reasoning contains majors leaps of logic
and I find that your behavior is frankly appalling. As Nathan said you
have no evidence to support anything of what you have said besides the
fact that Susanna is Armenian.
The FDC reviewed in May 2015 the activities of Wikimedia Armenia in
the APG 2014/2015 round 2 [1] and found all programs to be
volunteer-led and well-aligned with the values and the mission of the
Wikimedia movement. The FDC judged Wikimedia Armenia to be "a
grassroots organization with a strong volunteer base. It is small,
flexible, and able to engage with a wide range of volunteers through
its projects."[2]. The evaluation of the FDC of Wikimedia Armenia was
a praise (and a recommendation for full funding)[2]. Not in a single
moment there was the least shred of doubt that the activities of
Wikimedia Armenia could go against the values of the movement. Never
there was even the remote suspicion of Wikimedia Armenia being part of
the government-led "scheme" to oppress people that you are suggesting.
In the occasion of the APG proposal (and besides that, at any time)
there were and there are several avenues to criticize - also
privately and anonymously, if one so needs or wishes - what the
chapter does and what the people in the chapter do and there was not a
single instance of any kind of accusation like the ones that you are
making from nothing.
Your accusation are an insult to all the volunteers in Wikimedia
Armenia, and I think you owe them an apology, especially to Susanna.
I want you to know that I find this behavior to be toxic and that in
my opinion you are harming the people in the movement and its mission.
Cristian
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2014-2015_round2/…
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/FDC_recommendations/2014-2015_ro…
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