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Statement on planned protests during the upcoming FOSDEM 2025
- sneak 2y agoThis doesn’t say anything about what the talk is, who is giving it, who is protesting it, or why. I hate this style of press releases. It’s rude to assume your readership is hip deep in the scene drama.
- wiether 2y agoWhy would they provide name? Their statement is a global reminder of the organization rules: - they don't give preferential treatment to speakers - they allow peaceful protest
- graemep 2y agoIt reminds me of something that often frustrates me. An allegation that someone said something (e.g. something offensive), but without quoting what they said (or providing context) so I cannot actually evaluate it for myself.
- gadders 2y ago[flagged]
- the_gipsy 2y agohttps://drewdevault.com/2025/01/16/2025-01-16-No-Billionares-at-FOSDEM-please.html https://drewdevault.com/2025/01/16/2025-01-16-No-Billionares...
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- gadders 2y ago"It has also been pointed out that Dorsey does not bear sole responsibility for Twitter’s sale. However, he is complicit and he profited handsomely from the sale and all of its harmful consequences. The sale left the platform at the disposal of the far right, causing a sharp rise in hate speech and harassment and the layoffs of 3,700 of the Twitter employees that made it worth so much in the first place." https://drewdevault.com/2025/01/20/2025-01-20-FOSDEM-protest.html https://drewdevault.com/2025/01/20/2025-01-20-FOSDEM-protest...
- kanbara 2y agoit’s not about reading opinions, it’s about the world’s richest man enabling nazis, pushing misogynistic views, and destabilizing the globe so he can make a buck and push his obsession with mars. oh and let’s not forget the anti-queer, anti-black stuff.
- captainmuon 2y agoContext: Jack Dorsey is giving a talk and Drew DeVault is organizing a protest against that https://drewdevault.com/2025/01/20/2025-01-20-FOSDEM-protest.html https://drewdevault.com/2025/01/20/2025-01-20-FOSDEM-protest...
- niels_bom 2y agoHere’s the talk description: https://fosdem.org/2025/schedule/event/fosdem-2025-4507-infusing-open-source-culture-into-company-dna-a-conversation-with-jack-dorsey-and-manik-surtani-block-s-head-of-open-source/ https://fosdem.org/2025/schedule/event/fosdem-2025-4507-infu...
- abetusk 2y agoSome more information: Jack Dorsey's slot at FOSDEM 25: https://fosdem.org/2025/schedule/event/fosdem-2025-4507-infusing-open-source-culture-into-company-dna-a-conversation-with-jack-dorsey-and-manik-surtani-block-s-head-of-open-source/ https://fosdem.org/2025/schedule/event/fosdem-2025-4507-infu... Block's GitHub: https://github.com/block https://github.com/block Selections from Drew DeVault's post: """ ... we do not object to the need for sponsors generally at FOSDEM ... we do object specifically to Jack Dorsey and Block, Inc. being selected as sponsors and especially as speakers. ... Our purpose is to peacefully disrupt Dorsey’s talk, and only Dorsey’s talk ... ... His complicity, along with his present-day activities at Block, Inc. and the priorities of the company that he represents as CEO — its irresponsible climate policy, $120M in fines for enabling consumer fraud, and the layoffs of another 1,000 employees in 2024 despite posting record profits on $5B in revenue — are enough of a threat to our community and its ethos to raise alarm at his participation in FOSDEM. """ I'm a little at a loss for context. A shallow reading is that DeVault's contention is that Dorsey sold Twitter and is now involved in many cryptocurrency focused companies. Is this too reductive of a reading? As far as I can tell, a significant portion of Block's codebase, as well as other sibling organizations, are FOSS.
- pantalaimon 2y agoHis main objection seems to stem from the fact that Jack Dorsey's net worth is $5.6 billion.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- marksomnian 2y ago> if a peaceful protest were to take place during the talk in question, we will not take action, provided the protest is indeed peaceful and does not disrupt the proceedings Would staging a sit-in explicitly intended to prevent the booked speaker from speaking be classed as “disrupting the proceedings”?
- GTP 2y agoIn my opinion, yes.
- Aissen 2y agoA nice reminder by Jan (who is not defending the selection committee) https://social.wildeboer.net/@jwildeboer/113862181623385975 https://social.wildeboer.net/@jwildeboer/113862181623385975 (Drew's latest posts has similar reminders)
- Tomte 2y agoA bit downthread: > This special relationship and this special event can be destroyed by the actions from just a few. That's so true. At our university in the 00s student protestors (they were against some fees, I think) posed as the student council for electrotechnics and got PA equipment from the university administration. Which they used to disrupt some big welcoming ceremony for foreign guest academics. Now the electrotechnics parties had no PA equipment anymore. Because the administrative employee pointed out that technically the equipment was never for such use. Over decades(!) he had always handed it out because why wouldn't you support a big student party and the organizers had always been very responsible with it and returned it in pristine condition. But now the risk for him personally outweighed any goodwill. Tough luck!
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- maltris 2y agoWhats going on with the special snowflakes trying to get attention? First the WordPress-guy, now this one. Maybe we should all acknowledge that we are much less important than we would like to. And thats OK.
- ThinkBeat 2y agoSigh. The people who spend a significant amount of time (often in my experience unpaid) arranging a conference have to mix and match and probably make some unpopular compromises for reasons know best to them. I do think one should get them the benefit of the doubt as to why. Just dont attend the talk. It is that easy. The ultimate protest would be a nearly empty room. That would be quite humiliating for the person giving the talk.
- fmajid 2y agoRead Bryan Cantrill on how unimpressive Dorsey is to anyone with a clue: "I, like many people, have a complicated relationship with Twitter. As Adam and I regaled in a recent Twitter Space, it started when debugging the Twitter fail whale in the offices of Obvious in 2007, where I became thoroughly unimpressed with their self-important skipper, Jack Dorsey. In part because I thought he was such a fool, I refused to join Twitter out of principle." https://bcantrill.dtrace.org/2022/11/05/twitter-when-the-wall-came-down/ https://bcantrill.dtrace.org/2022/11/05/twitter-when-the-wal... It seems to me letting Dorsey speak and ridicule himself in front of an audience of technically savvy people would actually be the best way to discredit him.
- ThinkBeat 2y agoThat was more of a range rant on Musk than anything else. Which is far as long as it goes. I am surprised that such blog posts are done under the dtrace.org banner.
- bcantrill 2y agoAs it is apparently unclear: dtrace.org is (just) a collection of personal blogs, including my own. More details on the history can be found in [0]. [0] https://bcantrill.dtrace.org/2024/11/16/blogging-through-the-decades/ https://bcantrill.dtrace.org/2024/11/16/blogging-through-the...
- fmajid 2y ago
- CodeCompost 2y agoThe Streisand effect is strong with this one.
- constantcrying 2y agoWhy would any event accept or welcome people who are there to sabotage it? "Our purpose is to peacefully disrupt Dorsey’s talk" then do it outside, that is where your Protest belongs and where you actually have a right to protest. Obviously anyone who comes to an event with the goal of disrupting that event needs to be removed or just not let in. It seems extremely uncontroversial to ban everyone involved in the planned protest from attending.
- hawski 2y agoIt is not that easy. From https://fosdem.org/2025/faq/#registration https://fosdem.org/2025/faq/#registration > Q: I plan on visiting FOSDEM, where can I register? > No registration is required. > Q: How much does a entry ticket for FOSDEM cost? > Attendance is free, including access to all talks and facilities.
- constantcrying 2y agoWhy? If he or anyone who announced that he is going to partake in disruptions tell them to leave, if they do not leave call the police.
- EdiX 2y agoMy understanding is that FOSDEM is run by volunteers on a shoestring budget mainly thanks to the support of the ULB (a university). They don't have security, they don't have badges or registrations, you can just walk in and out as you please. I have my doubts this is going to last if people start to deliberately try to take a fat dump on it to elevate their own ego.
- constantcrying 2y agoTelling someone not to come to your event is totally free, so is calling the police on them if they come anyways.
- markvdb 2y ago
- ChrisArchitect 2y agoRelated: No Billionares at FOSDEM https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42725057 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42725057
- pantalaimon 2y agoThe post is flagged
- ChrisArchitect 2y agoSo? That's still where the large discussion happened related to the topic. 5 days ago old now.
- agixid 2y agoI can't see the talk scheduled anymore, I'm glad the organizers took action !
- tledakis 2y agodupe? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42732628 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42732628