rotten news relay - comp.os.linux.advocacy - The Stallman Report, a hit piece on Richard Stallman

Thank you, Bryan Lunduke, for breaking this.

It looks like the hardcore left is turning on its own.

<https://lunduke.locals.com/upost/6232184/the-stallman-report-a-hit-piece-on-the-free-software-founder>

Richard Stallman (aka “RMS”) is the founder of GNU and the Free Software
Foundation and present-day voting member of the Free Software Foundation
(FSF) board of directors and “Chief GNUisance” of the GNU project. He is
responsible for innumerable contributions to the free software movement,
setting its guiding principles, organizing political action, and
directly contributing to a flourishing free software ecosystem. The
majority of Stallman’s political activity has been of priceless value to
society at large.

However, Stallman has been the subject of numerous allegations of
misconduct. Stallman has also incited numerous controversies for
advancing a political agenda which normalizes sexual misconduct and
advocates for reforming our social and legal understanding of sexual
conduct in a manner which benefits the perpetrators of abuse.

On the basis that Stallman has not demonstrated an understanding of his
misconduct; has not apologized for allegations of misconduct, alleged or
corroborated; continues to publish his harmful political program; and
does not acknowledge or apologize for harm done in the course of this
program, this report reiterates the position that Stallman should be
removed from the board of directors at the Free Software Foundation.

To support this case, we have catalogued the following:

Primary sources documenting Stallman’s political advocacy for:
The normalization of sexual relations between adults and minors [1]
Defense of individuals both accused and convicted of sexual crimes,
including the rape of minors, sexual assault, and sexual harassment [2]
Dismissal of legal norms regarding sexual assault [3]
Dismissal of legal norms regarding sexual harassment [4]
Support for the possession of child sexual abuse material [5]
Legal and social normalization of sex between humans and animals [6]
Legal and social normalization of sex with corpses (necrophilia) [7]
Credible allegations of sexual misconduct regarding Stallman [8]
Misconduct of the Free Software Foundation board of directors [9]
Calls from the free software community for Stallman’s removal [10]
Recommendations for reconciliation and closure [11]
Content warning: This report catalogues and directly quotes hundreds of
statements from Richard Stallman of an extremely offensive nature on
subjects including rape, sexual assault, child sexual abuse, sexual
exploitation of children, and more. Sensitive readers are strongly
advised to proceed with caution.

If you or someone you know has been the victim of sexual violence, help
is available. The United States National Sexual Assault Hotline can be
reached at 800-656-HOPE (4673), and is available for live chat online
24/7. You can speak to a trained expert for confidential support at any
time.

International readers are directed to HotPeachPages for resources in
your location and your language, and Child Helpline International
provides international resources specifically aimed at the needs of
children and young people.

Statement regarding Stallman’s medical situation
We understand that Richard Stallman was diagnosed with follicular
lymphoma in 2023.1 We are pleased to hear that his prognosis is good and
his cancer is in remission. We wish Stallman good health, a peaceful
recovery, and many more years of health.

We are not of the opinion that Stallman’s cancer diagnosis absolves him
of responsibility for his actions, past and present. We urge Stallman to
reconsider his controversial political positions and issue retractions
and/or apologies to the extent that his health permits him to do so, and
draw attention to the fact that Stallman continues to forward his
controversial views following his diagnosis. We also urge the free
software community to hold Stallman accountable for his actions and to
contend with our history of sexism and tolerating abuse.

Why publish this report?
Richard Stallman has a profound influence on the free software community
and our movement. He is responsible for defining the four freedoms that
steer us, he has written all of our principal philosophy, he founded our
foundational software projects, and he is venerated as our ideological
leader.

Richard Stallman has also embarked upon a decades-long political project
to normalize sexual violence. Under his ideological leadership, the free
software movement is unsafe, particularly for women. Women represent
just 3% of the free software community,2 compared to 23% of industry
programmers generally.3 This is no accident. There is a pervasive
culture of sexism and a stark lack of accountability in free software,
and it begins with Stallman’s unchallenged and reprehensible behavior.

The case against Stallman is clear, and yet the free software community
has failed to act, in particular at the level of institutions and
leadership but also in the form of grassroots support for Stallman. Many
defenses of Stallman rely on a comfortable ignorance: ignorance of the
scope and depth of Stallman’s political campaign against women and
victims of sexual violence, or a comfortable belief that Stallman ceased
his problematic behavior following his 2021 re-instatement in the Free
Software Foundation. Some believe that Stallman’s speech has not caused
material harm, or that his fringe views are not taken seriously; we
provide evidence to dismiss all of these arguments in this report.

Ignorance of the case against Stallman is due in part to the scattered
and disorganized nature of information regarding Stallman’s misconduct.
Many of those who raise a defense of Stallman have heard one or two
uncorroborated allegations of misconduct or one or two examples of
years-old problematic quotes, and understandably find it easier to
excuse it as such. Furthermore, those most directly accountable for
Stallman’s behavior are the members of the Free Software Foundation
board of directors, and their misconduct in handling the case is not
widely known; this report brings this misconduct to light. By carefully
organizing information about Stallman’s misconduct and the misconduct of
the FSF board of directors into a single, comprehensive and exhaustively
cited report, the appeal to ignorance is no longer applicable.

This report collects hundreds of primary sources from 2003 to 2024 which
clearly demonstrate Stallman’s harmful political program and misconduct,
meticulously cataloged, analyzed, and subject to factual rebuttals. If
the free software community cannot address the blatant misconduct of
Richard Stallman in the face of overwhelming evidence, the free software
community is not safe, and cannot be made safe. Our institutions and our
community must act. We have made several recommendations for such
actions at the end of the report.

First, we will justify our unqualified condemnation of Richard Stallman.

Stallman’s political statements
Richard Stallman maintains a collection of political notes on his
website.4 He frequently publishes short political opinions on his
website here on a wide variety of topics. In this report we draw
attention to his political program on sex, drawing from his political
notes as a primary source.

Note that all quotes sourced from Stallman’s website for this report are
direct quotes of material publicly available at the time this report was
prepared in September 2024.5 You may click any citation to view it on
Stallman’s website.

Analysis of Stallman’s published comments
We have catalogued comments published by Stallman, mostly in the
political notes section of his personal website, and categorized
comments of interest. Each link leads to a page which provides a
complete list of comments applicable to each category. Some comments
have been reproduced in multiple categories.

Category Dates applicable Occurrences
Total Retracted
Yes No
Distinction between "children" and other minors 2003-2024 124 n/a
Support of child sexual abuse material 2003-2019 55 0 55
Defense of sexual misconduct 2006-2023 37 1 36
Support of sex between adults and minors 2006-2019 34 5 29
Misrepresentation of sexual assault 2015-2024 24 1 23
Misrepresentation of sexual harassment 2014-2018 13 0 13
Support of bestiality 2003-2018 12 0 12
Support of necrophilia 2003-2013 3 0 3

Normalization of sexual relations between adults and minors
Richard Stallman has consistently advanced the political position that
minors can consent to sex with adults. Stallman’s position on minors
having sex with adults is the only position addressed in this report for
which Stallman has issued a retraction:

Many years ago I posted that I could not see anything wrong about sex
between an adult and a child, if the child accepted it.

Through personal conversations in recent years, I’ve learned to
understand how sex with a child can harm per6 psychologically. This
changed my mind about the matter: I think adults should not do that. I
am grateful for the conversations that enabled me to understand why.

Click here to read the complete article

Subject	Author
The Stallman Report, a hit piece on Richard Stallman	CrudeSausage
Re: The Stallman Report, a hit piece on Richard Stallman	Lawrence D'Oliveiro
Re: The Stallman Report, a hit piece on Richard Stallman	CrudeSausage

BOFH excuse #260: We're upgrading /dev/null

comp / comp.os.linux.advocacy / The Stallman Report, a hit piece on Richard Stallman