Earlier this week, Richard Stallman announced that he was rejoining the board of the Free Software Foundation. You may recall that he resigned as president and board member in 2019 after making unacceptable remarks about the sexual assault of a minor. This was not the first instance of unacceptable behavior. The FSF made no real changes to address the issue and now has welcomed Stallman back.

I’m thankful that the people I choose to associate with have universally condemned this as harmful. I wrote in 2012 that I think he hurts his own ideological cause. At the time I wrote the post, I was thinking entirely of his rigid aherence to free software over all else. In truth, the harm he does goes well beyond that. For me, the licensing terms of free and open source software are not as important as the human impact.

As I wrote last month, free and open source software is not the end goal. What good is free software that is used to harm others? And what good is a free software movement that is not willing to include underindexed groups. We cannot tolerate nor enable this sort of behavior.

The Fedora Council spent a lot of time debating our vision statement.

The Fedora Project envisions a world where everyone benefits from free and open source software built by inclusive, welcoming, and open-minded communities.

Fedora PRoject vision

The inclusion of the “built by” is no accident. We want our community to be vibrant and healthy. That cannot happen when bad behavior is allowed to persist.

I think it’s too late for the FSF. They’ve painted themselves into a corner long ago. This only cements that. Still, perhaps with a new slate, the organization can be reborn into something that aids the cause it purports to champion. That is why I have signed the open letter calling for the resignation of Stallman and the entire FSF Board of Directors.