[IndiChix] A message for LC-IN

[Atul Chitnis]

Warning: this is a long note.

On Fri, 1 Feb 2008, Vid Ayer wrote:

> Leadership in the corporate world is way different than how things
> work in the floss world, where its a mix of getting hands dirty and
> DIY  with some (or a lot of) help  from the community. I dont know a
> community where folks (irrespective of gender) issue orders on
> "footask will be done by fooperson" and fooperson obeying the order.
> Doubt if that is gonna work, but that is my zero paise worth.

I havent said anything on this issue so far, but I think it is best that I 
do so now, before things get more confusing and complicated:

I have been deeply involved with FOSS community in India and worldwide for 
th past 15 years, and I believe that my understanding of its functioning 
goes a little deeper than what you have to offer with that statement.

Therefore, I would say that your position on this matter is certainly not 
in line with what the community perceives.

For one, in the community, it is perfectly acceptable for someone to say 
"this needs to be done, and $named_person could/should do it", especially 
if it is not an order but a request/suggestion, put out in a 
non-aggressive, non-authoritarian manner, based on due diligence. A 
classic example of this is the Linux kernel, where Linus Torvalds is 
deemed the benevolent dictator.

The FOSS community is *not* a democracy (despite what is often put out as 
a myth) - it is a meritocracy. That means that the person who is actually 
doing the work and delivering gets to say how things move along. Or, in 
other words, "talk is cheap - show me the code".

In a FOSS software project, this is usually the person contributing the 
most, and who has the deepest vision, and the support of the other members 
of the group for that vision.

In a FOSS-based *social* project (which LCIN *partially* is), it is the 
person who originally provided the vision for this project, and who has 
done the most work in not only gathering members who subscribe to that 
vision, but who also is qualified enough (by way of FOSS contributions) to 
justify that vision, who has the right to be called a leader - as long as 
that person clearly demonstrates that the goals of the group are uppermost 
in the, and the "leading" of the group is not an end in itself.

The primary difference between a corporate leader and a FoSS leader is 
that a corporate leader leads from the front, a FOSS leader leads from 
within. A corporate leader *acquires* the right (through money, 
inheritance, seniority or other means), while a FOSS leader *earns* the 
right to lead, by demonstrating abilities and results of achieving the 
projects goals (not by being able to "control" the project).

> I vote for that too. We have a positive response that the main LC is
> willing to provide us with hosting and any technical help that we may
> need. We can use http://in.linuxchix.org , and the current domain can
> be redirected if the owner so desires.  We already have the list and
> irc channel with them so makes more sense to keep things in one place.

While I don't see anything *functionally* objectionable to that, I must 
point out something here that many others appear to have also noticed:

Many of these "decisions" are taken without taking other members of this 
list/group into confidence, and including them in these 
discussions/decisions. Things are being presented in a "faith accomplii" 
manner, largely by you, with you being the single interface to LinuxChix 
International.

This is also reflected in the manner in which some characteristics of this 
group were altered to change the way members are treated. I am, of course, 
specifically referring to the "those men" kind of statements, which I not 
only found deeply offensive, but completely contrary to the objectives of 
this group that I have supported for many years (far longer than 
FOSS.IN/2005).

I guess pointing you at this article of mine from 14 years ago will prove 
that

http://comversations.com/attic/women-online/

and also the quiet way by which "those men" have been supporting (and not 
"controlling") this group. This includes every highlight of this group's 
existence, which happened because "those men" too helped them happen, not 
*inspite* of their involvement.

All of "those men" on this list support the concept of feminism and 
equality for all, but as Swati very aptly put it in her blog entry

http://swatisani.livejournal.com/88818.html

"Feminism is not about superiority over Men. Feminism means Equality of 
gender. Men and women are different -but we are equals. Feminism does not 
mean that women should have a separate queue, it means standing in the 
same queue and fighting it out shoulder to shoulder along with men with 
same rights and privileges. Feminism does not mean that women have to 
learn authority or beg for it to be given to her."

As a successful business-woman in a so-called "man's world" who has not 
only proved herself but has earned all our respect for it, Swati is 
probably more qualified to say this and define feminism, given that she is 
married, and her husband holds her in the highest regard.

Ditto Pooja and Runa, who both have achieved the goal of equality not by 
words and attempts at control, but by action and contribution - both Pooja 
and Runa are active and respected developers and contributors, and Swati 
has absolute financial control over our "small, regional event" called 
FOSS.IN - because she is the most qualified of us all in Team FOSS.IN.

This group that we call LinuxChix India was formed by a collection of 
women and men (a fairly equal number, I believe), whose only goal was 
*enabling* other women in India to get involved with FOSS and technology. 
The goal was never to fix society's flaws or change a perceived patriachal 
society into a matriachal one.

I should know, because I fought long and hard to make the "Women in FOSS" 
sub-event happen at FOSS.IN/2005 (believe me, there was opposition to this 
from some quarters), and attempted to give the group wider visibility at 
FOSS.IN/2007 with the SuperBoF.

I admit that that BoF was a failure in many ways, but that was not because 
of "those men" or "by taking their pencils away", but more so because the 
agenda of the BoF was not clearly defined or followed, and because the 
tone went from empowering women to outright militancy, which opened the 
door for reactions.

While I cannot speak for LinuxChix International, I can assure you that 
*this* group is not about militant feminism, but about men and women 
working together as equals to achieve the goals of the group with 
reference to FOSS - not society. Not once has there been any "us and them" 
- until the "those men" statements started flowing.

Should the nature of this group suddenly change from FOSS empowerment for 
women to militant, superior-like, "women power" at the cost of the male 
members of this group, then I can assure you that it will lose not just my 
support, but that of many other members of this group (and not just the 
men).

This is not about changing a "dominating men" situation into a "dominating 
women" situation. This is about empowering women with Free and Open Source 
Software, taking into account that sometimes, a few special requirements 
exist to make this possible.

As long as this is kept clearly in mind, this group will have everyone's 
support, and will prosper.

But should it see another round of "those men" statements, and attacks on 
members who have been quietly supporting this group, then I believe this 
group will fall apart quickly and dramatically, as it almost did last 
week.

And I say this not because I am a man trying to dictate terms, but out of 
many years of real (not imagined) experience. After all, "experience is 
what wise (wo)men call their mistakes".

With this in mind, I believe that an unqualified, no-strings-attached 
apology is due to Vaibhav, who was made the clear target of attack in an 
attempt to establish a militant character for this group, and accept that 
he is an equal member of this group, just like everyone else.

Without such an apology, I believe that there is little chance of any of 
"those men" feeling wanted in this group. Similar apologies should ideally 
be made to Pooja and Swati, whose actions and words have been twisted and 
re-purposed to mean something they certainly did not.

And decisions like "members outside India cannot participate" or "you can 
be list admin, and you cannot be" or "a man cannot be in control of a 
resource" are not taken by a single person (the way it was done) but by 
the group.

Even the reaction to vaibhav's use of the term "catfight" (and the manner 
in which he was silenced) was "superior" in nature and has no place in 
this group. Just FYI - and for everyone's information - the term catfight 
has *nothing* to do with women, and vaibhav's use of the term was entirely 
correct, given what was happening here - a dispute carried out with 
intense hostility and bitterness. See for yourself:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/catfight

As you can see, neither dictionary even mentions women in their 
definition.

And finally, I should make it clear that while we all respect the work of 
LinuxChix international, and support most of the objectives, no one here 
is going to trade in equality and friendship, just to be able to tag 
themselves with the "LinuxChix" name.

Names are easy to create, but names should reflect the objectives of the 
group, not the other way round.

In that way, I must point out that both Carla and Sulamita (who happens to 
be a good friend of mine, and with whom I had a chat when the war broke 
out here - your imagined "complaint to tresChix", which it was NOT) were 
correct when they said that each local chapter can and has to decide how 
it functions. it is for us to adopt things from other chapters, but 
nowhere does it say that we must blidly follow every guideline.

Therefore, let us decide that we will live up to the objectives 
of LinuxChix, as stated at http://www.linuxchix.org :

"LinuxChix is a community for women who like Linux and Free Software, and 
for ***women and men*** who want to support women in computing". (Emphasis 
is mine).

Because this is the core objective of this group from the very beginning - 
not militant feminism.

And in the three years since this group was formed, there has never been 
the need for election/nomination of a leader or appointment of a 
controller or for a single person to take decisions. Any decisions related 
to this group should take into account the collective inputs and feedback 
of this group.

Even the decision to move to the linuxchix server or change the domain 
name just because of the desire to be in charge of the public face of the 
group is questionable, because it is a violent slap in the face of many 
members of this group. it is not like every woman on this list will be 
given root access to that server. Only qualified ones, which is the right 
way of doing it - and irrespective of gender.

Insisting on moving the server is not just an insult to vaibhav and Pooja, 
but to Barkha (who has been competently managing the site) and Runa (who 
has been instrumental at kicking off the wiki content), and all the other 
people who have been contributing to the site content so far.

I know that this note is far longer than it should be, but I wanted to put 
this down once and for all.

Attempting to establish "superiority" by either side over the other, and 
creating "us and them" situations, is NOT in the charter of this group.

This is not about control by men or women - this is about re-establishing 
that we treat each other as equals and work side by side, using each one's 
abilities and resources, towards common goals.

And we bow to no one - within, or outside.

Thank you for listening and more importantly, understanding.

Atul

-- 
Atul Chitnis
Bangalore, India
http://atulchitnis.net