Discussion
2 things can be true at once;
There's value in large-scale cooperative endeavors that only work if people are willing to work with others on a nonpartisan basis.
Fascist movements - in all their forms - are a threat to everyone who cares about cooperative endeavor, and it's unwise to work with people who support them. Eg;
https://infosec.exchange/@flyingpenguin/117212838196276138
(1/?)
I disagree with those who reject nuance, and insist we treat any and every accusation of fascism as automatically true. There is value in giving people the benefit of the doubt, while firmly challenging their questionable comments.
But when people have been challenged, and instead of educating themselves they double down, openly aligning themselves with fascist ideas, it's unwise to keep associating with them.
(2/?)
This is a big problem for people embedded in proprietary technology networks. Because the components they depend on are inseparably tied to the people and organisation who've developed them.
But people working in libre technology networks have the freedom to fork. To continue development of critical components under alternative governance arrangements. We don't have to keep associating with people who've gone over to the Dark Side to keep benefiting from their past work.
(3/?)
So I find it mystifying that some people seem to identify the exposure of fascist beliefs among some technologists who develop Free Code, as some kind of failing of Open Source. Or even software freedom as a concept.
(4/?)
As the number of people developing Free Code increased, it was inevitable that it would become more representative of the general population. As support for crypto-fascist ideas increased across the world, it was inevitable that some of the people supporting them would be Free Code developers.
This is far from ideal, but it's also not caused by software freedom as a concept. And again, libre technology gives us more freedom of action in dealing with it than proprietary technology.
(5/?)
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