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Re: [DebConf Scedule change] "Let's talk about the elephant in the room" DebConf20 in Israel session



On Fri, 2019-07-26 at 19:18 -0300, Jonathan Carter wrote:
> Tomorrow morning in "Sala de Videoconferencia", there will be an open
> discussion regarding political concerns around holding DebConf20 in
> Israel. Everyone at DebConf is welcome to join this session.
> 
> Read the full description on the DC19 website for more details
> :
> "Let's talk about the elephant in the room":
> https://debconf19.debconf.org/talks/173-lets-talk-about-the-elephant-in-
> the-room/

>From that page:

+--------------------------------------------------------------------
| We need to have an open discussion about the political message that
| this project decision sends, and how it affects the people within
| our community who support the BDS (Boycott, Disinvestment,
| Sanctions) movement against the policies of the Israeli Government,
| all the while reiterating our support to the individual members of
| the local organizing team, who are our peers in Debian.
|
| A campaign has been brewing for a few weeks, calling on the DebConf
| Committee and the Debian Community to rescind the decision of
| holding the project’s yearly conference in Israel.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------

The BDS movement is widely described as antisemitic.  Why should we
care about it?

To be very honest: if people suggest to kick out people for not
agreeing with same-sex marriage, but apparently care about accomodate
antisemitic movements, that also sends a political message.  One that I
don't like very much.

Given that the thread on -discuss that started it had such "fun"
allegations such as

+------------------------------------------------------------------
| Any DD who lives in Israel is a direct contributor financially and
| morally to apartheid and genocide against the Palestinian people.
| [...]
| There is no such thing as an innocent Israeli just like there is no
| such thing as a innocent Nazi.
+--[ https://lists.debian.org/debconf-discuss/2019/03/msg00041.html ]

did not really improve my view on the group asking for this... (It
rather contributed to the description of BDS as antisemitic.)

Does it really need a discussion to say "no" to this?

Ansgar


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