Re: General resolution: Condemn Russian invasion of the Ukraine
On Thu, Mar 31, 2022 at 04:17:42PM +0300, Adrian Bunk wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 31, 2022 at 12:31:18PM +0200, Julian Andres Klode wrote:
> > Under 4.1.5 of the Constitution, the developers by way of GR are the
> > body who has the power to issue nontechnical statements.
> >
> > This is a proposal for Debian to issue a statement on an
> > issue of the day as given as an example, the recent invasion
> > of Ukraine.
> >
> > ==== Text of GR ====
> >
> > The Debian project issues the following statement:
> >
> > The Debian project strongly condemns the invasion of Ukraine by
> > Russia. The Debian projects affirms that Ukrain is a souvereign
> > nation which includes the Donbas regions of Luhansk, as well as
> > Crimea, which has already been illegaly annexed by Russia.
>
> I do not believe that Debian starting issuing such statements for
> political issues of the day would be a good idea.
>
I think this is a good position, especially in this case.
We have Debian developers and users in Ukraine and Russia: hostilities continue.
If the project were to endorse this, you might put people in a dangerous
situation - in an area subject to Russian control, anybody involved with
Debian, even peripherally, would be breaking Russian law if the above
passed and might be subject to 15 years imprisonment.
[A factual statement with no further judgment].
If this is a precedent, would you feel as happy to make a value call on
the rights of the Karens / Rohinggya in Myanmar? The Hmong across SE Asian
borders? Strong feelings about Taiwanese status, flag, designation have
already caused issues in Debian and other Linux distributions.
Individual manifestations of support, actions, speaking up [subject to
whatever your local laws say about freedom of speech, as ever] - yes
A trans national project such as Debian may find this especially difficult.
All the very best, as ever,
Andy Cater
> Half the people on this planet are living in countries that did not
> approve the "Aggression against Ukraine" UN resolution, including
> many Debian contributors.
>
> Does the Debian project consider the territorial integrity of a country
> more important than the opinion of the majority of the people living in
> a part of the country?
> If the Debian project declares it considers Donbas and Crimea to be
> part of Ukraine, will the Debian project also declare that it considers
> Taiwan to be part of China?
>
> Does the Debian project support or oppose the independence of Catalonia?
>
> Kosovo is not a member of the United Nations, and many countries
> (including Ukraine) do consider Kosovo to be a part of Serbia.
> What is the position of the Debian Project on the political status
> of Debconf host Kosovo?
>
> Different from Kosovo and Taiwan, Palestine at least has observer status
> at the United Nations, and Palestine is recognized by more United
> Nations member countries than Kosovo and Taiwan combined.
> What is the position of the Debian project on the status of Palestine?
>
> Does the Debian project support sanctions against Russia?
> Does the Debian project support the BDS movement?
>
> Does the Debian project strongly condemn the Saudi intervention in Yemen?
> Are people who work for companies (co-)owned by the government of
> Saudi Arabia welcome in Debian?
>
> How should the Debian project treat people who participated in the
> invasion of the sovereign nation Iraq by the United States?
>
> There would be plenty of potential GRs for such issues of the day.
>
>
> Different Debian contributors do have different personal opinions on
> political topics like the ones above.
>
> Our Diversity Statement states that the Debian Project welcomes and
> encourages participation by everyone.
>
> Debian as a project expressing political opinions destroys diversity,
> technical collaboration in an international project works best when the
> project stays as far as possible away from taking sides in political
> topics of any kind.
>
>
> cu
> Adrian
>
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