2017-07-12 1:34 GMT+01:00 Natacha Rault <n.ra...@me.com>: > So this is the translated part stopping in may 2017 (recent developments not > included)
I had a bit of spare time this morning so I've translated part of May (below). 4 May 2017 Explanation of the number of resignations from the Board Emeric Vallespi writes an email, in the name of the Board, explaining the resignations and denying any governance problems. He refers explicitly to the origin of the resignations as "an exceptional threat to the organisation due to non-respect of the obligations in civil and criminal law upon the leaders of the association" not as "political dissension within the Board". 5 May 2017 Explanation from Caroline Becker of her resignation In response to Emeric's email, @K_rho (Caroline), former member of the Board, posts her account of her resignation on Twitter, pointing out that a disagreement on the governance of the association was at the source. She adds to her tweet a copy of the resignation mail she sent to the board of directors on February 21. 8 May 2017 Emeric is a candidate in the legislative elections Emeric is officially announced as a "candidat suppléant" to the French National Assembly for the En Marche party. Information is not provided on the general discussion list by management. Mathis, an ordinary member, will inform the members of this situation on May 25th. (Translation note: "candidat suppléant" is a kind of 'substitute candidate' that is not commonplace outside of France. My understanding is that each party nominates a candidate and a substitute candidate for each district. If the party wins the seat then the candidate enters the legislature. If the successful candidate can no longer serve, e.g. because of death or appointment as a government minister, the "suppleant" takes over as the legislator for that district.) 11 May 2017 Wave of unsubscriptions from the list In the afternoon, a large number of members and contractors of the association are unsubscribed from the discussion list by its administrator. At the same time, administrator access to the CiviCRM system is removed from the few "ordinary" members who had access to it. 11 May 2017 Émeric sends an email on the mailing list accusing 3 of the resigning board members of putting the association in danger. The resignations, according to him, are part of a more general conspiracy. In this mail we learn that an investigation for harassment was opened by the Wikimedia Foundation on February 16, 2017, which was subsequently abandoned. 12 May 2017 Views from Wikimedia Argentina Anna Torres, executive director of Wikimedia Argentina, complains of the negative implications of the words used by Wikimedia France to describe the Argentine MOOC within the FDC discussion "We are very surprised and unhappy by your negative reference to our work in the discussion of your staff assessment." The phrases used do not emanate from the WikiMOOC team, but are potentially harmful to them, while the Argentine MOOC team has shown its support for the project. 14 May 2017 The Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) considers the grant application from Wikimedia France very negatively Amount requested: 686 000 € Amount recommended by the FDC: 343 000 € Amount allocated the previous year: 570 000 € The FDC considers Wikimedia France's grant application very negatively. It recommends allocating 50% of the funds requested because the results are not commensurate with the funds received, as explained in the two previous recommendations of the FDC. It also believes that the potential for significant, clear and measurable results from this year's bid is not sufficient to qualify for the requested funding. In addition, the FDC is concerned about the recent developments in the organization of the association and its governance (many resignations of employees and members of the Board, a two-headed system at the management level, etc.). The FDC recommends that Wikimedia France undertake a review of its governance. In commenting on the FDC's recommendation, Nathalie (the association's director) says: "This is not a problem of communication, or mediation ... it is an organizational dysfunction (of the FDC - Editor's note) but that is not attributable to Wikimedia France." She goes on to say: "When some people realized that the investigation (for harassment - editor's note) was not credible as initially announced, because it did not answer to any fair and transparent process. It was abandoned and replaced by an an outrageously negative assessment that goes so far as to worry about the sustainability of Wikimedia France! This assessment has influenced the FDC's proposal to cut [the grant], since the figure put forward by the volunteers is based on the study done by employees of the Foundation." Note: The FDC is a committee made up of volunteers who are part of the Wikimedia movement. Édouard, on behalf of Wikimedia France indicates on the discussion page for the recommendation, "it seems to us the Fund Dissemination Committee is overstepping its bounds when it makes the funding of an affiliate contingent on its evaluation of their organisational structure. Indeed, operational organisation of the staff is the employer’s exclusive prerogative." 15 May 2017 Meeting of local groups Local group volunteer coordinators are invited to a "live chat time" on the association's Mumble "so that [we] are not put in difficulty by the questions of the members of our respective groups." Pyb, Mathis and Vigneron (late) are there; from the board of directors and management are Samuel, Floflo, Marie-Alice, Nathalie and Cyrille. This discussion session eventually turns into Pyb's request, supported by Mathis, for the resignation of the Board and the organization of a special General Assembly, as a prerequisite for any discussion. After failing to explain the reasons for the 40% resignation of the Board of Directors and in light of the recommendations issued by the FDC, several people suggested that a new General Assembly would be necessary to elect a new Board of Directors. The current Board of Directors refuses. _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
