Dear Wikimedia Community First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to each of you for your tireless participation in the strategic planning process over the years. I also want to applaud the individuals who have dedicated nearly five years of their lives to serving our community, meticulously crafting a vision for a more inclusive, diverse, and collaboratively built movement.
During the recent Wikimedia Summit, I posed the question "What happens if ratification fails?" during my last panel. An uncomfortable silence filled the room. It seemed that this possibility had never been considered, at least not by the MCDC, as there was no apprehension that the collective will could falter. I am not disappointed with the Wikimedia Foundation's BoT resolution; rather, I am concerned that the dedicated volunteers who spent countless hours debating, even traveling to far-off countries to meet in person, to craft a charter that establishes minimum standards, were essentially replaced by a decision to simply assume that "experiments" are the best approach for our community. This undermines the credibility of future processes for those of us who have been involved in the movement for a long time: it alienates those of us who have spent years talking, discussing, and advocating, using our free time to build the movement, instead of dedicating it to Wikimedia projects or our personal lives. The Wikimedia Summit has been discontinued this year, leaving us without a dedicated space for affiliated groups to discuss the future of our movement. Wikimania, on the other hand, is not a suitable forum for community-wide discussions, as it primarily serves as a celebratory event. We are now devoid of space for such discussions, and I urge the Wikimedia Foundation to establish mechanisms for bringing communities together. It is not enough to claim to be a global movement if we are unable to unite in one place. Even the UN convenes annually, and we have lost this opportunity. Organizations like ours also require face-to-face interactions to address our concerns, challenges, and aspirations for the movement's future. I vividly recall being inspired by the CEE and the Romanian community's work in challenging circumstances at the last Wikimedia Summit, learning about the progress of colleagues in my region, and feeling saddened by the changes in far-off countries that jeopardize the movement's existence there. This is what we have lost, and we no longer have it, nor will we have this forum for discussion. Therefore, I leave you with lingering questions arising from this process: Can we maintain trust when the WMF calls for another community consultation process?, How can we be certain that the measures being taken by the WMF are the right path to ensure that we can think beyond 2030? What observable criteria will be used to determine the success of the plan? Many questions arise in my mind, but I do not expect answers. I am simply appealing to the fact that the community has invested nearly six years (not counting other parallel processes) in an effort that is now being reduced to the implementation of the Foundation's interpretation of the resulting documents. These are my thoughts and ideas, and they do not represent any affiliated organization. Thank you for your attention. I sincerely hope that the community will be actively involved in future strategy exercises, perhaps with the next generation of the movement already in place (there is still a long way to go until 2030). Kindly (PS: I used IA to translate the message: seems curious a diverse movement where your voice isn't heard if it isn't written in English) On Fri, Jul 12, 2024 at 7:32 AM Gnangarra <gnanga...@gmail.com> wrote: > The MC has been a very long process, I think in some ways it was tiring > and draining the community with slow progress. While I was disappointed in > how the last few weeks have played out I'm not entirely sure that was going > to ever achieve what was envisaged when we started. This is not the first > plan that I have seen over the last 19-20 years where too much time spent > trying to make everything all things to all people rather than just getting > small steps done quicker, though I'm sure somewhere in there time was lost > due Covid too. > > I feel for the people over the last 6 years that have acted in good faith > working on getting us to this point. I welcome the Boards decision to > continue the process but in smaller pieces. As someone who has been around > so long I recognise that so many people have come and gone over the years, > priorities do change, combined with so many new perspectives, ideas, and > thoughts on how to do something different. > > Just looking at the community now there have been so many changes, greater > diversity, efforts to bring previously unheard voices into the room. When > we sat in Berlin starting the strategy process all the Chapter Presidents > were men, and there were no Usergroups, just chapters and one thematic > organisation. In our meeting we took a vote to make a conscious effort to > ensure that there would be more Women in the room from then on. We are so > much more now than we have ever been, the movement has changed for the > better it will keep changing. Once the dust settles we will learn from > this, Wikimedians are always at the cutting edge of doing what has been > said to be impossible. We dont need to right every time, we just need to > keep going. > > > > On Fri, 12 Jul 2024 at 18:50, <denisobart...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Thank you very much, Maciej, for expressing my thoughts and feelings so >> clear. This is a sad day. There never was a process so extensively executed >> with all stakeholders, so much effort, so much hope for a redesign of the >> powers in the movement, so much work and energy and self-sacrifice >> beautifully put in the process. So many community members put their hopes >> in it. >> All the work of years now drowned in a meager and cold letter of >> corporate vagueness, cementing the status quo for years to come. And after >> that move of shattering hopes even daring to ask for "input/feedback", of >> those who just have been disappointed.... >> "What's next?" you ask? Board Elections are next. Have fun. >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines >> at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l >> Public archives at >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/F3I2AN2OANSOGR7L637QNBDRCPDKTWXS/ >> To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org >> > > > -- > Boodarwun > Gnangarra > 'ngany dabakarn koorliny arn boodjera dardon nlangan Nyungar koortabodjar' > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines > at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/AIE5T6PAZKUJX6YOKMVWXE6JSMIUFSRY/ > To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org -- Dennis Tobar Calderón
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