Re: European FSF

[Bart Decrem <bart eazel com>]

Interesting.  It may make sense for the people that wanted to work on the European effort to join us with our friends
who are working on FSF Europe stuff.  Is anybody on this list still working on the European GNOME Foundation idea?

bd

Andy Tai wrote:

> Given that there may be a European Gnome Foundation, the people there may
> be interested in this:
>
> ----
> Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 14:12:06 +0100
> From:  "Georg C. F. Greve" <greve gnu org>  | Block address
> Subject: Free Software Foundation Europe - Declaration of Intent
> To:GNU Announce <info-gnu gnu org>, "\"comp.os.linux.announce Moderator\" <linux-announce news ornl gov> Brave GNU
>             World Announcement Mailinglist" <brave-gnu-world gnu org>
> Organization: GNU Project
>
> [Please repost and forward this article widely, wherever it
> is appropriate.]
>
>                 Free Software Foundation Europe
>                 Declaration of Intent
>                                         -- Georg C. F. Greve
>                                              <greve gnu org>
>
> A group of people have begun working on the concept of a "Free Software
> Foundation Europe" which will essentially be a sister organization of
> the Free Software Foundation founded by Richard M. Stallman.
>
> It has become evident that the FSF in the U.S., being in a totally
> different time and culture zone, can hardly keep in touch with the
> strong developments and currents in European Free Software. Legally
> independent of the FSF in America it will seek to grant an
> organizatory backbone for Free Software in Europe - especially for
> (although not limited to) the GNU Project. Furthermore it will provide
> the necessary local organization for political work and distribution
> of funds.
>
> In achieving the goals
>
>         - Political mouthpiece for Free Software & the GNU Project
>         - Providing an organizational backbone
>         - Raising & Distribution of funds
>
> we percieve it as absolutely paramount to maintain the true spirit and
> essence of Free Software.
>
> We also would like to avoid creating another splinter group in the
> movement. For this reason we are in contact with Richard M. Stallman
> as the goal is to become the acknowledged "European sister
> organization" of the FSF - this will also allow Europeans to make
> tax-deductable donations to "the" FSF.
>
> Being the official sister organization brings the responsibility to
> preserve its philosophical standpoints and values. In our eyes it is
> the lastingness of all decisions and workings of the FSF that makes it
> so special; so we will apply the same long-term considerations in all
> our steps.
>
> As the recent past has shown, it is quite quite easy to stray off the
> path and lose track of those long-term goals. Hence it is crucial only
> to have members with a firm grasp on the movement, its origins and the
> goals.
>
> We felt that this responsibility made it necessary to become aware of
> the possible traps and pitfalls along the way before making our plans
> public. After over a year of discussions and building trust into each
> others integrity, we feel that it is time to bring those plans to
> life.
>
> So far the core consists of
>
>         Georg C. F. Greve <greve gnu org>
>
>         Bernhard Reiter <bernhard intevation de>
>
>         Werner Koch <wk gnupg org>
>
>         Peter Gerwinski <peter gerwinski de>
>
> and we will set up a "FSF Europe" organization in Germany as a
> starting point. From there on we will follow a step-by-step to other
> European countries with the final plan to have a strong and sound
> structure in Europe that will work towards the goals of Free
> Software.
>
> We will be looking for other people with a firm GNU and Free Software
> awareness especially in France, the U.K. and Spain as our first step
> of becoming truly European. If you feel you should be contacted and we
> haven't done so already, don't despair. You might consider getting in
> touch with us, but please bear in mind that being part of this
> organization requires a relatively high level of commitment and
> establishing the necessary level of trust into each other is a slow
> process.
>
> We intend to do things right as a flawed approach might reap hideous
> results. If you want to help us, feel free to get in touch with us at
>
>         <team fsfeurope org>
>
> or subscribe to the general discussion list
>
>         <discussion fsfeurope org>
>
> If you just want to be kept update of the progress, feel free to
> subscribe to the announcement-only mailing list
>
>         <announce fsfeurope org>
>
> You can subscribe to the mailing lists by sending mail to
>
>         [name]-request fsfeurope org
>
> with "subscribe" in the subject or by using the web interface at
>
>         http://mailman.fsfeurope.org
>
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