Although I strongly disagree with positions Stallman has stated in the past, free software, as you said, is fundamentally focused on individual freedom, and Stallman's statements are constitutionally protected political advocacy.
Retaliation against him for making them, as I've heard some advocate, would be an absolutely terrible idea and a betrayal of the free software movement's principles, and it's hard for me to see how he could be "removed as a figurehead" or step down at president at this time without it looking like exactly that. (And a lot of the loudest critics of his statements here seem like anything but natural allies - we have Clinton-owned clickbait rags and Microsoft employees piling on ffs)
That said, he's 66 years old and I 100% agree with the broader points about the importance of decentralization and this movement needing to be bigger than its founder, it can't be a 1-person thing if it wants to survive him.
Power management, mobile and firmware developer on Linux. Security developer at nvidia. Ex-biologist. Content here should not be interpreted as the opinion of my employer. Also on Mastodon and Bluesky.
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Date: 2019-09-15 06:33 pm (UTC)Retaliation against him for making them, as I've heard some advocate, would be an absolutely terrible idea and a betrayal of the free software movement's principles, and it's hard for me to see how he could be "removed as a figurehead" or step down at president at this time without it looking like exactly that. (And a lot of the loudest critics of his statements here seem like anything but natural allies - we have Clinton-owned clickbait rags and Microsoft employees piling on ffs)
That said, he's 66 years old and I 100% agree with the broader points about the importance of decentralization and this movement needing to be bigger than its founder, it can't be a 1-person thing if it wants to survive him.