Re: protestware xsnow

Johannes Schauer Marin Rodrigues <[email protected]> Thu, 02 Jul 2026 10:26:53 +0200

Newsgroups	gmane.linux.debian.devel.general
Message-ID	<178298081380.28846.2524762952421360486@localhost>

Quoting Konstantin Demin (2026-07-01 11:20:44)
> I believe that the engineering culture in FOSS should strive to stay above
> political, religious, national, and other divisions.

It cannot.

> I am a citizen of the Russian Federation and currently live there.  However,
> I believe that my personal views, whatever they may be, should not influence
> my work in FOSS or make anyone uncomfortable - neither fellow engineers nor
> ordinary end users.
> 
> I contribute to several FOSS projects, and my involvement doesn't reflect my
> personal stance on any particular issue. I've communicated with other
> contributors in project discussions and private correspondence, just as they
> have with me, despite our obvious differences. And throughout all this time,
> none of them, by word or deed, ever put me in an uncomfortable position. In
> my view, this is precisely how professional interaction should work: we focus
> on the code, the problems, and the goals of our projects - and nothing else.

By doing so, you are making a political statement. Your statement is: the
current situation is okay enough for me and that's why I will not go out of my
way to do something different.

We've had this discussion on this list a countless time before. You cannot be
"not political". And on the flip side, FOSS by itself is *very* political. By
contributing to FOSS you make a political statement about how you believe we
should work together to create something for the benefit of everybody. That is
political.

You make a political statement one way or the other. Saying "I'm not political"
*is* a political statement.

Thanks!

cheers, josch

P.S.: This email is *not* about whether or not I agree with the original
Ukranian flag thing.

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