Remove RMS from the GCC Steering Committee

[Thomas Rodgers]

On 2021-03-29 17:39, Christopher Dimech via Gcc wrote:


> You might say that the fullness of Thomas Jefferson's legacy should be
> acknowledged, but he did a bit more with his life than own slaves, just
> as the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. did more with his time on earth
> than cheat on his wife and Mohandas Gandhi did more than write racist
> tracts about black Africans.  We remember those men, and celebrate 
> them,
> for other things.

This is irrelevant to the discussion as to whether RMS should be member 
of GCC SC and whether or not the SC should make a public statement 
regarding the matter, one way or the other. The individuals you cite are 
all long dead, their entire history and legacy can be and is evaluated 
as much in the context of the time in which they lived as it is in the 
time in which we live now, with all the changes in social norms and 
standards that that entails. Stallman will no doubt be judged in a 
similar manner by history; founding the Free Software movement - good, 
the impact of his abusive and misogynistic behavior which (at best) 
belongs to another time - probably not so good.

The question is, in this time, right now, is that specific last bit 
there. Is that the legacy that the GCC project and it's community of 
contributors (and by contributors, I mean those that actively currently 
do so) by continued association, wants for itself?

I fully support the idea that the Steering Committee ought to make a 
definitive statement in that regard, one way or the other. Active 
contributors can then make whatever decisions they deem necessary based 
on that information.