Re: [gentoo-project] Call for public condemnation of Russian invasion in Ukraine

[Marek Szuba]

On 2022-03-09 00:21, Andriy Utkin wrote:

> I suggest to not leave it that way, and at very least to make a public
> statement condemning this aggressive war. I am happy to contribute to
> the draft but I'd like to first hear what others think, so that whatever
> statement we get, if any, is actually a reflection of our consensus, not
> my soapbox speech.

I was going to comment here about FOSS projects in general fall 
somewhere between individuals and formal organisations, how even in case 
of Gentoo it is not entirely clear to me whether the Council's mandate 
to decide on global Gentoo issues actually extends to it being 
considered a representation of Gentoo community, how... Except none of 
this really matters. Please draft a statement and ask the Council to 
consider it ASAP - technically speaking our next meeting is THIS SUNDAY, 
even if matters I am not at liberty to discuss here have resulted in 
thee having been no usual call for agenda items or the publication of 
the agenda itself. We might have to make the voting secret but I doubt 
anyone will actually prevent the vote itself from happening... While I 
do get mgorny's point, recent decisions within e.g. the 
nuclear-and-particle-physics community (which, I should remind you all, 
managed to stay apolitical for much of the Cold War and in fact did a 
rather splendid job allowing for some levels of communication, and even 
collaboration, between the two blocs to be continuously maintained) show 
that we are now, regrettably, beyond still being able to have the luxury 
of "staying out of it".

> I also would like to encourage any ideas of how Gentoo could possibly
> take any reasonable action.

That has already been touched upon by the others in this thread so I'll 
keep it brief: there simply aren't many actions we can take. Some FOSS 
projects have in the near past attempted to include various forms 
"cannot be used for evil" clauses in their respective licensing 
agreements - with the most common result being said licences no longer 
being recognised as FOSS.

-- 
Marecki