[p2p-research] On Alex Rollin stated intentions to expel me from the P2P Foundation board

[Michel Bauwens]

Dear friends,

Though my critique of Alex has been harsh, I have explained why I thought
that was necessary, I have always made the disctinction between his
contributions, and the fact that I was opposed to him imposing new
technological directions for our wiki without process and taking into
account the opinion of its main contributor.

Alex of course retorts that all his propositions are viewable (some of them
indeed are, many changes are not), but they are of such a volume that it is
not possible to process by the communty, nor by myself. The result is a
rapid escalation of changes, most of them beneficial, but some of them
greatly complicating the editorial work, which I oppose. I never said this
before, but I'd like to reveal now that from the very first day, Alex
actually stated that he did not intend to ask for my permission or opinion
on any matter, which is actually fine, as long as I have the same freedom,
which I have not if technological changes are imposed.

Because of my double evaluation, which recognizes alex's key contributions
and importance, I even yesterday proposed to James Burke in a Skype
conversation to reserve a place for Alex in the new board, pending our
decision on which process we would use to make the choices. Because we do
not have a membership, the idea was to propose a list of names, publish it
on the list, and wait for reactions, in order to reach a consensus. Since we
are seriously considering building a membership organisation, at some point
in the next few years, probably this will happen through elections.

This for the context, why the urgency.

Alex has sent me a private letter, which I'm not suppose to divulge, and I
will not, but it also contains a threat.

Namely the following: "*You can bet I will vote you off the board as soon as
I get a chance, but in the mean time you would do very well to keep this
kind of thing under wraps*."

Cleary Alex is not happy with the public discussion, hence the threat of: *"be
quiet or else"* and at the same time, I'm unwilling to keep it under wraps,
he knows that, we knew that, so the next step is already declared. This is
valuable information.

But I do think that his threat and position as a overt enemy in the
organisation I have created with James, is not acceptable. I talked about a
hostile IPO before, and perhaps nobody else saw this or felt this in quite
the same way as I did, and of course, the primary issue was the imposition
of a new policy and direction that I did not approve of.

This is different, and a step in the escalation in which Alex declares
himself an enemy.

I do not think this is acceptable. Therefore, it is a matter of principle
for me that Alex Rollin will NOT sit on the board, and I'm reinforced not
only in the belief that there should be a fork, but now that this fork
should be OUTSIDE of the P2P Foundation.

Thanks for sharing your perspectives.

My position is clear: it is not workable to have a declared enemy, opposed
to the very organisation I have founded and tried to create.

Once again, the P2P Foundation is pluralist, and strives for peer governance
and democracy, but I do believe there is a justifiable boundary when
sometimes declares an open civil war.

Building the P2P Foundation is both a personal project and a collective
project, where hopefully the collective can transcend the personal at some
point, and obviously, I have my own limits. Nevertheless, I believe my
personal contribution has been necessary and important, and that the
continued growth of our work should be based on trust. We are not yet at a
stage where factions vie for dominance, and perhaps never should.

What I'm now asking is indeed trust. I have made an evaluation of Alex
Rollin, I have tried first to privately convey my unhappiness at imposed
policy stages, then made the issue public in face of any progress, but
making a careful difference between the attempt to moderate the
technological changes, and Alex' otherwise positive contributions.

Alex however, is playing a different game, and clearly states his intention
to expel me and to see support for this. It seems to me that this is a time
of choosing, and I hope my friends and P2P Foundation supporters will
support my continued efforts, and that since Alex finds my presence
unacceptable, should found his own, using freely of course, all the material
that has been collected so far, which is a commons for all to use.

Michel Bauwens

-- 
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Think tank: http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI
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