Anyone joining the next FediForum unconference on April 1-2?
I registered yesterday after receiving a good recommendation from a peer in this forum. It’s not cheap but it’s not frequent either, and I haven’t been to the previous ones.
The person to look at in that thread is Identity Woman. She is the technical organizer (I guess you would say) of Fediforum. I don’t know why she has that role. I don’t know the nature of her relationship to the other organizer(s).
But, what I can see clearly is that a large % of our community right here chooses to skip Fediforum. Identity Woman appears to be one of the reasons.
[TLDR: Identity Woman, as recently as 2023, was forcefully advancing anti-trans disinformation on Twitter (I personally confirmed this). She was arguing with trans people about it And specifically, she erased intersex people.]
I’m wrestling with what my own course of action should be. I’d love assistance in understanding what I can do to best show solidarity with the community here that is hurt by the kinds of things Identity Woman was saying in that thread.
Brainstorming options:
Boycott?
Run a counter unconference to protest?
Attend, but do something to put a spotlight on how Fediforum makes some of our most valued community members feel unwelcome?
What’s the outcome we’d want from any of that? Should she step down?
I mean, it’s not just a “political difference” over something like taxes. This is straight up disinfo. It’s erasing people. Would I be boycotting if she was a Holocaust denier or a flat earther? YES.
But also, I very much want a Fediforum of some kind to exist. And this is the one that has momentum right now. I honestly truly really can’t take on being the organizer of one, myself.
Should we be trying to “fix” Fediforum? Should we create our own? Am I wrong about it being a valuable thing?
A part of me thinks this community has a lot of leverage. What we’re doing is cool, fun, and important. Should or can we use that?
Mmmmok, thanks for the pointers, @TheIndieBeat. I had no idea. Well, I care about trans people and about not making life comfortable to transphobic people. Happy to follow any coordinated action – or simply not walk in if there isn’t any.
I wasn’t aware of this either, and I’d bet neither are most FediForum attendees.
It’s nearly impossible to keep up with the personal lives of every person behind every event. But when leaders decide to push a political view, it seems reasonable to hold their organizations accountable.
(I could be wrong but) I don’t think a “boycott” is the right answer at this point. FediForum has a big following and has earned a lot of goodwill.
Unless there’s more history here that I don’t know, it seems like one good “first step” would be calling this out and asking for a response (in a mature way, please). Probably at one of the opening kick off meetings.
There are a lot of outspoken leaders who attend FediForum who are trans. This would be best if delivered by them, with vocal support from the cis attendees like me.
I’ve met with some of them in the past, and would be happy to forward this discussion to them and ask what they would do. Their opinions have a lot more weight and credibility here than mine would.
One thing I think about is not putting the work on the people being oppressed. That’s the only thing I would wonder about re what you’ve shared. But! I think speaking to your contacts would be fantastic, and I’m grateful for your offer to do that I 100% will defer to their wishes.
For myself, personally: whatever I end up doing, I want to do it publicly. If I boycott, I will announce why I’m boycotting. I’ll probably even put something on the site about it. If I attend, I want to be public about my concerns.
Here’s one more thing I think about: I feel like the real gripe here is with whomever put her in that role (if she isn’t self-appointed). Everyone I’ve encountered in the music scene on the Fedi is very thoughtful about who they work with — they treat it as a responsibility. It’s taught me something. And it seems less productive to burn an ignorant person to the ground (Identity Woman) vs calling out those who’ve enabled her and subjected us all to this dilemma.
Ok, thank you very much to both of you. I’m not connected to the people discussing, and I will be very grateful if you could keep sharing here links to interesting public comments or conversations.
If there are trans people registered, I will wait to what they say and do. @TheIndieBeat you already pointed to a couple of conversations, so there is movement and it doesn’t look it will fade away in the couple of days remaining for the start of the event.
I speak for myself, I think the best we can do the three of us here is
share the links to conversations here, so we can inform ourselves
boost these conversations as the best way to contribute to the awareness of this situation
share this conversation with your contacts related with this discussion (as far as I’m aware I don’t have any) so they can see us as another venue supporting them.
From the responses, I’m not sure this is going to be good enough, but it is ongoing. The important thing is that this is definitely on the community’s radar, so it’ll get answered one way or another.
And yeah, I agree. I try to “stay in my lane” and out of politics but I doubt anyone can be associated with bigotry in the Fediverse. For sure, I won’t be.
It’s not cheap but it’s not frequent either, and I haven’t been to the previous ones.
Great suggestion to have a green room here.
And specifically, she erased intersex people.]
I 100% will defer to their wishes.