User:Joalpe/Public statement

Public statement over my decision to go on strike for deep changes in grant-making processes

I believe decision-making procedures in our community must be deeply democratic. Our community is dependent on volunteer activity, that has been the fundamental reason why Wikimedia projects have evolved from an insight to an actual global practice of gathering and freeing all human knowledge. To preserve and nurture a thriving community is a sine qua non condition for the continuity of Wikimedia projects.

A major aspect for a thriving community is to guarantee that volunteers are able to have a say in decisions they care about and that their take is actively part of the decision-making process. I believe we have fallen short on this deeply democratic principle recently with respect to grant-making processes.

The notion of deep democracy provides a general framework for establishing institutional settings that are rooted on empowered participatory governance (EPG). To establish EPG institutions entails a strong commitment to the normative principle that people must have equal access to participate meaningfully in decisions that affect them and their community. Eventually, deep democracy might lead to decision-making processes with less efficiency and efficacy --basically, a democratic deliberation is likely to be more costly than top-down, bureaucratic decisions--; there is a strong case to be made though that deeply democratic decisions are normally more effective than undemocratic decisions. The rationale is that a serious deliberative process triggers a learning, dialogic process for interested individuals and groups who care about decisions that are being worked on which has the capacity to improve future contributions, and takes into consideration inputs from and empowers individuals and groups who normally possess intimate understanding about relevant aspects of decisions that are being considered, which has the potential to increase the probability of generating "good" decisions.

The simple APG committee and the WMF program officers whose role should be to guarantee a decision-making process that meets strong criteria of efficiency, efficacy and effectiveness appear to have chosen the top-down, undemocratic path on a decision about the Brazilian community. This recent decision was done unaccountably of opinions and questions from active members of the Brazilian community, including myself. I dispute the legitimacy of this decision-making process, that was set unrelated to an assessment of community feelings.

My protest is not about the result, that is, the decision itself, but the process, what was taken into consideration and how inputs from relevant stakeholders were treated. Basically, in my opinion, the simple APG committee and the WMF program officers have ignored and not responded to inputs from active members of the Brazilian community, whereas I believe dialog in community settings is essential for nurturing our community and establishing a respectful environment. Result about the grant request might have been the same, but community members like myself would have had a chance to understand the deliberative process. More importantly, to be ignored and marginalized in a deliberative process I care about is a disrespect to my voluntary, active engagement in the community I take part in.

I believe what has occurred in the context I care most about --the context of the community I have decided to volunteer in-- might potentially occur or have occurred in other situations. I believe a thorough modification of grant-making processes and instances is necessary and urgent.

As a member of this community, I cannot but protest against top-down decisions that are an evidence of profound disrespect towards the voluntary activity I and many others engage with to sustain and improve Wikimedia projects.

In light of the context above, I make public my decision to go on wiki-strike in 2017 to protest against the undemocratic, disrespectful procedures in grant-making processes and for overhauling grant-making processes and instances in accordance to deeply participatory principles in which community inputs are seriously taken into consideration. I will keep my individual contributions, interrupting gradually meta activities and programs.

My decision means that education and outreach programs and other community activities that I currently run will be continued until specific expected results are met but not renewed. New programs and activities will not be launched from my end in 2017. I will step down from community roles I have taken up.

This will interrupt large sustainable education, outreach programs in the Brazilian community. A full list is available on my personal page, on Wikipedia in Portuguese.

I understand my decision is of almost insignificant relevance in the global context in which the Brazilian community is embedded in, but I hope this decision is met with a willingness to consider deepening democracy within our community and projects.