Finally - A RMS talk in Tel-Aviv. Including details

[Nadav Har'El]

On Sun, Jul 17, 2011, Orna Agmon Ben-Yehuda wrote about "Re: Finally - A RMS talk in Tel-Aviv. Including details":
> And I guess also about his explanation:
> http://stallman.org/articles/palestine-trip.html

Unlike other people on this list (who already mentioned Hitler on this thread,
so I guess it should be officially over...), I personally do understand
Stallman's view - that basically this boycott isn't as terrible as terrorism,
so he'd rather see the Palestinians continue do things like this non-violent
boycott, instead of returning to violent terrorism.

That's all fine. But I don't understand why he seems to think that after
he supported this boycott, we (Israelis) would want to hear him talk -
whether he speaks in Jaffa, in Haifa, or in my back yard.

And I most of all don't understand the closing of his "explanation":

  "I hope that Free Software / Barmagiyat Horrah / Tochna Chofshit can
   provide an opportunity for Israelis and Palestinians to experience
   practical cooperation, and that this will make at least a small
   contribution to peace."

This is one of the ridiculous pieces of irony (sorry Richard if you're reading
this...) that I've read in a while.
Indeed - free software *can* and *should* bring Israelis, Palestinians,
Iranians, Indians, Pakistanis, Americans and everyone else together to do
something useful together. But you can't do this when suddenly some of these
free-software writers start to boycott the other free-softwre writers because
of the universities they study at, the place they work at, or just the place
they live in.

Richard, the boycott that your Palestinian hosts asked you to support may
sound to you justified, but no matter how you twist it around, it doesn't
help the cause of free software. It will mean fewer (if any) Israelis will
listen to your talk, it already means that many Israelis heard of free
software for the first time through this negative story (which already
appeared on the Israeli media), and it means that we lost a chance to
perhaps bring together Palestinian and Israeli free software software
writers and users - because now every such attempt will look to each side
as a "loss" in some sort of juvenile pissing contest - a failure of the
boycott or caving-in to one.

-- 
Nadav Har'El                        |      Sunday, Jul 17 2011, 16 Tammuz 5771
nyh at math.technion.ac.il             |-----------------------------------------
Phone +972-523-790466, ICQ 13349191 |Learn from mistakes of others; you won't
http://nadav.harel.org.il           |live long enough to make them all yourself