RMS, Hosts Must Support Boycott?

[Stan Goodman]

On Wednesday 15 June 2011 at 15:56:03 (GMT+2) Ira Abramov <Lists-Linux-
IL at ira.abramov.org> wrote:

> Quoting geoffrey mendelson, from the post of Sun, 12 Jun:
> > On Jun 12, 2011, at 10:50 AM, Uri Even-Chen wrote:
> > >I don't agree with you, Geoff. What Richard Stallman does as a
> > >private person does not mean the FSF in involved. As a private
> > >person Richard Stallman has the right to boycott Israeli
> > >institutions and universities. It does not mean that the FSF is
> > >boycotting Israel.
> > 
> > You can agree or not, it's your opinion. However US law is that
> > once he signs his emails as an officer of the corporation, in this
> > case president, it does.
> 
> you know, there IS a logical falacy of guilt by association. before
> you oycot the FSF and the registration office that handled their NGO
> registration, and the entire govenrment of the country that enploys
> that registration clerk, and so on, I suggest we stop and call on
> the FSF spokespeople to give their opinion on the matter and maybe
> resolve it otherwise.

I question that RMS does his lecturing as a private person, and that he 
is not engaged because of his connection, not to say identification, 
with FSF. When organizations place posters advertising his talks, surely 
he is billed as the head if FSF; nothing else makes sense. If that is 
true, then he is not speaking as a private person, and he (or his 
spokesman) is not speaking as a private person when giving detailed 
instructions about the bona fides and anti-Israel attitudes of sponsors 
and any organizations that might be associated with his engagement, and 
the kashrut of the hall itself and its owners. No, that is way beyond 
any "fallacy of guilt by association". The fallacy is that he is a 
private person when he speaks publicly, and can say or do whatever he 
wants with no blowback on FSF.

Full disclosure: I do not favor political boycotts. I also do not favor 
cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. And I certainly do not favor 
being dragged by someone else, celeprity though he may be, into a 
boycott or being identified with one
 
> two sideline remarks:
> 1. As I mentioned in my blog post, I don't see the financial boycott
> as a problem, and I'm even hoping it started moving something, but I
> have a real problem with justifying the academic BDS. however after
> I saw this Item, I wonder what will I do if more and more
> Universities ד‚?ere proven to act the same:
> http://www.mako.co.il/news-channel2/Channel-2-Newscast/Article-230c47
> f2e3f8031004.htm#

-- 
Stan Goodman
Qiryat Tiv'on
Israel