% To the FSF: Thank you for defending Richard Stallman! Ignore the haters. You did the right thing!
% Leah Rowe
% 12 April 2021

On 21 March 2021, Richard Stallman (RMS) announced his re-instatement on the
FSF board of directors, after nearly 2 years of silence following his forced
resignation due to a smear campaign against him in late 2019. Until recently,
the FSF never publicly defended Richard Stallman from false accusations of
wrongdoing. RMS remained in his post as leader of the GNU project, and he is
still in that position today.

Richard Stallman is the *founder* of the GNU project and Free Software
Foundation. His contributions to the world are numerous. Without him, none of
us would be here today. He is a staunch defender of *your* digital freedoms and
as far as I'm concerned, he is still our leader.

For information about ongoing hate campaigns targeting RMS, read the pages on
this website (created specifically to defend RMS):
<https://stallmansupport.org/>

In response to his re-instatement, a new smear campaign targeting Richard was
started by the media. A petition was published, calling for Richard's forced
removal from the FSF. In response, we, the Free Software movement, started our
own petition and a campaign urging the FSF to publicly endorse Richard
Stallman, to exonerate him and defend him from the hate campaigns; to hold
their ground and keep Richard in his post.

I, Leah Rowe, submitted the following defense of Richard Stallman on 31 March
2021: [https://libreboot.org/news/rms.html](rms.md)

**We won. The FSF issued this news post on 12 April 2021, defending Richard
Stallman and protecting his legacy:
<https://www.fsf.org/news/statement-of-fsf-board-on-election-of-richard-stallman>**

I would like to publicly *thank* the FSF for their courage and their
wisdom in this matter. Richard Stallman is an excellent public speaker and
shows great wisdom in his leadership of our movement. He should have never had
to resign in the first place, but the past is the past.

I would *also* like to thank everyone else who worked tirelessly to defend
Richard against the shameful hate campaigns. It is my wish now that we, as a
community, can move past the divisive and hateful politics of the last few
weeks.

Now is the time to heal. Let's write more free software!

PS:

I'm also eternally grateful to all those on IRC who helped me with the RMS
article on libreboot.org (and also *this* article!), plus all those who
submitted translations of the article. *We* did our part. Let there be no 
doubt: we are on the right side of history. People will look back on all of
this in a few years, and realize that we were right.

Hate, bigotry and prejudice have no place in our community.
