A statement from Wikimedia Australia

10 July 2024.

Wikimedia Australia (WMAU) and the WMAU Board would like to acknowledge and give thanks to the Movement Charter Drafting Committee (MCDC) for their hard work over many years to produce the current Movement Charter and the Supplementary Documents. WMAU strongly supports the need for a Movement Charter as a Movement Strategy priority and appreciates the huge contribution the MCDC have made towards achieving this.

WMAU strongly endorses the aims of the Movement Strategy to increase diversity and equity in representation and inclusive decision-making across the global Wikimedia community. Current centralisation of power in the Wikimedia Foundation and the 12 WMF Board of Trustees Members is not representative or equitable, and is no longer appropriate for a global public interest platform.

Despite the significant time and effort already invested in the Charter process, the WMAU Board does not believe this is reason enough to ratify the proposed model as is. Although the Movement Charter is moving in the right direction, the WMAU Board is concerned that the model as proposed leaves open too much potential for unintended consequences.

WMAU’s chief concerns are that the proposed model:

• is complex and bureaucratic
• does not provide appropriate mechanisms for review, evaluation and iteration
• does not provide adequate mechanisms for oversight and ensuring transparency and accountability
• does not make it clear how diversity, inclusion and representation will be achieved
• does not adequately communicate the separation of responsibilities between the Global Council, Global Council Board, the Wikimedia Foundation and the WMF Board of Trustees, resulting in a lack of clarity in relation to the operation of the Global Council and the Global Council Board.

As a result the WMAU Board feel they cannot vote yes in good conscience. It is for these reasons the WMAU Committee has opted to abstain by making a blank vote.

We did not come to this decision lightly. We discussed the proposed model at length within the Board and with our Chapter membership at a public meeting. In reaching this decision, the WMAU Board wants to make it clear that we and the Chapter remain committed to supporting and promoting diversity, inclusion and representation in the Wikimedia community, and we support ongoing moves towards more equitable and inclusive decision-making with respect to all Wikimedia Movement Organisations. We support a renewed effort to improve the current Charter. To that end, we recommend the MCDC consider separating ratification of the Principles and the parts of the Charter outlining the roles of existing Movement Bodies from the far more ambitious proposal to set up a Global Council and Global Council Board. The WMAU Board endorses the Charter Principles and Values and welcomes the clarity the Charter provides on the roles of various Movement Bodies. Our concerns relate to the need for more consideration of the constitution, representation, resourcing, voting, transparency, accountability and amendment processes of the Global Council and the Global Council Board.

In particular, we are extremely concerned that the model is deliberately difficult to amend, with unclear review or evaluation processes. This is a major issue given the complexity of the structure that is being proposed. As others have noted, this directly contradicts the Recommendation of the Movement Strategy #10 Evaluate, iterate, and adapt. We would like to see a model that is more adaptable and open to oversight, evaluation and review to reduce the risks associated with introducing a complex and bureaucratic new layer of governance such as the Global Council.

Beyond the proposed Charter itself, the WMAU Board wishes to flag concerns with the ratification process as well. Legitimate questions can be raised as to the role of the WMF Board of Trustees in the ratification process. Specifically, we note that the voting arrangement effectively gives the WMF Board of Trustees a veto over the passage of the Charter. Regardless of how that is wielded, it undermines the legitimacy of the spirit of community based decision-making the Charter seeks to enact.

We are also concerned that the Board Liaisons Reflections published on Friday 21 June 2024 had a negative impact on the Charter ratification process. Whether intended or not, the Board Liaisons unduly influenced community discussion of the Charter (and likely how votes were cast) by publicly stating their recommendation that the WMF Board of Trustees not ratify the Charter because the release of that recommendation could reasonably be read as an announcement of how the WMF Board of Trustees intended to vote (whether their vote followed the recommendation or not does not matter). This action was counter to the MCDC’s request that the WMF Board of Trustee’s vote not be shared until after the vote of individuals and affiliates had concluded to avoid influencing the voting. Unfortunately, the release of the Board Liaisons' recommendation has been widely construed as a deliberate attempt to influence the vote. Whether that was the intention, it has been both the effect and the perception.

WMAU looks forward to working together with the different stakeholders on next steps in the ongoing journey towards better governance and decision-making for the global Wikimedia community.  

Wikimedia Australia Board