[Okfn-dk] Occupy Kopenlab starts soon!

[Jen Kotila]

Or will it? Well, that's up to you and everyone else who received a similar
mail over the period of the last few days.

It's very long story (part of which you can read here
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-DPJhdE71IyXx_Du9TlV5b2UvVvwkLhgOnVO-06pBCY/edit>)
but what it boils down to is that I've been harassed and bullied for
several months by the main organizers of this sham of an open knowledge
festival. I was harassed, I think for many reasons, but I will say that the
harassment intensified after I started questioning the complete and utter
lack of transparency and accountability in the organization which was
supposedly an open knowledge organization.

Amusingly, minutes stopped being taken right around the time I complained.
When I later requested that minute taking resume, one of the men who have
been bullying me suggested that minute taking was  thought to be
"needlessly bureaucratic".

For months, starting on Dec. 12 I tried to work this matter out internally.
I talked to both of the main perpetrators, Emily Polny and Malthe Borch, on
Jan 26, one on March 7, one on Apr 1, one on Apr. 10 and so on and so
forth. Getting a meeting was nearly impossible. I talked to Søren Borch,
Malthe's uncle and Kopenlab's business consultant on Apr. 4 and 5 and he
agreed that my treatment was unacceptable and needed to be figured out.
Then I took it forward into the Kopenlab steering group over email on Arp.
25th and as a result of that email. I was mobbed by the Kopenlab members
except for one and accused of "trying to destroy their organization" which
at that point, I wasn't. I wanted to fix it. But they continued to be
incredibly hostile to me which foreced me to take it to Labitat and
Biologigaragen.

I took the organization malfeasance up first. (including and focusing on
the lack of transparency in the organization).
<http://lists.labitat.dk/pipermail/discuss/2014-May/013373.html>

I then took the sexual harassment and bullying up.
<http://lists.labitat.dk/pipermail/discuss/2014-May/013537.html>

That didn't help matters as although no one who has sat with me, heard my
testimony and seen my evidence thinks anything other than something messed
up happened and most are not scared to use the word "harassment" it didn't
go over well to speak about it openly. In the Labitat meeting on May 22, I
was mobbed by them and a group of their hostile supporters and had a
nervous breakdown
<http://lists.labitat.dk/pipermail/discuss/2014-May/013537.html>.

They are now accusing me of libel and slander, which is libel and slander
in and of itself because what I am saying is true and they know they are
lying. I have released an audio file of Søren Borch indirectly threatening
me with this on the 27th of April and comforting me saying that he was just
saying what I could risk and that he didn't say anything I said was false.
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByARLazIQy3pOHRVLUctekxGTjg/edit?usp=sharing>

Most major partners and many minor partners have pulled out of the open
knowledge festival over this matter. This organization, however, never
responded to me. I wrote to Christian Villum on June 9 and never heard
back.

Strange. One would think he'd be interested in both sides before
participating in this event. Or at least, *open* to hearing both.

Openness and a lack of interest with interacting with the traditional
structures are why I am bringing this up here.

Here's a quote that has inspired me a lot:

*Openness, that’s great, right? Except oddly, openness can mean we get rape
and death threats while at the same time, the only thing we can't be "open"
about is publicly naming a person who raped us. The “adhocracy” form of
informal organizing sometimes look to us like the tyranny of
structurelessness, where already-strong power structures and dynamics
define our field, so already-powerful elites get stronger.
<http://modelviewculture.com/pieces/the-rise-of-feminist-hackerspaces-and-how-to-make-your-own>*

I would like for the open knowledge community to learn and grow from this
and for it to start to protect itself from incidents such as this one (which
are in no way, shape or form isolated and are, in fact, very common in
certain open knowledge organizations
<http://missionlocal.org/2013/12/combating-sexual-harassment-in-tech/> and
tech generally). As a reaction to this systemic problem within the
movement, I created this organization: http://opendiscrimination.org/ I
intend for it to be used as a means for the open knowledge community to
build an open 'staff handbook' and also as a safeguard for when things go
seriously wrong so that those who face severe discrimination that is
unsolvable within the organization it occurred to have one more outlet to
try before they go to court. Naming and shaming
<http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Name_and_shame> has traditionally been
done on Twitter (I started one just to talk about this
<https://twitter.com/Jen_Kotila>, emulating Julie Ann Horvoth
<http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/15/julie-ann-horvath-describes-sexism-and-intimidation-behind-her-github-exit/>)
or individual's blogs like these women did. I want to allow that to keep
happening, duh, the more information the better but I also want to create
an aggregator that will show the movement and the world just how much of a
plague this is on our movement.

Interestingly, I asked Emil/Malthe/Søren if I could participate in their
open knowledge festival and talk about discrimination in hacking and they
sent me the letter I will happened below. It illustrates that this open
knowledge festival is a total sham. They are striving to shut me up, to
silence me, to stop debate and are using incredibly unethical tactics that
run contrary to the spirit of open knowledge to do so. I have talked to
four different lawyers about this case and they all tell me that counter
threats of slander and libel are pretty normal in sexual harassment
cases. Also,
this site says they are too.
<http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Damaging_my_reputation>

I therefore encourage this organization to stand up for its values and
Occupy Kopenlab by asking them to allow you to do some kind of
action/talk/workshop/unseminar to express your own views on the matter.

If you have more questions, feel free to write me, but please note that I
am very busy with ESOF/Science in the City (they granted me a
communications pass as I am communications officer for
opendiscrimination.org and they wanted to provide balance for this
situation) and may not be able to respond in a timely fashion unless you
are interested in organizign an "un-Kopelab" event at Kopenlab.  Thank you
for your time and consideration.

Med venlig hilsen,

Jen Kotila

Hi Jen,

We are glad to receive this email from you.

As we have started now, it is too late to start organizing new events at
the Kopenlab Festival.

What we could offer you is that you participate as guest in a workshop.
But we can only accept this if:
* You remove your accusations against us from the blog you have set up
* You write out on the DIYbio mailing list that you will join one of our
workshops and that you have dropped the allegations
* You remove the public docs with your charges against us and the festival.
Such slanderous accusations should not be made public. There are also many
other people mentioned in your documents, who haven't given you their
consent, so their names should not be mentioned in the context of your
accusations.
* You do not mention this case at all while here at the Kopenlab and
Science in the City Venue. Let's save this whole discussion for the next
mediation meeting after the festival.
We see this as a natural action if you truly want to engage with our
festival and activities again.

And let us be very clear, if you do things that hurt the festival or us -
and also if you do not follow the points above - we cannot give you access
to our activity and events.

We look forward to continue the dialogue with you after the festival, in
the framework of Di's restorative circle.

Sincerely
Emil, Malthe and Søren
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