#VOTE TO END OTW RACISM

[endotwracism]

A Call To Action

Earlier this week the OTW responded to our previous action and reaffirmed their commitment towards combating and preventing racism within its platforms.

They also thanked us for working to keep holding them accountable to their goals and we intend to keep doing so.

To that end, Fandom Against OTW Racism is calling for our Second Action!! This action is centered around the upcoming Board Elections set for August 11-14. We want to encourage everyone who can to participate in the election process and spread the word far and wide about these elections!

Currently, 4 of the 7 Board positions are up for election, which is a majority. Now is the time to get involved. In light of multiple accounts coming forth about the state of the organization, it is clear that fundamental changes need to happen – and those can only happen with a shift in leadership, from what we currently have to one that is capable of supporting and implementing those much-needed changes.

Please join us in calling upon our fellow fans to vote to make things better for all of us!

How to get involved:

With four Board Seats open, now is the perfect time to act and make this issue a key component of this election to select people who demonstrate a commitment to combating racism in our fannish spaces. So if you can, please plan to vote this election cycle!!

• If you already are a member, use your voice and Vote. If you have donated in any of the fundraising drives for AO3 in the last year, you are likely eligible. You can check your eligibility status here by selecting “Is my membership current/Am I eligible to vote?”
• If you are not currently a member or eligible, consider donating $10.00 so that you can gain membership in OTW and be able to vote. In order to vote your donation must be received by June 30th.
• When donating you can add ‘End OTW Racism’ to the ‘In Honor Of’ field if you feel comfortable doing so.
• If you donate, ensure you select the yes to the ‘Do you want to be an OTW member?’ question

[alt text: image of text that reads “Do you want to be an OTW member? ($10 minimum donation)” with two radio buttons to select from with the choices of “Yes” or “No”]

We understand that many people may not be comfortable doing so or may be unable to and that is perfectly fine! You are under no obligation to spend any money and we do not want to pressure anyone into doing so. There are plenty other ways to get the word out to encourage others to vote as well as continue to show support for this issue.

Other ways to get involved:

When posting a new fanwork between now and August 14, add ‘Vote to End OTW Racism’ to your title and provide a link to the End OTW Racism Tumblr blog (or Dreamwidth) in your top Author’s Note. Reminder: New fanworks participating in the action are always welcome to join our AO3 collection.

For those who may not be creating works or who use AO3 just for commenting/ kudosing, create a Pseud named Vote To End OTW Racism. AO3 will automatically append your default name at the end. So it would look like “Vote To End OTW Racism (Your Name)

Add a link back to this call to action on your profile page, for anyone clicking on your name to see.

Update your pfps/avatars/user icons across social media

Participate in the upcoming Board Meeting between now and the election (August 11-14). The next Board Meeting is scheduled for July 2 and we will post an explainer about how to participate soon!

Send a letter to the Board encouraging them to be more transparent and to better advertise their Board Meetings. (credit to Punk who allowed us to utilize their work for this template)

Submit questions during the Q&A period with the Board Nominees. (We will post about this closer to election time)

Follow us on Tumblr, Twitter or Dreamwidth as we will be reviewing Board Candidates through the lens of our goals and providing more information on how to be involved over the election period.

Comments

[satsuma]

Hi! I’ve been without service for about two weeks, so forgive me if I’m reiterating questions you’ve already answered elsewhere, but I had a couple questions about your current campaign and its objectives, namely:

Do we currently know whether there are any candidates committed to antiracist action? I understand the deadline to declare has already past, and, given that voting requires financially supporting the archive I’m wary of promoting voting as a goal for the movement without active assurance that there is even anyone to vote for

Secondly, I noticed that the OTW’s official response failed to respond to their Legal teams recent defamation of a volunteer; the allegations that PAC has been hamstrung by Legal, which is preventing them from improving their policies; or the accusations of sinophobia re:their recent treatment of the Chinese language team—is the EndOTWRacism campaign planning to address any of these issues, either as part of the election discussion or separately?

[endotwracism]

Hi! We only just started this action, so yours is one of the first questions we've received.

To answer your first question, candidate information was only just released, and we will be taking some time analyzing what they've said in their profiles. We encourage people to ask the candidates questions about their stances on antiracism and inclusivity, and will be highlighting their answers as part of our campaign.

This ties in with your second question. Before our action started, we had very little insight into the particular dysfunctions and harmful actions by people in positions of power within the OTW, and some of the recent revelations about the OTW definitely fall into the category of things we wish to raise awareness about and challenge the candidates on. We encourage these essential discussions and see them as an ongoing necessity in bringing examples of racism and harassment within fandom (among other issues) to light. Though many things hinge on racism, the issues being revealed are multifaceted and touch on a multitude of topics so, for us specifically, we will be maintaining our focus on issues of racism and harassment.

[mecurtin]

I have put up a post here offering to fund up to 18 memberships. Feel free to boost!

May I use your VOTE icon?

[endotwracism]

Hi Mecurtin, sorry for the late reply! It's great to see you using the icon, and we are delighted by your spirit of mutual aid. We have boosted the offer here through no_detective's tweet.