[OSM-talk] Cease use of OpenStreetMap/Antifa logo

[Midgard]

Hi,

Quoting Florian Lohoff (2020-02-13 12:59:23)
> Just nitpicking but "militant groups" is a little far fetched. Antifa is
> the abbreviation for "Anti fascist" and by no means has anything to do
> with militant activities.
> 
> Putting the Antifa into the militant left wing edge is polemic of a lot
> of right wing, facist or nationalist partys in the rise in a lot of
> European countries.

I have contacted the creator of the logo via PM with the same request, they did not react to my
description of antifa as violent, instead asking me to make a comparison to militaries.

The different language editions of Wikipedia use varying terminology to describe Antifa. The
English one describes it as militant anti-fascist groups that engage in property damage, physical
violence, and harassment.[1] The German one says that the violent antifa movements self-describe as
"militant antifascists". It does acknowledge that antifa is left to far-left.[2]

I conclude that it's possible to have differing impressions of antifa. (Think of the blind men and
the elephant.[3]) My impression is that there are violent antifa groups. Your antifa groups may be
more peaceful, but the logo is the same, and the overall impression will be "endorses violent
groups" for people who have that impression of antifa.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifa_(United_States) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifa_(Germany)
[2] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifa
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant

> I agree that OSM should not by itself get into the trouble of
> sympathising with any political views. OTOH the idea of Anti Facism should
> be within OSMs interest as we want to be a welcoming, divers and
> globally collaborating group of individuals.
> 
> Facism OTOH is the exact opposite of what the OSM Community wants to be
> so i sympathise with the idea of parts or the whole of the community
> opposing facism.
> 
> https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Community_Code_of_Conduct_(Draft)

I'm definitely not fascist either. But in my experience, antifa stands for more than just being
opposed to fascism. It also includes hints of anarchy and use of violence.

> As already the URLs mention this is not an official OSM position but
> individuals making mashups.

These stickers were handed out at SotM 2019. If you see a sticker, you don't see that it's not
official.

> From my POV the mashup is to far from
> the original to be a serious and clear trademark issue. But - IANAL.

It is an adaptation from https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/File:Logo_simple.svg

IANAL either, but in my interpretation of the trademark policy it's a violation of
section 2.3 (Use of remixed logos) https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Trademark_Policy#2.3._No_confusion.2C_endorsement.2C_or_affiliation and
section 3.5 (Use of remixed logos) https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Trademark_Policy#3.5._Use_of_remixed_logos

Kind regards,
Midgard