Just got a second official warning (post by le-bjorn)

Just got a second official warning was a callout post about the Organization for Transformative Works written by former OTW volunteer le-bjorn, also known as bjorn and bearsys, on their tumblr blog on November 25, 2023. In the post, le-bjorn related receiving a second official warning for their use of the political slogan "from the river to the sea, palestine will be free" on the OTW volunteer chatting app Slack. The callout post included screenshots of a Slack chat in which they are reprimanded--"given that you are perfectly aware both from our warnings and from the words and conversations you have with other volunteers, that others find the phrase threatening, the fact that you have continued to make use of it constitutes harassment, which is a Code of Conduct violation."--as well as screenshots of an argument about whether or not Israel was colonialist. bjorn also reported that "people are also currently asking board to ban saying that the founding of israel was colonialism". le-bjorn was very critical of the OTW's treatment of them on the issue, recommending against people of color volunteering there. They wrote that they were no longer a volunteer with the OTW, later tweeting that they left voluntarily. 
In the following few days, the tweet and tumblr post went viral, and on November 28th, le-bjorn promised more screenshots were on the way. By November 30th, the tumblr post had 5,000 reblogs and likes, and the tweet had 4 million views, 10,000 retweets, and 20,000 likes, with a prominent quote-tweet reaching 3 million views, 22,000 reblogs and 40,000 likes. Many fans were under the impression that bjorn had been fired rather than quitting voluntarily and that the org had objected to bjorn supporting Palestine at all. As the tweets went viral, fannish reactions primarily included outrage at OTW, support for le-bjorn, criticism of le-bjorn, arguments about Israel and Palestine,. wayback archive link. and antishippers attacking, harassing, and sending death threats to le-bjorn for having written problematic RPF.. wayback archive link.
Of note, the screenshot bjorn shared was of a supervisor telling them not to use the phrase as their slack status. This status is visible to every user in every channel, whereas the Israel/Palestine discussion was required to be limited to only certain specific channels so that other volunteers could avoid it if they wished. This detail seems to have been overlooked or dismissed as irrelevant by fans who were angry at the OTW. The OTW Board's official response to complaints about the treatment of bjorn included the sentence "Examples of behavior that may constitute harassment include a volunteer's unwillingness to restrict discussion of contentious non-fandom topics to dedicated channels."
==Timeline==
*November 25, 2023: bjorn makes the initial post on tumblr, writing "just got a second official warning for my use of 'from the river to the sea, palestine will be free' on the OTW volunteer slack", and including some screenshots of reprimands from a supervisor and some comments from another volunteer bjorn found particularly objectionable., 25 November 2023. About an hour later, bjorn reblogs himself to say "I'm officially no longer a volunteer here o7" and asks End OTW Racism to provide a signal boost. and twitter. wayback archive link. As of 29 December 2023, the tumblr post has 12,558 notes.
*November 25: A few hours later bjorn tweets "no longer volunteering for ao3 because i had 'from the river to the sea, palestine will be free' as my slack status lol". As of December 29, the tweet has 10K retweets., 25 November 2023.
*For the next few days, things are quiet, with bjorn's posts getting little attention.
*November 28: Popular Twitter user @Orchestratif signal boosts bjorn's tweet, requesting that people "stop donating to OTW at least until they sort out this issue",. nitter.net archive link. greatly increasing the visibility of the callout post.
*November 28-29: As the twitter and tumblr post go viral, bjorn expresses surprise that they gained traction, saying that they have more proof but have not prepared it yet. They also clarify that they were allowed to take a stance on Palestine, but specifically not allowed to say "from the river to the sea, palestine will be free.", 29 November 2023. bjorn posts clarifications on both Twitter and Tumblr., tweet by bearsys_, 28 November 2023., tweet by bearsys_, 28 November 2023.
*November 29: On Twitter bjorn suggests SquidgeWorld as an alternative.. nitter.net archive link. Later in the day bjorn comments, "I just know the org is going to be adamant about the fact that this wasn't a political issue, but a harassment one, even though they refused to give a concrete reason why 'from the river to the sea' was bad but 'Palestine will be free' was fine even though both were reported." bjorn concludes that this means a volunteer could report anything for making them uncomfortable and OTW policy on racism is still not prepared to handle bad actors claiming to be subject to racism. "If volunteers were denying Native American genocide and someone responded by putting 'land back' in their status, and the other volunteers claimed it was harassment and implied total genocide/displacement of all American settlers, would they action against it?". nitter.net archive link.
*November 30: End OTW Racism replies to an email Bjorn sent them. They state that they await the full post and express concerns about verifying the screenshots as well as the presence of the unredacted names of volunteers potentially leading to backlash for volunteers. Bjorn shares this email reply on Tumblr on 24 January 2024., 25 January 2024.
*November 30: bjorn tweets about the anti-shipper backlash against them: "it is a little bit funny that people care so much about what i've written. like ok guys i see where your priorities lie. whatever man. i literally do not care abt the death threats, i've been through this circus before.", 30 November 2023.
*December 1: bjorn makes a tumblr post expressing annoyance at young anti-shippers, noting that "i've literally never written porn about irl minors, and all the streamers behind the blockmen i write about were adults when i wrote the porn". bjorn says they plan to wait for the drama to pass before discussing the issue further.. wayback archive link.
*December 17: In a dreamwidth post, squidgiepdx notes that at the beginning of the month "SquidgeWorld was inundated with 10,000+ new users, 2,500+ fandoms, 5,000+ characters, 4,000+ relationships, and like 10,000+ new free-form tags". by squidgiepdx on dreamwidth, 17 December 2023.
*December 22: bjorn posts on tumblr to share a link to a google doc with more screencaps from OTW's internal chat tool. The screencaps show more of the conversations, including an exchange in which another volunteer said that the specific phrase "from the river to the sea" was a problem because it "demands the removal of Israel" and bjorn replied that yes they did, indeed, advocate for the removal of "a colonialist state", after which other volunteers in the channel were extremely upset and bjorn continued to repeat the phrase "from the river to the sea". In another screenshot, bjorn said, "but at this point I can hardly bring myself to care about the hostages that hamas has taken knowing what the palestinian hostages in israel are going through" and other volunteers objected. bjorn also shared a reprimand from a supervisor who explained that the problem was "The language and tone that you have been using do not convey compassion or respect toward your fellow volunteers. For example, you accused a fellow volunteer of defending murder and war crimes, and have referred to another as a 'fucking asshole'". As of 29 December, the tumblr post has 58 notes., tumblr post by le-bjorn, 22 December 2023., 22 December 2023.
==Fan Reactions ==
* An FFA subthread on the callout post opened up early November 29th, soon after the twitter signal boost from @Orchestratif., wayback archive link. Nonnies discussed the choice of OTW to use twitter, the wisdom of having political channels, and whether or not le-bjorn had acted inappropriately, with some Nonnies relating anecdotes of le-bjorn's personal unpleasantness, wayback archive link. before the thread was frozen by moderators.
* Another FFA thread discussed the screenshots bjorn shared in December. One nonnie commented, "...Really? Seriously?... Bjorn thinks he's in the right here??? Pretty much every screenshot in this is him being an aggressive dick and others attempting to talk him down, or giving him a chance to either walk back his callousness or adjust his tone.", 2023-12-23.
* A Reddit thread on :/r/AO3 discussing screenshots of @Orchestratif's tweets drew 388 comments and 691 upvotes, generally supportive of the OTW's actions., r/AO3 thread on @Orchestratif's signal-boost of the callout post, 29 November 2023. wayback archive link.
* Former OTW volunteer dhobikikutti's dreamwidth posts on the matter were critical of the OTW's actions. One was titled "The Genocidal Colonialism of the OTW"., dreamwidth post by dhobikikutti, 29 November 2023., dreamwidth post by dhobikikutti, 22 December 2023.
* Ao3commentoftheday responded to an ask about the controversy by describing the situation as nuanced, providing political and organizational context, explaining OTW's CCAP procedure, and suggesting that OTW is not taking a stance on an international conflict.. wayback archive link. Some replies criticized the post, including for its use of the controversial ADL as a source.
* A write-in campaign was organized on Tumblr to leave comments in OTW's contact-us form. Tumblr user azuremist posted on November 29, recommending the following actions: use the AO3 Support form and the OTW's contact form to express criticism, stop donating to AO3, move to another fanfic site, and spread the word; the post had over three thousand notes a month later., 29 November 2023. As of 1 January 2024, this tumblr post has 3530 notes. Tumblr user feynessupremacy made post with similar recommended actions on December 11, titled "Ao3 is run by zionists, here’s what you can do", with over 500 notes. by feynessupremacy, 11 December 2023. As of 1 January 2024, this tumblr post has 532 notes. Tumblr user strangerinaholyplace, whose post was reblogged by bjorn, urged people not to donate "unless the zionist volunteers and members of otw are removed from their positions and banned from otw.", 29 November 2023 (OP), 17 January 2024 (reblog). As of 18 January 2024, this tumblr post has 1069 notes.
*Twitter fans also urged each other to stop donating and complain to the OTW., tweet by _CandiceWright_, Nov 30, 2023., tweet by beedaydreams, Nov 29, 2023., tweet by _yuklaplease contact the otw board. do not let them know a day of peace., tweet by neuvililies, Nov 30, 2023., tweet by unallowedclown, Nov 30, 2023., tweet by Zorthania, Nov 29, 2023.
* The matter was also discussed on tiktok, with fans suggesting stopping donations and posting to AO3, by ethannku. expressing concern about OTW's leadership, by moon_dayax and criticizing other fans for engaging in discourse about problematic fic. by thecoffinarc.
*Another Reddit post on :/r/AO3 asked whether the boycotts would affect AO3 and said "it made me incredibly alarmed because it's the type of people who are usually pro ao3 supporting these boycotts". A few replies argued that people advocating for boycotting AO3 misunderstood how the site was financed or even the purpose of boycotts, "because ao3 isn’t a for profit corporation that supports israel in any capacity, which is what the boycotts are against." by randomthrowaway-05 in r/AO3, 29 November 2023. In a subthread, a few users discussed the general problem of toxicity and radicalization on twitter leading to proshippers advocating to burn down AO3 instead of wanting to improve it., in r/AO3.
===Some Twitter Comments===
Orchestratif's November 28 tweet, with 23K retweets, 40K likes, and 105 replies:
Some comments from antishippers:
*"oh so they allow freaks to write inc3st and p3dophilia on that website bc it’s ‘an archive’ but being against genocide is where they draw the line?", 28 November 2023.
Some comments from antishippers against bjorn:
*"This is beyond pro ship bs you are just straight up by definition a pedophile. You are attracted to real life children including toddlers and openly fantasise about raping them. You need to go to prison.", 30 November 2023.
*"oh just went through the qrts you need to kys immediately…..", 30 November 2023.
*"your plan should be cyanide", 30 November 2023.
Some examples of fans replying to the OTW's November 26 tweet about official communication channels:
*"Please make a statement about the recent allegations of some of your volunteers being pro-Israel and taking issue with someone having "from the river to the sea", words of RESISTANCE, in their bio. 20k+ palestinian people have been killed. 8k+ children. This is inexcusable.", 29 November 2023.
*"why doesn’t your anti censorship stance include people calling for an end to ethnic cleansing", 29 November 2023.
*"mind giving everyone an explanation why a volunteer was removed for vocally supporting palestine?", 29 November 2023.
*"Hi, why do you let nationalist fascists like Zionists speak over volunteers who are against genocide and apartheid?", 28 November 2023.
More tweets at OTW twitter accounts:
*"From the Jordan river to the Mediterranean Sea, historical Palestine will be at peace one day. Cope and seethe about it. By the way, you’re not getting any more donations from me until you kick out all the Zionist Nazis.", 29 November 2023.
*"Maybe daddy Israel can help, just keep telling them about how they're not actually a colonial state and enabling their genocide and they may spend some propaganda bucks on y'all", 14 December 2023.
*"Maybe if you got rid of the zionists on staff it might be fixed! Just a friendly tip 😁", 14 December 2023.
*"fucking zionist", 28 November 2023.
Other:
===AO3 News===
Some fans registered their complaints against the OTW in the comment sections of unrelated AO3 News posts. Many of these comments were later deleted or removed by an administrator, while others were frozen. by ThePieGod7, 26 Dec 2023. by MissSpy, 26 Dec 2023. by chirpy, 26 Dec 2023. by midnightlies, 27 Dec 2023. by Rambert, 28 Dec 2023., thread started by thatsastupidbandname, 28 Dec 2023. Some commenters said that by freezing the Palestine comments, OTW was confirming their belief that the OTW supported Israel."Funny how you guys are freezing all the comments talking about your support of Israel's genocide against Palestine." , thread started by 4NG3LF1R3, 17 Jan 2024. Others said freezing wasn't enough:
Several AO3 users continued to post comments like "Free Palestine", silverkyvrooom, 11 Jan 2024., 2024-01-15., 2024-01-17. (and possibly less benign comments, which were hidden by a moderator, comment thread started by WanderingIsobel, 15 Jan 2024.) in every AO3 News post until a moderation rule explicitly barring off-topic comments was added as of January 19, 2024."Off-topic comments will be hidden by the moderators." , 2024-01-19. Other fans added the Palestinian flag emoji to their on-topic comments as a subtler show of support for Palestinian liberation. These comments were not frozen., OfMonstersAndWerewolves, 16 Jan 2024., UltimateSoraOtaku, 16 Jan 2024., RoyanderBivolt, 09 Jan 2024.
===Responses from the OTW===
Some comments on the AO3 News posts such as "Are you ever going to address the Palestine censorship that occurred? Would have hoped by now it would have been addressed :/" had an official response from the OTW Board:
Twitter user purity_culture shared an email response from the Board after they submitted an AO3 Support ticket with the subject line "Disturbing Zionist rhetoric among volunteers". The Board noted that the OTW's nonprofit status meant that it was not allowed to take "institutional positions on complex global matters, especially politics, that extend beyond our immediate purview -- which is serving the interests of fans and fandom as a whole" and that therefore "the OTW will not be making any political statement nor endorsing any political view." They added that "the Board of Directors want to emphatically assure you that no volunteer ever has been or ever will be removed from the Organization for openly sharing their political beliefs. Nor would we ever censor any volunteer for expressing political opinions, including but not limited to the current Israel & Palestine conflict." They further noted that they couldn't comment publicly on incidents with specific volunteers and that volunteers were not allowed to harass or intimidate their fellow volunteers. They concluded that "the OTW reserves the right to determine that certain topics are not appropriate for our work environment.", 30 December 2023. As of 1 January 2024, this tweet has 14 replies, 480 retweets, 81 quote-tweets, and 990 likes.
===OTW Board Meeting===
The OTW Board runs an open meeting 3-4 times per year at which the public can ask questions. A day before the January 28, 2024 meeting, the Board posted a statement on its Discord server:
A new moderation rule was also implemented: "Posting questions or messages on this topic in this server will result in the messages being deleted and your account being put on Timeout (making you unable to post or emoji react) for the remainder of the meeting."
The statement was discussed on fail_fandomanon: . runpunkrun and satsuma criticized it. by seepunkrun, 29 January 2024. by satsuma, 28 January 2024.
===April OTW Membership Drive===
OTW's semiannual membership drive often attracts criticism. For the April 2024 drive, Tumblr user blowoutbeachbash urged people to donate to fundraisers for Gaza instead because AO3 was run by "racist zionist sympathisers who shut down support of palestine from its volunteers". As of 27 April 2024, the tumblr post has 21,897 notes., 5 April 2024. Meanwhile, cen4rillon tweeted, "Palestinians are literally fucking begging for anyone to donate to them to fulfill goals smaller than this but these Zionists can get almost 100 thousand dollars for fucking what." and got 22 thousand retweets., 5 April 2024. (Accessed 11 May 2024.)
==Meta/Further Reading==
* 2023 OTW Management Controversy
* Judaism and Fandom
* Islam and Fandom
* The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict on Wikipedia
* The 2023 Israel-Hamas War on Wikipedia
* "From the river to the sea" on Wikipedia
==References==
Category:Organization for Transformative Works
Category:2023 Events