Talk:Wikimedia Foundation elections/2024/Candidates/Farah Jack Mustaklem/de

Support for Your Candidacy and Issues with Palestinian Representation on German Wikipedia

Dear Farah Jack Mustaklem,

I hope this message finds you well. I wanted to extend my full support for your candidacy in the upcoming Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees elections. I truly appreciate your efforts within the Wikimedia movement, particularly your work towards creating a more inclusive and diverse representation of global communities.

As someone deeply concerned about how certain topics, especially Palestine, are portrayed on platforms like Wikipedia, I wanted to bring your attention to some significant challenges we are facing on the German-language Wikipedia. Efforts to present balanced and objective articles about Palestine are constantly undermined—articles are not only aggressively contested but also removed. In fact, the German Wikipedia often reflects Eurocentric and colonial perspectives, which severely impacts the neutrality of its content.

Wikipedia holds immense power as it is often the first source of information for users across the world. Whether we like it or not, even AI systems are built upon the knowledge it provides. Therefore, it's deeply troubling to see how internal structures within Wikipedia, especially regarding political and social sciences topics, are being manipulated. Many Examples, resonate strongly with my own experiences as a Palestinian and a Muslim. It mirrors my personal struggles of attempting to edit and maintain articles while facing targeted campaigns to discredit and remove content.

One particularly painful example is the current deletion of the German translation of the article “Gaza Genocide” only hours after its publication. Despite our best efforts to monitor the article and protect its integrity, we failed. Wikipedia’s internal dynamics make it extremely difficult for individual contributors to counter these actions without the support of a well-connected community.

It is this very issue that emphasizes the need for better coordination and solidarity within communities. The example of the "FemNet" community shows how a well-organized group can make strides in ensuring fair representation and maintaining factual integrity. Unfortunately, when it comes to Palestine, we are falling short in building such a network within the German Wikipedia.

We would greatly appreciate your support, especially in shedding light on the structural problems within Wikimedia’s regional ecosystems. The content and perspectives on Palestine need to be defended by those who understand the critical need for neutrality and factual accuracy in these sensitive subjects.

If you have any insights or suggestions on how we could better organize to protect these articles and support the authors who create them, I would be immensely grateful. Together, we can work to ensure that the truth is not lost in a sea of manipulation and that Wikipedia remains a neutral platform for all communities.

Wishing you all the best in your candidacy and future endeavors. Your continued efforts are an inspiration to many of us.

Warm regards ALKATEB (talk) 23:49, 6 September 2024 (UTC)