After a good experience at the First National Conference at Hyderabad I had been planning to attend the Second Conference at Kochi from the time of its announcement a couple of months ago. Even my serious ill-health could not keep me away from the conference as many will vouch. After two weeks of bad health of which 5 days were spent on a hospital bed I woke up from the hospital bed and came straight to Kochi.
The Conference was well organised and the 1000+ delegate participation from all over the country was magnificent. It was a representation of the growing peoples' mass movement which cannot be stopped or controlled by vested interests or power centres. What is obvious is the conscious conversion of a developers' movement to a peoples' movement. THE PEOPLE ARE TAKING CHARGE. The resolutions brought out at the conference are important and I hope that they will be released soon. One of the most important talks was the one by Sri. Sitaram Yechury where the issue of the crisis in global capitalism and its impact on people and the role of the Free Software Movement in building the resistance was presented in terms that even a 10th standard student could understand.
A couple of years ago when organising the GPLv3 conference I noticed that only a small group of people took responsibility and organised the 'event'. But now the dynamics has changed. Events are being replaced by processes. The Karnataka team (I am not referring to FSUG-Bangalore because though I am an integral part of it I know that it is not representative of Karnataka but only a miniscule part of the Movement. A single community. FSUG B'lore is just a mailing list.) comprising of ordinary people from the slums, computer technical trainers from villages, academicians, IT employees, engineering students and others participated in the conference. The conscious effort to build a mass movement in Karnataka is bearing fruit and this was clear when almost one and a half bus loads of activists from Karnataka reached Kochi. Even the efforts to sideline genuine work and at various important protests/programs could not/cannot dampen our spirits.
What struck me as odd was why FSF-India which claims to be THE free software community was not a part of this important process. While we will support causes which are just irrespective of individuals and banners we will definitely not allow elements to disrupt the movement here in Karnataka or anywhere in India and we will continue to work to build the movement the best way we know -- as a mass movement. Join us and you will be assimilated. In solidarity with the Free Software Movement,