hi members of the list,
of late there has been a thread that started off with discussion(s) on the semantic correctness of *intellectual capital* and then veered towards the role to be played by FSF especially FSF-India. Arkoprovo, Nagarjuna G and a few others have already laid down some ideas. i feel that i too should have my say.
Over the past 18 months, some hectic development and r&d activity on the GNU/Linux front has ensured that the media glare is fully on this movement. day after day we are bombarded with media stories on this issue. as a subscriber to various GNU/Linux related mailing lists, a pattern seems to be emerging, in as much as my limited understanding of it goes. the (G)LUGs across the country are more into the implementation and execution aspect of the movement. while this is good and desired, what however is not so desirable is that the conceptual aspect of the movement is getting diluted. as all (G)LUG coordinators will admit, most of the new members (i mean the newbies and not the old hands who are subscribing) are keen on getting onto the bandwagon enticed by the technical aspect/side of the GNU/linux implementations. meeting themes at these (G)LUGs generally do not touch upon the theosophy (if it can be termed as such) of the movement.
it is my firmly held belief that besides the obvious merit of the movement over proprietary or non-free software, the beauty lies in the philosophy it espouses. the idea of a common shared pool of knowledge from which societal benefit could occur. one of the major characteristics of the post 17th century societies has been the unbridled enthusiasm for science as a vehicle for enabling common good. ICT must be seen as an enabler and as a driving force. currently we are faced with a crisis of shrinking spaces to voice our thoughts and our ideas. our fears and our hopes. technology, which was supposed to provide such fora has been subverted (sometimes brazenly) so as to curb such sharing of knowledge. In such a scenario, i think that FSF has a larger role to play.
(G)LUGs being inward looking in a technological sort of way, the onus is upon FSUGs to form and spearhead the philosophical bulwark of the movement. FSUGs should, i believe, work in tandem with (G)LUGs to propagate, promote, nurture and further the reach of the Free Software Movement. i have often heard that such synergy and symbiotic relationship is untenable "that is against the basic tenets of both groups" - but is it ? willing or unwilling to name the OS as GNU/linux has long been the subject of mighty flames on different lists, but in the end it does boil down to personal choice. the freedom to choose is one of the most abused and most revoked freedoms in these times. in the mails between Raj Mathur (RM) and RMS, the latter stated beautifully - 'what you want the OS to be called is your choice and your liking, but you'd be doing us wrong if you do not give us credit' [or words to that effect, my mail archive is backed up and so i have to rely on memory]. that is what FSUGs must build on. an active and sustained campaign to create an upswing of public awareness. hold meetings and seminars relevant to the locus of the FSF idea and revolving around the central theme of FSF philosophy. lobbying for space and collecting, collating and presenting an knowledge base towards the benefit of all. greater good for the greatest number is never an unattainable goal, one only has to try that much harder.
officially writing to (G)LUGs might just pose some amount of problems though. as far as i know, a majority of them are not registered as societies/bodies/bodies corporate [my home www.ilug-cal.org is not ] and thus the legal formality of a location arises. in that event, having region-based/state based FSUGs that act in sync with FSF-india's policies and aims as well as form a nodal point of contact towards developmental activities is most desirable. in west bengal, fsf-westbengal has been conceived with that singular aim in mind. strengthening the reach and sensitivity of FSF-india while providing a rich resource base of developers, activists and enthusiasts. tathagata banerjee (tathagatabanerjee@softhome.net) has taken the on the responsibilty of being the coordinator of such a group (fsf-westbengal@yahoogroups.com) and as RMS, NG and others will be aware (he is, i believe in mail communication with them) he plans to develop the group into a strong platform for Free Software Advocacy under the aegis of FSF-India
thanks for your patience in going through this mail, with today being the bengali new year, i can only hope and pray that the coming year be one of success and achievements for us all
warm regards sankarshan
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