Re: [ox-en] word social forum/stallman/patents
- From: "Per I. Mathisen" <Per.Inge.Mathisen idi.ntnu.no>
- Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 19:32:19 +0100 (MET)
On Wed, 6 Feb 2002, Graham Seaman wrote:
What do people think of the World Social Forum?
A big topic, indeed :) In short, it was immense and inspiring but also
fragmented and lacking open disagreements that could bring the movement
forward. As a friend said, this second Forum is consolidating the momentum
from the previous Forum, and the next Forum must try to discuss the things
we :disagree: about. Well 60 000 people is a lot, and the most important
discussions probably took place in the many side-events. A great event
all in all.
for the Stallman talk:
...
yes, after all that (and for the conference on Knowledge, Rights of
Reproduction and Patents) the whole thing is microsoft based and even the
downloads are word files :-(
I was there at two of Stallman's speeches (which was one too many, because
he repeats himself), and it was very interesting to hear his thoughts on
non-software topics (in particular in his speech at the Youth Camp). I
don't have my notes around so I won't go into details, though.
Also, the free software advocates are strong in the city of Porto Alegre.
There are several projects going that attempt to move to free software.
All the press machines were dual boot linux, and the freely available
delegate machines were linux only.
Is this something new, with elements from free software, anti-patent
campaigns, anti-globalization and the old 'new left' (Chomsky, Saramago,
Wallenstein) coming together, or has it been going on for a while and I
just missed it?
It has been happening for a while, but only 'under the surface' so to
speak. While free software advocates are not always leftists (like
Stallman), leftists are nearly always supports of free software.
The 2003 WSF will take place in Porto Alegre again, while the 2004 Forum
is expected to take place in India. The Oekonux idea should be present
somehow... :)
In hurry,
Per
(passing thru Florianopolis, Brazil)
"What we anticipate seldom occurs: but what we least expect generally
happens." -- Benjamin Disraeli
_______________________
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