[Fsf-friends] Free Software a Social Movement yet ???

[Nidhin Sasi]

With respect to Anivar's below mail :



"*Free Software movement is a Social Movement.  If some states realised*

*the arguments raised by a movement it is the victory of the Movement.*

*You and me are part of that.  You can Find various examples of Free*

*Software & Open standards adoption in Central Govt Policies, 11th 5*

*year Plan, Knowledge Commission Report etc.  On non-left ruled states,*

*Tamil Nadu did some positive steps on Free Software adoption due to*

*ELCOTs intervention. You can find similar examples from Other states."*

* ** *

*I did a study about Free Software in Public Enterprises of Kerala for*

*SPACE  in 2005 October & November (Before Left Govt coming to power) .*

*It clearly shows more than 95% of successful e-governance projects are*

*on Free Software Platform . Most of them were not political decision*

*and silent adoption by the developers (Report is available at*

*http://space-kerala.org/downloads/foss.pdf )*

* *

*And Left's adoption of Free Software Policy in Kerala is also a*

*logical follow up of various actions & discussions initiated by Free*

*Software Activists. Even the decision to adopt Free Software in*

*IT at School <http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends> was
decided in an SCERT meeting (with the support of 85% of*

*teachers) much before  2006 elections. But the govt came after*

*election got the political advantage of this decision. and we are very*

*happy about that because they are also helping FS movement by adopting*

*new policies .*

* *

*But when people are pushing Bush's binary logic of "Either you are*

*with us or You are against us" (only-cpim positions and branding*

*everything else as Anti-CPIM) we have to remind history*."





Free Software has been mentioned here as a Social Movement citing the
instances and its effect from Bottom rather than from Top. I am a newbie and
don't know much about the history of Freesoftware Movement in India and so
have my own indifferences or doubts regarding the above mentioned point,
hence kindly correct my doubts or misunderstandings.



As far as my understanding, Social Movement is taking the ideology to
different classes of people and involving them too in the movement. Kerala
is in the forefront of the promotion of Free Software from among the
different states but still most of the students passing out from the
Engineering colleges & Diploma schools are unaware about the so called
Social Movement or the ideas they are promoting. Obviously they have vague
idea about Free Software which many consider is the same as Open source. My
question arises here that why the so called Social Movement was not able to
create much awareness among the student community in a State which is in the
Forefront of promoting Free Software? Why the huge majority of students
still unaware of the existence of such a Social Movement? (May be this
understanding could be wrong which I made largely from the angle of the
students from South Kerala)



I can infer 2 reasons for this. – Either the so called Free Software
Movement has never been a Social Movement OR there are some serious flaws in
the Free Software Movement. (There could be many other reasons also.)



As a person new to the movement I can't deal with the second reasoning since
that should be dealt by those who were part of the so called Social
Movement.



Regarding the first point, I would like to provide some thoughts as an
engineering student from Kerala who wasn't aware of the Free Software
Movement. There was never a technical session or a presentation or a
philosophical talk by any of the people associated with the Free Software –
Social Movement in my college. Neither did I hear about similar programs in
other colleges. There was never any sort of mass campaigning or mobilization
efforts I ever saw in my college or heard about in other colleges where I
had friends. As I became associated with Free Software Movement I started to
understand that the persons who were previously associated with Free
Software Movement were mostly those were technically very interested or
ideologically very much in synch with Free Software. Such an approach as far
as I am concerned could never be called a Social Movement, it could only be
called a Group or Forum of similar minded people. Obviously these groups
could influence various govt policies due to their efforts but it definitely
has its own limitations too. A Govt could not be pressurized to implement
the policy unless there is a strong Movement from the bottom or else the
Govt should be embodied with the very ideology what the movement from bottom
is trying to campaign.



Though there have been various discussions going on around, one thing is
obvious how the Left govt headed by CPI(M) supported its cause in Kerala and
has been in the forefront of promoting and spreading the ideas of Free
Software in India. Due to this support by the Govt, many of the students
atleast have a vague idea about the concept and about some of its
advantages. But still unaware of the "Social Movement" which made the Govt
to implement it! How the various fragmented free software groups were able
to exert pressure or were in the fore front of such an initiative from the
Top is still not clear to me. Also the mass movements in Kerala mainly led
by CPI(M) were also supportive as Anivar itself mentioned "85% of teachers
(mainly from KSTA)". Hence a blind mentioning of "*Left's adoption of Free
Software Policy as a logical follow up*" is but trying to hide the reality.
How "Free Software Concept" becomes just one of those in CPI(M)'s policies
can be discussed detailed in a separate thread but certainly needs a
mentioning here to show how it was not just an automatic adoption by the
CPI(M) led govt. It would be better also to think what could have been the
success which now the activists are trying to attribute to themselves, had
CPI(M) not supported or promoted Free Software (which again is impossible
since Free Software is naturally a part of the entire Left politics).



If you take the different Mass Movements in Kerala such as students
movement, youth movement, teachers movement, science movement etc were in
the forefront of organizing people and to create awareness and to fight for
various rights and issues concerning the people. These mass movements had a
great role in creating the so called "Culture" which someone mentioned was
the reason for the spread of Free Software in Kerala. Through Free Software
Movement, our priority is not to create only "Users" of Free Software but
"Creators" too. An example I can provide of AC3 (Slum Computing Centre in
Bangalore). The people who took initiative could have just installed linux
in the systems and taught the children basic computer skills. Would that
have created them any awareness? But the members went above that and talked
to them about Free Software, by involving them in campaignings like that
against Microsoft-VTU (in which very few from FSUG, the sole representative
of Free Software group in Bangalore participated).

Even in this campaign there was very less participation from the members of
FSUG whether for the ground level working for the campaigning or atleast
their participation for the program. I have seldom seen anyone proposing to
conduct classes atleast for those in IT industry and supporting Free
Software Movement to make them more capable in the technical part. I have
never heard about any such initiatives by anyone even for the employees in
Technopark or Info park. Hence both IT employees and Engg/Diploma students
are till now not mobilized or atleast reached to create awareness about Free
Software. Then how can this be called a Social Movement?



For mentioning it as a Social Movement we have to follow the approach of the
other Mass Movements and going to as much as communities and sections of
people as possible which is certainly lacking in the existing movement
according to me.

I have heard about the various projects undertaken by the Free Software
groups but what I understood was that these projects are focusing more on
certain specific areas and might make that particular project very
successful or highly qualitative. But what about the quantity? How can we
call the movement a Social Movement unless many other sections are still not
included in the movement?



Coming back to Karnataka, I find the society itself very different from that
of Kerala especially on basis of the Social indices. AC3 was just one centre
which we were able to know because some of the Free Software activists were
also involved. What about numerous other such centres or slum areas? If some
NGO is teaching them basic computer skills, those children are growing under
restricted freedom in technology. How to reach them without a Social
Movement and just through the existing Mail groups? What about the awareness
FSUG is able to create among the Engineering/Diploma students & IT workers
in Bangalore?



Please correct whether my understanding was wrong or whatever I mentioned
were not correct, if so kindly correct me.

Thanks & Regards
Nidhin
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