em português

For the sovereignty and dignified community conduct

For 10 years I’ve been working for the Free Software Community, since 2001, when I started the OpenOffice.org.br community, now known as BrOffice, but I also helped creating Mozilla/Brasil and PostgreSQL-BR, communities that are worldwide references known in their respective projects, thanks not only to my work but also because of all friends that joined forces, voluntarily, to make those projects happen.

During this period, some people participated more, some people participated less; some of them are contributing since 2002, or are returning after some time of inactivity, but always being part of a large community where they are recognized and, by meritocracy, take on responsabilities and roles within projects.

But despite its strenght, the communities couldn’t interact with institutional entities like government, private or third sector, which lead to the demand of a legal institution, in the form of an association, that would represent them. Therefore, in 2005, BrOffice.org - Projeto Brasil was created, a nonprofit association that would serve to legally support free software projects in Brazil.

Unfortunately, within the BrOffice community arose a great confusion between the Community and the Association. Many thought that the Association came to RULE THE COMMUNITY, which doesn’t proceed, nor is it true! The Association was established to SUPPORT the communities. Unfortunately, a reconduction of the Association happened which resulted in a misalignment with its statutory and institutional goals, through a group of people with personal interests, ignoring the community itself, with “decisions” on the guidance of the work, without representation or statutory recognition of such actions, for example, in the “BrOffice.org Magazine” with arbitrariness; or in the “BrOffice National Meeting”, taking the “decision” to not run the event. This, in particular, I questioned if it would be necessary to ask another association to legally represent the community, since the entity I struggled to found wouldn’t do it.

Fortunately, the community itself detected those actions and responded, to the point, and it couldn’t be different, that these people weren’t recognized as leaders, much less accept their “decisions”, absolutely devoid of representation, taken arbitrarily by the Association about the community activities, which as it turns out, showed its independence and sovereignty.

From my side, I continue to fight for Free Software as a volunteer, and in the alignment of the Association I struggled so hard to create and maintain, along with people I deeply admire for their achievements in the country for this cause, so that the BrOffice.org Association continue to be another community arm, making the free software fly even higher in our country!

Best regards,

Claudio F Filho, free software volunteer in Brazil