Issue #5
December, 2005
Birth of FSFLA
During `5tas. Jornadas Regionales de Software Libre´ (5th Regional Free Software Days), taken place in Rosario, Argentina, the founding members of FSFLA Free Software Foundation Latin America took the first formal steps to the foundation's legal creation, joining the Free Software Foundations network.
In the Founding Assembly, FSFLA's Administration Council elected Federico Heinz as President, Alexandre Oliva as Secretary and Beatriz Busaniche as Treasurer, determining the Executive Council of the new organization. The other Administration Council members are Enrique A. Chaparro, Mario M. Bonilla, Fernanda G. Weiden and Juan José Ciarlante.
The new organization's official launch counted with the presence of the president of Free Software Foundation Europe, Georg Greve.
FSFLA is the fourth Free Software Foundation in the network, started in 1985 with the Free Software Foundation founded by Richard M. Stallman, later joined by Free Software Foundations Europe and India.
Next steps
In the next few days, the FSFLA founding workgroup will present the legal documents approved in the Assembly in Rosario to the Argentinian authorities, which will get FSFLA's legal existence evaluation process started. This evaluation may take several months, and even require changes to the bylaws approved in the Assembly. The documents to be presented to the authorities include the bylaws, a 3-year work plan and the Foundation Minutes signed in Rosario.
Acknowledgments
The FSFLA Workgroup wishes to thank the support from the Free Software community, especially Grupo de Usuarios de Software Libre de la Ciudad de Rosario´ (Rosario Free Software User Group) andAsociación de Nuevas Tecnologías´ (New Technologies Association), in charge of organizing V Jornadas Regionales de Software Libre´, and to all the people who joined us duringJornadas´, collaborating in the writing of the founding documents for FSFLA. This acknowledgment extends to those who could not be present in Rosario, but that offered valuable contributions in the FSFLA discussion mailing list.
FSFLA wishes to thank particularly the support and the trust placed on us by the President of FSF Europe, Georg Greve, who accompanied us during the FSFLA launch and was in charge of welcoming the new organization into the FSF Network, in the name of them all.
We also wish to thank Aurélio A. Heckert by the design of FSFLA's first logo. His web site is at
http://gnosislivre.org/twiki/bin/view/Aurium/WebHome
Work groups
We remind those that wish to integrate the first work groups that you can join them by sending an e-mail to info@fsfla.org with details about the work group of your interest in the subject. Those who would like to join the work groups of translation and web design can write us starting the subject with [translation] and [web site], respectively.
Events
GNU/Linux day
Alexandre Oliva participated in GNU/Linux Day on November 26 this year in Americana, state of São Paulo, Brazil. FSFLA thanks the donation offered by the organizers, who also corrected the event name from Linux Day to GNU/Linux Day on the last minute.
Federico Heinz in Mexico
Invited by Oficina México, Centro América y Caribe´ (Mexico, Central America and Caribbean Office) de laFundación Heinrich Boell´ (Heirich Boell Foundation), the FSFLA elect President participates in an intense week of work, from November 27 to December 3 in the Mexican Federal District. He has several scheduled appointments with various government and academic sectors and social organizations, while he participates in events to present the book "¿Un mundo patentado? La privatización de la vida y el conocimiento" (A patented world? The privatization of life and knowledge) along with Silke Helfrich from Boell Foundation, Alejandro Calvillo, Director of Greenpeace Mexico and Silvia Ribeiro, investigator for the ETC Group.
During the event, to take place December 5-8 in Recife and Olinda, Brazil, a FSF Network meeting will take place counting with the presence of delegates from FSF Europe, FSF India and FSF Latin America. Georg Greve (FSFE), G. Nagarjuna (FSFI), Federico Heinz, Fernanda Weiden, Alexandre Oliva, Mario Bonilla and Beatriz Busaniche (FSFLA) will all be present.
Free Software and Mobility Workshop in Ceará
On December 13, Alexandre Oliva will take part in the panel Software Livre e Mobilidade: Estamos rumo à convergência?´ (Free Software and Mobility: Are we towards a convergence?) and will present his lectureA Beautiful Mind Meets Free Software: Game Theory, Competition and Cooperation´.