[Linux-aus] Request for Grant from Linux Australia for Ubertweak

[Jonathan Oxer]

On Wed, 2006-09-13 at 08:56 +1000, James Purser wrote:

> I think we should make it pretty clear that we would consider any grant
> request, whether the requestee was christian, muslim, jewish, buhdist (I
> can never spell that right, sorry Pia), follower of the great Flying
> Spaghetti Monster, or athiest or a follower of any other belief system.

Well put, James.

The fact is that our society consists of many sub-groups. We're not an
amorphous mass of clones, and in Australia in particular there is a wide
variety of religious beliefs (or no belief, as the case may be). One of
the things I personally find really interesting about the FOSS community
is the diversity. We come from different backgrounds and we have widely
differing reasons for being part of this community, and when it all
comes down to it the only universal area of commonality is the software
itself and the freedom that it represents. FOSS is all about
freedom/libre, and from our freedom as individuals comes a respect for
the freedom of others to make their own decisions and have their own
beliefs.

> Putting the political discussion aside, I like the idea of an IT camp
> with a heavy focus on Free and Open Source Software.

That's the crux of the matter. It's an IT camp that teaches and promotes
FOSS. That it's being convened by a particular sub-group within our
society is just the way things get done.

I personally think this camp is a good thing for LA to support, while
keeping in mind some of the caveats raised by Terry and others.
obDisclosure: I'm Christian, but that isn't influencing my opinion on
whether LA should support the camp or not. If an otherwise identical
proposal had been presented for an IT camp being convened by a Buddhist
group, or Muslim youth club, or whatever, my opinion on LA support would
be exactly the same.

Elspeth: great proposal. Speaking as an ordinary LA member I'm two
thumbs up on supporting this.

Cheers   :-)
-- 
Jonathan Oxer <jon at ivt.com.au>
Ph +61 3 9723 9399