Good article by Lawrence Lessig, re the Brazilian Free Culture movement.
Two nights before my trip to the free-software lab, I attended a free-software rally at the same youth camp. Really. A rally. I arrived with [Brazilian government] Minister [of Culture] Gil and John Perry Barlow[, ex Grateful Dead lyricist, EFF co-founder]. The place was packed. There were hundreds inside the tiny tent; there were many hundreds more huddled outside. We were seated near the front, the only three with chairs. The evening began with some lectures, then followed with some music.
You can’t imagine this scene. Or at least you can’t imagine this scene as a rally for free software. I’ve seen free-software rallies in the U.S. They’re populated by geeks with ponytails. This was something very different. The tent was divided evenly between men and women. Geeks were in the minority. Most of the people at the rally were astonishingly beautiful, and amazingly articulate. They were young and intensely passionate. And they were chanting free-software slogans. It was Woodstock without the mud and squalor, and with a penguin in the middle of the room.
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