@arianestolfi
I have modified the first paragraph of the article like this, 
It changes a lot, some critics a lot more references to existing networks tell me what you think.
Three intertwined independent networks, associate free culture, and community organization
The importance of the free software movement in Brazil has been at the core of Brazilian cultural and digital politics at the beginning of the millenium, Free software is a terminology adopted in the early 1980s, that is usually understood as “software that respects users’ freedom and community” where “the users have the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software .”i Free software was used throughout the public sector, and its advocates encouraged by governement policies. Rafael Evangelista explains "The Brazilian free and open software movement showed to be of great efficiency if compared with other international FLOSS (Free/Libre/Open Source Software) communities: it became influential on political parties both locally and nationally"ii. Among other things it originated the free software international forum wich first edition happened at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in 2000 during the World Social Forum. This was a little bit before Luis Ignacio “Lula” da Silva presidency where he appointed in 2004 Gilberto Gil (a key figure of the Tropicalia avant-garde movement of the 60’s in Brazil), as minister of culture. It worth noting, that the systemic support free software initiative received while being crucial to their existence, and originating many important developments, can be considered negligible compare to the one received by major companies who were supported in establishing new capital accumulation strategies for the capitalist Internet economy (Fuchs 2015). Free Software was used and promoted by the federal government both as a way of accessing technological sovereignity and as distinct cultural approach, for example in the context of the program "Pontos de Cultura " aiming to “: public initiatives in remote areas that offer network access and general information to communities about digital practice, promoting a larger access to cultural initiatives from groups and communities and augmenting access to means of production”iii, the program ‘Cultura Viva’ is still supporting around 300 Pontos da Cultura around the country. Gilbeto Gil famously said of himself "I am a hacker. A minister hacker."iv. There are a few studies presenting this situation, Aaron Shaw explained that in Brazil "FLOSS agenda emerged as a result of the actions of a network of insurgent experts"v. Rafael Evangelista’s ethnographic analysis of the frequentation of the FISL presents the different participants along categories categorized by their outfit: government business, activists, and developers. They both focus on the technological disputes and the relation to the industry, not explaining how inequalities are addressed or acknowledging the overlapping of discriminatory systems that can be experienced based on sex, gender, race, ethnicity, class and other axes in an intersectional perspective. This constation is confirmed by recently published reports about feminists community networks in Brazil, by Bruna Zanolli and al where the founders of a community neighborhood feminist network explain "However, even in the free/libre and open technologies activist field, our first impression was that this space did not belong to us, as we faced a predominance of white males and only a few women working with infrastructure and free networks"vi, they further explain that in their feminist initiatives free software could be imposed as a preset rather then something that could be adapted and a pathway to technological appropriation, which the feminist and community group eagerly seek for. They explain: "we see evidence that mere access to new technology could reinforce rather than reduce inequalities. This observation seems important to break the invisibility not only of technological infrastructure, but also of the asymmetries of power that are clear from an intersectional perspective. "vii therefore they claim the necessity to have access to infrastructure technolgical understanding and tools that they would be able to determine.
Our analysis will further this approach by looking at grassroot initiatives that existed already along the brazilian free software movement at the beginning of the milenium. There was a strong orientation at this time to “bridge the digital gap” and bring connectivity “everywhere”; in Brazil, the size of the territory, the number and heterogeneity of different communities, the importance and the isolation of their many “knowledges”, made for a very unique terrain to develop connectivity. Metareciclagem and Baobáxia also contributed to the program “Cultura Viva” with, among others, Casa de Cultura Tainã (“way of the stars” in Tupi-Guarani), a cultural center in an impoverished neighborhood of Campinas. We will be looking at the organizational choices they made, and consider their position as one of resistance, who also built on this movement focusing on bridging to communities by working with them different aesthetics and languages and governance models, addressing intersectional issues in different ways that we will unfold. Finally we will find resonances in independant feminist hosters who associate in several community projects, such as Base Commun. We hope this argument be a pledge for the capacity of grassroots initiatives, when they receive adequate support.
iWhat is Free Software? - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation
iiEvangelista, R. (2014)
iii"valorizar las iniciativas culturales de grupos y comunidades, ampliando el acceso a los medios de producción," source: http://www.brasildamudanca.com.br/es/cultura/puntos-de-cultura last checked March 8th 2019
iv"Sou hacker, Um ministro hacker"Interview published on june 16th 2008 by the national journal Estadao https://www.estadao.com.br/noticias/geral,sou-hacker-um-ministro-hacker,1853
vShaw, A. (2011).
viZanolli,B. and all (2018) Feminist infrastructures and community networks | Global Information Society Watch
viiibid
