Free Software Won't Fix Equality, But It Helps
There's an old saying that goes something along the lines of, "Money Does Not Make You Happy, But It Helps..."
Let's examine Free software in the context of: 1) money. 2) justice.
Proprietary software is inherently unjust for many of the reasons Richard Stallman spoke about for over 40 years (even a few years ago).
Even if Free software is not absolutely or objectively "just", it is less unjust than proprietary software. One injustice is the lack of financial compensation for most developers and, if you work on Debian, the risk of being publicly slandered by those whom you volunteered for!
Putting justice aside for a moment, as justice systems are themselves biased and depend on people's ideology, what about economics?
Can Free software bridge the economic gap? Well, it certainly can help. Removing financial barriers can help a lot. That can also help people from underprivileged communities or developing (poor) countries get involved, either as developers or something else.
Due to the pricing models of proprietary software, poor nations and poor people have long been discriminated against. Thus, an argument can be made to the effect of proprietary software being innately racist and classist, maybe even sexist. █
