With Richard Stallman back on the road and FSF backing 46 community-focused LibreLocal meetups worldwide, the free software movement looks anything but finished.
Believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see, used to be a popular adage when I was growing up. It was good advice then, but it doesn’t apply anymore. That was decades before personal computers, and even longer before the advent of AI image technology that can produce a video of you, gun in hand, in the process of robbing your local Vape shop. Nowadays it’s believe nothing until you’ve done some fact checking.
Even before the Richard Stallman brouhaha resulted in the Free Software Foundation’s founder being booted from his position at MIT, and being demoted as president at FSF, many open source pundits were saying that FSF and the free software movement it espouses is no longer relevant and belongs to another era. The folks at FSF — including Stallman, who remains on board as a board member — would like you to know that’s not the case.
Some proof that FSF and the free software movement are alive and well can be found in the spate of LibreLocals — events focused on free software — that have been being held around the world this month. Some of them actually happened earlier in the year, although May is officially LibreLocal month.
On Friday the FSF reported that free software supporters have so-far organized 46 of these events, which are taking place on six continents. This is the program’s second year. In early 2025, FSF declared the month of May to be LibreLocal Month, and called on groups worldwide to organize meetups. Last year there were 29 meetups, across five continents.
In a February article announcing a repeat of LibreLocal Month in 2026, FSF program manager Heshan de Silva-Weeramuni rattled off a list of 21 countries in which meetings were hosted last year.
“Many of these countries saw organizers hold meetups in multiple different cities, ranging from informal conversations to multi-day conferences,” he said. “Seeing last year’s list of meetups in different countries is inspiring! Your excitement was so captivating that we had to do it again.”
Limited support from FSF included a meetup guide that included a template for a safe space policy and accounts of successful events from last year, along with ideas, tips, and tricks.
“Your event’s program and format is completely up to you,” de Silva-Weeramuni said. “As we learned last year, it can range from coffee in a local cafe with like-minded people to a full-blown multi-day conference! We encourage everyone to organize events that help spread the free software philosophy, and are grounded in freedom. We hope you find a way to highlight that, as well as all the other benefits of working in and with free software, in your event.”
The organization also made some funding available for groups that needed it: “The FSF is committing to financially assisting as many meetups as we can, but please note that the size and amount of our supporting grants are limited.”
If you’re a free software supporter who’s just hearing about these May festivities, there are still some LibreLocals queued up to launch, and others are planning weekly or monthly events to occur throughout the year. FSF is maintaining a page that lists the events that you can check out to find an event near you.
“Advocating for free software and building community are important parts of our mission,” Zoë Kooyman, FSF’s executive director said in a statement. “The excitement around last year’s FSF LibreLocal meetups was so captivating that we knew we had to do it again. This year’s response has been even bigger, with almost twice the amount of gatherings than last year and spanning six continents. The success of these LibreLocals speaks to how many people globally are interested in free software and ready to build community, and it demonstrates the strength of our movement.”
With Richard Stallman’s significant return to the lecture circuit, and the success of FSF’s LibreLocals, the free software movement appears to be anything but irrelevant. Given this May’s year-over-year growth, we’re figuring that FSF will likely hitch their wagon to these LibreLocals and make them a permanent part of the free software environment.
Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux
Be First to Comment