From Chennai to Lviv: A recap of the LibreLocal meetups, part two
In honor of the FSF's fortieth anniversary, we called on our supporters globally to help us make the month of May LibreLocal month, and the global free software community responded. Almost thirty LibreLocal meetups were held in May worldwide, and there are still more to come. A big thank you to everyone who who made this possible You made the month of May a true LibreLocal month!
Last week, we shared reports about a handful of community meetups and the activities held at them in a previous blog post. Below you'll find a recap of the LibreLocal meetups in Athens, Chennai, Lviv, Shiraz, Thessaloniki, Zurich, and Warsaw.
LibreLocal month demonstrated how active the international free software community is, and helped connect people on locally and globally. These events were another -- and in these times, much needed -- reminder that together we can achieve so much!
Chennai, India
On May 24, FOSS United Chennai held a LibreLocal meetup in commemoration of the FSF's fortieth anniversary that attracted more than fifty attendees. The event featured interactive workshops on self-hosting, tracking, and mapping surveillance using OpenStreetMaps, as well as a presentation by FSF licensing manager Krzysztof Siewicz.
Lviv, Ukraine
On May 18, AOPRobotics held the first Free Software Conference in Ukraine together with the FSF. All kinds of tech professionals gathered both online and offline to share their thoughts on, and experience with, various aspects of free software. The organizer Kirill Sorudeykin said that the event was based on the understanding that the concept of free software unites people across countries and rallies them around "deep and profound values of human freedom, high expertise, and masterpiece; values that are very important for Ukraine."
Shiraz, Iran
The Iran Free Software Activists organized an entire two-day conference from May 8 to 9 in Shiraz, Iran, that brought free software supporters, developers, and activists together. During these two days, they discussed the history of the FSF and LibrePlanet, the importance of software freedom, and how they can contribute to and promote the movement in their communities. The conference also featured a LAN party, a hackathon, and a talk by FSF campaigns manager Greg Farough, which you can watch on our PeerTube channel. Other talks and workshops covered decentralized tech for healthcare, (Neo)vim, and large language models. After the event, Delta Shahinpoor, one of the organizers, said: "It was a joy to help organize the meetup and bring together people who care about free software and decentralized technologies."
Thessaloniki and Athens, Greece
Ελεύθερος Πλανήτης, LibrePlanet Greece; ΕΛΛΑΚ (ELLAK), an organization that promotes free software use in Greece; the Greek GNU/Linux user group Ένωση Χρηστών και Φίλων Linux Ελλάδας; Κοινότητα Ανοιχτού Λογισμικού Πανεπιστήμιο Μακεδονίας, the University of Macedonia free software community; and Κέντρο Ανοικτών Τεχνολογιών ΑΠΘ (AUTH) organized two meetups to celebrate forty years of commitment to software freedom, one in Athens on May 17 and the other in Thessaloniki on May 23. Both meetups featured a talk by FSF program manager Miriam Bastian, who sketched the FSF's history and explained why software freedom matters. You can watch the talk on our PeerTube channel. Following the introductory talk, members of the Greek GNU/Linux user group presented their efforts to promote GNU/Linux and free software in Greece over the past twenty-five years, and Nikos Parafestas from Libreplanet Greece presented the Freedom Ladder, an important tool that helps users get their first start in software freedom. Following this, licensing and EndSoftwarePatents volunteer Panos Alevropoulos explained how the GNU family of licenses ensure the user's freedom and why they are a key mechanism for the collective development of code.
The meetups in Greece attracted a broad audience with informatics, education, and the civil society experts, and served as a platform for discussing challenges to software freedom. The Museum of Informatics hosted the meetup in Athens, while the event in Thessaloniki took place at the University of Macedonia. According to the organizers, the events were driven by the rationale that "in an era when technology permeates every aspect of our lives, digital independence is not a luxury but an essential condition for a democratic society."
Tunisia, online
On May 16, Mohamed Taoufik Karkar, former lecturer at the Université d’El Manar in Tunis, Tunisia, and founder of the Club des Logiciels Libres de la Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, organized a virtual roundtable on machine learning to celebrate FSF40. The panelists -- François Elie, the president of Adullact; Samy Chapoutot, a specialist for digital transition; IT security specialist Nizar Tlili; and FSF executive director Zoë Kooyman -- discussed the importance of software freedom for machine learning applications, cybersecurity and privacy in the age of machine learning, and the digitalization of government services.
Turkey, online
Masscollabs Services and contributors, a group of activists mostly located in Turkey, organized a virtual FSF40 meetup on Jitsi Meet on May 5. During the event, Gökşin Akdeniz, free software hacker and lecturer at Eskişehir Technical University, spoke about how the free software movement helped shape the history of computing. You can watch the talk, which was held in Turkish, online.
Zurich, Switzerland
On GNU/Linux Presentation Day, people met in Zürich, Switzerland, to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the FSF and the launch of GNU Taler, a privacy-respecting electronic payment system, in Switzerland. Christian Grothoff, professor at Bern University of Applied Sciences and co-founder of Taler Systems SA, the company that has been developing GNU Taler since 2016, presented the pilot project NGI Taler. Following this, Iván Ávalos led a workshop on how to set up a local event currency with GNU Taler. FSF campaigns manager Miriam Bastian then gave an introduction to free software, and revamp-it (an association that refurbishes computers and installs GNU/Linux on them). Miriam also acquainted attendees with different GNU/Linux distributions and raised awareness about the end of Windows 10 and how Windows 11 systematically bereaves its users of their freedom.
Warsaw, Poland
On May 29, FSF licensing manager Krzysztof Siewicz held a LibreLocal meetup in Warsaw, Poland. It began with an interactive quiz that included questions about the origins of the free software movement, free software philosophy, the scope of copyleft and the GNU licenses, and the FSF's activities. The meetup was organized with the help of the Open Science Platform of the ICM University of Warsaw. Representatives from other organizations also joined a panel to discuss freedom and machine learning applications, including: Gabriel Ku Wei Bin from the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), Katarzyna Szymielewicz from the Panoptykon Foundation, Anna Fajfer from Fundacja Wolnego Oprogramowania Reszka, and Radosław Czajka from the Wolne Lektury Foundation. The panel was followed by a fun improv performance, and the night was rounded off with discussions about free software.
Thanks
We wholeheartedly thank the organizers of the LibreLocal meetups. We could tell that the local events inspired attendees, helped free software activists all over the world connect with other like-minded people, and built momentum for future collective action. One thing is sure: these community meetups showed once more how many people in our communities care about software freedom.
The following LibreLocal meetup organizers agreed to be named in public, and we would like to thank them explicitly: Andreas Schenzle, Ansh Arora, Arun kumar V, Atelier "Linux au Blanc," Benson Muite, Carter Zhang, DFF, Damian Fajfer, Giri Prashad, Gleb Yerofeyev, Harsh Patel, Immanuel Raj, Joe, Justin Benito, Keerthana Rajesh Kumar, Kirill Sorudeykin, Lucio Albenga, Matthias Kirschner, Michalis Zisis, nammahari, Narcisse Mbunzama, Nikos Parafestas, Panos Alaropoulos, Richard, Ryan Futures, Sakhil Ahamed, Savvas Adamzillou, shlug, and William Goodspeed.
In addition, we would like to thank the active local groups that participated in the organization of LibreLocal meetups, namely: the AOPRobotics, Artisans Asylum, Bitwäscherei, Boston Open Dev, Ελεύθερος Πλανήτης, ΕΛΛΑΚ, Ένωση Φίλων Ελεύθερου Λογισμικού, FOSS United Chennai, GNU/Linux User Group Switzerland, GNU/Linux User Group WMK, Iran Free Software Activists, Κοινότητα Ανοιχτού Λογισμικού Πανεπιστήμιο Μακεδονίας, Libre Boston: GNU/Linux Free Software Users Group, LibrePlanet São Paulo, Masscollabs Services and contributors, NGI Taler, PBSFG, Relvecorp, RéparLab, revamp-it, Software Freedom Law Center India, and many others.
If any of these local groups are in your vicinity, go check them out -- they're all very welcoming!
If you would like to to organize a LibreLocal meetup in the future, or sponsor this initiative to help foster our global community engagement, contact us at campaigns@fsf.org.
LibreLocal month is just one of the initiatives around the fortieth anniversary of the FSF. Learn about other events that will be held during the anniversary year on fsf.org/fsf40, and subscribe to our gratis newsletter, the Free Software Supporter, to stay tuned.
Image credit
"LibreLocal meetup Chennai - group photo" © 2025, FOSS United Chennai. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"LibreLocal meetup Chennai - speaker Keerthana Rajesh Kumar" © 2025, FOSS United Chennai. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"LibreLocal meetup Chennai - workshop" © 2025, FOSS United Chennai. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"LibreLocal meetup Shiraz - Greg Farough's presentation" © 2025, Free Software Foundation. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"FSF40 meetup Thessaloniki - Panos Alaropoulos" © 2025, Ellak. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"FSF40 meetup Thessaloniki - Nikos Parafestas" © 2025, Ellak. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"Free software meetup in Athens, Greece" © 2025, Ellak. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"FSF40 meetup Thessaloniki - GreekLUG" © 2025, Ellak. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"LibreLocal meetup Zurich" © 2025, Free Software Foundation. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"LibreLocal meetup Zurich - GNU Taler Workshop" © 2025, Free Software Foundation. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"Windows 11 duck" © 2025, Free Software Foundation. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"Smashing Windows 11 duck" © 2025, Free Software Foundation. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"LibreLocal meetup Warsaw - quiz" © 2025, Free Software Foundation. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"LibreLocal meetup Warsaw - GNU monk" © 2025, Free Software Foundation. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"LibreLocal meetup Warsaw - Gabriel Ku Wei Bin" © 2025, Free Software Foundation. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"LibreLocal meetup Warsaw - panel" © 2025, Free Software Foundation. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
