More than fifteen free software socials to be held globally

Attendees at the LibreLocal meetup in Kinshasa in February 2025.

In January, the FSF launched a call to organize local community meetups and claimed the month of May as LibreLocal Month. Fifteen LibreLocal events have been announced so far, and more are forthcoming. These events will be held globally with the help of the FSF, with majority in May. Everyone interested in free (libre) software is invited to participate, regardless of prior experience with free software. LibreLocal Month is one of the organization's initiatives for the free software community to participate in celebrate its fortieth anniversary.

May LibreLocal meetups in Canada, China, France, Greece, Iran, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, and the US have been announced. Ranging from casual meetings to two-day conferences with talks and workshops, the meetups cover topics like free software and free culture, digital rights, decentralized social networks, the right to repair, free access to information, and much more. For a detailed list of LibreLocal meetups, visit the LibrePlanet wiki, where you can sign up for a meetup near you.

"Advocating for free software and building community are important parts of our mission, so seeing the list of LibreLocal meetups grow every week with events in different countries speaks to the success of decades of work," says executive director Zoë Kooyman. "Local initiatives are vital for grassroots campaigns, so the excitement around this initiative means a lot for free software," she added.

Attendees at the community meetup in Boston, MA, USA in 2023.

Meetups have already happened outside of May as well, with the first being a LibreLocal meetup in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo. The event was sponsored by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and led by Narcisse Mbunzama, the national chapter leader of the Free Software Club in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Participants engaged in discussions, knowledge sharing, and even a small hackathon centered around free software. They also learned about the philosophy behind, and importance of, libre software. As a result of this meetup, the participants decided to organize more events like this in the future to promote the adoption and development of free software in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Attendees at the LibreLocal meetup in Kinshasa in February 2025.

When asked about LibreLocal Month, the FSF's program manager Miriam Bastian said: "I can't wait to see all the events happen! I will visit some of the LibreLocal meetups personally to give a talk and am looking forward to meeting the local communities and seeing free software supporters connect with each other. We hope these events will strengthen local free software communities."

The FSF created a meetup guide to help free software supporters around the world build their own unique event centered around software freedom. When you subscribe to the FSF's newsletter or follow the organization on Mastodon, you can stay tuned on more meetups to be announced.

LibreLocal Month is just one of the initiatives around the fortieth anniversary of the FSF. Learn what else is happening during the anniversary year on fsf.org/fsf40.

About the Free Software Foundation

The FSF, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its websites, located at https://www.fsf.org and https://www.gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at https://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.

MEDIA CONTACT

Miriam Bastian
Program Manager
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942
campaigns@fsf.org

"Group photo from meetup in Kinshasa." © 2025 Narcisse Mbunzama. This image is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

"Meetup in Boston." © 2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This image is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

"Meetup in Kinshasa." © 2025 Narcisse Mbunzama. This image is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.