From Nairobi to Livermore: A recap of the LibreLocal meetups, part one
In honor of the FSF's fortieth anniversary, we called on our supporters around the world 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 made this possible -- you made the month of May a true LibreLocal month!
Shared below are recaps of activities from a handful of the community meetups. We will share more roundups in a second post next week, so stay tuned. LibreLocal month showcased how active and international the free software community is, and helped connect people on local and global levels. These events were another -- and in these times, much needed -- reminder that we can achieve so much together!
Canary Islands, Spain
At the LibreCan meetup organized by Lucio Albenga on May 10, attendees chatted about the differences between "open" and "free," alternative kernels for the GNU System such as GNU Hurd and BSD kernels, how the GNU licenses differ from other free software licenses, hardware that respects your freedom, and many other intriguing things. Un teclado, one of the attendees, said he really liked talking with interesting people about interesting things he usually can't talk about.
Le Blanc, France
In Le Blanc, France, people gathered on GNU/Linux Presentation Day (May 17) to watch demonstrations of different libre programs such as Inkscape and OpenStreetMaps (which won the 2018 Free Software Award for Projects of Social Benefit), and to help each other install GNU/Linux on their computers. It was so successful that the organizers -- nine volunteers from Atelier "Linux au Blanc" of the association RéparLab -- decided to have a similar event again later this year. The volunteers even printed their own FSF40 T-shirts for the meetup!
Livermore, California, USA
On May 10, FSF volunteer Joe organized a LibreLocal meetup at the Livermore Public Library. Throughout the day, people tried GNU/Linux on demo computers, played free games such as SuperTuxKart, and painted with Inkscape. Joe, with help from one of the attendees, also demonstrated how easy it can be to replace Windows with Trisquel on a computer. As a result of the Livermore LibreLocal meetup, the Livermore Valley Chamber of Commerce asked for help migrating one of the office's Windows 10 systems to GNU/Linux.
Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo
The first LibreLocal meetup of the year took place on February 24, when Narcisse Mbunzama, the national chapter leader of the Free Software Club in the Democratic Republic of Congo, engaged meetup participants in discussions, knowledge sharing, and even a small hackathon centered around free software in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Attendees 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.
Nairobi, Kenya
In a cybercafe, software developer Benson Muite taught attendees at the Nairobi LibreLocal meetup on May 10 how to create puff embroidery designs with Inkscape-based Ink/Stitch. On the photo above, you can see the GNU Guix logo that one of the participants, Munyoki, embroidered on a cap during the event.
Toronto, Canada
In Toronto, free software enthusiasts meet every Monday at 18:00 EDT at Victory Cafe, 440 Bloor St. W for Tech Pizza Mondays. On May 12, they had a special edition to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the FSF with demos, chats, and of course, pizza.
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 network with other like-minded people based in the same area, 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 and organizations that participated in the coordination of LibreLocal meetups, namely: AOPRobotics, Artisans Asylum, Bitwäscherei, Boston Open Dev, Ελεύθερος Πλανήτης, ΕΛΛΑΚ, Ένωση Φίλων Ελεύθερου Λογισμικού, FOSS United Chennai, GNU/Linux Free Software Users Group, GNU/Linux User Group Switzerland, GNU/Linux User Group WMK, Iran Free Software Activists, Κοινότητα Ανοιχτού Λογισμικού Πανεπιστήμιο Μακεδονίας, Libre Boston, 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 want to organizing 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 credits
"LibreLocal meetup Le Blanc - volunteers" © 2025, Linux au Blanc. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"LibreLocal meetup Le Blanc - install fest" © 2025, Linux au Blanc. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"LibreLocal meetup Le Blanc - OSM" © 2025, Linux au Blanc. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"LibreLocal meetup Le Blanc - workshop" © 2025, Linux au Blanc. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"LibreLocal meetup Livermore - Joe" © 2025, Gnus. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"LibreLocal meetup Livermore - GNU/Linux" © 2025, Gnus. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"Group photo from meetup in Kinshasa" © 2025, Narcisse Mbunzama. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"Meetup in Kinshasa" © 2025, Narcisse Mbunzama. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"Cap embroidered at the meetup in Nairobi" © 2025, Munyoki Kilyungi. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"Screenshot of Ink/Stitch" © 2025, Benson Muite. This image is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 Deed Unported.
"Tech Pizza Monday meeting in honor of FSF40" © 2025 Ryan Futures of TechPizzaMondays. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"Robot demo at Tech Pizza Monday" © 2025, Ryan Futures of TechPizzaMondays. This photo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
