So far this year, there have been fifty LibreLocals on six continents, mostly in May, or as we like to call it, "LibreLocal month." Recently, we highlighted ten of these LibreLocal 2026 meetups and each of their organizers. In part two of our three reports, we highlight the stories of the organizers behind more LibreLocals. This writeup includes one from Kirill in the midst of the war in Kyiv, Ukraine, as well as an update on the detained Iranian LibreLocal organizer, Abbas, who hosted two meetups from inside a prison in Shiraz, Iran.

We envisioned LibreLocal 2026 as a mosaic of in-person community meetups that would bring people together to swap ideas, learn from each other, and celebrate free software. With our help, the free software community has organized no fewer than fifty LibreLocal meetups on six continents so far for LibreLocal 2026, mostly during May (LibreLocal month), in answer to our February global call. Suffice it to say that the outpouring of enthusiasm has been really wonderful to see.

The organizers featured below are: Abbas (Iran), B40 Maryland (United States), Fabio (Italy), Kirill (Ukraine), Richard (Canada), and Sean (United States). We asked them to share their experiences with us, including their hopes for the meetups, what they spoke about, and any other insights they think other organizers may find useful when organizing a LibreLocal. Mostly in their own words, let's hear about their experiences.

We didn't identify Abbas, the organizer of the LibreLocals in Shiraz, Iran in our first report because of the update one of his friends posted on the LibreLocal wiki meetup page after the event was held. The update stated that they couldn't give us too many details about the organizer because of safety concerns, but that the LibreLocal was held in a prison because the organizer had been detained in the midst of organizing the LibreLocal by the Iranian authorities.

Since publishing the earlier LibreLocal report, we were very happy to hear directly from Abbas himself, who assured us that he is now safe and free. He also reported back on his (and others') activities in Iran in the hopes that we would share his story with the wider world. Abbas wrote us that promoting free software and trying to bypass internet censorship were two of the reasons he was arrested and imprisoned:

"During the internet shutdowns in Iran, I promoted Delta Chat. Over 3,000 decentralized Delta Chat servers were active in Iran with about 15 million users. I personally ran about eighty servers and tried to create a model others could follow. Because of these activities I was arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence. I had announced our LibreLocal on the FSF wiki before my arrest; I was detained during the event and later transferred to Adelabad prison in Shiraz."

Abbas Davarpanah in front of Adelabad (Shiraz) prison. His T‑shirt reads “Free Software, Free Society”; the design includes Tehran’s Azadi Tower, and a victory sign. The T‑shirt was made by artists in the prison after the LibreLocal event.

Even behind bars, Abbas continued to advocate for free software, holding two LibreLocals on May 14–15, 2026, and May 28–29, 2026:

"We did not give up on the LibreLocal conference. We successfully held it inside the Central Prison of Shiraz, specifically in the quarantine ward, with the participation of sixty free software enthusiasts. We designed the presentations using notebooks and kept the free software spirit alive within the prison."

He also listed the topics discussed at the LibreLocal conference:

• Introduction to the LibrePlanet conference
• What is free software?
• The GNU/Linux revolution
• The concept of decentralization
• Introduction to decentralized social networks
• Introduction to Wikipedia
• Types of free software licenses
• Persian WordPress
• Blockchain

Abbas included photos that he shared in a must-read Mastodon thread, which contains even more details. Please follow and share! Much solidarity to our free software friends In Iran.

Another LibreLocal was hosted in a different conflict area. The Free Software Conference Ukraine was held a second year, this time in Kyiv, and again organized by AOP Robotics, Relvecorp, and Kirill Sorudeykin. This year's event featured a number of speakers, including Krzysztof Siewicz, the FSF's licensing and compliance manager.

The tech setup for the Free Software Conference Kyiv, Ukraine.

Kirill shares a few thoughts on the progress made by the Ukrainian free software community since last year:

"We were happy to organize the second Free Software Conference Ukraine [...] to discuss the topics of technology and freedom. We paid special attention to all aspects of the event such as the venue, snacks, breaks, speakers, and translation, in order to grow the brand of the conference in the region, and having repeating and new speakers join. We discussed recent news from within the free software industry as well as conceptual and community messages, announcements, insights, opportunities, etc. This event was a single point of contact for all active professionals who are seeking to implement the idea of social, ecological, and sustainable development in technology, education, research and business. This year's meetup helped us move forward in our organizational capacities, managing to widely use libre tools for conference organization. [...] Thank you everybody for taking part in our conference and happy 41st anniversary to the Free Software Foundation."

One of the major goals for the LibreLocal program is to help build and maintain sustainable communities of free software supporters around the world who continue to work together to create, inspire, and bring others into the free software movement. This year has seen plenty of success in strengthening those communities, whether they already exist or are being formed because of the passionate vision of a few free software supporters who act as catalysts for connections.

The Italy LibreLocal is a notable example of a small group of people strengthening connections in their community. We were not expecting the comprehensiveness of the report Fabio Arceri provided us about the Catania, Italy LiberaLocal! Their beautifully formatted ten-page report of the Sicily-based event included a variety of statistics, noting that close to sixty people attended both in person and virtually. The meetup was organized by Fabio Arceri, Federica Scarso, and Raffele Barone. This LibreLocal also featured twelve separate speakers, including representatives from Wikimedia Italia, and was featured in a press article, several notable microblogging posts, and on a podcast episode. The recordings of the livestream can also be found here and here.

One of the main objectives of the organizers was to "explore the possibility of laying the foundations for a local free software free software community in Catania." The answer that emerged was very much affirmative. The organizers reported that:

"Throughout the discussions, many participants expressed a shared sense of concern regarding the current state of computing, together with a desire to recover forms of technological autonomy, community participation, and digital self-determination. While participants came from different backgrounds and did not necessarily agree on every topic discussed, a common interest emerged around continuing the conversation beyond the meetup itself.

A recurring theme throughout the day was the need to make the concepts surrounding technological sovereignty more accessible and understandable to the general public. Participants repeatedly highlighted the important of clarifying the relationships and differences between concepts such as free software, 'open source,' digital rights, net neutrality, software licensing, ethical technology, and technological sovereignty itself.

At the same time, there was widespread agreement on the important of raising awareness about the societal implications of increasingly centralized and opaque digital infrastructures, including issues related to surveillance, loss of user autonomy, vendor lock-in, and the gradual erosion of meaningful control over the technologies that shape our lives."

The intentional growth of a close community of free software supporters in the Catania area is really heartening to see, and we congratulate the organizers on a terrific meetup. As they noted for the future, "The shared​ vision that emerged is not that of​ an isolated annual event, but rather that of​ a catalyst capable of​ fostering the gradual formation of a local network of activists, technologists, educators, researchers, and citizens interested in digital freedoms and technological sovereignty."

Presentation by Léa Lacroix and Antonino Faro of Wikimedia Italia during the LibreLocal Catania meetup in Italy.

This same drive to create and nurture community repeated across the world among other first time organizers. In the United States, four chapters of Beyond40 (B40), an admirable free software community-building organization whose organizing accelerated after the FSF40 celebrations, also led LibreLocals in the Bay Area, Boston, Maryland, and New York. If you are looking to get involved in grassroots advocacy for free software in the US, get in touch with a B40 chapter near you. In writing of their gathering the LibreLocal organizer from B40 Maryland organized noted:

"B40 Maryland was one of two founding chapters within Beyond40, a volunteer initiative started by those in the free-software community to revive in-person organizing, recruit young talent, and develop new strategies to carry the movement through the next forty years.

Given that this was B40's first year, we wanted to make sure we put out a strong showing for LibreLocal and we managed to get around ten people to show up to our LibreLocal event! With summer break starting, we decided to hold a group trip to the System Source Museum where they gave us a tour on the history of computing. We learned a lot, and thanks to the FSF's sponsorship, we were able to cover ticket expenses for the tour and trip!"

In reading through many of the reports of this year's LibreLocals, one common choice stood out — pizza. In Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the LibreLocal meetup organized by Tech Pizza Mondays revolved around conversations about free software and pizza. As co-organizer Richard Eriksson wryly noted, "The meetup was a lot of fun! We used the FSF funds to pay for some of the pizzas. The name of the meetup series is Tech Pizza Monday, after all." The organizers were also among several who held LibreLocals last year, too.

Tech Pizza Monday LibreLocal meetup in Toronto, Canada.

Another returning LibreLocal powered by pizza we want to highlight was in New Haven, CT, United States. Organized by Sean O'Brien (the FSF's deputy director), Sheree Ip, and Mikalai Birukou, it also featured FSF's Michael McMahon. Sean provided us a comprehensive report:

"The LibreLocal meetup in New Haven, Connecticut was hosted by MakeHaven, a local makerspace that has hosted FSF-affiliated events as far back as 2013. The gathering brought together developers, makers, privacy advocates, and curious newcomers for an evening focused on community-driven technology, digital rights, and software freedom.

It was a casual event that included New Haven “apizza” (pronounced AH-BEETZ by locals) with presentations from FSF staff members Sean O’Brien, Deputy Director, and Michael McMahon, FSF GNU/Linux Systems Administrator. They spoke with the attendants about how the FSF safeguards its systems and keeps them available for all our associate members, offering attendees a practical view into the work and systems that keep the FSF humming.

The meetup also included conversations about privacy-focused tools, growing restrictions on hardware, the impact of LLMs on software development and licensing, and the broader history of the free software movement.

The event went very well, with approximately twenty people in the space and attendees traveling from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and even New Jersey. For many in the audience, this was their first real introduction to free software, which made the gathering both educational and welcoming. MakeHaven is an active makerspace, so some attendees started work on projects during the event — fitting perfectly with the true spirit of hacking."

Some of the many participants of the LibreLocal New Haven, CT, USA.

We are so grateful to all the organizers and attendees of all LibreLocals held so far this year. Their organizing and participation is inspiring. We aren't done yet. In addition to the LibreLocals we've already covered, please be on the lookout for part three of our recap that will follow soon.

We also thank you, our donors and associate members, for the support that makes these meetups possible. As you can see, there is a wealth of rich organizing and boundless energy that free software supporters bring into the world every day. They understand that free software is one of the important ways we can protect a host of other basic rights. We are proud to provide them with resources and infrastructure that makes their advocacy for free software more effective and enriching for us all.

In freedom,

Heshan de Silva-Weeramuni
Program Manager

• "LibreLocal meetup Shiraz" © 2026 by Abbas Davarpanah. This photo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
  
• "LibreLocal meetup Kyiv" © 2026 by Kirill Sorudeykin. This photo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
• "LibreLocal meetup Catania" © 2026 by Fabio Arceri. This photo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
  
• "LibreLocal meetup Toronto" © 2026 by Ryan Coordinator. This photo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
• "LibreLocal meetup New Haven, CT" © 2026 by Sean O'Brien. This photo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.