Reviving Grassroots FOSS Activism Across the United States
This is a project I’ve been building my way up to for quite a while, but it’s only in the past couple months that I’ve made the necessary breakthroughs to start making real headway. If you’re wondering why the blogging has slowed in recent months, it’s because I’ve been preoccupied with this project.
Back in May, I happened to get connected with some of the right people who happened to see the post I wrote stressing the need to completely rethink how we approach FOSS activism. I was approached to further elaborate on what I specifically had in mind for changing tactics, and the conversation ended with us forming a groupchat to begin planning. We spent the summer getting preparations in place and launched September 2025.
Our goal? Rebuild the social infrastructure for the free-software movement across the United States. Other regions like India and Europe have a real in-person organized presence in favor of software freedom, so why not America? We’re the tech capital of the world, but we’re lagging well behind in terms of tech resistance. In prior decades we had a strong grassroots here, but that apparatus has completely decayed as of late.
Beyond40 is a grassroots initiative which looks to pave the path forward for the resistance movement within tech. Or, to be more specific, we are a “caucus” that looks to act as a voice for the rank-and-file members of the free-software community.
Our priority is building a pipeline that can convert free-software enthusiasts into free-software activists. By forming local chapters across America, that opens the door towards taking direct action to aid the rest of the movement.
You can find our list of guiding principles here:
The specific roadmap for achieving this can be found here:
You can also find our various monthly progress reports here: