LibrePlanet: About/Mission Statement
So that the name 'LibrePlanet' is strongly associated with a clear goal, and so individual groups can cooperate and collaborate effectively, all LibrePlanet participants agree with this set of founding principles:
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Contents
Mission Statement
The mission of LibrePlanet is to empower a global network of both local and project-based teams, all working together to advance free software as a social movement for user freedom.
Motivation
Free software is paramount for a free society. As computers play increasingly integral roles in more and more aspects of our lives, the role of software freedom in guaranteeing our general freedom grows in parallel. The software which runs on our computers defines how we experience and interact with the world, so we must ensure that we have the freedom and control to determine how we connect and communicate with each another. Otherwise, we make our autonomy contingent on the people and corporations who own software.
Through a philosophy advocating four essential freedoms, the free software movement has become one of the most successful social movements in recent history. In addition to being a movement of its own, free software provides tools and platforms which enable other movements to work effectively for social good. LibrePlanet promotes free software as a critical building block for an overall free society.
Goals
Unite
Bridge connections between activists, users, and contributors in the free software community.
Advocate
Promote free software ideals through education, campaigns, and events.
Advance
Build and contribute to free software code, documentation, and design.
Encourage
Welcome all interested people to free software, and help motivate and increase their involvement.
Assist
Provide support and guidance for people using and contributing to free software.
Focus
Keep focus on free software as an ethical social movement, more than just a way of producing software.
What we do
Our primary activity is organizing and operating local teams. These teams are organized by geographical region and open to anyone who would like to get involved. While our main focus is on these local groups, LibrePlanet is also an organizing space for everyone in the free software community to collaborate around global projects and issues. LibrePlanet will work to provide the necessary infrastructure, tools, and resources to help free software proponents amplify their advocacy.
History
This project began during the 2006 FSF Associate Member Meeting to help organize ways to bring free software as a movement "into the mainstream." We started by organizing the FSF members at the 2006 meeting into groups based on geography. They then brainstormed ideas for how to organize people around issues central to the free software movement, and posted those ideas on a wiki page titled after their region. You can read those ideas on the pages linked to from the 2006 Member Meeting page.
