Writing our story of OFFDEM

[how]

Summary

This constitutes a narrative of how came to be, from a critique of the co-opting of the free software community by surveillance capitalists, and the failure to reform our main event from within, the following creation of an off festival to call for awareness, and the final move to fork into something completely different.

1. Before OFFDEM

• Growing awareness of the shortcomings of the free software community
• The danger of corporate sponsors, and how to fund a community event differently
• When we realized the funding source might not be the only issue (i.e., politics)

A quarter before FOSDEM’s 20^th anniversary, we published a short post announcing OFFDEM:

@Copy of https://oxygen.offdem.net/pub/why-offdem

FOSDEM is approaching its 20 year anniversary.

It is customary to many large festivals to have an Off version at the margin of the main festival, to give space to proposals that are not represented in the official one.

The idea of OFFDEM is to address intersectional questions that are not present at FOSDEM, in a format that attracts people who usually do not go there: at OFFDEM, everyone is a user.

FOSDEM misses cosy and quiet spaces for collectives to meet, focus, hack and work together in good conditions, away from the noise and seasonal rain, shielded from the usual stress of too much sollicitation and perceptual saturation ; the main attraction of OFFDEM should be its absence of both concurrent tracks and a main track, so that ad-hoc organization, free conversation and unexpected activities can take place.

OFFDEM should also act as an overflow mechanism for a number of free software groups that could not obtain a devroom due to the saturation of physical space at FOSDEM.

The idea came from the conjunction of two processes:

1. the feeling that another type of free software gathering is needed, more radical, and more focused on intersectional topics, gathering concerned citizens and everyone who falls under the unique vocable of user, unfolding the diversity and exploring the complementarity of the people usually left aside of the programming elites of “open-source”;
2. a growing discontent with the evolution of FOSDEM: cultivating social grouping, accepting questionable sponsors that fail to address our concerns against surveillance capitalism.

This situation made us will to create an alternative event to FOSDEM that would break down the barriers between communities, provide an inclusive space for people from different disciplines to be considered not only as end-users but as accomplices in the production of new techniques that support social change and the Commons.

2. The OFFDEM Manifesto

• Keeping surveillance capitalists at bay
• The path is the goal: presence, conviviality, collaboration, continuity
• A focus on building tomorrow today

3. Sharing is Caring

• Consolidating the ways of OFFDEM
  • Self-organization
  • The undocumented citizens’ hospitality (food and shelter)
  • Good food and solidarity
  • Working groups and the general assembly
  • Decentralization
• Passing on the Flame

Welcome to OFFDEM Infodesk

Get started with OFFDEM OFFDEM Infodesk The information desk is the place where you can ask anything and find curated answers to commonly asked questions. The following guide will give you insights on the OFFDEM event methodology and ways to participate, including anonymously. The @infodesk team is curating this space. Methodology OFFDEM is not a place to present your past year’s work or your own production, but a moment to share perspectives and propose collaborations that will be explored…

4. From Then On

Here, OFFDEM 0x04, the fifth edition is the first one with decentralized events: the usual gathering in Brussels on the first week-end of February will happen, to keep the clock ticking, since the dates are ingrained in our collective mindset — and a new volunteer team stepped up to organize it. Another event will take place all the way across Europe, in Crete, a couple of months later Who knows, maybe other small free software gatherings will sprout this or next year… One thing is certain: we need more small groups gathering and working together on addressing pressing issues, and share their achievements with everyone, to grow knowledge and know-how, critical spirit and digital technologies that count to bring forth affordances for the whole of humanity, with the hope to live, think, and act together in peace and freedom.^[1]

How to organize an OFFDEM event? - OFFDEM

5. Past OFFDEM Events

This section reminds us when and where OFFDEM events happened, linking to the published page (Event) and the original topic to edit this page (Topic).

Year	Where	Event	Topic
2020	Brussels (VSP)	OFFDEM	https://oxygen.offdem.net/t/past-offdem-0x00/394
2021	Brussels (DK)	OFFDEM H₂O	https://oxygen.offdem.net/t/past-offdem-0x01/166
2022	Brussels (KBC)	O₂FFDEM Oxygen	Past OFFDEM 0x02
2023	Brussels (VSP)	O₃FFDEM Ozone	Past OFFDEM 0x03
2024	Brussels (VSP)	O₄FFDEM Tetraoxygen	Past OFFDEM 0x04

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1. God willing, we will prevail, in peace and freedom from fear, and in true health, through the purity and essence of our natural… fluids.

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[how]

I added the fifth section on “Past OFFDEM Events” to keep track of the ongoing work to document past events. Especially OFFDEM and OFFDEM H₂O are missing documentation. Please see the draft topics and the relevant Archive categories if you want to help write our story.