[OSGeo-Discuss] About organizing a general strike

Tue Sep 29 03:58:10 PDT 2026

Hi Luis,

Not answering on a general level nor on the strike itself, but concerning funding I think there is a misunderstanding here in terms of orders of magnitudes.

Great news that the EU allocates funding to OSS software in geospatial, BUT :

- It gets down to 3m€ cascaded to projects in the end, cut into ~50K€ grants ( ~0.5 FTE per project )

- 3m€ is literally peanuts compared to the global funding of opensource geospatial software and to what would be required to address real funding issues (

- 3m€ is literally nothing in the EU budget, including if you compare to other funded IT domain ( e.g. just on a French scale, tax reductions for research & development amount to _8 billions_ yearly )

I do not say it is not a good news, and I really enjoy seeing our topics being at least recognized, and especially allocated to OSGeo / NLNet, because these funding programs are good, well managed, and can help improve projects.

But let's be realistic, having 3m€ on the table will not solve any of the foundamental funding issue for opensource and for opensource geospatial, to say the least.

Regards,

Vincent

On 29/09/2026 12:30, Luí s Moreira de Sousa via Discuss wrote:
> Hi Even,
>
> I am still missing a clear identification of the target(s) of this strike. A strike against an unclear opponent (or against everyone) is bound to be ineffective.
>
> The European Commission just allocated 6 M€ to open source software in GeoInformatics. The OSGeo Foundation is part of the consortium managing and assigning those funds. In that scope a strike regarding lack of funding seems inopurtune.
>
> Regards.
>
> --
> Luís Moreira de Sousa
>
> Sent with Proton Mail secure email.
>
> On Monday, 28 September 2026 at 14:46, Even Rouault via Discuss <discuss at lists.osgeo.org> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I've had recently a discussion with one of ours that suggested that my
>> proposal should be refined, particularly in terms of dates and claims,
>> which I agree. I'd wish not to be the lead on this, but oh well since
>> this is already my 12th day of strike, I guess I can spend some time
>> helping coordinating.
>>
>> Several points:
>>
>> - how long people are ready to strike ? (I'm well aware people have
>> bills to pay.) One week, two weeks, one month ?
>>
>> - one way also to extend the length of the strike could be to organize
>> it in a rolling way,   e.g. it could be 4 weeks, with only 25% of people
>> being on strike simultaneously
>>
>> - how do we communicate around that ? I'd be great if OSGeo as an
>> organization would be willing to make an official press release, since
>> strikes are only efficient if they are made felt and visible.
>>
>> - which claims do we want to bring forwards ? So far what I've heard:
>>        * lack of funding for maintenance in open source software
>>        * complaint against economical and political forces in
>> responsibility for not making the decisive steps to stop the root causes
>> of global warming and mitigate the unavoidable consequences
>>        * complaint against lack of involvement of citizens on the
>> appropriateness, scope and limits of the use of AI technologies
>>
>> We can organize a poll once people have expressed a bit their minds.
>>
>> Even
>>
>> Le 11/09/2026 à 18:31, Even Rouault via Discuss a écrit :
>>> Hi Luis,
>>>
>>> I was genuinely interested in what people could have in mind with such
>>> a call. I realize that my motion (obviously second degree in its form)
>>> was way too much restricted with the developer and not inclusive enough.
>>>
>>> So let me write down a sketch what I had in mind. Well something along
>>> those lines... I'm a poor communicator and activist
>>>
>>> """Here we undersigned X, Y, Z, etc members of the OSGeo community
>>> make the following statements:
>>>
>>> - we recognize that economical and political forces in responsibility
>>> in countries of our finite planet are not making the decisive steps to
>>> stop the root causes of global warming and mitigate the unavoidable
>>> consequences
>>>
>>> - we ask that citizens of countries of our planet to have their say
>>> through democratic expression on the appropriateness, scope and limits
>>> of the use of AI technologies
>>>
>>> Both issues affect all inhabitants of this planet, and ourselves in
>>> particular.
>>>
>>> To underline the seriousness of our concerns, we have decided to stop
>>> our activities for a period of one month, formely a strike, and invite
>>> any other person or group in other communities to act similarly
>>>
>>> """
>>>
>>> So yes nothing directly about the business of software or against
>>> OSGeo... But in a world where your life is endangered, creating or
>>> using software is the least of your concern. Recent experience showed
>>> me that in a world were I would be exposed regularly to temperature >=
>>> 30 degrees,  my productivity those days would be zero as this summer
>>> demonstrated. So after all, you could tell that it's about OSGeo
>>> making sure its members have access to liveable conditions to
>>> accomplish it mission (and I consider that buying a fan or air
>>> conditionning is just a band-aid, not a serious response to the
>>> issue).  The part about AI could enter in the mental health of its
>>> members. AI is an addictive drug, a true one.
>>>
>>> To be fully transparent, my main needs in life are breathing, drinking
>>> water, eating, health care, dressing, housing.   Being able to write
>>> open source software would probably be ranked below 50th position.
>>> This is kind of a futile hobby, right? Yes I know I'm kind of
>>> provocative, but in the world we're heading too, not sure that
>>> computers will matter that much.
>>>
>>> Even
>>>
>>>
>>> Le 11/09/2026 à 18:00, Luí s Moreira de Sousa a écrit :
>>>> Hi Even,
>>>>
>>>> strikes, and general strikes, were some of the first tools (many
>>>> times effective) in what became knownw as the Class Struggle. A
>>>> strike is an action taken by a percieved weak faction (union, workers
>>>> association) facing a strong faction (employer, owner of means of
>>>> production).
>>>>
>>>> Before devising motives, it would be important to identify against
>>>> which faction the community would be striking. We contribute to
>>>> projects and the Foundation itself, none of which fit the traditional
>>>> understanding of owners of means of production.
>>>>
>>>> Regards.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Luís Moreira de Sousa
>> --
>> http://www.spatialys.com
>> My software is free, but my time generally not.
>> LLMs contribute to global warming and brain rot.
>> Let's guillotine them! "Ah ! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira !"
>>
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