*Please consider adding <[email protected]> to your address book, which
will ensure that our messages reach you and not your spam box.*

*Read and share online: <[link removed]>*


Dear Free Software Supporter,

*This year-end, we are focusing on growing the community with our
[fundraising goal][0] of gaining 500 new associate members before
December 31st. The deadline is only two days away, and we are not
there yet. We need your support to continue to grow, and to give
strength to the Free Software Foundation's (FSF) mission to protect
computer user freedom. Below is a message from our president Geoffrey
Knauth reflecting on the FSF's mission to protect software users
everywhere.*

[0]: [link removed]


*We're so grateful for your commitment to free software. If you can
spare it, we hope you'll consider helping us even more by turning this
commitment into [an associate membership][7] for just as little as
$10 per month ($5 for students), or $120 per year. You can also help
propel us to our goal by [sharing your commitment][8] to free software
and this article with people in your community and on your social
media using the \#UserFreedom hashtag. By inspiring others to join, we
can continue to help computer users find freedom everywhere.*

[7]: [link removed]
[8]: [link removed]


---

The core mission of the Free Software Foundation (FSF) is, and always
will be, to support the [four freedoms of free software][11] as
embodied by the GNU Project. In 1985, when I saw Richard Stallman
attempt to undertake the task of creating for you, users and creators
of software, a wholly free GNU operating system by himself, I thought
it was a noble idea unlikely to succeed. How wrong I was! Luckily, I
made the correct decision to pitch in and help, as have many thousands
of people since. In the thirty-five years since the FSF was
established, countless free software users and supporters around the
globe have experienced the joys that come from creating software and
knowing that you have the right to learn, to tinker, to make
modifications to suit your needs, to make your own contribution, to be
heard and recognized, to share your work, and to be appreciated by
your peers.

[11]: [link removed]

While the pandemic has been very hard on people everywhere, there was
one bright spot for me in 2020: by attending virtual conferences all
over the world, I was able to see and hear about the work of hundreds
of people inspired by the free software movement, and I have been
astounded at the brilliance, creativity, and dedication of
contributors everywhere on the planet. I think back to the Moon
missions of a half century ago, when the astronauts peered back at the
world and saw that it really was one world, that limitations in the
way of boundaries seem very artificial from space. From the vantage of
space, you see a beautiful blue ball with land masses, oceans and
clouds, a fragile atmosphere, and as you visualize there are people
down there, they should be roaming free and enjoying all that beauty.

What I have learned in 2020 is that despite the injustice of
proprietary software's restrictions on our freedoms, the people of the
world are by and large energized by learning, creating, and sharing
their creations as freely as they can, because it is clearly what they
want to do. We know that water flows and knows its way; so do people
know what they really want, and like water, people will find a way. It
is our duty to fight for the freedoms in computing that give people
that special joy that comes from being fully in control of their
computing environment.

We don't always agree with each other. That's okay. We are richer for
our disagreements when we debate and act in good faith. We have had a
rough year, but we are still here, and we will continue the fight. We
want your help, we ask for your support, and we desire your
participation and ideas, because if it weren't for you, we would be
right back where we started in 1985. There has been so much progress
since then, and we have to make sure all that has been created is
safeguarded for generations to come after us, and that it continues to
flourish.

I thank the hard-working staff of the FSF, and the thousands of
volunteers who add their brilliance to GNU every single day. What you
do is breathtakingly good. Please keep it up! For our part, you can
read more about what the FSF has planned in 2021 in the pieces from
each team at <[link removed]>.

Please enjoy the holidays, and safeguard your health!

Be well and be free,

Geoff Knauth
President

--
* Follow us on Mastodon at <[link removed]>, GNU social at
<[link removed]>, Diaspora at <[link removed]>,
PeerTube at <[link removed]>, and on Twitter at
<[link removed]>.
* Read about why we use Twitter, but only with caveats at <[link removed]>.
* Subscribe to our RSS feeds at <[link removed]>.
* Join us as an associate member at <[link removed]>.
* Read our Privacy Policy at <[link removed]>.

Sent from the Free Software Foundation,

51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor
Boston, Massachusetts 02110-1335
United States


You can unsubscribe from this mailing list by visiting

[link removed].

To stop all email from the Free Software Foundation, including Defective by Design,
and the Free Software Supporter newsletter, visit

[link removed].