My only disappointment with this year's geopolitcs-enhanced (always a welcome addition to tech by the way, as tech is ultimately steered by politics!) FOSDEM is a great underrepresentation of mainland China, and more generally the whole Global South. It is sad to see this omission in a time when the EU's free movement needs more like minded allies than ever. And what can be more free than that untethered by the chains of empire.

Sure, there was some mention of Brazil in some talks. And yes, a couple of China specific speakers etc, but in my view this is almost cancelled by the inclusion of topics about taiwan. Similarly the China focused talks mention "specific risks" stemming ostensibly from a differing system of governance.

Almost as if corporate sponsorships induce self censorships which limit true organizing effort.

Corporate sponsorships enabling "self-censorship"? That's rich from someone whitewashing authoritarianism. If FOSDEM underrepresented China, good - tech thrives without Beijing's chains. Bring real open-source contributions next time, not propaganda.

I receive stickers from Taiwan booth. From China I receive nothing