The Python Software Federation - 2025 Elections
Info material for the "Python Software Federation" campaign for the 2025 PSF (Python Software Foundation) Elections.
Vote Federation to distribute legal and technological assets to a federation of independent Python organisations across the world!
Video explainer
- Who we are
- Problem: PSF is too centralized
- Approach: A world of equals - sharing power
- Vision: The Python Software Federation
Election Guide 2025
(a 3rd party guide, by the "Federation" campaign - official information is here)
Anyone can vote!
Important dates
Aug 26, 14 UTC - voter registration
Sep 16, 14 UTC - voting cut-off
Step-by-step guide
Deadline for registration: Aug 26, 14 UTC (official schedule here]
-
ensure you are registered PSF by August 26
- option 1: contributing membership is self-certified, PSF approval may take time
- option 2: quicker is supporting membership, this costs 99 dollar
- opinion: this is a gatekeeping mechanism! The fee must be reduced.
-
ensure you have filled out the "voting affirmation form" by August 26, 14 UTC
Deadline for voting: September 16, 14 UTC (opens Sep 2)
- vote
- after successful registration, you should receive an e-mail from PSF to vote
- IMPORTANT: if you have not received this by Sep 2, check your spam folder
Recommended candidates:
- Franz Kiraly
- Abigail Dogbe
- Agata Skamruk
- Arjun Suresh
- optionally: let us know you voted!
Election Programme
Take Back Python - Creating the Python Software Federation
AI is rapidly changing the world – and Python is the primary language for AI.
The Python ecosystem relies on an international, diverse community of developers and scientists – yet ownership of legal and technological Python assets is in the hand of a small number of organisations such as the Python Software Foundation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all human societies have certain unalienable rights as custodians of their own technological progress, in pursuit of liberty and happiness. That to secure these rights, technology governance is instituted, deriving power from the societies impacted; that whenever any governance becomes restrictive of these ends, it is the Right of any People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new technology governance, in such form they deem appropriate.
We believe that the Python Software Foundation must give up its centralized, monopolistic grip on Python.
That legal and technological assets must be shared with the peoples of the world, by planned devolution and transfer of assets to national or supranational organisations.
We pledge to pursue this goal as our topmost and urgent priority – a cooperative international landscape of Python organisations, wielding actual technological power on behalf of the societies they represent.
Urgency is required due to the speed of the AI revolution: the assets of the PSF must immediately be directed towards
- creating an international network of independent, fully empowered organisations,
- building Python competence and technological independence in this network,
- moving towards governance as a Federation of Python.
The focus of PSF must become knowledge transfer, technology sharing, and funded opportunity creation for developers, worldwide.
Pythonistas of the world, vote!
Take back Python, it belongs to you!
Concrete policy measures
In the targeted end state, independent non-profit organisations for Python exist in individual jurisdictions of the world, corresponding to nation states or supranational organisations with joint jurisdictional sphere. These organisations are constructed and enabled to be independent of PSF, and controlled locally.
Legal assets held directly or indirectly by the PSF, such as trade marks, sponsorship and license contracts, are to be split up and distributed to non-profit organisations in jurisdictions across the world.
Technology transfer will enable the decentralization of Python distribution and maintenance assets. Maintenance will not be split into fully independent clusters, but is expected to be synced through protocols similar to Byzantine fault tolerance.
For instance, the package distribution system could be moved to a decentralized system of synced mirrors, with local administrators and shared code – such that no single node can become an entry point for political games or unilateral control.
Local organisations will be expected be autonomous in technological decision making, and represent local interests; they will also be expected to participate in a coherent and interoperable technology landscape, i.e., not fork Python or package infrastructure, but instead participate in synchronized maintenance of the base technology, and consensus seeking in international technology politics.
Stance on other PSF issues
We do not take a particular stance on other issues. We believe that local decision making bodies are best placed to decide on these based on needs of their constituents. Enabling these constituents to make their own decisions is, therefore, our priority.
We also consider the repeated introduction of US party politics inspired “culture wars” wedge issues to the Python forums a distraction, and harmful to the bigger picture.
In particular, we deliberately abstain from these topics, as we consider these dumb (yet, sadly, often effective) distractions from the questions that actually matter: technology monopolies and worldwide technology colonialism.