ZacG on Nostr: As I stepped onto the plane leaving Oslo 🇳🇴 the weight and warmth of the last ...

As I stepped onto the plane leaving Oslo 🇳🇴 the weight and warmth of the last few days settled into my chest.

The Oslo Freedom Forum is not a conference. It's not a summit. It’s something harder to name. A convergence of courage, truth, and defiance that burns through the noise of the modern world and gives you no choice but to listen, feel, and act.

For the second time, I’ve walked away from OFF more convinced than ever that the tide is turning. That amid the censorship, surveillance, and state repression, something unstoppable is rising.

The Forum doesn’t trade in empty optimism. It delivers a different kind of hope: forged from lived experience, stitched together by people who have been in the dark and still chose to build the light.

The stories shared were hard. At times, devastating. But they weren’t offered for pity. They were calls to action.

You don’t leave Oslo feeling defeated. You leave reminded that truth is more powerful than propaganda, that code can protect life, and that resistance isn’t just possible, it’s already happening.

This year, there was a noticeable pulse of momentum around freedom tech. Human rights defenders from the front lines spoke not only about the oppression they face, but about the tools they’re using to push back. #Bitcoin, nostr, privacy protocols, open source AI models, and uncensorable VPNs.

These are the instruments keeping movements alive, getting money to dissidents, and protecting voices at risk. And behind every tool is a quiet builder, a pseudonymous contributor, or an open-source developer who may never take the stage but is just as much a part of the story.

Being part of the financial freedom team at HRF only deepens this sense of purpose. I couldn’t ask for a more principled, talented group of allies.
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These are people who care deeply, work quietly, and show up every day to make sure those fighting for their rights and freedoms aren’t left alone.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the scale of the problem, but being in this team reminds me that change starts by standing with those who share a vision and mission for a more free and just world.

I’m leaving with a head full of names and projects, and a heart that feels cracked open in the best way. I’m grateful for the conversations, the hard questions, the laughter over dinners, and the moments of silence that said more than any speech could.

Above all, I’m reminded that no authoritarian regime, no matter how brutal or well-funded, has ever succeeded in stamping out the human desire to be free.

Oslo is proof of that. And if you're paying attention, it's also a glimpse into what comes next.

Onwards and upwards, my friends 🧡