Richard Stallman's Personal Site


The photo comes from wikimedia.org
"Richard_Stallman_at_LibrePlanet_2019"
by Ruben Rodriguez

I continue to be the Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project.
This is my long-term commitment and I plan to continue.
You may have heard or read critical statements about me; please make up your own mind.

I'm looking for speaking invitations for a trip in January and February that will include some part of Europe, then India, then some other part of Europe.

The first visit to Europe will be roughly Jan 16 to 22. The visit to India will start Jan 22 and can continue into February. The second visit to Europe will be after that. Those dates are flexible.

One advantage of this period for you is that the intercontinental flights are already covered, so you won't need to pay for that.

If you are interested in inviting me, and you have a venue to use and a public to invite, please email me soon with "speaking invitation" in the Subject field, using the name rms and the host gnu dot org.

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RSS site feed for the most recent political notes and new material.

This is the personal web site of Richard Stallman.
The views expressed here are my personal views, not those of the Free Software Foundation or the GNU Project.
For the sake of separation, this site has always been hosted elsewhere and managed separately.

If you want to send me GPG-encrypted mail, do not trust key servers! Some of them have phony keys under my name and email address, made by someone else as a trick. See gpg.html for my real key.

Richard Stallman has cancer. Fortunately it is slow-growing and manageable follicular lymphoma. Treatment put it into remission, and he can expect to live many more years. However, he now has to be even more careful not to catch Covid-19.

FSF Giving Guide

Robert Reich explains how the bullshitter and Republicans are trying to spread chaos to discourage non-fascists from voting. After creating as much real chaos as they can, they pretend there is even more of it, hoping Americans will give up and not vote, or support a fascist strong man.

I urge you to vote in Democratic primaries for the progressive candidate, if there is one. And in the final election I urge you to vote for Democrats, unless a liberal independent had a good chance of winning.

Canadians: I suggest you seek election advice at a local chapter of a group that pushes to curb global heating and has the courage to say, "Canada should stop exporting fossil fuel." It will at least use the right goals to suggest who to vote for in your area.

Join a Friday climate strike.
That page is made by scraping Fridays for Future so you can get the information without running any Javascript code. I would be very glad if they made the information on their own site accessible from the Free World; then we could simply refer people to their site and do without the scraping etc.

I am limiting the number of new political notes per day so as not to overload the volunteers who install new notes. If you'd like to help, please write to rms at gnu period org.

Is your bank pressuring you to use biometric ID? If so, please write to rms at gnu dot org. It could be useful if you document what is happening.

Please join the Free Software Foundation to support its work for your freedom.

"They" is plural — for singular antecedents, use singular gender-neutral pronouns.

Link Policy

The largest part of the site is the political notes, and they are typically updated every day.

I'm looking for people to If you would like to help me in any of these ways, please write to rms at gnu dot o r g.

Civil Liberties Minute:

[America Means Civil Liberties / Patriotism Means Protecting 
             Them / www.aclu.org/safefree ]
graphic by Susan Henson
Americans, you may wish to copy this icon to your own page, as a way of showing what patriotism means to you.

Upcoming talks

Urgent action items

Recording of Guantanamero

Listen to the recording of Guantanamero, a protest song written in Spanish. The recording is in Ogg Vorbis format. To install an Ogg Vorbis player, see the FSF's Ogg Players page.

There Ought to Be a Law

More items where there ought to be a law.

Quotes

Here are some quotations that I particularly like.

Most recent Political Notes and News Items

(RSS Feed)

You can now read the political notes on Mastodon.

Amazon union-workers now on strike
21 December 2024

Amazon workers in various US cities are now on strike.

Musk foreign relations as security risk
21 December 2024

The musk rat has been failing military security examinations because of refusing to tell the examiners about some of his meetings with foreign officials. Some US and allied officials see him as a risk.

Elon Musk as congressional leader, US
21 December 2024

Emperor Tusk the First killed an urgently needed omnibus spending bill by ordering Republicans to vote it down, and spreading false criticisms on ex-Twitter.

Bernie Sanders referred to him as "President Musk", but "emperor" fits better, since he is nothing like a president. Like Augustus in Rome, he has no official position, but through his riches he compels legislators to bow to him. Of course, there are many differences in detail; history does not repeat itself exactly.

This is very dangerous to the republic, since after some years of this it will be presented as normal and expected by the powerful voices.

Urgent: Reject Billy Long for head of IRS
21 December 2024

US citizens: phone your senators and tell them to reject Billy Long for head of the IRS. When in Congress he proposed to eliminate income tax so as to tax low-income people more with a national sales tax.

Every sales tax falls unfairly hard on low-income people. We ought to replace them with taxes that fall mainly on those who can afford to pay them.

If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121

Urgent: Prevent cuts to Social Security
21 December 2024

US citizens: call on Congress to prevent any cuts to Social Security. Stop any efforts to privatize this critical government program.

If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121

Computers judging how a person is treated
21 December 2024

It is fashionable to adopt policies whereby a computer system judges how a certain person deserves to be treated, but they "put a human in the loop" by giving per the job of looking at the computer's recommendations and authorizing them or not.

Experiment shows that such systems systematically fail. The article explains why they fail. What it comes down to is that "putting a human in the loop" is ineffective at correcting the computer system's errors, but instead has the practical effect of serving to excuse those errors.

The article linked to just above displays symbolic bigotry by capitalizing "black" but not "white". (To avoid endorsing bigotry, capitalize both words or neither one.) I denounce bigotry, and normally I will not link to articles that practice it. But I make exceptions for some articles because I consider them important — and I label them like this.

The experience with Israel's machine learning target selector system tends to confirm this conclusion.

Defeating Oligarchy is most urgent issue
21 December 2024

*Bernie Sanders Says Defeating Oligarchy Now Most Urgent Issue.*

Rejecting assertion of Ireland as anti-Israel
21 December 2024

*I utterly reject the assertion that Ireland is anti-Israel. Ireland is pro-peace, pro-human rights and pro-international law.* Well said!

Fear for attacks on climate research
21 December 2024

* Experts express fear — and resilience — as they prepare for [the wrecker]'s potential attacks on climate research.*

Climate science depends on measurements and records of measurements. Sometimes the same measurements are made in the same way for decades so that they will be fully comparable, So planet-roasters have canceled series of measurements, presumably in order to hamper climate science and thus interfere with reaching conclusions that will show the extent of the coming crisis.

They have even tossed out data from past measurements. Scientists had to rescue the precious records from dumpsters.

If they were saboteurs working for alien enemies, sent to weaken Earth's civilization, their actions would make sense. Why Earthlings would do it is beyond me.

Spain returns items taken by dictator 84 years ago
21 December 2024

*Spain's culture ministry has returned the first of more than 5,000 items taken by the dictator [Franco] 84 years ago.* That was shortly after the end of the civil war, in which most of the army joined the fascist rebellion, and the Spanish Republic was defended by the volunteers it could raise.

My friends in Spain told me, earlier in this century, that the right-wing party was still permeated by he influence of people who supported Franco's dictatorship, who blocked efforts to end the state's support for Franco. In the past decade, those efforts are going faster.

Statement on Syrian-led transition process
21 December 2024

The US, EU and Turkey endorsed a statement calling for *A Syrian-led transition to "produce an inclusive, non-sectarian and representative government formed through a transparent process", with respect for human rights.*

That doesn't mean it will be easy, or successful, but at east they endorse a good goal.

Secrets shared with bullshit generators
21 December 2024

Many people are opening their hearts and their secrets to bullshit generators. (And to the companies that run them, of course.)

Practical threats from wrecker's fascist machine
21 December 2024

Some major practical threats that the wrecker's fascist machine could wreak.

The page does not include some most profound threats which are longer term:

  • The fascist machine could completely control future federal elections.
  • A media system dominated by the fascist machine.
  • A legal system fully dominated by the fascist machine.

Coca-Cola's pledge on reusable packaging
21 December 2024

Coca-Cola made a highly publicized pledge to move to 25% reusable packaging by 2030. But now it seems to have quietly stopped talking about all that.

Depending on experts for carefully studied decisions
21 December 2024

Society depends on agencies that appoint experts to make carefully studied decisions. Right-wing extremists are working on destroying the ability to do this.

I will not claim that these agencies are always right. Business lobbies often persuade them to go against the interests of society and non-wealthy people. But the right-wing extremists are not trying to restrain that power — on the contrary, they seek to open the floodgates.

New Zealand government hollowed out environmental protections
21 December 2024

New Zealand's right-wing government hollowed out environmental protections by allowing some of them to be "fast-tracked" — that is, evaluated without taking due care.

There may be occasions when this is necessary, but mere profit can never be enough to justify it. Only something desperately needed can justify this.

Authorizing extraction of more natural gas
21 December 2024

A study by the US department of Energy reports that, as we would expect, authorizing extracting (and exporting) a lot more natural gas would speed up global heating.

This would increase the risk of deadly damage from "natural" disasters, such as hurricanes, flooding, fires, heat waves, and crop failures, as well as collapse of technological civilization, and these could lead to the death of tens or millions of people in the US. In the shorter term, more natural gas exports could cause difficulties in Americans' lives by making fossil gas more expensive.

This has been criticized as a weak criticism.

UK universities joining fossil fuel pledge
21 December 2024

*More than three-quarters of UK universities join fossil fuel pledge, say activists.*

Governments must do much more to restrain "investment" in causing global disaster, at whatever levels they can.

Belief in Santa Claus
21 December 2024

In parts of Britain, children of age 10-11 are likely to still believe in Santa Claus. And parents demand that other adults maintain the falsehood.

I'm amused by the irony of a cleric's puncturing one myth while upholding another. But I find it shocking and disturbing that anyone as old as 10 would still believe in Santa Clause.

Parents who hoax that children are liable to try to conscript other people into supporting the lie. This has happened to me, and it puts me in a moral conflict. I don't want to overturn their family arrangements, but joining in the hoax would be doing wrong to the children. I resent the attempt to rope me into doing wrong.

Urgent: Seeking speaking invitations
20 December 2024

I'm looking for speaking invitations for a trip in January and February that will include some part of Europe, then India, then some other part of Europe.

The first visit to Europe will be roughly Jan 16 to 22. The visit to India will start Jan 22 and can continue into February. The second visit to Europe will be after that. Those dates are flexible.

One advantage of this period for you is that the intercontinental flights are already covered, so you won't need to pay for that.

If you are interested in inviting me, and you have a venue to use and a public to invite, please email me soon with "speaking invitation" in the Subject field, using the name rms and the host gnu dot org.


The four factors of the apocalypse:
   global heating, global hating,
   global eating, global mating.


[More Cartoons]


Not f'd. You won't find us on Facebook

Copy this button (courtesy of R.Siddharth) to express your rejection of Facebook.


E-books

Non-oppressive Commercial E-books


Don't use Facebook

Facebook's face recognition demonstrates a threat to everyone's privacy. I therefore ask people not to put photos of me on Facebook; you can do likewise.

Of course, Facebook is bad for many other reasons as well.


Boycott Harry Potter Books, Movies, etc.



Internet Music EULAS



Business Supremacy Treaties



Countries to Stay Away From



No national identity cards

I'd like to make a list of countries that do not require a national identity card, and have no plans to adopt one. If you live in or have confirmed knowledge of such a country, please send email to rms at gnu.org.

Here's my list of countries with no national ID cards and no plans for one: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK. Australia's previous government tried to institute national ID cards, but the Labor government dropped the plan.

India has mostly finished imposing a national biometric ID number in a grand act of oppression.

Switzerland has national ID cards which are optional, but they or some other government ID card are needed for some purposes.

Iceland doesn't have ID cards as such, but they have ID numbers that citizens are forced to use frequently. For example, the national ID number is often required to rent a video or use a gym.

Denmark issues non-photo ID cards with a "person number", and many services use this card to identify people.

Norway will impose a national biometric ID card.

Ireland - national ID card by stealth.

ACLU: the five dangers of national ID cards.

Wikipedia has a list of identity card policies by country.


Borders

Stay away from certain countries because of their bad immigration policies.


Flight connections

Avoid flight connections in these airports because of their treatment of passengers.


The Lifelong Activist

People often ask how I manage to continue devoting myself to progressive activism (such as the free software movement) for years without burning out. The best way I can answer is by recommending a book, The Lifelong Activist by Hillary Rettig.

I disagree with the book on one theoretical point in the last part of the book: we shouldn't think of political activism as being marketing and sales, because those terms refer to business, and politics is something much more important than mere business. However, this doesn't diminish the value of the book's practical advice about borrowing techniques from marketing and sales.

Disclosure: I am friends with the author.


Bob Chassell

Writing (mostly science fiction) by my friend Bob Chassell who recently died.


Solidarity Economy and Free Software

Personal Declaration of Richard Stallman and Euclides Mance on Solidarity Economy and Free Software.


Falkvinge articles

I have reposted some of Rick Falkvinge's articles. As posted on his site, you can't see them in a browser without running some nonfree Javascript code which is apparently non-free. These versions show the same text, without the obstacle.


Long-term action items


Political Articles

These are my political articles that are not related to the GNU operating system or free software. For GNU-related articles, see the GNU philosophy directory. You can also download copies of my book, Free Software, Free Society, 3rd edition.

Political notes

"Those who profess to favor freedom, yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."

Here are notes about various issues I care about, usually with links to more information. The current notes are here. For all previous notes, see this page.

See this page for information on efforts to maintain links in the political notes.

Political notes about the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, Italy are being archived on their own page.

Media/Press/Bios

Richard Stallman's bio and publicity photos, and other things of interest to the press, have been moved to a separate page.

Travel experiences

Photos about my travels

Scientific Links


Some humor

The berry torture.

The Free Software Song, by Richard M. Stallman. You can listen to a performance of the song: Free Software Song performed by Thor Here is a variant of this song called "The Free Firmware Song".

A song parody, Colors of the Lisp, by Jefferson Carpenter.

Earth under attack from planet Koch.

On doxing, and how to spell it.

Futon Physics

A Spanish cartoon: La Ruleta Española. thumbnail

The Night before M-x-mas

Here I am wearing my "power tie".

Wine snobs get their comeuppance.

Here I am struggling to open a bottle of water.

My application to an join Marian Henley's ex-boyfriends list.

My funny poetry and song parodies.

My Cartoons

My Puns in English (Little Leaguer, August 2019).

My Puns in Spanish (New pun: Apostasía April 2019)

My Puns in French (New pun: Microsoft à l'école July 2019)

My Puns in Portuguese

My Puns in Italian (New pun: Quale pesce fa starnutire? New 10/2018)

My Puns in German (New 02/2016)

Linguistic Swifties (Now with: Wintu, Penutian, Cochiti, Taos, and Towa.)

I am a
     Saint In the Church Of Emacs --Saint IGNUcius-- The Church of Emacs will soon be officially listed by at least one person as his religion for census purposes.

There are no godfathers in the Church of Emacs, since there are no gods, but you can be someone's editorfather.

Stallman Does Dallas: "I have to warn you that Texans have been known to have an adverse reaction to my personality…"

The Dalai Lama today announced the official release of Yellow Hat GNU/Linux.

Pre-Zen Studies.

I found a funny song about the Mickey Mouse Copyright Act (officially the Sonny Bono Copyright Act) which extended copyright retroactively by 20 years on works made as early as the 1920s.

If you are a geek and read Spanish, you will love Raulito el Friki, who said "Hello, world!" immediately after he was born. Here's an archive of this now-defunct comic strip.

Sleeping with Stallman at MIT.

Un malentendido gracioso.

ESR's favorite programming language: Objectivist C.

American Extremists

My Small Mouth

The huns and the writs.

No Kludges in Cluj (June 2014)

Hammer into Anvil

Fiction

Made for You (December 2012) (local copy) Esperanto translation

A science fiction story: Jinnetic Engineering (in Portuguese, Farsi, Spanish, Armenian, Russian, French, and Italian).

The Right to Read

Books

My book of essays about the philosophy of Software Freedom, is available from the GNU Press.

Stallman on Love

Love and Dance

My Childhood Sweetheart

Made for You

My Former Personal Ad

Non-Political Articles

Am I Doctor Stallman?

Avec des chapeaux French song parody.

My radio program of Music from Georgia, originally broadcast on WUOG in Athens, Georgia on Oct 13, 2014.

Resolving the trolley problem

Quantum Theory and Abortion Rights

A proposal for gender neutrality in Spanish, suitable for both speech and writing.

Origin of the POSIX name.

On Hacking: In June 2000, while visiting Korea, I did a fun hack that clearly illustrates the original and true meaning of the word "hacker".

My Childhood Sweetheart

Love and Dance

Predicting the attack on Pearl Harbor

Certificate of confusion

Links

Thanks

I would like to thank:


Please send comments on these web pages to rms at gnu period org.

Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 Richard Stallman
Verbatim copying and redistribution of this entire page are permitted provided this notice is preserved.
Verbatim copying and redistribution of any of the photos in the photos subdirectory is permitted under the Creative Commons Noderivs license version 3.0 or later. You can copy and redistribute the photo of me playing music to the butterfly under the Creative Commons Noderivs Nocommercial license version 3.0 or later. Any other photos of me in this (the toplevel) directory may be copied and redistributed under the Creative Commons Noderivs license version 3.0