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.

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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.

Bullhorn expulsion
28 October 2024

Swarthmore College is accusing students of "assaulting" people in campus by using megaphones to shout protest slogans, and threatens to expel them as a punishment.

The college administrators who allow such attacks to be made against freedom of speech have demonstrated their unfitness for the job, and ought to resign. Or, either than resigning, cancel the proceedings and join the side of freedom of speech.

Roundup weedkiller
28 October 2024

Bayer did not remove glyphosate from its weedkillers as promised, but it did release new ones that are very toxic.

Aberdeen clean energy plan
28 October 2024

Global heating threatens to kill billions of people in this century. But the short-term-thinking people of Aberdeen look with terror measures to reduce the use of fossil fuels and see that 200,000 jobs in that field might disappear.

Then they exaggerate and say, "They are killing us", but it is only certain world-destroying jobs that would disappear. This wouldn't actually kill anyone.

If Britain makes its welfare system adequate, the disappearance of some jobs won't be a disaster for anyone. And it will help avoid a much bigger disaster for everyone.

Musk tax gift
28 October 2024

If the wrecker takes the presidency and appoints Musk to a federal office, Musk would get an enormous tax break.

But that would be tiny compared to the profit he could get by bullying people into giving him almost anything he wants. He would not be president, but he would be emperor, having more power than any president ever had.

Rafik Hariri hospital
28 October 2024

Lebanese fear Israel will now bomb their hospitals.

Death of Edwin Santos
28 October 2024

A Venezuelan opposition figure who was seized by state suppression forces on Wednesday turned up dead on Friday.

Harris’s Medicare at Home!
28 October 2024

Sign in support of Harris's plan to have Medicare cover the cost of at-home help for people who medically need such help.

Sudan’s deadly civil war
28 October 2024

Claiming that the civil war in Sudan continues because each side is propped up by rich or powerful Arab countries.

Lawsuit Against Mifepristone
28 October 2024

Many Republicans have been downplaying the abortion issue while some states prepare a court case that could restrict distribution of mifepristone in the whole US.

High Russian death toll
28 October 2024

It seems that the Putin forces recruit 20,000 soldiers per month, while suffering casualties at about the same rate.

They mostly recruit convicts and people from poor regions who join for the money. As a result, Russians in general don't feel upset about the high casualties. Russian generals don't care either.

Helen O’Sullivan
28 October 2024

Helen O’Sullivan was with Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi in an olive grove away from everyone else, when the latter was killed by a sniper's bullet.

Next president fascist
28 October 2024

Some of the people who know the bully best are calling him "fascist".

More "lifelong Republican" former aides [of the bully] denounce ex-president in letter.

*"Fascist", "conman", "predator", "cheat": what 11 former staffers of [the corrupter] say about him now.*

One of the "staffers" was not exactly a staffer. He was an elected official: Vice President Pence, who refused to betray the Constitution when the corrupter demanded it.

Nader warns about the wrecker
28 October 2024

Ralph Nader advises the US Chamber of Commerce that the wrecker will be bad for its members. "Be careful what you wish for!"

Netflix removing films
28 October 2024

Netflix abruptly disappeared nearly all the films in its "Palestinian Stories" collection.

This demonstrates a political aspect of the basic injustice of streaming as a way of distributing works of art and opinion: nobody is allowed to have a copy that is copyable, so the company can make the work nonexistent.

The streaming dis-services take DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) to the next level of injustice. Please join me in refusing to use them (I have never done so, not even once).

When the only copies that respect people's rights are unauthorized copies, insist on unauthorized copies!

UN relations
28 October 2024

*Israel's plan to ban Unrwa from accessing Gaza marks new low in its relations with UN

US only nation likely to be able to persuade Netanyahu to drop plan condemned by 123 member states.*

Young male voters
28 October 2024

Republicans are *doing a really wonderful job of faking relationships* with individual supporters.

It always bothers me when an organization pretends that my support for it is a personal relationship Rather than a political position. I don't make a fuss about it because that doesn't affect my support for the cause (whichever cause that might be). But since it feels manipulative, I would rather the organization didn't do that.

Elon Musk’s declaration
28 October 2024

Musk is trying to destroy the Center for Countering Digital Hate for sharply criticizing the slant of ex-Twitter towards right-wing hate. His methods so far include (1) exaggeration and (2) trying to stretch the law (but failing so far).

Overall I think his aim is to intimidate people into surrendering to his encroachment on election law, as they would if he were emperor.

I am of two minds about on-line hate. On the one hand, that hate can whip up right-wing hate campaigns that undermine human rights generally. On the other hand, laws against expressing hatred as such are a form of censorship, and the laws can easily be redirected to suppress protests that the state does not like.

Nobel prize winners endorse Harris
28 October 2024

*Nobel prize winners endorse Harris and warn [the corrupter] would endanger future of science. … letter by 82 laureates … calls [the corrupter] a potential threat to progress on climate crisis.*

Urgent: Oppose weak e2e encryption and infringing free speech
28 October 2024

US citizens: Tell lawmakers, "I oppose all bills that weaken end-to-end encryption, infringe upon teenagers’ constitutional right to free speech on the internet, and enable censorship of valuable online resources for abortion seekers and LGBTQ+ communities."

LA Times editor resigned
28 October 2024

The editor of the LA Times has resigned after the paper's owner forbade endorsing Harris for president.


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