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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, so he will probably live many more years nonetheless. But he now has to be even more careful not to catch Covid-19.
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese is arriving in DC on October 23, so that is the time for everyone to show support for Assange, and our national office is coordinating people all over the country to do banner drops.
Albanese has told Biden before that he is not happy about the prosecution of Assange and we understand that he will be pushing harder this time, with 9 out of 10 Australians and 60 Australian lawmakers now favoring dropping the charges.
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.
The largest part of the site is the political notes, and they are typically updated every day.
I'm looking for people to![[America Means Civil Liberties / Patriotism Means Protecting
Them / www.aclu.org/safefree ]](flag_set_vectorized.png)
[ No upcoming talks. ]
If you phone, please spread the word! White House: +1-202-456-1111 and (TTY/TDD) +1-202-456-6213
HAMAS has total contempt for international humanitarian law; for that, we condemn it. However, this does not excuse Israel for imitating HAMAS and sinking to that same level.
If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
We should not forget that Israel's mistreatment of Palestinians consists of more than just direct killing, occasionally of many Palestinians at once, usually of a few at a time. The siege of Gaza causes suffering and death every day, and so too (in different ways) does the gradual suffocation of Palestinians in the West Bank (while "settlers" take their land).
If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
*UK mental health charities handed sensitive data to Facebook [with a tracking pixel].*
Let's start the attack on massive surveillance by making it illegal for a server to include a tracking pixel.
There should be a law requiring online services, if they close a user's account, to permit the user to continue to download whatever information perse had left in the account.
To be sure, it is foolish to rely on an online service to hold any data for you; you should store it locally, and use online services only as backups (encrypted). Preferably more than one online service in parallel, for redundancy. But we should not allow online services to cite this as an excuse for arbitrarily causing people great avoidable harm.
It should be a crime to knowingly approach a person while maskless inside a building or vehicle.
The extreme of this is represented by the Amazon warehouse, where a worker's every move is controlled by the computer system. This is one of many reasons to refuse to buy from Amazon.
Unfortunately, surveillance of workers is not limited to Amazon. I think states should pass laws to limit surveillance of workers. It should cover independent contractors as well as employees.
The law should completely forbid demanding that workers run any specific software on their own computers (keep in mind that portable phones are computers); the employer who wants that must furnish the computer at no charge.
Here are some quotations that I particularly like.
You can now read the political notes on Mastodon.
US citizens: call on Biden to keep his promise by decriminalizing marijuana.
If you phone, please spread the word! White House: +1-202-456-1111 and (TTY/TDD) +1-202-456-6213
US citizens: call on Congress to push for a cease fire in Gaza and for both sides to respect international humanitarian law
HAMAS has total contempt for international humanitarian law; for that, we condemn it. However, this does not excuse Israel for imitating HAMAS and sinking to that same level.
If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
US citizens: call on Congress to tell the SEC to exercise its full authority and protect investors from climate-related financial risks, specifically by requiring each corporation to publish the amount of greenhouse emissions expected from burning the fossil fuel that it expects to sell.
If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
US citizens: call on Congress to restore the expanded Child Tax Credit. It brought the child poverty rate to historic lows, and can do so again.
If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
A pitifully small number of aid trucks have been allowed into Gaza, far from what is needed to save civilians' lives.
US citizens: call on Congress to tax the rich more in various ways.
US citizens: call on Congress to make no cuts to family-supporting programs.
US citizens: call on the House to reject any insurrectionist as speaker.
US citizens: call for putting the wrecker in jail if he violates the gag order, which was imposed by a court to protect others involved in the trial from possible threats.
US citizens: call on Congress to pass the School Lunch Debt Cancellation Act, which would pay all student lunch debt and provide meals for all school children henceforth.
*UK government keeping files on [some] teaching assistants and librarians’ [social media posts]* to keep records of criticism of its policies.*
It looks like an opposition candidate has the potential to beat President Maduro in Venezuela, if he permits a fair race.
What she says about the oil industry suggests a possibility that even though she may respect human rights better than Maduro, her other political views may lean towards neoliberalism and extractivism. There isn't enough substance in the article for me to really tell.
*New[ly published] Documents Show Exxon Executives Cast Doubt on Climate Science to Protect Profits.* According to the article, Exxon did this in 1988, 2008, 2012 and 2015.
*Scientists are examining how building and use of infrastructure relates to the burden of illness [in a city].*
US citizens: call on Congress to support an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, so as to stop the loss of life and allow humanitarian aid, including medical attention, food, and water.
We should not forget that Israel's mistreatment of Palestinians consists of more than just direct killing, occasionally of many Palestinians at once, usually of a few at a time. The siege of Gaza causes suffering and death every day, and so too (in different ways) does the gradual suffocation of Palestinians in the West Bank (while "settlers" take their land).
When the FAO tried to publicize the role of cattle farming in global heating, it was hit by an organized lobbying and bullying campaign.
Since then it has downplayed this crucial issue of civilization's survival.
*Ex-officials at [FAO] say work on methane emissions was censored.*
*Impact of farming on climate crisis will be a key Cop topic -- finally.*
This year's climate conference is permeated by planet roaster influence, from the oil emir that is its head to the planet roaster companies that "sponsor" it and have tremendous influence.
I hope that it achieves some good despite that handicap.
*Amnesty International has documented unlawful Israeli attacks,
including indiscriminate attacks, which caused mass civilian
casualties and must be investigated as war crimes.*
Israel has damaged 1/3 of the housing in Gaza. It continues deliberately bombing and destroying residential buildings.
The very old St Porphyrius Church, in which civilians were sheltering, was damaged by a missile which hit a nearby building. Although the missile killed some of them, at least nobody tried to attack the church.
In Israel, Arabs and Israelis now face censorship and punishment if they oppose the war in Gaza.
Each time trumpet Republican Rep. Jordan held a vote on becoming speaker, the number of Republicans voting against him increased. It is now clear that the insurrectionists cannot elect a speaker.
That is something we can celebrate, but how can the House elect a speaker? Since the speaker does not have to be a member of the House, I suggest looking for a respected older leader, perhaps a retired judge, who is known for more probity than partisanship, to seek support among Democrats and Republicans.
The four factors of the apocalypse:
global heating, global hating,
global eating, global mating.
Copy this button (courtesy of R.Siddharth) to express your rejection of Facebook.
Non-oppressive Commercial E-books
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.
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.
Stay away from certain countries because of their bad immigration policies.
Avoid flight connections in these airports because of their treatment of passengers.
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.
Personal Declaration of Richard Stallman and Euclides Mance on Solidarity Economy and Free Software.
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.
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 order copies of my book, Free Software, Free Society, 3rd edition', signed or not signed.
"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."Frederick Douglass, American Abolitionist, Letter to an associate, 1849
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.
Richard Stallman's bio and publicity photos, and other things of interest to the press, have been moved to a separate page.
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.
A Spanish cartoon: La Ruleta
Española. 
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 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 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.)
--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.
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.
ESR's favorite programming language: Objectivist C.
No Kludges in Cluj (June 2014)
Made for You (December 2012) (local copy) Esperanto translation
A science fiction story: Jinnetic Engineering (in Portuguese, Farsi, Spanish, Armenian, Russian, French, and Italian).My book of essays about the philosophy of Software Freedom, is available from the GNU Press.
Avec des chapeaux French song parody.
My radio program of Music from Georgia, originally broadcast on WUOG in Athens, Georgia on Oct 13, 2014.
Quantum Theory and Abortion Rights
A proposal for gender neutrality in Spanish, suitable for both speech and writing.
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".
Predicting the attack on Pearl Harbor
I would like to thank:
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