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.

Political Articles | Political Notes | Talks | Airlines | Anti-Glossary | Archive | Ban face recognition | Books | Comics | Empire of the Megacorporations | Fiction | Glossary | GPG Key | Humor | Humorous Bio | Links | Media/Press/Bio | Non-Political Articles | The Four Factors of the Apocalypse | There Ought to Be a Law | Travel Experiences | Travel Photos | How I Do My Computing | RMS personal FAQ | Sayings | Scientific Links | Stallman on Love | Thanks |

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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

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

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.

Feds pull aid amid LA-fires aftermath
31 May 2025

The magats' cuts in federal agencies that aid survival and reconstruction after emergencies are interfering with recovery from the disastrous Los Angeles fires of January.

Art Spiegelman documentary censored, PBS
31 May 2025

PBS canceled a documentary about Art Spiegelman because the people making it refused to omit a scene in which Spiegelman talks about a cartoon that criticizes the would-be king.

Ironically, the executive of PBS had rational grounds to fear that any criticism of him might provoke him to try to destroy PBS. That does not make craven censorship acceptable.

Even more ironically, since he is already trying to destroy PBS, practically speaking PBS had nothing to lose by allowing that scene except its honor.

UK trade deal light on social values
31 May 2025

*Dismay as UK prepares to sign "values-free" £1.6bn trade deal with Gulf states.*

Hegseth tattoos provoke PISSI
31 May 2025

PISSI is citing both the persecutor and Hegseth to recruit supporters.

(PISSI is the Pseudo-Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.)

Stephen Miller arrest-quotas
31 May 2025

The persecutor has ordered the deportation thugs to arrest at least 3,000 people per day.

Quotas for arrests are automatically unjust, since they can only be filled if the thugs arrest people who normally should not have been arrested.

DEA's program for massive collection of phone call records
30 May 2025

On the DEA's program for massive collection of phone call records.

French hunter being prosecuted for killing bear
30 May 2025

A French hunter shot and killed a bear that was chewing on his leg, and is being prosecuted for killing a protected bear.

It appears that he went to hunt boar in a protected nature reserve. Perhaps he should be tried for that — but that crime cannot deserve death or maiming as a punishment.

Perhaps he should be sentenced to paint clearer markers around the nature reserve, as a form of community service. That will protect the other bears there.

Facial recognition used on participants of protest in Hungary
30 May 2025

Hungary used facial recognition to punish the participants in protests, for a cause that has been outright forbidden to express.

Costs of flushing moist towelettes down toilets
30 May 2025

Spain is considering a law to require manufacturers of moist towelettes to pay the cost of the cleanup made necessary when people flush them down toilets.

Those costs are substantial, which is why people are taught not to flush anything solid except human waste and toilet paper down a toilet. But not everyone has learned not to do this.

Argentina pressuring women to have babies
30 May 2025

Argentina's right-wing government is trying to pressure women to get pregnant and then to have babies.

UK nationalizing train companies
30 May 2025

The UK has started nationalizing train operating companies. Now the new operator has to use the money it will no longer pay in dividends to improve train service.

One of the painful effects of privatization was that your ticket was always for a specific train run by a specific company. If all the trains are from the same company, there is no need for that to be so.

Diesel pollution defeat device
30 May 2025

The "defeat device" fraud, which disguised the pollution of diesel engines while their emissions were measured, is estimated to have killed 16,000 people in the UK.

It may be less in the US because the US forced manufacturers to fix the cars.

Salafi Arabia's brainwashing prisons
30 May 2025

Inside Salafi Arabia's secret brainwashing prisons for disobedient women.

Mary Trump describes flaws of the persecutor
30 May 2025

Mary Trump describes the character flaws of her uncle, the persecutor.

US needs to offer education in skilled trades
30 May 2025

The US needs to offer young people education in skilled trades without the expense of college.

This reminds me that we need also more craft and trade workers who are trained through apprenticeships. At least we do, around Boston. But maybe what we need is to make it easier for customers to find them.

Urgent: Big Bad Bill in Senate
30 May 2025

US citizens: phone your senators and urge them to reject injustices in the Republicans' Big Bad Bill

One injustice is making court orders unenforceable — so the bully could brush aside those impediments to absolute power.

Another injustice is the cuts in medicine and food aid for Americans who can't afford it.

And then there are the tax cuts for the rich. (The rest of this email I have copied from a message which suggested running nonfree software. I can't refer the public to that!)

Republicans know these tax cuts are wildly unpopular, so they’re scrambling to rebrand. Speaker Mike Johnson trimmed the plan slightly and Trump floated a tiny rate increase for ultra-high earners both designed to generate positive press.

But don’t be fooled, this is still a massive giveaway to the billionaire class:

  • Trump’s revised plan still delivers hundreds of billions to billionaires
  • Just 800 billionaires (out of 130 million households, that’s the top 0.000006%) control more wealth than the bottom 50% of American households combined.
  • Investment income — the main source of wealth for the richest — is still shielded from fair taxation
  • There's still no tax on wealth — despite its increasingly extreme concentration
We need a tax system that serves all of us, not just the wealthiest few. That means closing loopholes, taxing wealth, and investing in the public good: affordable healthcare, strong schools, safe communities, and a government that reflects the will of the people.

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

Pentagon infighting: wiretaps, leaks
30 May 2025

The wrecker and Pentagon officials are in a dispute in which various officials accuse other officials of lying.

They must all expect the others to lie, but they surely don't like wondering, "Which ones are lying to me?"

Maybe none of them can trust each other any more.

UKR-RUS war analysis
30 May 2025

Putin is not interested in negotiating peace with Ukraine. He thinks he can win more by continuing to attack.

The only way to stop this war of conquest is by supporting Ukraine in fighting it.

Harvard on federal chopping block
30 May 2025

*The bully has canceled $100m in contracts [with Harvard]* as simple retribution for its refusal it submit.

Switching to debt-reaper mode, CHI
30 May 2025

China joins the US and some European countries as big creditors that will squeeze poor countries dry.


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".

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.

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

The text to a filk song, Johnny v. N., by Paul Rubin.

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