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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.

Don't watch TV coverage of Covid-19!

Our next Boston area rally for Julian Assange is September 25th at 4pm in Porter Sq in Cambridge. This particular Free Assange Rally happens as Australian Lawmakers have just traveled to DC for their “Free Assange, Enough is Enough!” appeal to the US Dept. of Justice.

Boston Area Assange Defense will gather together as press-freedom and human-rights defenders continue to protest the US-unconstitutional prosecutorial pursuit of journalist Julian Assange. Assange is imprisoned in a London supermax prison, awaiting extradition to the US for publishing the truth about US war crimes. Our fight continues with these recent events:

The trial date for Assange’s last UK court hearing is due any day now – we hope that Assange’s defense will be able to fight this extradition through the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), but this case is unprecedented and we cannot depend on justice being served. It’s up to all of us, not just journalists, to continue fighting against this pursuit of a journalist!

Please join us at Porter Sq, Monday, Sept 25th, 4-5:30 pm!


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.

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

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.

Urgent: Limit heavy-duty trucks' emissions
27 September 2023

US citizens: call on the EPA to adopt a stronger limit for pollution from trucks.

Richard Stallman will give a talk
27 September 2023

Richard Stallman will give a talk on September 30th in Prague, Czech Republic, at Charles University (Univerzita Karlova) at 14:00h.

The event is organized by The Faculty of Educational Studies (Pedagogická fakulta), Free Digital Society members. It ends at 16:30.

53K Armenians on the road
27 September 2023

The Armenian inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh are fleeing after Azerbaijan's conquest.

Striking auto workers and presidential power brokers
27 September 2023

Striking auto workers now see that Biden supports them and the fascist despises them.

Urgent: Limit the heavy-duty trucks' emissions
27 September 2023

US citizens: call on the EPA to adopt a stronger limit for pollution from trucks.

UN Refugee, and EU Rights conventions targeted by Tory
27 September 2023

The Tory minister in charge of the hostile environment in Britain calls for rejecting the European convention on human rights.

Julian Assange's perfunctory final hearing is expected very soon. Extraditing him raises issues of violating the European convention on human rights. Will the UK follow its obligations under the treaty, or use the occasion, Putin-like, to display contempt for it?

Conman guilty of fraud
27 September 2023

The corrupter has been found guilty of fraud for tremendously exaggerating the value of his businesses in order to get deals.

The judge canceled his business certificates in New York State. Large fines follow.

*Trump is a real estate "genius" only in a "fantasy world".*

"Defund the prosecutors"
26 September 2023

*[The] Conman […] tells GOP to shut down the government to stop his criminal trials (which it won't).*

Urgent: Stop platforming the fascist leader
26 September 2023

US citizens: call on ABC, CBS, PBS, NBC, CNN, and affiliates: Stop platforming the fascist leader.

Public spending: a rationale
26 September 2023

*It’s a lie promoted by the right [wing] that state help saps people of their drive.*

Unemployment as antidote to arrogance
26 September 2023

Plutocrats want working-class people to have to try desperately to find a job, so that they will take a subservient attitude towards their so-called "betters".

Urgent: The Israeli Democracy Resolution
26 September 2023

US citizens: call on members of Congress to co-sponsor the Israeli Democracy Resolution.

I am not forgetting about the injustice of the occupation of Palestine, but the fight to prevent Israel from being taken by fascism is in a crucial stage now.

The Capitol Switchboard number is +1-202-224-3121

If you phone, please spread the word!

Urgent: Please phone your congresscritter
26 September 2023

US citizens: phone your congresscritter and convey this message.

My name is NAME, I am your constituent. Please reject any budget that slashes Medicaid, and publicly oppose any plan to create a closed-door commission to cut Social Security and Medicare.

The Capitol Switchboard number is +1-202-224-3121.

If you phone, please spread the word!

Urgent: Stop funding JBS meats
26 September 2023

US citizens: call on Citibank and BofA to stop funding JBS Foods, because of its deforestation.

Urgent: Protect the Western Arctic from oil drilling
26 September 2023

US citizens: call on the Bureau of Land Management to protect the Western Arctic from oil drilling.

Reality TV show contestants
26 September 2023

* Reality TV show contestants are more like unpaid interns than Hollywood stars.*

Exploitation of interns occurs in many fields of business.

When there is competitive pressure on people starting out on careers, they are compelled to accept whatever form of hazing might get them started. A need for an unpaid internship can really cut down the candidate pool. Meanwhile, the candidate or per parents needs to have money in order to support the internship. It becomes one of the things that keeps the children of poor families out of good jobs.

But let's not forget that enabling the most capable young people get the best jobs is only part of what is needed for a good society. We need to enable everyone to have a decent life — which means, the less capable don't get so much less than the more skilled.

Likewise, social mobility is not as important as giving everyone a decent life. Social mobility is one of the ways the wealthy try to convince most of society to settle for a chance of getting rich rather than demanding a decent life.

Family life in Scandinavia
26 September 2023

Family life in Scandinavia, with the help of government-funded child care, encourages couples to share housework and to reserve mealtimes for togetherness.

FDA warns pharma companies about patents
26 September 2023

The FDA warned pharma companies to stop lying about which drugs are covered by their patents.

The patent system is basically a scheme to give big companies power over markets. In the area of medicine, they enable pharma companies to make medicines so expensive that most people who need them, even in a "rich" country (one with a comparatively large fraction of rich people), cannot afford them.

The companies argue for this power based on the expense of developing and then testing the drugs. Indeed, those are expensive, and we can't just wish those expenses away. But the development expenses are often paid for by the government (as they should be) and yet the government allows the company to seize the profit for itself. As for the testing, giving pharma companies control over testing of medicines enables them to corrupt it.

We should most definitely remove testing of the effects of medicines from their hands.

Disney silent on issues such as gay rights
26 September 2023

Disney has yielded to right-wing culture wars and plans to be s silent about issues such as gay rights and racial equality.

Since the right-wing extremists will surely continue fighting to impose their views on everyone, this is a setback for society.

Please keep in mind that Disney's commercial activities are fully based on injustice: DRM, identifying all customers, and antisocializing contracts which demand users commit not to share copies,

Sharing is good and should be lawful. Thus, the only modern copy of a Disney movie or TV program that does not do you injustice is an unauthorized copy.

Michigan raised minimum age for marriage
26 September 2023

Michigan has raised the minimum age for marriage to 18, protested by Republicans.

This change may be for the better. Marriage is a difficult responsibility, nowadays more than ever.

However, referring to teenagers under 18 as "children" is propaganda for treating them as helpless and "protecting" them from any agency, even in activities and relationships far less difficult than marriage.


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.


Support the Green Party



Republican Election Rigging Tactics



Evoting



The Olympics



Why everyone has a reason to fear massive surveillance



Churchandstate.org.uk


Censorship and Repression


Private equity


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 order copies of my book, Free Software, Free Society, 3rd edition', signed or not signed.

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