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.

Join a protest:
No Kings October 18th

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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.

I will have a trip to Europe in the second week of October and I am looking for invitations for additional talks in the same trip. If you would like to invite me to speak in that trip, please write to me at rms-invitation@gnu.org with "october" as the subject.

It is more likely I can actually go if you have funds to cover the additional cost, and a speaker's fee would be nice.

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

I will have a trip to Europe in the second week of October and I am looking for invitations for additional talks in the same trip. If you would like to invite me to speak in that trip, please write to me at rms-invitation@gnu.org with "october" as the subject.

It is more likely I can actually go if you have funds to cover the additional cost, and a speaker's fee would be nice.

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: Build clean energy now
7 October 2025

US citizens: call on local officials to build clean energy now.

Urgent: Call on big tech to cancel contracts with Israel's government
7 October 2025

US citizens: call on Big Tech, including Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, to cancel all contracts with Israel's government now.

See the instructions for how to sign this letter campaign without running any nonfree JavaScript code—not trivial, but not hard.

Brains scans show effects of greater inequality
7 October 2025

Scans of the brains of 10,000 children in various US localities found that greater inequality goes with certain differences in their brains.

I would be very surprised if there were only one possible explanation that fits the recorded facts. This experiment may be a key to an important phenomenon, but I expect it will take many more experiments to determine what that phenomenon is.

Meanwhile, we don't need brain scans to observe the harmful effects of inequality on society.

Local groups taking power away from HAMAS
7 October 2025

Various local groups are taking power away from HAMAS in parts of Gaza.

HAMAS is a terrorist organization, so ousting it from the position of government of Gaza could be a good thing. But not necessarily.

It is not clear whether they care what happens to the people who live in Gaza, or solely seek to subjugate them in a less ideological way while enriching themselves. If they were offered a deal whereby they would gt rich and move to Qatar, while the rest of the people of Gaza got expelled or slaughtered, would they accept it?

(Satire) Tax breaks to attract religious doomsday cults
7 October 2025

(satire) *Indiana Offers Tax Breaks To Attract Religious Doomsday Cults.*

About Lee Lawrence
7 October 2025

About Lee Lawrence, who campaigns and teaches cops to avoid making racist mistakes like the one where they shot and paralyzed his mother.

He reports that British thugs are still not held responsible for he damage they do to innocent people after a series of "mistakes".

Australian billionaire started Singaporean company
7 October 2025

An Australian billionaire started a Singaporean company with his money to do business in Australia, so that he can use business-supremacy treaties with ISDS clauses to get rights over his business that Australian law does not grant to Australians.

All of these treaties should be wiped out, because they were never anything but a tool for extortion.

Wrecker's peace plan for Gaza
7 October 2025

The wrecker's peace plan for Gaza is a big step up from what Netanyahu has been trying to impose. Many of the current injustices would end.

But I distrust any activity that is under the control of a lying bully such as the saboteur in chief, and the inclusion of Tony B'liar does not inspire trust either.

Illinois governor condemns the fascist leader
7 October 2025

*Illinois governor JB Pritzker and others condemn the [fascist leader] for suggesting cities be used as military training grounds.*

He suggested that troops in cities was something worse than training — that it was war against the Americans in those cities.

Withdrawal of untrustworthy nominee for Bureau of Labor Statistics
7 October 2025

The bullshitter was compelled to withdraw his untrustworthy nominee to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

I expect he will nominate someone who is willing to lie for him but hasn't got a record that screams that perse would lie.

Democrats wouldn't cave, Republicans shut down the government
7 October 2025

Democrats in Congress refused to cave in to the threat to shut down the government, so Republicans went ahead and shut down the government (aside from the essential agencies that stay open in such situations).

You don't defeat bullies by caving in to their threats. The harm they achieve when you give in is worse than what the threats actually do.

The nastier the bully's threats, the more important it is to resist. Democrats should continue to stand firm.

Bully's henchmen trying to excuse extrajudicial killings
7 October 2025

The bully's henchmen are trying to excuse extrajudicial killings with hand waving about supposed "narco-terrorism". There is no legal validity to that argument.

Nominee companies in Australia
7 October 2025

In Australia, *"nominee companies" – paid to be listed as shareholders on behalf of unnamed investors – could be reducing accountability over financial support of [fossil fuel] industry.*

There is a simple solution: legislate a requirement to identify their shareholders.

American democracy's demise
7 October 2025

*American democracy might not survive another year — is Europe ready for that?*

Al-Shabaab territorial land grab
7 October 2025

Al-Shabaab has captured large parts of Somalia.

To understand what that means, imagine if Charles Kirk were leading an army that tries to capture parts of the USA and impose Christian Nationalism.

Guard deployment blocked
7 October 2025

The bully is trying to put California's national guard on the streets of Portland, Oregon. Governor Newsom of California is suing to block this.

Creation of stand-by militias
7 October 2025

*How a neo-Nazi cell infiltrated a martial arts school in Tennessee.*

Undermining democratic principles
7 October 2025

*If Europe keeps placating its own far right, how can it possibly stand up to [the far-right bully in the United States]?

Incoming judges alarms law experts
7 October 2025

The persecutor is firing experienced immigration judges who stick to the legal responsibilities of their job, and recruiting military judges who never learned those responsibilities and bring with them a military idea of "justice."

The compact
7 October 2025

*The would-be autocrat threatens to cut funds for specific universities unless they sign away freedom of speech and academic freedom.*


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