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

[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.

Dark new Gaza-phase. NOT OK with UK
23 May 2025

*UK suspends trade talks with Israel and attacks "repellent" extremism.* Finally this is starting to be te kind of pressure that could make Israel stop.

This accompanies moral condemnation of Israel's plan to conquer Gaza and forcibly expel the population.

New Palestinian state? UK, FRA
23 May 2025

The UK and France are negotiating about recognizing Palestine as a state.

Fracking fluid disasters, CO
23 May 2025

*US oil firms pumping … chemicals into ground and not fully reporting [which ones].*

National Weather Service dumbed
23 May 2025

The muskrat fired 10% of the staff of the National Weather Service, and the staff shortage hampers it from protecting Americans from dangerous weather.

This has already done real damage.

Urgent: Hope for Homeownership Act
23 May 2025

US citizens: phone your congresscritter to support the Hope for Homeownership Act, which would prevent hedge funds form buying up large numbers of houses and making them unavailable for people to buy as residences.

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

DOJ plans to control political attacks
23 May 2025

The wrecker has eliminated a regulation requiring consulting a special group before investigating or indicting a public official.

This would facilitate bullying officials by threatening arbitrarily to prosecute them.

Talk in Milan, Italy
22 May 2025

I will speak at 17:15 on May 26 in the Politecnico di Milano, in Milan, Italy at Piazza Leonardo Da Vinci 32, Room 9.1.2.

Topic: Computing freedom, software, and services

We understand that the uses of computing can be unjust. Most do not realize that the mechanisms of computing can be unjust at their own level in their own ways.

A nonfree program is one that that the users do not control. If that does your computing, its owners control your computing. This is the basic idea of the free software movement -- but what about using services?

When you use a service to do your own computing, the service's owner controls that computing. If that owner isn't you, this is unjust. By contrast, if your computer talks to a store's server on your behalf, to arrange a deal between you and the store, your side of that can be fully under your control. Society and powerful institutions lure and pressure people into a tangled web of online dis-services and nonfree software which may seem impossible to escape. But you can start by rejecting a few of them. Saying no even once is helping!

Safety of judge that ruled against the bully
21 May 2025

*Verbal attacks by [the bully] and allies are creating a hostile climate that endangers [safety of judge that ruled against him], experts say.*

Labour disregarding torture practices by some countries
21 May 2025

Labour is reviewing "security" relations with other countries, but doing it by disregarding some countries' torture practices despite criticizing them while it was not in power. These countries include India, Pakistan, Libya, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Salafi Arabia and Sierra Leone.

Of course, Labour desires favorable treatment by those other countries, but should not purchase that by treating their torture as acceptable.

Wrecker claims certain government grants for climate resilience was "fraud"
21 May 2025

The wrecker has declared, arbitrarily, that accepting certain government grants for climate resilience was "fraud". And he is trying to use that as an excuse to shut them down immediately by freezing their bank accounts, before any court decisions about the bizarre accusations.

Putin-ization of party of cold war hawks
21 May 2025

How the perverter Putin-ized a party of cold war hawks.

Young Britons would rather live in world with no internet
21 May 2025

Almost half of Britons age 16 to 21 would rather live in a world with no internet.

Nonfree software which is designed to be malware plays a role in many of the things they find painful. By rejecting nonfree software and SaaSS, they could avoid the worst aspects of today's internet. Users would have more control about how programs treat them. With free software for client programs, they would have more control over how services treat them — users could fix dark patterns and defeat attempts to addict them.

List of threats to survival of bees
21 May 2025

Compiling a list of all the threats to the survival of bees.

Britain, France and Canada attacked Israel's expansion of its war
21 May 2025

*Britain, France and Canada attacked Israel’s expansion of its war as disproportionate, described conditions in Gaza as "intolerable" and threatened a "concrete" response if Israel’s campaign continues.*

This looks like the start of a gradual diplomatic effort. That might have made sense 2 months ago, but now that people in Gaza are on the edge of starving, it is too slow.

Attack on nonprofits removed from House dooH niboR bill
21 May 2025

The attack on nonprofit organizations has been removed from the House dooH niboR bill, which still imposes large and deadly cuts on medical and food aid for the poor and grants large tax cuts to the rich.

Amnesty International declared 'undesirable organisation'
21 May 2025

*[Amnesty International] declared ‘undesirable organisation’ amid Kremlin crackdown on critics, journalists and activists.* It vows to continue its work anyway.

This is what the would-be dictator wants to do in the US.

CEO of CBS news is resigning
21 May 2025

The CEO of CBS News is resigning. One must suspect that the corporation that owns CBS wants to let the corrupter censor CBS News.

List of environmentally damaging budget cuts
21 May 2025

A list of environmentally damaging budget cuts in the Republicans' budget bill.

New Orleans Thugs operating 200 real-time face recognition cameras
21 May 2025

New Orleans Thugs are operating 200 real-time face recognition cameras, violating local laws.

Cash crucial for emergencies
21 May 2025

Sweden has recognized that cash is crucial in emergencies, and now encourages everyone to keep a supply of cash for emergency use and to use some regularly.

This is a victory against the danger of mass surveillance.

The central bank now urges the government to require some businesses and public agencies to accept cash. But there is no guarantee that such a law will be passed, or that it will cover enough places that ask for payment.

You can help pressure businesses to accept cash. Go to a business ready to buy something carrying a copy (or at least URL) of the statement in favor using cash, and offer to pay cash. If the business refuses to accept it, give it the statement and then say, "I'll return some day and see if you will accept cash from me."

It would be a good thing to establish a national organization to promote cash payment, and present anonymity as one of its advantages.


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