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.

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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.

Urgent: Stop wrecker's authoritarian troop deployment
17 June 2025

US citizens: call on Congress to Stop [the wrecker]'s Authoritarian Troop Deployment.

The line between military and civilian government is among the critical protections for democracy.

(satire) Children born under Biden to be renamed after confederate generals
17 June 2025

(satire) *Trump Orders All Children Born Under Biden To Be Renamed After Confederate Generals.*

Commercial "period tracker" apps
17 June 2025

Commercial "period tracker" apps, which connect to servers, collect users personal data and then store them in the servers for others to obtain.

A bizarre alternative has been proposed: governments would run these apps and store the data in their own servers.

One might wish we could trust those governments not to use that data against the users who entered them — but if the government is taken over by right-wing fanatics, it will use those data in all the nastiest ways — including punishing abortion.

The real solution to this problem is to keep the data encrypted on your own computer. But in order for users to rationally trust it, it needs to be free software, so that no one is in a position to corrupt the program.

Robbery by man claiming to be deportation thug
17 June 2025

A man who said he was a deportation thug tied up a sales clerk and took $1000 in cash.

The article asserts that he was an impostor and not a real deportation thug. Perhaps so — but can anyone verify that? Can we be sure he wasn't an authentic deportation thug?

Deceit and cruelty by deportation thugs
17 June 2025

The deportation thugs are practicing deceit and cruelty — for instance, tricking people into signing papers that accept deportation.

Israel's attack on the Madleen humanitarian aid ship
17 June 2025

On June 8-9, Israel attacked the Madleen, a ship bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza, operated by the Hind Rajab Foundation. The foundation has formally filed a war crimes complaint about this attack,

*Eyewitnesses report that passengers were physically assaulted, exposed to choking white substances sprayed from drones, and denied communication with the outside world.*

The ship and its personnel did not try to commit any violence or any damage against Israel, so there is no possible excuse for the violence that Israel committed against the ship and the personnel.

Israel attacked vessels carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza several years ago.

Order on grant applications that talk about DEI
17 June 2025

A federal judge has temporarily blocked enforcement of the executive order to reject grant applications that talk about DEI or mention the existence of trans people.

Algae in waterways rapidly increasing
17 June 2025

* As the Earth heats up, the amount of algae in our waterways is rapidly increasing, transforming the colour of lakes and killing entire ecosystems.*

Several massive human outputs combine to cause algae blooms, and human economic growth increases all of them.

Big Bad Bill built on falsehoods
17 June 2025

*[The Big Bad Bill] is built on falsehoods about low-income families.*

Poor people don't make bad decisions out of laziness. They do it out of high levels of stress in their lives.

(satire) Executive order reversing all vasectomies
17 June 2025

(Satire) *[Saboteur-in-chief] Issues Executive Order Reversing All Vasectomies.*

Planet roasters labeling methane as "clean energy"
17 June 2025

Orwellian planet roasters are labeling fossil gas (methane) as "clean energy".

Wrecker to label power plant emissions "not significant"
17 June 2025

The wrecker is planning to label US greenhouse emissions from power plants as "not significant", showing his usual disregard for facts, as an excuse to permit increasing them.

How Chicago protects residents from deportation
17 June 2025

What Chicago does to protect its residents from deportation.

I must rebuke the article's author for saying that the bullshitter has *worked to fulfill campaign pledges to carry out mass deportations after promising to remove "millions".* Yes, he said that, but he has no sense of obligation to carry out promises, whether campaign promises or any other kind.

He sticks to this line of attack because he thinks it is an effective strategy for reducing the US to submission. Part of the reason for that is that magats are mad for it. That has a superficial partial resemblance to "carrying out a promise," but they are fundamentally different.

Grass taking over vast areas of Britain
17 June 2025

Vast areas of Britain have been taken over by a grass that forms a mono culture. No birds or insects can live in those areas.

Former prisoners in Guantánamo suing UK government
17 June 2025

Two former prisoners in Guantánamo are suing the UK government, claiming it was complicit in the torture they suffered at the hands of the US government.

Ocean acidification worse than believed
17 June 2025

Remeasuring ocean acidification has found it is worse than scientists had believed.

This will soon start wiping out corals, crustaceans, and mollusks with shells, by dissolving their shells. This will also wipe out thousands of species that depend on corals.

Urgent: Troop deployments on US soil
16 June 2025

US citizens: call on Congress to *Stop [the wrecker]'s Authoritarian Troop Deployment.*

*The line between military and civilian government is among the critical protections for democracy.*

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

Long-time Argentina activist teaches US
16 June 2025

An Argentine political activist, who was disappeared in 1977 by the military which had seized power, sees in the bully's tyranny a resemblance to the tyranny in Argentina.

Long-time Russian activists teach US
16 June 2025

Exiled Russian human rights activists teach Americans several terms that Russians developed to refer to phenomena of Putin's developing dictatorship, so that Americans can use them to understand them when the would-be dictator of our country does them.

The grandstander's personal playbook
16 June 2025

The bullshitter's go-to distraction technique is to accuse his victims and enemies of doing the wrongs he is doing.

With enough of a mindless chorus of supporters, people who don't have a clear orientation have trouble seeing the ground through the fog of similar-looking counter-accusations.


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