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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!

Rally: This Julian Assange rally is Monday, June 12, at 11am at the Boston Globe, One Exchange Place, Boston (State subway stop.) We are calling out the Boston Globe for their lack of coverage of the most important press freedom case of our time — the unjust persecution of Julian Assange under the Espionage act. At noon, we will break and write letters together at Falafel Place at 260 Washington St. Let's concentrate on the Globe, but of course you can write to whoever you're inspired to write to.

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.

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.

Torture of innocents, US and AU
3 June 2023

Australia will spend AUD 350 million per year to maintain Nauru as a prison for boat people, inaccessible to the press and off limits to rule of law.

That prison is Australia's shame, just as Guantanamo is America's.

Enhanced Rock Weathering, ERW
3 June 2023

Greenland's glaciers grind the rock under them, producing a billion tons per year of powdered rock, which becomes mud. When spread on farms in warmer zones, it absorbs large amounts of CO2, while acting as fertilizer.

Paid Wikipedia editors, COP28
3 June 2023

The UAE oil prince who is the head of this year's corrupt climate conference is having employees edit Wikipedia pages to greenwash his activities.

No rights: Rohingya in Bangladesh
3 June 2023

*Stateless Rohingya could soon be the "new Palestinians", top UN official warns.*

Citizen journalism, Iran
3 June 2023

Journalists who covered the killing of protester Mahsa Jina are on trial in Iran and facing torture.

Free speech hypocrisy, UK ministers
3 June 2023

*If you defend free speech, you must defend it all and not silence those you disagree with.*

In particular, people like Kathleen Stock who advocate certain rights based on biological sex must not be censored, and people who oppose that must also not be censored.

Trans activists protested at her talk. Some of them tried to prevent it, but did not succeed. As a result, both sides got to present their views.

One trans activist compared Stock's expression of her opinions to the construction of fossil fuel projects. By thinking about that claim we can see the basic difference between them.

The feebleness of governments efforts to curb global heating is not a mere statement of opinion. It is an action, and a deadly one. The beginning of climate breakdown is already killing millions of people, and will kill hundreds of millions or perhaps billions in a few decades. It is legitimate for those likely to be killed by fossil fuel developments in a few decades to fight to stop them.

By contrast, Dr. Stock, and likewise the protesters who disagree with her, do not decide the legal questions they disagree on. They can only express their views and hope to influence others. All of them have the right to do that.

War "hero" killed civilian prisoners
1 June 2023

An Australian "hero" of the war in Afghanistan was found in court to have intentionally killed civilian prisoners.

He was not on trial; the trial was over his accusation of libel against newspapers which published accusations against him. The court found the newspapers not liable because they proved the accusations were true.

Will he now be accused of murder? That sounds like the next step.

Buyback limits
1 June 2023

Comparing two proposed laws to limit stock buybacks by corporations.

The Stock Buyback Accountability Act of 2023 would impose a tax on buybacks, as well as certain situations when this tax would not apply (i.e. if the buyback were part of an employer-sponsored retirement plan or employee stock options plan).

The Reward Work Act would prevent issuers from buying their own securities on a national exchange:

I think the two are complementary.

UK welfare limit failure
1 June 2023

The Tories limited welfare benefits to supporting two children per family. This was supposed to pressure parents to get jobs. All it did was throw children into poverty.

Lab leaks happen every week
1 June 2023

Lab leaks of potentially dangerous pathogens happen every week. (This is because there are many such labs around the world.) Usually the labs cover them up. Usually no lasting harm is done.

Backup lines of defense, if any disease should start spreading, are not very strong.

Urgent: protect the Pacific Remote Islands
1 June 2023

US citizens: call on Biden to protect the Pacific Remote Islands.

To see the confirmation message in your browser, delete or disable CSS.

Plastic waste responsibility
1 June 2023

Kenya has adopted a law making companies responsible for the plastic waste that they generate.

Cory Doctorow recommended same debt ceiling approach
1 June 2023

Cory Doctorow that I recommended.

Putin forces capture city of Bakhmut
31 May 2023

The Putin forces have more or less captured the city of Bakhmut. They lost tens of thousands of soldiers doing so.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has 3/4 surrounded the city by capturing high ground around it. My partial knowledge of military history suggests that the safe thing for the Putin forces to do would be to pull out of the exposed salient which the city has become. I don't think they will, though. I think Putin's ego is bigger than his tactical understanding.

Maybe Ukraine should rename the city to Putingrad to make sure they don't pull out of it.

Tories demonizing disabled people on benefits
31 May 2023

*A decade after the Tories demonized disabled people on benefits, it's happening again.*

If you are a non-rich working Briton, and your tax burden for supporting worthy causes such as helping the disabled is high, don't blame them! Blame the rich bastards who avoid contributing their proper share -- by supporting Tories.

Oath Keepers founder gets 18 years
31 May 2023

*Far-right Oath Keepers founder sentenced to 18 years over January 6 attack.*

DeMentis sued over law banning drag performances
31 May 2023

* [Hamburger Mary’s in Orlando, Florida] is suing [governor DeMentis] over a law that bans drag performances.*

5,000 species discovered in mining hotspot
31 May 2023

*More than 5,000 new species discovered in Pacific deep-sea mining hotspot.*

Deep-sea mining, done the way companies intend, would devastate broad areas of bottom, and could wipe out that ecosystem.

US nuclear power plants vulnerable to physical attack
31 May 2023

US nuclear power plants, and their stored wastes, are vulnerable to physical attack and to cracking their computers. It would be stupid and dangerous to build any new ones — but rich jerks want to do it anyway.

Southern ocean overturning circulation
31 May 2023

*The Southern Ocean overturning circulation has ebbed 30% since the 90s,* and it is continuing to slow further. This could lead to big changes in climate and and sea level.


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


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