5 Years Ago (September 29, 2021) Richard Stallman's Talk in Ukraine Noted

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Sep 29, 2026

Richard Stallman travelled to Ukraine 5 years ago to give a public talk. We covered that here (at the time) and uploaded his talk (in a Freedom-respecting format), which was spread from us to other sites. I don't know if the building where he spoke has survived the bombardment (it's extremely unlikely that Kiev would share such information if it knew better, but local citizens might; it would help Russia choose targets and enhance intelligence), but Stallman left less than half a year before Russia's invasion (Crimea) became a full-scale invasion.

Here is the full talk as webm (almost 3 hours long) and bear in mind there are some short clips, available from "Welcome Back, Richard Stallman" (sound bites).

See "Letter from Bomb Shelter in Ukraine" and Bohdan Kovalchuk's words:

I appeal to the FLOSS Community, the GNU project, and the FSF because I know that these organizations are defending rights of Freedom and Respect very actively and effectively: we need your help. Once, Richard Stallman said,

Geeks like to think that they can ignore politics; you can leave politics alone, but politics won't leave you alone.

This is what's happening in my country. But it affects everyone because Ukraine not only defends itself —it defends human rights and peace, Freedom in every possible meaning. It defends everyone. Today the Russian army is killing us. Tomorrow they might come for you. Don't think that you are safe from war. I thought so too until on February 24th, 2022, I had to search for shelter and try to sleep to the sounds of enemy artillery.

Now we need the support of the Community more than ever.

Let's hope the war will end soon. █