When Republics Turn From Democratic Governments Into Imperialistic Dictatorships
Richard Stallman (RMS) calls on people to "mobilize"
Germany - the EU's largest economy - recently adopted OpenDocument Format (ODF) as a strict requirement (ODF turns 21 soon) and days ago I learned that a very large superstore/chain in the UK moved to adopt LibreOffice, at least partially. A lot of Europe is quietly (without making a lot of noise about it) moving away from GAFAM and sometimes - although not always! - moving to Free software.
What goes on in the US would require talking about politics - something which we prefer to avoid as we focus on technical aspects in geopolitics. Notions such as digital sovereignty lead us to discussion of real security as opposed to American back doors falsely marketed as "security" (apropos Cisco, its back doors - or CALEA / CALEA2 - cause chaos this month).
When even nations that are assumed to be "good faith" allies turn against us we need to adapt and obstruct hostilities - even well before such hostilities manifest in some form and become visible.
There are Americans who say that the US was never truly a democracy (even if one party is called the Democratic Party); there are several reasons for this. But to us, a growing issue is how the US flagrantly abandons democratic concepts - including free press/speech (what they call "free" is selective) - and then imposes the same on other countries, even other continents.
We left the US a year before Harris lost the election and American forces are still attacking us - though it does seem like our government - the UK Parliament at least - catches on.
Some people - American or not - say that we have a World War (or have already had one for several years). This war is fought not only in battlefields. The outcome of this war will depend on collective actions and efforts.
At the EPO, where the lion's share of patents go to the US and far-east Asia, thousands of workers go on strike and many leave. Perhaps they too can recognise they don't serve the general public but large corporations and oligarchs, typically not even European ones. It's about money. The patents are instruments of lawfare and the European Patents are legal weapons. In that sense, the EPO became an arms industry that mostly exports arms, it does not produce for its own defence.
We need to recognise that most people do not "feel" or "sense" a "World War" - only a daily struggle in their personal or professional lives. In some parts of the world hunger is very real and increasingly prevalent. In the US there's also the issue water scarcities and rationing is likely imminent. Hungry people don't mind going to war and even die in one. They want to take other people's land and wealth (e.g. Greenland). Dictators and demagogues know how to exploit such a sentiment. They also contribute to the crisis, which in turn serves them (crises of one's own making leveraged by oneself).
RMS has just turned 73 and he has cancer. Nevertheless, RMS is still fighting for political sanity in his country. RMS is a fighter, a freedom fighter. █
"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!" -Emiliano Zapata (c. 1877-1919), attributed
Months ago: Like the Serial Strangler From Microsoft, Donald Trump is Out of Time and Has Jurisdiction Issues in the UK