In Support of Richard Stallman

Why Did Richard Stallman Resign?

Published on April 05, 2021.

Stallman published two concise notes about his resignations from MIT and the FSF.

• Resignation from MIT (Archived)

  16 September 2019 (Resignation)

  To the MIT community,

  I am resigning effective immediately from my position in CSAIL at MIT. I am doing this due to pressure on MIT and me over a series of misunderstandings and mischaracterizations.

  Richard Stallman

• Resignation from the FSF (Archived)

  written Sep 16, mailed by me Sep 19, posted Sep 24 (FSF)

  To the FSF board,

  I hereby resign as president of the Free Software Foundation and from its board of directors. I am doing this due to pressure on the Foundation and me over a series of misunderstandings and mischaracterizations of what I have said.

  Richard Stallman

          The FSF announced Stallman's resignation on September 16 (Archived)

  Richard M. Stallman resigns

  by Free Software Foundation — Published on Sep 16, 2019 10:08 PM

  On September 16, 2019, Richard M. Stallman, founder and president of the Free Software Foundation, resigned as president and from its board of directors.

  The board will be conducting a search for a new president, beginning immediately. Further details of the search will be published on fsf.org.

  For questions, contact FSF executive director John Sullivan at johns@fsf.org.

As we can see, Stallman stated the same cause in both cases, namely, misunderstandings and mischaracterizations. We mentioned in the introduction that Stallman was misquoted and misrepresented by mainstream media and, as a result, he was the victim of ad hominem attacks by groups who demanded his removal from public life.

Here's how it all began.