[pp.int.general] Plagiarism is bad because it infringes copyright????

[Richard Stallman]

    It also means that we need realistic aims and goals that let us achieve 
    things in a parliamentary environment.

The question is, what to do when you want a large change in the law
and have only a little influence on legislation.  I have been in that
position for a long time, so I have thought about the question for
many years.

I think that it can be good to negotiate and then support a compromise
measure, but only as a temporary compromise.  In other words, we must
not weaken our long-term goals or our position as a "compromise".  The
only place for compromise is in a deal with somebody that can deliver
something, and any deal short of real victory is temporary.

It is consistent to say, "We stand for freedom to share published
works; we are voting for the XYZ bill because it gets part-way there,
and we can't get more in this parliament."  Then we can present XYZ
as a (partial) victory, and still show what remains to be fought for.

What we must not do -- because it is self-defeating -- is to weaken
what we stand for down to what we might be able to get.

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman
President, Free Software Foundation
51 Franklin St
Boston MA 02110
USA
www.fsf.org, www.gnu.org