I feel pretty weird sharing my words, when I knew Aaron so little (had only met him a handful of times), but here is what I wrote this morning when I found out. Not sure if any of this is remotely appropriate in any way, and I apologize to anyone that feels I am speaking out of turn, but for what it's worth:
They'll tell you that what Aaron Swartz did was an act of depression -- the result of a chemical imbalance in his brain. They'll tell you that he had a life long struggle with depression, and that this is how the story ends. Perhaps that is so, but that's not the only story that ends this way. This is also the story of a courageous, brilliant servant of humanity, cut down in his prime by a machine that, above all else, sought to maintain its absolute control over the products of human inquiry. Hounded and surveilled, arrested, detained, and maliciously prosecuted in order to set an example, Aaron Swartz is a martyr in the struggle to liberate the mind of our civilization. Aaron's crime was this: he believed that all people, everywhere, should have access to knowledge - especially when the cost of producing and transmitting it is practically negligible. For a victimless crime -- downloading and sharing academic papers, produced with public monies - he faced millions in fines, and decades in prison. This is not a failure of mental health. This is a casualty of war. The Copyright Lobby, the MIT Librarians and Administrators, the District Attorney: these are the guilty parties. Let us not forget. And while they may have driven Aaron to the ultimate act of desperation, our movement will ultimately prevail. This I know: the avarice of those that hounded Aaron to death must strengthen our resolve to share the wealth of knowledge. The privileged few cannot hold back the quick rising tide of free and open exchange much longer -- their treatment of Aaron belies their fear and frustration. This tragedy must be a call to arms. Let us take this opportunity to ask ourself: how can we be as brave as Aaron? How can we be as good? How can we realize his dream? We are surely destined to live in a world where none of us goes hungry for knowledge - where vast pools of human potential are not wasted so that a few copyright barons can enrich themselves beyond any semblance of decency. The only question is how long it will take to get there, and what we will have to give. Aaron payed the ultimately price. I only wish that things could have turned out differently. He will be remembered as a hero and a martyr for a noble cause. Emboldened by his memory, we will continue to fight. Isaac Wilder Executive Director, The Free Network Foundation On 01/12/2013 04:37 PM, Jennifer Baek wrote: > I'm extending this conversation to discuss as well... > > Although we may not know all of the circumstances surrounding his > passing, it is symbolic of the increasingly stressed and divided > climate that exists between the law and information culture. This NYT > article is an chance for us to make a statement in honor of Aaron and > his work. One person alone may not be the best person to say > something, but we can collectively try and put something > together--begin to brainstorm things we might say, and then prepare a > statement for this Noam fellow by tomorrow morning... thoughts? > > > On Sat, Jan 12, 2013 at 5:33 PM, Kevin Driscoll <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > > I feel like shit and have nothing to say to anyone about this and I'm > not the right person to talk to this guy anyway but it seems like > someone should write him back. Even if the statement is something as > simple as, "Out of grief, Students for Free Culture politely declines > to talk to the press about Aaron Swartz's death right now." > > Kevin > > > > On Sat, Jan 12, 2013 at 2:01 PM, Noam Cohen <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > > Hi there -- I sent a version of this e-mail to Adi Kamdar -- my > contact more > > than a year ago for an article about Aaron Swartz. I haven't > gotten a > > response, and I am hoping someone from this movement can get > back to me by > > tomorrow morning for a piece I am writing. > > > > You can imagine the sad circumstances I am writing about now. > > Because of the last article I wrote about Aaron Swartz, I was > asked to take > > a day and look at what these meant (if anything) for the free > culture > > movement. > > I won't write a long note now -- are you the right person to be > speaking > > with? > > Also, I'd love the opportunity to chat with you (or the right > person) to > > sound out ideas -- it is easy to overreact to such sad news; I > want to be > > accurate with our readers about what Aaron meant in life and death. > > I can be reached at 347-525-5655 <tel:347-525-5655>; or I can > call you. > > Looking forward to speaking with you again, > > Noam > > _______________________________________________ > > Core mailing list > > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > > http://lists.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/core > > > _______________________________________________ > Core mailing list > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > http://lists.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/core > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss > FAQ: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss
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