Gestern jährte sich der Tod von Aaron Swartz zum dritten Mal. Als Aktivist für Meinungs- und Informationsfreiheit hatte Swartz sich unter anderem gegen die umstrittenen US-Gesetzesentwürfe SOPA und PIPA, und für Open Access und Open Goverment engagiert.
Bei The New Press erschien nun eine Sammlung von Schriften, die Aaron Swartz zu unterschiedlichen Themen verfasst hatte: »The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz«. Elliot Harmon stellte das Buch bereits auf der Seite der EFF vor, gestern formulierte die inhaftierte Whistleblowerin Chelsea Manning ebenfalls einige Gedanken zu Swartzs Schriftsammlung und zur Bedeutung seiner Arbeit:
The most powerful and idea-provoking section — contained in new material introduced by this book — is a lengthy multi-part essay on the way the U.S. Congress works. He carefully, yet humorously, analyzes every single step of our profitable, gridlocked, an intractable political process.
I feel like the world abandoned Aaron in his time of need. I feel like the world — myself included — took Aaron for granted. He intelligently and thoughtfully challenged everything and everyone: software companies, corporations, multimedia conglomerates, governments, and even modern school systems! Yet, in his final challenge — we only stood on the sidelines and rooted for him, waiting for him to win again. Instead, he lost. Then, we lost.
If Aaron had lived even a few decades longer, he really have could have changed the world, far surpassing the ways in which he already has. All is not lost though. With a little faith and a little luck, we still can.
So… what are we going to do?