“I think it’s important that, as we remember him, we remember that Aaron had a much broader agenda than the information freedom fights for which he had become known. (…) I knew Aaron as a political activist interested in health care, financial corruption, and the drug war (we were working on a project on that just before he died) ”

“I want to make a few points about why it’s not just sad that he is gone, but a tragedy, a symbol for all of us, and a call to action.

Aaron suffered from depression, but that is not why he died. Aaron is dead because the institutions that govern our society have decided that it is more important to target geniuses like Aaron than nurture them, because the values he sought – openness, justice, curiosity – are values these institutions now oppose”

from http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/01/aaron-swartzs-politics.html