Information is power. But like all power, there are those who would keep it for themselves.
The world’s scientific and cultural heritage, centuries of research, discovery, thought, and progress, is being digitized and then locked away. Not by accident, not by neglect, but by design. A handful of corporations profit by placing tolls on the road to knowledge. Want to read the most important papers in your field? You’ll need to pay up, or go without.
This is not just a frustration. It is an injustice. It is a deliberate act of exclusion.
The Open Access Movement has worked tirelessly. It has won battles, opened doors, and changed laws. Scientists now fight to keep their copyrights. Universities are building repositories. Funders are demanding free access. But still, even the best victories are limited. Most of the world’s knowledge remains locked behind paywalls, and those walls are getting higher.
It is not just the past that is being lost. It is the future.
Children in developing countries, students without wealthy institutions, self-taught learners and citizen scientists, all of them are shut out. Academic publishing protects profits, not people. It favors elite institutions and markets, not global equity. It rewards secrecy, not sharing.
Some say, “That’s just how the system works.” But systems are made by people, and people can change them.
We believe it is time to go further. Not cautiously. Not politely but bold, open, and together.
We call for universal access. Every person, anywhere, should be able to read, use, and build upon knowledge without restriction. No price tags. No geo-blocks. No login screens. If it is meant to advance humanity, then it must be accessible to all of humanity.
We call for equity. Real equity. Not polished mission statements or temporary pilot programs. We mean infrastructure that includes the Global South. Education that serves the underserved. Data that respects, and uplifts marginalized voices.
We call for ethical defiance. When the law protects the gatekeepers more than the learners, the law must be challenged. Sharing a journal article is not theft. Uploading a textbook is not a crime. Disseminating public knowledge should never be punished.
This is not piracy. This is preservation. This is justice.
We do not ask permission to do what is right.
We speak to researchers: retain your rights. Publish in open access journals. Archive your work. Share with your peers.
We speak to librarians and archivists: resist restrictive licenses. Build mirrors. Create repositories. Teach others to do the same.
We speak to students and educators: demand access. Organize. Share. Push your institutions to stand for openness.
We speak to policymakers: make open access the law. Remove barriers to public information. Rewrite copyright to serve the people, not the publishers.
We speak to everyone who believes that knowledge belongs to the many, not the few.
Yes, it will make some uncomfortable. Yes, it will require civil courage. But we do not move the world forward by asking politely. We do it by acting, building, and refusing to be silenced.
There is no justice in unjust laws. There is no fairness in forced ignorance. If knowledge is a flame, we must not let it be smothered.
We must take it back. Share it widely. Preserve it permanently.
Because access is not a luxury.
It is not a perk.
It is a right.
And with enough of us, around the world, we will not just resist the privatization of knowledge.
We will end it.
Will you join us?
2025 Wherever information is still behind a wall