Influential French newspaper Le Monde has published a public statement calling for the worldwide adoption of open access publishing.  The article, entitled “Who is afraid of Open Access?” can be viewed in French and in English.  The statement was signed by sixty members of the Open Access community (presidents of universities, librarians, journals, publishers and researchers).

The petition, "I love Open access", has been signed by over 1500 people already.  The article ends with this call to arms: “Do not be afraid of Open Access! It is now possible to establish a new scientific, publishing and business contract between researchers, publishers, libraries and readers in order to enter for good a society of shared, democratic knowledge.”