ifixit is a somewhat political organization, they're pushing right to repair and grade products on repairability. I'd rather they stay independent from Apple.
I agree. At first I thought they would be uniquely positioned for this role, but it really does seem like they need to stay independent to stay objective. As a customer As a customer I appreciate that ifixit serves the customer's needs rather than Apple's agenda or overall bottom line, which might not have remained the case if they had some kind of partnership.
Independent is often used as a weasel word ie: independent franchises. So sure the could be an independent distributor or whatever but that’s not actually independent as they would have a financial connection.
Remaining objective is of course possible even with financial ties, but the suspicion is going to taint people’s perception.
If ifixit were to partner with a manufacturer (and especially one as large and influential as Apple), there might be a perception among consumers (whether true or not) that they were beholden to the manufacturer not to do anything that might hurt that manufacturer's revenue streams, like (for example) providing parts and information to extend the use of obsolete products or criticizing any of the manufacturer's design practices that might be hostile to repair.
On the flip side, it might be possible for a partnership to provide better first-party parts support and more complete sharing of information, but I'm just too jaded to believe it could happen that way.
No, trying to influence governments to create a legal right to repair is literally politics. Take a step back and look at all the negative connotations you've apparently attached to the word "political." The FSF and EFF are also political organizations.
Partnering with Apple who is against right to repair creates a situation where they might have to choose the money from Apple or their right to repair aspirations.