[p2p-research] Fwd: Pirate Party Wins and Enters The European Parliament

[Michel Bauwens]

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From: Dante-Gabryell Monson <dante.monson at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 3:19 AM
Subject: Fwd: Pirate Party Wins and Enters The European Parliament
To: Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>





http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-party-wins-and-enters-the-european-parliament-090607/



Pirate Party Wins and Enters The European Parliament

Written by Ernesto on June 07, 2009



The Pirate Party has won a huge victory in the Swedish elections and is
marching on to Brussels. After months of campaigning against well
established parties, the Pirate Party has gathered enough votes to be
guaranteed a seat in the European Parliament.



When the Swedish Pirate Party was founded in early 2006, the majority of the
mainstream press were skeptical, with some simply laughing it away. But they
were wrong to dismiss this political movement out of hand. Today, the Pirate
Party accomplished what some believed to be the impossible, by securing a
seat in the European Parliament.



With 99.9% of the districts counted the Pirates have 7.1 percent of the
votes, beating several established parties. This means that the Pirate Party
will get at least one, but most likely two of the 18 (+2) available seats
Sweden has at the European Parliament.



When we asked Pirate Party leader Rick Falkvinge about the outcome, he told
TorrentFreak: “We’ve felt the wind blow in our sails. We’ve seen the polls
prior to the election. But to stand here, today, and see the figures coming
up on that screen… What do you want me to say? I’ll say anything”



“Together, we have today changed the landscape of European politics. No
matter how this night ends, we have changed it,” Falkvinge said. “This feels
wonderful. The citizens have understood it’s time to make a difference. The
older politicians have taken apart young peoples’ lifestyle, bit by bit. We
do not accept that the authorities’ mass-surveillance,” he added.

Rick Falkvinge celebrating tonight’s election win







The turnout at the elections is 43 percent, a little higher than the at the
2004 elections. This would mean that roughly 200,000 Swedes have voted for
the Pirate Party. This is a huge increase compared to the national elections
of 2006 where the party got 34,918 votes.



Both national and international press have gathered in Stockholm where the
Pirate Party is celebrating its landmark victory.

Falkvinge answering questions







At least partially, The Pirate Party puts its increased popularity down to
harsh copyright laws and the recent conviction of the people behind The
Pirate Bay. After the Pirate Bay verdict, Pirate Party membership more than
tripled and they now have over 48,000 registered members, more than the
total number of votes they received in 2006.



With their presence in Brussels, the Pirate Party hopes to reduce the abuses
of power and copyright at the hands of the entertainment industries, and
make those activities illegal instead. On the other hand they hope to
legalize file-sharing for personal use.

Arrrr







“It’s great fun to be a pirate right now”, Christian Engström, Vice Chairman
of the Pirate Party told the press when he arrived.



Update: Sweden has 20 seats, but until the Lisbon treaty passes only 18 with
voting rights. This means that the Pirate Party will have 2 seats.



Update: In Germany the Pirate Party got approximately 1 percent of the
votes, not enough for a seat in the European Parliament. Andreas Popp, lead
candidate for the German Pirate Party is pleased and told TorrentFreak:
“This was the first time, we ran for the European elections. And although
many voters have hardly known us, we got a great result. This shows, that
many citizens identify themselves with our goals. I want to thank all people
who supported us, we could not have done that without them. We have
fulfilled our minimal goal of 0,5%. Now we can start up for real!”



Update: Here’s a feature article on the election night and outcome.

Pirate Talk, Politics and Ideology

Tags: european parliament, pirate-party, sweden




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