Pirate Party, actvism and politics

Pirate Party is a label adopted by political parties in different countries. Pirate Parties support civil rights, direct democracy and participation, reform of copyright and patent law, free sharing of knowledge (Open Access), data privacy, transparency, freedom of information and free education.

History

The Swedish Piratparti, founded on 1 January 2006 under the leadership of Rickard Falkvinge, was the first pirate party. The party’s name was derived from Piratbyrån, an organization opposed to intellectual property. Members of Piratbyrån had previously founded the BitTorrent tracker The Pirate Bay. The group chose the “pirate” label, which had been used by the media and film industries in campaigns against copyright infringement, as an attempt at reappropriation of the word.

Parties in other countries, such as the Pirate Party of Austria (founded in July 2006) and the Pirate Party Germany (September 2006), were inspired by the Swedish example. In October 2006, Pirate Parties International was founded as an umbrella organization. In the European Parliament election of 2009 the Swedish Pirate Party received 7.1 percent of the votes, winning two seats and achieving the first major success of a Pirate Party in an election. The German Pirate Party managed to win 8.9 percent of the votes in the Berlin state election, 2011.

Historically, the ideals of the Pirate parties are partially based on groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Chaos Computer Club, representing the hacker culture and values centered around freedom of information and free exchange of knowledge.

The Uppsala Declaration

At the 2009 conference of Pirate Parties International in Uppsala (Sweden), European Pirate Parties agreed on a common declaration of the parties’ goals for the upcoming election of the European Parliament. Central issues of the declaration are:

§ reform of copyright, exemption of non-commercial activity from copyright regulation, reduction of the duration of copyright protections; banning of DRM technologies, opposition to media or hardware levies;

§ reform of patent law, particularly stating that patents on life (including patents on seeds and on genes) and software should not be allowed;

§ Strengthening civil rights, transparent government, speedy and fair trial and freedom of speech; expansion of the right to anonymity in communication.

International Organizations

Pirate Parties International

Pirate Parties International (PPI) is the umbrella organization of Pirate Parties. Since 2006 the organization exists as a loose union of the national parties. Since October 2009, PPI has the status of a non-governmental organization (Feitelijke vereniging) based in Belgium. The organization was officially founded at a conference from 16 to 18 April 2010 in Brussels, when the organization’s statutes were adopted by the 22 national pirate parties represented at the event

The PP International Foundation helps to establish of Pirate Parties around the world. It operates forums and mailing lists for communication between the national parties. The PPI is governed by a board, led by co-chairs Marcel Kolaja (Czech Republic) and Samir Allioui (Netherlands).

Pirates without Borders

Pirates without Borders is an international association of pirates. Unlike PPI (which accepts only parties as voting members and organizations as observing members), Pirates Without Borders accept individuals as members. The PWB see themselves as a basis for international projects. Through global cooperation, they strive to reveal the impact of multinational trade agreements on all people on earth, and foster freedom and democracy. PWB originates from an independent committee for the coordination of Pirate Parties in German-speaking countries, known as DACHLuke (DACHL = Germany-Austria-Switzerland-Luxembourg).

Since the PPI Conference 2011 on 12./13.03.2011 PWB is “observing member” of Pirate Parties International. The previously independent project “pirate streaming” has become a part of Pirates without Borders since 03/05/2011.

Parti Pirate Francophone

In Parti Pirate Francophone the French speaking Pirate Parties are organized. Current members are the pirates parties in Belgium, Ivory Coast, France, Canada and Switzerland.

National Pirate Parties

Outside Sweden, pirate parties have been started in over 40 countries, inspired by the Swedish initiative such us UK, China, Tunisia, South Korea, USA, Russia, Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain…