Swedish Pirates on their way to Brussels
p2pnet news view | P2P | Politics:- A couple of years ago, it would have seemed inconceivable that a group of upstarts would have been able to generate enough political power to put a spike in the guns of the multi-billion-dollar music and movie industries.
But it’s happened in Sweden.
And if it happened there, it could also happen elsewhere.
Hollywood and the Big 4 record labels have suffered a staggering defeat in Sweden where they’d hoped a court case they’d spent millions of dollars fixing – sorry, initiating, would finally put a halt to The Pirate Bay, the site which indexes and tracks .torrent files and which, according to the entertainment industry, is costing billions of dollars in sales losses.
On Friday, “Sweden’s Pirate Party is continuing to gain ground, bringing it even closer to gaining not one, but two seats in the EU parliamentary elections,” said p2net, and now, “Scenes of wild jubilation broke out at the party’s election headquarters when state broadcaster SVT announced a projection likely to give the party enough votes to claim two seats in the EU parliament,” says The Local.
That’s because more than 200,000 votes, or 7.1% of the the 43% of Swedes who voted, want to see a party which acts for them rather than the entertainment cartels representing them in the European Parliament.
It’s led by Rick Falkvinge (right).
“The Pirate Party has taken advantage of a new cleavage in Swedish politics, about civil liberties, about who should have the right to decide over knowledge, and that`s not a left-right cleavage,” Times Online has Ulf Bjereld, a political scientist at Gothenburg University, stating.
“The traditional parties have been sleeping, they have underestimated the political potential in these issues.”
Nor are they the only ones.
The labels, in particular, expected to be able to sue music lovers in becoming compliant consumers of corporate ‘product’.
Instead, the millions upon millions of dollars they’ve spent on a massive and ongoing PR blitz notwithstanding, they’ve watched helplessly as MP3 file sharing, only a few years ago enjoyed by a handful of people, become a behemoth they’ve unable to slow down, let alone stop.
The Green Party also did well, says Stockholm News, almost doubling to 10.8% of the votes, it says, “and now will have two seats instead of one”.
With 98% of votes counted, the situation looks like this, according to the Swedish Election Authority, says the story »»»
Moderate Party – 18.8%
Centre Party – 5.5%
Liberal P. Party – 13.6
Christian Dem. – 4.7%
Social Dem. – 24.6%
Left Party – 5.6%
Green Party – 10.8%
June List – 3.6%
Sweden Dem. – 3.3%
Pirate Party – 7.1%
Feminist Initiative – 2.2%
Definitely stay tuned.
p2net – Pirate Party could win 2 seats in EU election, June 5, 2009
The Local – Swedish Pirate Party headed for Brussels, June 7, 2009
Times Online – Swedish pirates fire a warning shot over internet censorship, June 7, 2009
Stockholm News – Pirate Party won seat in EU Parliament, June 7, 2009
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June 7th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
And the German Pirate Party got over 0.5% (something close to 1% if I am not mistaken) which will allow them to get public funding
June 7th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
The copyright forces are awakening the giant. They started out wanting to protect their income stream by frightening and suing individuals in court. What they have done is piss off their customers they depend on for their livelihood. They’ve pretty much had it their way but it’s the start of the end. This is grass roots in action and I want to see it spread worldwide. I want to vote on bringing The Pirate Party into my area too, just like Sweden has done. Seeing this spread worldwide will help all of us and not just the special interests. Since they can’t see to share, it’s time for the law to tell them that non-profit sharing isn’t illegal.
Once that law is made there is not a dang thing they can do then, except whine, moan, and cry. It’s time to put the shoe on the other foot and make sure it pinches the crap out of them.
June 7th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
AntipiratbyrÃ¥n lawyer Henrik Pontén, one of the Pirate Bayâs arch rivals, had quite a surprise recently when he received an unexpected piece of mail. The letter from the Swedish tax authority informed him that his request for a name change had been accepted and from now on, he would be officially known as âPirate Ponténâ.
Monique Wadsted is to become Monique Wasted officially.
June 7th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
All votes have been counted:
http://www.stockholmnews.com/more.aspx?NID=3369
June 8th, 2009 at 2:09 am
Cry ‘Havoc’ and let slip the dogs of war.
June 8th, 2009 at 4:03 am
Actually a interesting tidbit about Monique Wasted, it appears she represented our perennial favorites, the Cult Of Scientology in their efforts against Zenon Panoussis when he posted cult documents online.
June 8th, 2009 at 11:37 am
It seems that they only get one seat.. A shame. But I expect The Swedish Pirates party to put up a blog and warn people when unfair laws are on the way… I will surely read it!
June 8th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
“The copyright forces are awakening the giant. They started out wanting to protect their income stream by frightening and suing individuals in court. What they have done is piss off their customers they depend on for their livelihood. Theyâve pretty much had it their way but itâs the start of the end. This is grass roots in action and I want to see it spread worldwide. I want to vote on bringing The Pirate Party into my area too, just like Sweden has done. Seeing this spread worldwide will help all of us and not just the special interests. Since they canât see to share, itâs time for the law to tell them that non-profit sharing isnât illegal.”
You’re dreaming if you think anything like this will ever happen in countries like the US. The politicians will never allow it to happen while the copyright industry still has money to buy their favor with.
June 8th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
“Youâre dreaming if you think anything like this will ever happen in countries like the US.”
I wouldn’t be too quick to underestimate the power of public outrage, in ANY country.
When you get a large enough number of citizens angry enough to rebel against something, that’s a problem for any government.
June 8th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
What political interests do most of the younger generation have? Easy! Their interests are in what affects them. The cartels and their shills are what affect them, so their first interest in politics is pushing against corruption, deceit and greed.
I don’t believe this is a flash in the pan. It’s the beginning of a movement that will help change the future landscape of the distribution of ideas and entertainment.
June 8th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
i agree, this is a snowball rolling downhill in the alps. i bet Mitch is shitting his pants right about now…
stw
June 9th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
“i bet Mitch is shitting his pants right about now”
Why do people insist on putting out these “images” ?!
8 (
Ah, I’m just funnin’!
Let’s tie him to a soccer post a feed him Ex-Lax!
: )