Pirate Parties rule the Cyber Waves
p2pnet news view | P2P | Politics:- Thanks to the net, the global village is now reality. But only one political party as any serious claims to representation both online and off.
The Pirates.
They’ve just become a power to be reckoned with in Germany, alongside the Democratic Union (CDU), Social Democrats (SPD), Free Democratic Party (FDP), Left Party, the Greens and the Christian Social Union (CSU), says Spiegel Online.
And over in Australia, “The political party that sent European copyright holders into a spin has opened a branch office” and is now actively recruiting, according to IT News.
In Germany, “At around 2:20 a.m. local time, when the organization managing the federal elections published the voting results for all of Germany’s 16 federal states on its Web site, the nation saw a new power sitting on the seventh rung of the political ladder,” says Spiegel Online, going on »»»
The Pirate Party had managed to get 2 percent of the vote.
Granted, it’s not enough for the party to enter the German government, since a political party has to get 5 percent of the vote to do that. But for political newcomers like the Pirates, this can be interpreted as a success worth paying attention to. In many large German cities, they even got as much as 3 percent of the vote. And they were particularly popular among first-time male voters, from whom they might have won as much as 13 percent of the vote.
And in Oz, “The Pirate Party, which evolved from cultural and legal skirmishes with authorities in Sweden and Germany, last week updated the Australian website it registered last year and advertised for a president, treasurer, secretary and supporting positions,” says IT News, continuing »»»
A party spokesman, Rodney Serkowski, said the group was close to establishing a beachhead in Australia.
He said that with 300 supporters it was on its way to signing the 500 it needed to become an official Australian political party.
“We are currently an online community, working together with the intention of becoming a registered party, and we’re coming closer to reaching that goal,” Serkowski said.
If the Pirates of Oz can pull in 500 members and be registered by year’s end, “I think it is highly probable that we will contest the next Federal election in Australia,” says Serkowski.
In Canada, the embryo Pirate Party now has 1,000 members, but is still short of the 250 signatures it needs to make it official.
Stay tuned
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Spiegel Online – Pirates Score Big in German Election, September 28, 2009
IT News – Pirate Party to contest next Federal election, September 28, 2009
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September 29th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Jon, do you have a link for the Australian Pirate Party, or an email address? I have a home in Sydney, and as a consequence, many friends in that part of the world who would be happy to sign up and help them gain federal recognition.
September 29th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
@ David:
Sorry, I can’t help you. But maybe an Australian reader will know.
Cheers!
September 29th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
That Australian reader can be Google. Just search pirate party australia.
September 29th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
http://pirateparty.org.au/
September 30th, 2009 at 3:08 am
That Tom person who writes here at times should run for office with them!
Speaking of Tom, how come we haven’t seen him around? He retire?
September 30th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
“Speaking of Tom, how come we haven’t seen him around?”
Tom’s still posting comments.
Just not as many.