The German arm of the International Pirate Party saw a momentous
victory in this week’s Berlin state elections, as the Internet
activist group
won 15 seats in regional parliament.
The group—which was founded to promote privacy, free speech,
data protection and file sharing online—won 8.9 percent of the
vote, beating out chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition partner the
Free Democrats who captured just 2 percent.
Now the German Pirate Party will have government funding and a
say in parliamentary matters as 15 of the 130 seats in Berlin’s
parliament are to be filled by Pirates.
The party may have begun as a way to promote and fight for
file sharing and data protection on the Internet, but the
party’s remit has expanded to include education and citizens’
rights, ambitions to revamp patent and copyright rules and even
plans for free wireless Internet.
It’s the biggest win for the upstart party since the European
elections in 2009, when the original Swedish version of the party—founded in 2006—won a seat in the European parliament. A year later and the
global coalition Pirate Parties International was officially
formed in Brussels.
Founder of the Swedish and first Pirate Party Rick Falkvinge
left a message for German Pirate Party supporters in a blog post,
writing, “we all stand shoulder to shoulder in fighting for the
next generation—one of us succeeding is all of us
succeeding.”
“Tomorrow, people will look to your success, and the movement
will grow yet more. You are the source of inspiration for the next
wave of civil liberties activists.”
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