Pirate Party

Pirate parties logo

Pirate Party is a label adopted by political parties in different countries. Pirate parties support civil rights, direct democracy and participation in government, reform of copyright and patent law, free sharing of knowledge (open content), information privacy, transparency, freedom of information and network neutrality.^{[citation needed]}

History

The Swedish Piratpartiet, founded on 1 January 2006 under the leadership of Rickard Falkvinge, was the first pirate party. The party's name was derived from Piratbyrån ^[1] an organization opposed to intellectual property. Members of Piratbyrån had previously founded the BitTorrent tracker The Pirate Bay.^[2] Piratbyrån was an organization founded to oppose the lobbyism of the anti-piracy group Antipiratbyrån. The "pirate" label, which had been used by the media and film industries in campaigns against copyright infringement, is therefore a reappropriation of the word.^[3][4]

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.^[5] The Czech Pirate Party won the international race to get a pirate politician to national parliament when a joint pirate candidate, Libor Michálek, was elected in the 2012 senate election.^[6]

The biggest election victory in national parliamentary elections of any pirate party was in Iceland where they received 5.1% of the electorate on the 27th of April 2013, gaining 3 seats out of 63 in the Althing.^[7]

International organizations

  Elected posts won

  Officially registered

  Active, unregistered pirate party

  No pirate party

Pirate Parties International

Pirate Parties International (PPI) is the umbrella organization of the national Pirate Parties. Since 2006 the organization has existed as a loose union^[8] of the national parties. Since October 2009, Pirate Parties International has had 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.^[9]

The Pirate Parties International Foundation helps to establish Pirate parties around the world. It operates forums and mailing lists for communication between the national parties. The Pirate Parties International is governed by a board, led by co-chairs Gregory Engels and Lola Voronina.

European Pirate Party

The European Pirate Party (PPEU) is a European political party founded in September 2013 which consists of the pirate parties of European countries.^[10]

Pirates without Borders

Pirates Without Borders is an international association of pirates. Unlike Pirate Parties International (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.^[11] 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 Pirate Parties International Conference 2011 on 12 and 13 March 2011, PWB is an "observing member" of Pirate Parties International. The previously independent project "pirate streaming" has become a part of Pirates without Borders since 3 May 2011.

Parti Pirate Francophone

In Parti Pirate Francophone, the French-speaking Pirate Parties are organized. Current members are the pirates parties in Belgium, Côte d'Ivoire, France, Canada and Switzerland.

National Pirate Parties

Mandates of national pirate parties
Sweden - Piratpartiet	2 European parliament
Czech Republic - Česká pirátská strana	1 national, 3 communal
Iceland - Píratar	3 national
Germany - Piratenpartei Deutschland	45 regional, 201 communal[12]
Catalonia - Pirates de Catalunya	2 communal
Switzerland - Piratenpartei Schweiz	2 communal
Croatia - Pirate Party Croatia	2 communal
Austria - Piratenpartei Österreichs	1 communal

Outside Sweden, pirate parties have been started in over 40 countries,^[13] inspired by the Swedish initiative.

References

External links

Media related to Pirate parties at Wikimedia Commons

v t e Pirate parties International Pirate Parties International European Pirate Party Pirates Without Borders Parti Pirate Francophone Parties Africa Morocco South Africa Tunisia Pirate Party Tunisian Pirate Party Americas Bolivia Brazil Canada Chile Colombia Costa Rica Ecuador Guatemala Mexico Peru United States Uruguay Asia China Kazakhstan Nepal South Korea Taiwan Europe Austria Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina (Republika Srpska) Bulgaria Catalonia Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Galicia Germany Greece Pirate Party of Greece Pirates - Direct Democratic Movement of Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Montenegro The Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Serbia Slovenia Slovakia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Oceania Australia New Zealand People Samir Allioui Slim Amamou Amelia Andersdotter Carlos Ayala Angelika Beer Sven Clement Christian Engström Rickard Falkvinge Stefan Flod Harald Haas Martin Haase Dirk Hillbrecht Florian Hufsky Christof Leng Patrick Mächler Libor Michálek Sebastian Nerz Mikkel Paulson Herbert Rusche Jens Seipenbusch Denis Simonet Anna Troberg Lola Voronina Jerry Weyer Laurence "Loz" Kaye Andrew Halsall Youth wings Germany Sweden Related Piratbyrån The Pirate Bay The Pirate Bay trial FRA law Telecoms Package Telecommunications data retention Copyright Directive Digital Economy Act 2010 Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement Italic links indicate observers or members of the Pirate Parties International