Dutch Pirate Party Joins Election Race
Written by Ernesto on March 08, 2010Following in the footsteps of the Swedes and Germans, the Dutch Pirate Party has decided to join the national elections being held this spring. The Pirate Party booked a surprising victory by scooping two seats in the European Parliament last year, but has yet to score its first elected seat in a national Parliament.
2009 was a breakthrough year for the Pirate Party movement. With more than 7 percent of the vote, the Swedish Pirate Party secured two seats in the European Parliament.
A few weeks later, the Pirates in Germany entered the local Parliament after a member of another party switched sides.
In 2010 the Pirate Parties hope to continue this hot streak, especially during the Swedish national elections later this year. However, Sweden is not the only country where a Pirate Party will end up at the ballot. In the UK the local Pirate Party hopes to compete as well and the Dutch party has now decided to do the same.
In recent months there has been a lot of political debate regarding Dutch copyright law which currently allows people to download copyrighted movies and music for personal use. Several established parties have shown interest in criminalizing file-sharers, something the Pirate Party hopes to avoid.
Instead, the Pirates would like to shorten the copyright term to 5 years and legalize sharing of all copyrighted material on the Internet. Tim Kuik, head honcho at the local anti-piracy outfit BREIN, is not afraid of politically organized pirates and described the Party’s plans as short sighted and unrealistic.
Samir Allioui, Chairman of the Pirate Party, told TorrentFreak that he’s very happy with Kuik’s negative comments. “He gives people a good reason to vote for us,” he said, referring to the negative view that most people have of BREIN.
If elected, the party will do everything it can to stop abuses of copyright, promote Net Neutrality and push for patent reform. The party is further committed to increasing transparency, strengthening fundamental rights and protecting privacy.
Despite the enthusiasm of the party’s members, there is still a long way to go before they can actually compete in the election on June 9th. One of the biggest hurdles is the requirement to deposit a sum of 12,000 euros, a barrier which is meant to prevent too many parties from entering the election.
Samir is confident that they will be able to raise the money in the weeks to come. He encourages all sympathizers to become a member of the Party and help to get the Pirate Party on the ballot.
Previously: Music Biz Hopes To End Piracy By Tempting ISPs With Millions
Next: Piracy Rises In France Despite Three Strikes Law
49 Responses
I am from the Netherlands, we already have Bits of Freedom (BOF)revived from the death and now this Pirate Party, let’s fight!!
Oh, didn’t you hear about our Socialist party “Groen Links” being pro-downloading. They even got it splashed all over their front page. Check this out ;) http://tweedekamer.groenlinks.nl/node/44909 (might wanna train your dutch skills though, or just translate it with google)
Ahoy Dutch maties!
I know what I’ll be voting!
Finally there’s someone who will hold up their sword and take a stand!
Yeah, that’s what i am talking about ;)
Anti Piracy Companies start crying NOW :P
The first point on the agenda will be to disband BREIN :)
what wah!
go dutch
ARRRRRR!!!
I hope they will have success )
Also Finnish Pirate Party is participating national parliament elections next spring. These will be great times for pirate movement.
May force be with you pirates!
Luckily the house of lords in England seems to be defending the rights of its citizens quite well (ACE:Law etc)
Please, if you find it interesting; post your comment on my “pirates-not-thieves.blogspot.com” blog
In germany pirates are also sitting already in at least three city governments, Aachen, Münster and Berlin.
Good luck with the pre-election race! Show BREIN how it’s done. ;)
Arrhh, pirates boarded the world :)
go dutsch!
Greetingz from Bavaria/Germany
Awesome, I wish the pirate parties the best!
We are seeing the future here. BREIN and all MAFIAA friends are the past.
I heft one thing to say to Tim Kuik and his BREIN and also to the world MAFIAA:
Beat the best.
Die like the Rest.
Hopefully this is a step in fixing laws so customers don’t have to break the law in order to get the services they need fo rthe location, cost, and time that they require.
I can’t tell you the amount of times my wife gets in the way of me seeing a good flic only to have it dissappear from the theater, or collect dust on my shelf.
If it’s not what I want, when I want it – then I’m not paying for it. (don’t get me started on paying for 250 channels of crap only to watch 4 of them, and miss all my shows, and then only to be bombarded by commercials.)
Timid Kuik is afraid booo….
I think we pirates should all unite NOW!!
We would be invincible, and we will be!
How funny would it be if the Pirate Party was fully funded by donations from pirates. Make it publicly known that they are all working form donations and not payouts from big fat companies like the movie and music industry. How would that look for the likes of the RIAA and MPAA along with all the others, that their customers are giving their hard earned cash to a political group helping to destroy everything they have paid for, instead of buying their movies and music. Even in an election that in itself would show them something.
Be nice to see something like that in the USA.
We’re all behind you guys thanks for all the support you give us. Millions of people have their hope on you. Good luck!
this just gave me a reason to vote. Go Pirates!
Menawhile, Pirates in Germany and Switzerland have gained seats in communal Parliaments, and let’s see how the German Pirates fair in the upcoming regional elections on Mai 9th.
Good luck from Poland
Here is a definition of Net Neutrality: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_neutrality
If copyrighted content should be allowed then why not child pornography?
Note I am not saying that The Pirate Party nor myself is agreeing with child pornography – HOWEVER, the notion of Free Speech and Net Neutrality seems to advocate for “all” form of content – why should it not be content that teh majority of users would find extremely offensive then? Surely Net Neutrality would seem to preach this but not practice it – not just child pornography, but overtly racist material, other sexual deviancy or material advocating hatred and violence towards another group or religion.
Surely these should be covered inder Net Neutrality and made legal or else the very definition provided is simply false and boils down to “Net Neutrality covers what we agree with”…
there are many who want to take away our privacy ,, don’t let it happen ,, vote for ur pirate party!!
http://www.pp-international.net/
A pirate party won’t change anything, did the green party change anything? did the communist party, the socialist party ever change anything? NO BIG BIG NO, in the contrary, it only got WORSE.
Just don’t vote: REFUSE, RESIST!
aside from the piratebay articles, this could be the dumbest thing i’ve ever read.
@ 27
Aside from raisin brain and neo you’re the dumbest person to ever set foot on this site.
Of all the political parties we’ve got here, This might be the one that I’m voting for.
Let’s hope it’s not another brainfart like the “animal party” or Geert Wilders. I rather go pirate then morron.
“short sighted and unrealistic” It’s BREIN credo for years now,Tim Kuik needs to find a real job soon….
“and described the Party’s plans as short sighted and unrealistic.” …
Yeaaah really, much like the plans of the indus… oh wait..
Heya 25 – Buttsecks!
“If copyrighted content should be allowed then why not child pornography?”
-Thats a fair point, at the end of the day its all just data right? The main difference being, by producing child pornography, you are breaking the law. As sick and twisted as the peeps who enjoy child porn may be, they arnt harming anyone, better to stop the material being produced in the first place – ie forget “cyber” police, i want to see REAL police making a difference =)
They have my vote.!
Greetz from the Netherlands!
@init
i agree with you…
problems should be solved by there roots…
GO GO GO !
support from Serbia!
These amateurs have no chance…
Good luck!
You are fighting for something very important!
“A pirate party won’t change anything, did the green party change anything? did the communist party, the socialist party ever change anything? NO BIG BIG NO, in the contrary, it only got WORSE.”
Seriously… I see a lot of stuoid comment made here but this just about takes the cake as far as demonstrating a total lack of understanding of political systems and a blunt refusal to acknowledge anything that’s actually happened in the real world.
od I hate Anarchists who simply use the “Anarchy” idea to feel rebellious, cover up they’re own failing at life (living at their parents hpuse still most likely) and to pose.
You may as well get off the internet as the internet wouldn’t be able to exist in a truley anarchist scenario – or for that matter most of the comforts you rely on in your sheltered life right now.
Good luck from Germany from one of the many volunteers who collected and validated the necessary signatures to get the German Pirate Party eligible in the last federal elections. It’s a hard fight, but it’s worth fighting for!
Well, that would embarrassing for Holland, wouldn’t it? If a political party advocating free things came into power? Everything they advocate no doubt flies in the face of international copyright law. So, now Holland would literally have state sanctioned copyright infringement.
They all want to “legalize non commercial file sharing”.. Has it by chance occurred to any of them that just because you aren’t making money, doesn’t mean you aren’t paying the creator for their work?
@10 ?
Not paying for things is stealing.. How is that propaganda? Why is it that pirates manage to see a conspiracy theory everywhere they look? Please explain to me how someone can make money if no one pays them, hm? What makes you think you are entitled to someone else’s work?
Since you obviously have no clue, let me explain how being an artists works. Everytime they make an album, they have to pay the label back for the costs. If they can’t, they lose their job. Yes, they love what they do, but if they can’t make money off of their work, then they can’t earn a living.
Libraries make arrangements with the publisher to have their books available. When you rent a book, you also can’t keep it indefinitely, like you can with any pilfered material.
WAY TO GO DUTCH PEOPLE!
I’d vote for them if I could. Can’t wait til the next elections, will support them if a branch opens up in my neck of the woods.
Pirates of the UK unite!
WE NEED YOU TO FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS!
(and party)
Join us today at http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/
In the immortal words of Homer, “Wooo-hooo!”
Go go go!
Good luck from Sweden..
Good luck from Russia!
And join to our copyright funeral flashmob :)
http://www.piright.org/en/
#40 neostyles: “Not paying for things is stealing..”
Quick, call the cops, I have a confession to make: I’m breathing fresh air, and I’m NOT paying for it! ;-)
Check out online-degree-schools.net
I think it will help some of you.
Good luck pirates!
Greetings from Bulgarian Pirate Party!
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