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Glad to see that the party that actually fights for Internet liberties, rather than for the companies lobbying them, is starting to get more and more political

Glad to see that the party that actually fights for Internet liberties, rather than for the companies lobbying them, is starting to get more and more political power in all these different countries where it exists.

mhd 15y ago
The problems the Pirates face are getting beyond that one issue. I've read their party programme, and it's a bit wishy-washy. Some interesting (and unique) points, but no clear stance on the usual issues of politics (finance, Euro-zone etc.). The run into the the danger of being a one-trick-pony, a pure "option" part, who just add some point of views to the bigger coalition partner ("I'll vote left with side-dish of legal file-sharing"). Same problem the Green party had (or, well, still has), but with even more problems on the horizon, considering that the Greens were quite solidly leftist from the start, where the Pirate party unites lefties and libertarians. Certainly a party to watch. I'd vote for any party that has a clear emphasis on civil rights (not just for the internet), and their former "champions" in Germany (the FDP) have done a pretty bad job in that regard lately.
- iaskwhy 15y ago
  I believe they being there at the parlament makes people talk about it and eventually the other parties need to clarify their position on it. Until a bigger party sides by them they might keep growing forcing the others to act.
- Tichy 15y ago
  They don't deny that they are still working out many issues. However, there is currently no danger of them having to decide on the future of the Euro zone. Also, some of their principles apply to finance as well, such as transparency and simplicity. Open data about government spending might have some impact, too (just my thinking, not official Pirate Party, I am not a member)
  - mhd 15y ago
    It's always interesting to see something in its fledgling phase (hey, we're on a startup site…), so I'm very eager to see how they're going to cope with this. There seems to be some disagreement about how fast they want to grow right now, and how. While this is certainly nothing that will be topped quite soon (Berlin is probably the epicenter of their target demographics), they are on the map right now, big time. They still don't want to let some delegation or committee determine their program, but given enough growth I wonder how much they can stick to that principle. You're more likely to get bogged down with minutiae doing something that democratic, and less likely to get down to the very core (e.g. by the time you decided on how to avoid some gender-specific expression in the dreaded German language, your meeting is over). Either they'll adapt to more common party politics (which could be fatal), or we're going to find out if they can properly harness all our new technology. Getting from a party for the internet to a party from the internet…
    - Tichy 15y ago
      I guess the only hope for such total democracy is enough people giving up because the process is so frustratingly slow, so that few enough people remain to become able to execute.
- archangel_one 15y ago
  I think this is deliberate; I remember at least one of the Pirate parties saying that they didn't have any economic policies because they'd be a minority partner in a coalition so those policies would never be applied. Personally I find this refreshingly honest and I wish there was more of it; our Green party, for example, has a very left-wing set of economic policies which get ignored when they're in a coalition, because they're too left-wing for any major party. All having them really seems to do is cement the fact that they won't have anything to do with any party to the right of centre, which kind of sucks when those parties win so the Green votes effectively get ignored. I like the idea that the Pirate Parties don't want to go down the same route.
  - robryan 15y ago
    Yeah the greens in Australia do the same thing and form a full set of policies which usually are mostly ignored. It's only now that they hold somewhat of a balance of power in the parliament that they are getting some action on some of those policies.
- FrankenTan 15y ago
  With the Swedish pirate party, this is a choice of strategy. They purposefully focus their politics and votes with whoever votes with them, as it usually is with coalitions between political parties. They did exactly what they promised once they got into the EU parliament, which actually suprised the Swedish newspapers who accused them of 'not taking it seriously' when they focused entirely on their area of expertise rather than pay lip service to other issues. It's how they become the greenest party in the green coalition, despite not being a green party. It was a nice change to experience someone doing exactly what they said they would once they'd been voted in.

mhd 15y ago

The problems the Pirates face are getting beyond that one issue. I've read their party programme, and it's a bit wishy-washy. Some interesting (and unique) points, but no clear stance on the usual issues of politics (finance, Euro-zone etc.). The run into the the danger of being a one-trick-pony, a pure "option" part, who just add some point of views to the bigger coalition partner ("I'll vote left with side-dish of legal file-sharing"). Same problem the Green party had (or, well, still has), but with even more problems on the horizon, considering that the Greens were quite solidly leftist from the start, where the Pirate party unites lefties and libertarians. Certainly a party to watch. I'd vote for any party that has a clear emphasis on civil rights (not just for the internet), and their former "champions" in Germany (the FDP) have done a pretty bad job in that regard lately.

iaskwhy 15y ago
I believe they being there at the parlament makes people talk about it and eventually the other parties need to clarify their position on it. Until a bigger party sides by them they might keep growing forcing the others to act.
Tichy 15y ago
They don't deny that they are still working out many issues. However, there is currently no danger of them having to decide on the future of the Euro zone. Also, some of their principles apply to finance as well, such as transparency and simplicity. Open data about government spending might have some impact, too (just my thinking, not official Pirate Party, I am not a member)
- mhd 15y ago
  It's always interesting to see something in its fledgling phase (hey, we're on a startup site…), so I'm very eager to see how they're going to cope with this. There seems to be some disagreement about how fast they want to grow right now, and how. While this is certainly nothing that will be topped quite soon (Berlin is probably the epicenter of their target demographics), they are on the map right now, big time. They still don't want to let some delegation or committee determine their program, but given enough growth I wonder how much they can stick to that principle. You're more likely to get bogged down with minutiae doing something that democratic, and less likely to get down to the very core (e.g. by the time you decided on how to avoid some gender-specific expression in the dreaded German language, your meeting is over). Either they'll adapt to more common party politics (which could be fatal), or we're going to find out if they can properly harness all our new technology. Getting from a party for the internet to a party from the internet…
  - Tichy 15y ago
    I guess the only hope for such total democracy is enough people giving up because the process is so frustratingly slow, so that few enough people remain to become able to execute.
archangel_one 15y ago
I think this is deliberate; I remember at least one of the Pirate parties saying that they didn't have any economic policies because they'd be a minority partner in a coalition so those policies would never be applied. Personally I find this refreshingly honest and I wish there was more of it; our Green party, for example, has a very left-wing set of economic policies which get ignored when they're in a coalition, because they're too left-wing for any major party. All having them really seems to do is cement the fact that they won't have anything to do with any party to the right of centre, which kind of sucks when those parties win so the Green votes effectively get ignored. I like the idea that the Pirate Parties don't want to go down the same route.
- robryan 15y ago
  Yeah the greens in Australia do the same thing and form a full set of policies which usually are mostly ignored. It's only now that they hold somewhat of a balance of power in the parliament that they are getting some action on some of those policies.
FrankenTan 15y ago
With the Swedish pirate party, this is a choice of strategy. They purposefully focus their politics and votes with whoever votes with them, as it usually is with coalitions between political parties. They did exactly what they promised once they got into the EU parliament, which actually suprised the Swedish newspapers who accused them of 'not taking it seriously' when they focused entirely on their area of expertise rather than pay lip service to other issues. It's how they become the greenest party in the green coalition, despite not being a green party. It was a nice change to experience someone doing exactly what they said they would once they'd been voted in.