Sign In

One of possible answers has been developed by Michel Bauwens, a thinker, a peer-to-peer theorist and the founder of P2P Foundation. Michel Bauwens advanced the idea of a “grand alliance” for the commons. Such an alliance would bring together Greens, Pirates, movements for social justice (trade unions, farmers’ associations), and small entrepreneurs – to protect natural (environmental) and cultural (digital) commons.

Ever since their emergence within the political landscape, Pirates have been perceived by Greens both as rivals for voters’ support and potential allies in a common cause. The Pirate movement has articulated its distinctive political vision and, in several countries, succeeded in creating a new constituency of voters. Whereas on the level of national politics in various countries Pirates pose for the Greens more or less of a challenge, in the European Parliament, they work together, on a daily basis, on issues such as data protection, network security or intellectual property reform. Is it a result of a contingent overlapping of Green and Pirate agendas, or is it a sign of a deeper affinity, or complementarity, between the two movements?

WikiLeaks and the International Pirate PartyBy mid-December 2010, the only reason WikiLeaks was still online was because of the work of Internet activists. A major source of support was the International Pirate Party—a party founded to advocate for the revision of current intellectual property regimes. WikiLeaks ended up on a domain registered to the Swiss Pirate Party and mirrored6 by the international network of Pirate Parties.7 After the Swiss Pirate Party donated its domain name to WikiLeaks, individuals and groups affiliated with the Pirate Party acted to support WikiLeaks, and the number of WikiLeaks' site copies began multiplying. In one week, 1,000 mirrors appeared (Beschizza, 2010), and as of March 2010, there were 2,552 mirrors of the site. The site ended up hosted by the Swiss Pirate Party, and it remained there after Swiss companies and the Swiss government refused to bow to U.S. and other government pressures to remove WikiLeaks (Halliday, 2010). The Swiss action was backed up by a collection of Pirate Parties who began hosting the site as well in various countries.The Pirate Party was not a newcomer to political activism. The Pirate Party was founded in January 2006 because of concerns over the effect of copyright and patent law on the privacy of individuals. The original Pirate Party's membership—the Swedish branch—grew from the increasing legal woes of the popular filesharing site, The Pirate Bay. Although the Party's membership was growing steadily prior to May 2006, a police raid on The Pirate Bay in May caused its membership to double overnight, bringing total membership to around 3,600 members.8 In April 2009, after the guilty verdict in the Pirate Bay trial, the party gained 3,000 members in 7 hours, and, within a week, it had 40,000 members, a large increase over the 15,000 members in the party before the guilty verdict (Pirate Party, 2009). Thus, the Swedish Pirate Party suddenly became the third largest youth organization in Sweden (Anderson, 2009). In 2009, the Swedish Pirate Party also won two seats in the European Parliament.There are now Pirate Parties in more than 38 countries.9 In September 2009, the party received 229,117 votes in the European Parliament election. In October 2009, the German party managed to gain 2% of the vote in parliamentary elections, amounting to around 845,000 votes (Pirate Party, 2009). The German Pirate Party also received 1.9% of the vote in the 2009 Saxony state election. It has won seats in local elections in Münster and Aachen. In the 2009 elections, around 13 percent of first-time male voters voted for the Pirate Party (Allen, 2009). As of July 2012, the German Pirate Party had seen 209 members elected to office at various government levels, with 45 of these being seats held at the state level (German Pirate Party; Ernesto, 2011).10

Esta implicación verde ha servido para establecer una estrecha colaboración con los dos eurodiputados suecos del Partido Pirata, Christian Engstrom y Amelia Andersdotter (integradxs en esta legislatura en el grupo Verdes-ALE).

The Swedish Pirate Party’s list for the European elections (with age and home town): Christian Engström, 53, Nacka Amelia Andersdotter. 26, Bryssel/Uppsala Anna Troberg, 39, Järfälla Gustav Nipe, 25, Uppsala Mattias Bjärnemalm, 34, Bryssel/Malmö Rick Falkvinge, 41, Sollentuna Deeqo Hussein, 22, Mölndal Nils Agnesson, 28, Stockholm Henrik Brändén, 48, Uppsala Gun Svensson, 76, Norrtälje Torbjörn Wester, 33, Norrköping Andreas Larsson, 30, Rättvik Niklas Dahl, 21, Lund Marit Deldén, 30, Sundsvall Malin Karlsson, 24, Karlstad Troed Sångberg, 39, Örebro Anton Nordenfur, 21, Linköping Nathalie Ylitalo, 28, Luleå Jacob Hallén, 55, Göteborg Mårten Fjällström, 36, Uppsala Backups: Irena Cienkowska, 29, Stockholm Jan Lindgren, 34, Stockholm Paula Roth, 19, Göteborg Isabelle Danielsson, 26, Karlstad Mikael Holm, 27, Uppsala