Ahoy! European Parliament Sees Pirates and the Right

The rise of the right wing is bolstered by the down economy and reflects protectionist sentiments among Europeans fearful of job losses to immigrants. The right will never gain a real foothold because the more they are required to explain their policies, the crazier they reveal themselves to be. Protest votes and the pirate party seem like a political climate ready for change.

I don't really know enough about it to make much of a judgment, but to equate a move to the right with racism seems a little extreme. And the Pirate Party is aptly named, which is awesome even if I don't agree with their position. Politics needn't be so serious all the time; it is refreshing to see a party reflect the everyday realities of life and name themselves accordingly.

just as it was wrong for theUK press to give the BNP free airtime and coverage at the expense of the other fringe partys, it is also wrong to say or imply blindly "its a massive protest vote".

with regard to the "pirate party" and their main "privacy rights " and "fair copyright systems", it seems people in the EU have demonstrated that privacy rights and fair copyright systems matter to people enough to vote for them, infact if the "pirate party" were in more EU countries as a valid choice on the polling papers, im sure they would have got more than the 1 (or 2 seats if the LT goes through)seat in the EU, perhaps we can get them registered in the Uk and other EU countrys soon readu for the new rounds....

the issues are far greater than the single issue party you imply ,such as the far wider and greater points raised here
http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2009/06/what-do-the-eu-results-and-pirate-party-mean-for-digital-rights/

%u201CPoliticians would be making a mistake to simply mock or ignore this new if eccentrically-named political force.

The Pirate Party have shown that politicians can lose their jobs if they fail to defend our rights.

They have demonstrated that young people want the public benefit from the new digital world.

The Pirate Party have demonstrated that privacy rights and fair copyright systems matter to people enough to vote for them.

Their election will open up a debate about how well the public interest is served by our current copyright and patent laws.

Their position is for a five year copyright term, and a file sharing exception.

These are somewhat extreme positions %u2013 but the very respectable %u2018cultural flat rate%u2019 proposal might in practice be something similar to a payment made in exchange for a file sharing exception.

And many copyright academics feel the economically optimal term for copyright is nearer 15 years than the life plus 70 years that most authored works can claim.

%u201D

%u201CPrivacy concerns have also been strong a factor in their election.

Sweden has seen resistance to implementing the Data Retention Directive, and the same link to protection of citizen%u2019s interests has been made.

These are serious debates, and by and large, existing political voices, with a few notable exceptions, have failed in their duty to protect our fundamental human rights.%u201D

Pirate Party!? One more reason to move to Sweden. Racism is something we in the states have had a lot of experience with, it is a deep seated problem. However, it has been my experience that racial tension plays out in more violent, naked and socially accepted ways in Europe, so the move to the right is a little worrisome. But I tend to agree with The Guardian, that this is largely a protest vote.