Why we pirates are needed in Brussels

A post from Patrick Breyer

Ahoy,

at the beginning of June you chose me by an overwhelming majority to be the top candidate of the German Pirate Party for the European Parliament elections in 2019 (about me: https://wiki.piratenpartei.de/Benutzer:Pab, in German ). With Gilles we also have an experienced EU insider and with Samy a committed expert on social and educational policy in the strong team of candidates (http://pi-u.de/eu19kandidaten ). With this letter I would like to inform those who were unable to attend the party convention.

We PIRATES are digital freedom fighters – and Europe needs us more urgently than ever! We defend human rights in the age of the digital revolution. Other parties have different priorities. And they have again and again betrayed the protection of digital human rights when in power. That is why PIRATES are needed.

Our incredibly influential pirate party MEP in Brussels is Julia Reda – Europe’s Internet expert par excellence. It is largely thanks to her that the resistance against the censorship machine “upload filters” and against an “ancillary copyright” has become so great – and hopefully will finally be successful. We PIRATES give privacy and the Internet a voice in Brussels! In Julia’s speech you can listen to what she has achieved so far: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8cTHAsKfjI&t=34m10s (in German)

As policy hackers, we also want to update the political operating system. If corporate interests repeatedly prevail over the interests of citizens and the common good, this inevitably leads to environmental destruction and deepens the social divide in Europe! We need EU transparency instead of a lobbyist’s paradise, direct democracy instead of backroom politics. In my introductory speech I made it clear why we are needed in Brussels: https://vimeo.com/274425357 (in German)

The opportunities

According to surveys, three pirate party candidates from the Czech Republic and I have a good chance of succeeding Julia Reda in Brussels – and we can do even better! An EU-wide mandatory electoral threshold is not to be introduced until the 2024 European elections. Therefore the German pirate party can enter the European Parliament in 2019 probably with a minimum of about 0.6% of the vote.

As a founding member of the Pirate Party Germany, it is important to me to live pirate principles in politics. If the campaign succeeds, I will maintain a close connection to the German Pirate Party from Brussels in order to strengthen the pirate movement in our country as well. As a MEP I would like to increase the media presence of the Pirate Party in Germany, for example by commenting in the federal press on German developments in the area of civil liberties/digital policy. At the federal party congresses I would like to report to you regularly on the state of affairs in Brussels (or in the event of an unavoidable collision of dates, an employee) – because you are part of this party and contribute to its success in your own way!

We want you!

All this is a dream of the future, as long as the European elections are still ahead of us. After I was elected to be the front runner, I called on all those who wanted to help in the election campaign to write to me. The campaign team needs your ideas and support. We are the party of participation and I would like to inspire you to engage. Everyone should have the opportunity to participate in the election campaign with ideas and actions. The election campaign organizers will review your proposals and use them to develop concepts. There will be a member survey on the final campaign concept.

This is what you can do

In Germany, we are a small party that is hardly perceptible via the mass media. In the election campaign it is therefore up to all of us to pull together – and of course also to mix up the political business with unconventional means.

That’s why I’m asking for your help:

• Help collect the 4,000 signatures needed for us to be able to run for the European elections. Download the forms and read what to do with support signatures here: https://wiki.piratenpartei.de/Wahlen/Europa/2019#Unterst.C3.BCtzerunterschriften
• Participate in the action day against upload filters and ancillary copyright on 26 August: https://wiki.piratenpartei.de/StopUploadFilters
• Organize creative actions in your city (e.g. protests against draconian police laws or upload filters) – this is fun and attracts attention. For inspiration: https://wiki.piratenpartei.de/Kategorie:Aktionen
• Organize local discussions on pirate topics and invite us European election candidates or Julia, possibly alongside with prominent guests
• If you would like to participate in the drafting of the joint European electoral programme CEEP, please join a working group: https://wntt.eu/ceep-calendar/ Use the German programme conferences offered, too: https://wiki.piratenpartei.de/Programmkonferenzen
• In the election campaign we need helpers, social media experts, copywriters, graphic artists, videographers, etc. If you are any of these, please write an email: https://encrypt.to/0x4E3C9B04
• Who can support me personally? I am looking for organizational talents, filmmakers, social media experts and translators for the election campaign: https://wiki.piratenpartei.de/Benutzer:Pab#Wahlkampfassistent.2Finnen_requested

One might think that our ambitious goals as freedom fighters and political hackers are actually unattainable in view of the superiority of the political-industrial complex. But as Walt Disney said, “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”

In this spirit I look forward to a pirate-like election campaign with you – let’s cast off!

Patrick

PS: Greetings from @Terrorstofftier. It is appalled that it isn’t more famous than I am. And that’s why it asked me to send you its birthday video, here you have it: https://vimeo.com/274039601