The Register®

Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/10/pirate_germans_yarrwohl/

German Pirate party punters 'don't pay their membership fees'

Yarrwohl!

By Andrew Orlowski

Posted in Media, 10th September 2012 12:43 GMT

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The Pirate Party of Germany (Piratenpartei) achieved breakthrough success capturing the protest vote last autumn [1] - but its appeal may be starting to wane.

The anti-copyright party won 8.9 per cent of the Berlin vote and has been attempting to build a national party organisation. However, Der Spiegel [2] reports that "almost half of the party's members have yet to pay their annual membership fee."

The paper suggests that in-fighting and an absence of policy, tactics or strategy are hurting the German branch of the international movement. Party members are almost exclusively male [3], according to a recent Graun report.

Der Spiegel also makes the rather startling claim that the German Pirate Party doesn't 'stand' for anything. Quite why this makes the Pirates unique is a puzzle; a characteristic of modern parties is that they don't 'stand' for anything either, and this has been a factor in fuelling support for parties that run against the political mainstream - like the Pirates.

If the major parties offered voters a real choice, then making a protest vote against the system would not be so attractive. As I wrote [4] two years ago, the major parties offer the prospective member little except the prospect of the exercise of power itself.

Yet aside from platitudes about 'internet freedom' - where that freedom is gained at someone else's expense - and a common belief in direct democracy and the importance of privacy, the accusation has some truth. The Pirates readily admit to being an umbrella for 'marginal groups [5]' ... including groups which may be marginal for a reason.

For example, the father of the Pirate Party movement – Dick Augustsson (he prefers to use the stage name 'Rick Falkvinge' - aka 'Hawk Wing') has said he believes the "possession" of child pornography should be legalised [6] (translated from an interview in Swedish [7]). Falkvinge stepped down [8] as leader of the international movement in 2011.

The next Bundestag elections are in September 2013, and the Pirates may yet achieve the 5 per cent of the popular vote required to gain a seat. ®