On New Year's Day in 2006, a reporter from the News of the World found the official website of a new party called "Pirate Party" on the Internet. The party is organizing a nationwide online signature collection campaign, calling on people to vote for the legalization of free online downloading and resist copyright protection. The day after the website of "Pirate Party" was published, 1500 signatures were collected, and 300 people were ready to join the Party.
Rick falk Vig, the leader of the party, said: "There are quite a few people who need someone as their representative to arouse their attention to some issues. My party will participate in the national election in the autumn of 2006, and I firmly believe that we can enter the Swedish parliament with at least 4% voting rate. "
As one of the most striking emerging non-governmental political parties in the new year, the establishment of the "Pirate Party" has certain background. In July 2005, Sweden promulgated a new copyright protection law, which stipulated that it was forbidden to enjoy copyrighted materials on the Internet without paying royalties, and that free downloads of music, movies and computer games should be punished. The "Piracy Party" was established in response to this law, and its political slogan is mainly "Let Internet documents enjoy immunity from criminal responsibility".
Rick falk Vig, its leader, said: "This new law shows that politicians never care about young people who rely on technology today. People born in the 1970s and 1980s are used to living on the Internet. Of Sweden's 9 million people, about 6,543,800+0,000 people have certificates. At least 1/4 of them may be considering that legalizing piracy is the most important issue to be raised in the election. " Rick falk Vig also summed up a civilian manifesto: "Our party has no red, green and blue, we are just pirates."
The organization and canvassing activities of the Swedish Pirate Party are mostly carried out through the Internet, and it is more convenient to appeal to people to get votes and vote without time and space restrictions. The pirate party hopes to enter the Swedish parliament on 20 10, seeking to rescue four members of the Pirate Bay who have been tried.
The dramatic rise of Swedish pirate party indicates that some marginal small political parties and extremist political parties may enter the new European Parliament. In some countries, ultra-nationalist parties, racist parties, separatist parties, anti-Lisbon treaty parties, neo-Nazi parties, etc. Ready to move, they have set their sights on the European Parliament Building in Strasbourg and Brussels. The rise of extremist political parties has made traditional large party groups such as the European People's Party and the Socialist Party worry that the European Parliament will form a new Eurosceptic party group, which will cast a shadow over the prospect of European integration.