We were late for lunch yesterday as the husband and I left the Matteus school where we had just cast our votes for seats in the EU parliament. On our way out, a tiny old woman - in her late 80s I would say - walked up on her way in to vote, leaning heavily on a cane. Three political workers stood in front of her, one each from the Green party, the People's party and the Moderates (I would describe the People's party as, um, maybe, populist and it is part of the center-right alliance currently ruling Sweden, which is headed by the Moderates).
The old woman looked up, and barked out: "Pirate party?"
The husband and I looked at each other. The Pirate party is a brand new entity. They are interested in one thing: free file sharing on the internet.
"I guess she downloads a lot," the husband said, and we laughed.
And so the Pirate party ended up winning one of the 17 seats that Sweden has in the EU Parliament.
Oh, the power of the internets.
The Swedish word for the day is val, which has been the word of the day before. It means election. (And as Vatine has pointed out, also means choice as well as whale.)
Monday, June 08, 2009
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6 comments:
Hej! I wouldn't say the Pirate Party should be limited to file sharing. I would rather say it is really sad that people don't get why privacy and copyright are an important part of everybody's live nowadays.
I heard that Sweden will be taking the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in July ... pretty excited. I wonder what Sweden will do with such power... Apparently last time around they were trying to make advertising on television aimed at children under 12 illegal. Not a bad idea.
Since you mentioned the old lady walked with a cane, it reminded me of something I always wondered about. In movies and tv-series it's not unusual that elderly people have walkers but I have never ever seen a rullator. Don't you have that in America?
When I'm feeling especially playful/playfully mean, I tell my parents the Moderates are Sweden's equivalent of the Republicans. Even my father, who with later years has gotten so anti-Palme it's getting tiring, objects vehemently.
You must live in quite a certain part of town not to be met by SAP people. ;-)
In one of the last elections she voted in before she died, an elderly aunt of mine smiled broadly as she told me that she had voted for the Natural Law Party here in Canada, a party that espoused yogic flying as the key to universal peace and good health. (She had had it with the other mainstream parties and considered voting a duty.) "Just don't tell anyone!" she winked.
I would not say that the pirate party has filesharing and copyright as the only thing. It is more like freedom of the internet that is the question. And integrity. Unhindered filesharing is a part of this.
//Batus the piratpartist :)
(P.S. I think I started reading your blog even before I became a pirate, and I was early! Keep it going.)
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