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Iceland's Pirates head for power on wave of public anger

uk.reuters.com

1–10 of 27 posts

Re: Iceland's Pirates head for power on wave of public anger

#2
Very interesting story of alternative politics, I like many of the Pirate party positions, but as wonderful as Iceland may be, it's not exactly the center of political change in the world. Bravo to them, but let's see this same movement on the European continent.

Re: Iceland's Pirates head for power on wave of public anger

#3

Very interesting story of alternative politics, I like many of the Pirate party positions, but as wonderful as Iceland may be, it's not exactly the center of political change in the world. Bravo to them, but let's see this same movement on the European continent.

Bravo to them, but let's see this same movement on the European continent.

Please, let's NOT see a wave of populist politics in Europe.

Re: Iceland's Pirates head for power on wave of public anger

#4

Very interesting story of alternative politics, I like many of the Pirate party positions, but as wonderful as Iceland may be, it's not exactly the center of political change in the world. Bravo to them, but let's see this same movement on the European continent.

Germany already had its Pirate Party story and it was a total disaster. 4 years ago they entered a few local parliaments with over 8% of the votes, but in the end the party destroyed itself from the inside. Turns out that if a bunch of nerds form a political party without establishing a good communication structure the whole party ends up looking like a Usenet flamewar. In the last local election in Berlin the Pirate Party had less votes even than a satirical party and the "Animal Protection Party".

I hope the Icelandic learned something from that and don't make the same mistakes.

Re: Iceland's Pirates head for power on wave of public anger

#5

Very interesting story of alternative politics, I like many of the Pirate party positions, but as wonderful as Iceland may be, it's not exactly the center of political change in the world. Bravo to them, but let's see this same movement on the European continent.

Many of the political ideas that are now common currency were born in small, out-of-the-way places. The United States was just a collection of small colonies when they rebelled, but that rebellion coalesced some of the most radical ideas that had been brewing on the Continent into action, ideas that have been adopted in some form in places all over the world.

You can go romping about through history to find other ideas that were first put into practice in places far from the centers of power, ideas considered radical at the time that later were adopted by those who became powerful. I'm not a subscriber to dialectical theory, but there is some truth in saying that new ideas that arise in response to bad circumstances often supplant prevailing wisdom. (Dialectics assumes that's always an improvement in the long run, but the evidence for that assertion is lacking in my opinion.)

Re: Iceland's Pirates head for power on wave of public anger

#6
post #5

Very interesting story of alternative politics, I like many of the Pirate party positions, but as wonderful as Iceland may be, it's not exactly the center of political change in the world. Bravo to them, but let's see this same movement on the European continent.

Many of the political ideas that are now common currency were born in small, out-of-the-way places. The United States was just a collection of small colonies when they rebelled, but that rebellion coalesced some of the most radical ideas that had been brewing on the Continent into action, ideas that have been adopted in some form in places all over the world. You can go romping about through history to find other ide…

Indeed, Iceland had an early democracy [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Althing

Re: Iceland's Pirates head for power on wave of public anger

#8
post #4

Very interesting story of alternative politics, I like many of the Pirate party positions, but as wonderful as Iceland may be, it's not exactly the center of political change in the world. Bravo to them, but let's see this same movement on the European continent.

Germany already had its Pirate Party story and it was a total disaster. 4 years ago they entered a few local parliaments with over 8% of the votes, but in the end the party destroyed itself from the inside. Turns out that if a bunch of nerds form a political party without establishing a good communication structure the whole party ends up looking like a Usenet flamewar. In the last local election in Berlin the Pirate…

I imagine a group of people whose base commonality is "we want other people's stuff for free" will find that they jumped into something of a moral tarpit on many levels.

Re: Iceland's Pirates head for power on wave of public anger

#9

Very interesting story of alternative politics, I like many of the Pirate party positions, but as wonderful as Iceland may be, it's not exactly the center of political change in the world. Bravo to them, but let's see this same movement on the European continent.

Bravo to them, but let's see this same movement on the European continent. Please, let's NOT see a wave of populist politics in Europe.

It's too late for that, and the other populist parties are often far more worrying than the Pirates.

Re: Iceland's Pirates head for power on wave of public anger

#10
I am involved with the Icelandic Pirate Party. I'm a substitute member of the board of Pirates in Reykjavík and a district representative in a new institution of the party, the Information Board, it's role being the production of information for general consumption. Ask Me Anything.
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