Party of the Week: Pirate Party of the Netherlands

This week's Pirate Party of the Week is the Pirate Party of the Netherlands, which on June 9th will participate in national elections.

We encourage everyone to promote the link to the Questions and Answers, link to the website and Youtube/Facebook account of the Party of the Week and publish the questions/answers on your website/blog, on your Facebook page or print it out and show it to your friends.

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Tell us why the Pirate Party of the Netherlands is participating in the current elections.

Because we cannot wait another four years. Many disturbing developments are taking place right now. BREIN, the representative for the copyright industry, is trying to change the law through lawsuits. Many political parties want to criminalize downloading copyrighted material, and there are more and more calls for an internet filter. Another important factor is the continuous ignorance of the government in IT affairs, which was shown recently by the troubles with the Public Transport Chip Card, including a large private data leak.

What are the core topics during the election campaign? Are there topics that are unique to the Pirate Party of the Netherlands, something that distinguishes them from other Pirate Parties?

Our 7 core points are: protection of privacy, protection of civil rights, better management of confidential information by the government, sharing culture and information by reforming copyright, promoting innovation by a reform of patent law, limiting trademark law. and making the government more transparent.

Tell us more about the inner structure of PP-Netherlands.

The most important body is the Member Council, which is elected by the General Assembly of members. It is responsible for political decisions and long-term strategy, and elects and controls the Board. The board is responsible for everyday affairs. We chose for this two-tier structure to provide more stability and create more expertise.

The current chairman is Thijs Markus. Samir Allioui, former co-president of PPI, is the front-man in the elections on 9 June.

If you think 5 years ahead, what will be different compared to today's situation?

The future of our party will, for a large part, be decided on 9 June: if we get a representation in parliament, for which we only need 1/150 of the vote, we will get media attention and government subsidies. The next targets are the 2014 national and European elections, so we will have some time to build up a better organization.

In 5 years from now, we hope to have a permanent representation on both levels, be the press' first address for privacy and internet issues, and be a hive of research and initiatives on the information society in the Netherlands.

How do you manage to keep your financial balance? Did you have any special fund-raising methods? How can people support PP-Netherlands?

We have two sources of income: membership contributions and donations. Our financial position is better than most new political parties, but meager compared to the current political parties, who receive state subsidies. Right now we use all our funds for the campaign, and if we get elected our finances will get a lot healthier.

People can support us by donating, or if you live close to the Netherlands, by joining our campaign activities. To donate, send money to:
Piratenpartij
BIC/SWIFT: RABONL2U
IBAN: NL41 RABO 0108 3789 69
Please include "Donation PPNL"

How many members does PP-Netherlands have at the moment? Can foreigners become members of PP-Netherlands?

On the 20th of May, we had about 250 members, but this is increasing with almost 10 members per day. According to our statutes, members of the party must be Dutch citizens or be living in the Netherlands.

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• Pirate Party of the Netherlands Website: http://piratenpartij.nl/
• Pirate Party of the Netherlands on Twitter: http://twitter.com/piratenpartij
• Pirate Party of the Netherlands on Youtube: Depiratenpartij
• Pirate Party of the Netherlands on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Piratenpartij