The German Pirate Party, which also seems to have a keen focus on the Internet, experienced something of a breakthrough in Germany’s recent elections as protest party. However, concerns have arisen regarding the possibility of Holocaust denial among their ranks. Individuals from Israel’s embassy in Berlin met with officials from the party and, for the most part, seem to have satisfied those concerns.
The Pirate Party is, however, like most European parties, of the Left and what its foreign policy views are, or may yet come to be defined as, remains somewhat unclear. The Pirates’ primary focus seems to be on transparency in government. Yet, how they weigh in as regards some traditionally antisemitic governments in the Middle East is still unresolved (via the Jerusalem Post):
KIEL, Germany The German Pirate Party shook up the political establishment in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein by winning 8.2 percent of the vote on Sunday and securing seats in the state legislature. In a Saarland state election in March, the party received 7.4% of the vote.
The 30-year-old Pirate politician Patrick Ratzmann, from Kiel, said people say we are merely an Internet party. That is not true. We are a party that uses the Internet. He stressed that Pirates want to promote democracy understanding in the school system and a participatory learning process.
Wolfgang Dudda, a customs police official and Pirate party politician who is set to enter the state parliament in Kiel, told the Post that “We have a historic responsibility toward Israel. It is [an] obligation for us.
“And we will not give that up.”
After the election victory in Kiel, he wrote the Post via email, noting “In a hard and unfair, especially at the end, election campaign from the other parties, the power of democratic renewal based on experience and percent brought a victory to the Pirate party.”
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