Who Are the Pirates from Berlin?

[xchrom]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,787417,00.html


Some of the 15 Pirate Party delegates who will soon take their seats in Berlin's city-state parliament.

They are handy with computers and are interested in issues relating to the Internet. Is that all? Many Berliners have been scratching their heads about the true identity of Germany's youngest political party. But the answer is simple: They're the new Greens.

A protest party. A group of computer nerd misfits. Perhaps even a joke? Such were the portrayals of the Pirate Party in Berlin prior to Sunday's city-state election. After all, how could a single-issue party made up largely of 20-something men really be serious about politics?

That was then. Now, with 15 Pirates set to enter Berlin's regional parliament after receiving an astonishing 8.9 percent of the vote, capital city residents are taking a closer look at one of the most surprising political success stories Germany has seen in recent years. And what they have found is a group which has tapped into a political vein that Germany's more established political parties didn't even know existed.

"They have very clearly struck a nerve in this city," admitted the Green Party's lead candidate Renate Künast after the votes were counted.

Lothar Probst, a political scientist at the University of Bremen, went further. "For many young voters and first-time voters, this party embodies something fresh and adventuresome," he told the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.



:applause:

[99th_Monkey]

1. What a beautiful example of how democracy is supposed to work.

Would that we in the ¨USA could be so fortunate to have something like this to happen on the left; but sadly
the Tea Party bat-shit crazies are the nearest thing in recent history here. :(

[Myrina]

2. This begs the question ...

... since they're all geeks, did they REALLY get 9% of the vote, or did they hack their way in?


:shrug: