It is called the Pirate Party and in recent days it presented its list for the next European elections. Born in 2006 in Italy (the first Pirate Party was born in Sweden, shortly before the Italian one and on the same premises), and present in many European countries, it presents itself this year for the first time as an alternative force to all those already present, with a political proposal that focuses on the clash between the information society and the knowledge society, digital rights and liquid democracy.
Formiche.net talked about it with Emmanuele Somma, candidate of the Pirate Party and militant since 2011, to understand what are the next steps of this force already rooted in other countries (22 parliamentarians in the Czech Republic, mayor of Prague, 15 parliamentarians in Iceland and several in the German landers). “Our idea of a list is based on digital issues, not so much to counter the 5 Star Movement as to try to put digital and confrontation issues at the center again, which is now becoming quite relevant between the end of the information society. and the first stirrings of the knowledge society “. What is the Pirate Party and why it is now in Italy
The Pirate Party in Italy presents itself to this year’s European elections with an idea that we could define as ancient, which we confirmed both in the choice of the capilista and as the main campaign, namely that of Luigi Di Liberto, the Italian pirate of the TNTVillage platform ( a non-profit content sharing platform), i.e. its civil disobedience against copyright, which is then the theme on which the Swedish Pirate Party was born with the mobilization for piratebay. There is a substantial difference, however, with the Swedish case, because Di Liberto’s position is a position with common sense. Explain to us better.
Di Liberto does not dispute the fact that authors must earn, on the contrary, but argues that this gain cannot be extended to the point where it completely blocks the circulation of knowledge. One cannot completely stop the spread of knowledge for more than one human life. So his proposal is that after 5 years, or a number of years to be decided jointly, without prejudice to all the rights of authors and publishers to use the material economically and commercially, private and non-profit sharing – which is what TNTVillage does – it must be free. The other leaders also substantially represent this fracture that we see, which really places the Pirate Party as an alternative to all the others. Possibly a narrow minority, but as an antagonist to all parties, whether they are small or large, which instead rely deeply on the idea of information as propaganda. The Pirate Party argues that there is someone – whom we refer to as knowledge workers – who is doing an important job to overcome the information society, which is the company that gave birth to so many negative aspects.He gives me an
example.We believe, for example, that fake news is inherent in the way in which information and propaganda is made today. It is difficult to argue that, as the Italian press did on the recent copyright battle, they represent freedom of information. It is no coincidence that Radio Radicale, for example, calls its morning press review calling it “Stampa e regime”. Perhaps the mistake, also given the recent events involving Radio Radicale itself, and which has put a conjunction and not a verb to be, “Press and regime”. We find precisely in this, in this fracture, the reason for the presentation of the list. There are those who, by pretending to bring the knowledge society to Italy, are abusing information to later become part of the regime.In the program of the Pirate Party there is also talk of direct democracy. How it differs from direct democracy which we now hear often, thanks to the 5 Star Movement
In the program of the Pirate Party we talk about liquid democracy, which is a bit different. What I see is that the 5 Star Movement has adopted a whole series of themes and counter-themes, saying a bit the opposite of everything and now the knots are coming to a head, as happens when we have to confront ourselves with the reality. In the case of direct democracy, if its representation is what we see on a system like Rousseau we realize that it is very far from being both direct and democratic. The problem of direct democracy from a grill point of view is: by whom it is directedInstead for the Pirate Party
In the case of the Pirate Party, it is a liquid democracy proposal in the internal structure. We want to imagine that we can also overcome institutional structures, but not by pretending that they do not exist, but by evolving them. Liquid democracy means that every citizen should be able to decide whether to act directly and therefore make their own the motions that are inserted in the internal system of democracy called LiquidFeedback, or delegate someone they trust. It is a middle way, so to speak, between representative and direct democracy, which however is based on the awareness of the person who is inside, who can both delegate and take that delegation to himself, something that in a system like Rousseau is not possible.In short, it is not a real direct democracy
As I happened to say elsewhere, they experience direct democracy as representation, as if it were a show to be shown outside. Different is to want to first internalize and then eventually export and compare with others the possibility of finding other forms of aggregation that are not simply those of representative democracy, which in any case remains in fact a beacon of the Constitution, the rule of law and democracy. You certainly can’t go around it. Returning instead to the next Europeans, there is a stumbling block to overcome, which is the 4% threshold. Aim to overcome it or to go beyond it
It is difficult to say in a situation like this, because in Italy the information society does not help the new forces that arise. There is a kind of direct exclusion from the media in general, especially the big ones like television. Furthermore, we are not even mentioned in the polls. Our presentation is based on a different idea of politics, we want to propose a force for those parts of society that are now not represented in any of the factions involved at the moment and who do not resign themselves to the fact that politics is only a war between the various factions. Our presentation in the elections can be worth even 4%, because the current situation sees M5S in free fall, very high abstention, and without a doubt no one who genuinely collects the vote of proposal. We are under the sky. The real problem will be to pierce the world of information, to let people know that there is a list that presents itself.Imagining that this threshold is reached and exceeded, with whom you are talking for the formation of a political group in the European Parliament
The Pirate Party is a European federalist party made up of different souls. Historically, the Pirate Party is a strongly pro-European party but with the concept of a different Europe. Currently it is an intergovernmental Europe with little possibility of dialogue and there is no representation of citizens at the level of the European federal state. As for the groups, personally at the Italian level we did not ask ourselves the problem because when we are in the electoral campaign we are all in competition, but historically we have consonances with the green progressive groups with which many ideas are close: a more careful management of planetary and digital resources.Who are your capilista
We have all chosen candidates with particular stories, starting with Luigi Di Liberto I mentioned above, then Luigi Gubello (the white hat that had “pierced” Rousseau, pointing out the flaws in the system), Stefania Calcagno , a of the first Italian hackers. Then there is Maria Chiara Pievatolo , professor of political philosophy at the University of Pisa, one of the great Italian minds on open access issues, Diana Bargu (in the photo), the youngest candidate on the pirate lists. And a very varied list of people who wanted to testify to the fact that knowledge is the first good that we must regain and many battles of the future are based precisely on this.What are the next steps of the Pirate Party
Today we presented the lists, but it is not the end of the story. Apart from some formal errors that can happen, there is a substantial problem: we have not presented the signatures, because the Pirate Party has enjoyed the interpretation that a political party, a political symbol already present in parliament, could avoid presenting the signatures in support of the lists. We are quite comforted by a 2014 ruling that compared to the presentation of the Italian Greens, despite not having a party within the Italian Parliament, they presented themselves with reference to the European Parliament, so we think we have all the credentials to enter this competition electoral. We are in the sun, let’s say. We await the interpretation of the Courts.
