skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Labels:
Germany»
Pirates
(The Pirate movement, which originated in Sweden in 2006, began as a loosely organized group of digital activists whose main aim is the free
sharing of information online, including through less stringent
copyright laws. Their political activities began with protesting the
raid of the Swedish police on the Stockholm servers of the website The
Pirate Bay, where music and movies could be downloaded illegally. In
2009, the Swedish Piratpartiet won 7.1 percent of the votes and
two of Sweden's 20 seats in the European Parliament. In the EP, the
Pirates belong to the Green Group, led by the Franco-German former
revolutionary Daniel Cohn-Bendit. Following the Swedish example, PPs
were established in some 40 countries, but none has had the electoral
impact of the German branch.)
Last week, the Pirates were criticized
by the Central Council of German Jews. Dieter Graumann, the Council's
president, questioned the PP's decision not to oust PP member Bodo
Thiesen, despite comments he made about the Holocaust and Germany's role
in starting the Second World War. In a 2008 YouTube video, Thiesen
defended convicted Holocaust denier Germar Rudolf. Thiesen also tried to
alter entries on the German Wikipedia regarding the Holocaust and the
German invasion of Poland in 1939, which he claimed was provoked by the
Polish.