The Pirate Party Berlin (german: Piratenpartei Berlin) is the state chapter of the

Pirate Party Germany The Pirate Party Germany (german: Piratenpartei Deutschland), commonly known as Pirates (), is a political party in Germany founded in September 2006 at c-base. It states general agreement with the Swedish Piratpartiet as a party of the infor ...

in the

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

and was the first chapter of the Pirates to enter a ''

Landtag A Landtag (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence in non- ...

'' (state parliament), getting elected to the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin in 2011. The party divides itself into so-called ''Crews'' (self-organizing units) at the local level. Work groups on specific themes are called ''Squads''. Since 2010, the national association has used the software

LiquidFeedback LiquidFeedback is free software for political opinion formation and decision making, combining aspects of representative and direct democracy. Its most important feature is the implementation of a delegated voting system ("liquid democracy") wh ...

for intra-party decision-making.

History

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2009 German federal election Federal elections took place on 27 September 2009 to elect the members of the 17th Bundestag (parliament) of Germany. Preliminary results showed that the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Uni ...

, , 3.4 , - , align="left", Borough Assembly elections, 2011 , , 8.5 , - , align="left", 2011 Berlin state election , , 8.9 , - , align="left",

2013 German federal election Federal elections were held on 22 September to elect the members of the 18th Bundestag of Germany. At stake were all 598 seats to the Bundestag, plus 33 overhang seats determined thereafter. The Christian Democratic Union of Germany/ Christian ...

, , 3.6 , - , align="left",

European Parliament election, 2014 The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

, , 3.2 , - 010 Protest gegen Acta in Munich

The state chapter was founded 30 December 2006. During the 2009 federal election, the Berlin Pirate Party received 3.4 percent of the votes, which was their best showing at the national level. During the 2011 Berlin state election, the party entered a state parliament for the first time when they received 8.9 percent of the votes for the state parliament of Berlin. Lead candidate of the party list,

Andreas Baum Andreas Baum (born 5 July 1978, in Kassel) is a German politician and former member of the Pirate Party Berlin, which is a branch of the national Pirate Party. He entered the state parliament of Berlin when the Pirate party won 15 seats in the 2 ...

, was thus given a seat. List of Chairpersons: * 2007–2008: Andreas Janson * 2008–2011:

* 2011–2012:

Gerhard Anger Gerhard is a name of Germanic origin and may refer to: Given name * Gerhard (bishop of Passau) (fl. 932–946), German prelate * Gerhard III, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg (1292–1340), German prince, regent of Denmark * Gerhard Barkhorn (1919–19 ...

* 2012:

Hartmut Semken Hartmut is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Hartmut of Saint Gall (died 905), Benedictine abbot *Hartmut Bagger (born 1938), retired German general of the Bundeswehr *Hartmut Becker (born 1938), German actor *Hartmut Boockmann ...

* 2012:

Christiane Schinkel Christiane is a given name, a form of the Latin ''Christiana'', feminine form of ''Christianuis'' (see Christian), or a Latinized form of Middle English ''Christin'' 'Christian' (Old English ''christen'', from Latin).. A short form is Chris. Alter ...

* 2012–2014: Gerhard Anger * 2014:

Christopher Lauer Christopher is the English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or '' Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Christ" or "Anointed", and φέρει� ...

* November 2014 – September 2016: Bruno Kramm * September 2016 – present: Simon Kowalewski

Political positions

One of the main concerns of the Pirate Party at the country level is

transparency Transparency, transparence or transparent most often refer to: * Transparency (optics), the physical property of allowing the transmission of light through a material They may also refer to: Literal uses * Transparency (photography), a still ...

in politics and public administration. The Berlin Pirate Party pioneered

livestreaming Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but ...

party meetings on the internet and making the records available for download. As per its 2011 election programme, the Berlin Pirate Party advocates the promotion of alternative residential projects and cultural institutions as well as the preservation of open spaces in inner-city areas. It also opposes the so-called "Berlin Line" low-tolerance anti-

squatting Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

policy. The party is also in favor of a ticket-less

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typic ...

system in Berlin. The successful "

Referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of ...

on Disclosing Partial Privatizations of the Berlin Waterworks" (''Volksentscheid über die Offenlegung der Teilprivatisierungsverträge bei den Berliner Wasserbetrieben'') was supported by the Berlin Pirates. For Berlin schools, the party also supports ethical education on

drug A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhal ...

use ("Drug Maturity" model). The party also wants to remove the minimum voting age clause for Berlin state parliament elections. In addition, three chapters of their party's basic program are devoted to

animal welfare Animal welfare is the well-being of non-human animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevit ...

Representatives in the state parliament

In the state parliament of Berlin (''Abgeordnetenhaus von Berlin''), all 15 Pirate Party candidates (14 men and 1 woman) were elected directly through their mandate. Of the parties in the state parliament, the Pirates have the lowest percentage of female representatives, with only 6.6 percent. Because of double candidacies, three seats in the Borough Assembly (''BVV'') in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg could not be filled. Because of this, the pirates could not take city council posts for which they were eligible. (*) During 2014-2015, Baum, Delius, Herberg, Höfinghoff, Lauer, Mayer und Weiß laid down their party membership, but continued to work with the remaining PPB parliamentary group.

Representatives in Borough Assemblies

The Pirate Party is represented in all 12 borough assemblies in Berlin. In five assemblies, the pirates cannot fully occupy their allocated seats because they received more seats than they had candidates. The following table shows the number of seats per district and, in parentheses, the number of vacant seats:

Collapse of Vote Berlin State Elections 2016

The Berlin state election on September witnessed the collapse of support for the Pirate party in their previous stronghold of Berlin. Their previous vote of 8.9% achieved in 2011 fell to 1.7% and the Pirate party lost all representation in the Berlin State assembly. The poor result was compounded by the murder suicide of former Pirate party assembly member Gerwald Claus-Brunner who wheeled the body of a young man whom he had murdered through the streets of Berlin in a handcart.

References

External links

Website of the Pirate Party Berlin

Website of the Pirate Party Berlin parliamentary group
{{Pirate Party Pirate Party Germany

Liberal parties in Germany