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Demonstration in support of the Swedish Pirate Party Medborgarplatsen, Stockholm, 2013-02-23
Now... Yay, the equipment works.
Hello and welcome everybody. My name is Anna Troberg and I'm the leader of the Pirate Party.
And I'm really excited that you all took the time to come out today in spite of the weather.
But we have an important reason for being here. We recieved a letter this week-
-and while there's nothing wrong with having pen pals, it's not fun when they threaten you.
I'm really excited that you're all here, so that we can show that we don't take well to threats.
I'll take the role of organizer here today, and I won't talk for very long right now-
-I'll talk more a bit later on. First, I'll tell you a bit about what's going on.
We have several speakers here today, I'm one of them. We have Christian Engström, Member of European Parliament.
We also have the leader of the youth league, Gustav Nipe with us here today.
We have also managed to get a hold of Rick Falkvinge, founder of the Pirate Party, and he will say a few words later on.
I can't see him right now, but you probably recognize him. There he is!
He always sneaks up from behind like that!
We also have visitors here from Norway, for they have recently started a Norwegian Pirate Party-
-which has been highly anticipated for a long time.
A round of applause for Norway!
Now, let's do this. I'll leave the mic to Rick now.
Thanks Anna.
My name is Rick Falkvinge. Once, I set up a website, and that website was the first Pirate Party.
Now, there are over sixty Pirate Parties all over the world.
And I also want to welcome our Norwegian friends from our sister party here to Medborgarplatsen in Stockholm today.
This means something. It means that this is a global movement. It's about standing up for your rights.
This is about a new generation, that no longer accepts that special interests dictates how societey should work.
Since I founded the party, I was its first leader.
In 2010, there had arisen a situation with the Pirate Bay.
When the copyright industry tried to control society thorugh threats and fear.
By making threats, they silenced people into obedience.
At the time, I thought that this was totally unacceptable, and today, I still think that this is totally unacceptable.
This coduct should not be allowed in a society that claims to be democratic.
And that's why we are here today. For precisely the same reasons as back in 2010.
Back then, the... culture-sharing-helper-service, can you call it that?
It's not a file sharing service per se, but merely a search engine for sharing of culture.
At the time, it took on average twenty minutes from the point that they signed a deal with a new ISP-
-until the ISP got its first threatening phone call. Twenty minutes.
The threats were, regrettably, very efficient. I didn't think that society should work that way.
So then, in the spring of 2010, I made a desicion as leader of the Pirate Party, that this cannot stand, society cannot work like this.
Now, let's start our own ISP, and let's pick up the gauntlet that the copyright industry has thrown.
If you want trouble, that is what you will get.
That is why I stand here today, we do not accept that the copyright industry threatens, scares and quells-
-political manifestations into silence, when it does not fit their special interests.
And it is a movement that I still proudly am a part of, long after I resigned as leader of the party.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much Rick!
I consider this to be a successful demonstration if I haven't broken a leg at the end of it.
That day, when we decided to provide internet acces to the Pirate Bay-
-Rick called me when I was sitting on the commuter train bound for the city-
-and he said to me "now we're ISPs to TPB"
And then I fell silent for five seconds, and then I said "This... Will they take my house now?"
Because this is how the copright industry acts when they don't get what they want.
They issue threats, they issue lawsuits, and they come after you.
And this is exactly what they have done now with this letter that we recieved last week.
And this begs the question, are threats and lawsuits the solution to all the possibilities that technology has provided us with?
Are these possibilites really that horrific, that the only way to react is to threaten and sue ordinary people-
-whose only goal is to partake of information and to spread information amongst each other.
I don't think so. I think that we can change certain things to avoid this.
We can for example change how copyright works, since copyright is outdated-
-it doesn't work in this modern world.
And, this little book that I'm holding here is written by Rick, and Christian, who will speak later.
In it you will find ideas from the Pirate Party about reforming the copyright system
All of you here are welcome to help yourself to copies of this book, free of charge of course.
Cause we're the free-party and we give away books.
So, please take a book, take pens and fliers. Read, spread, and spread the knowledge to others.
We cannot remain silent. Either we speak up now, or pretty soon we'll find ourselves in s society where we cannot-
-spread information amongst ourselves. And what will happen then? What will happen to democracy when-
-when information isn't allowed to flow freely? What happens to freedom of speech-
-when what we say to each other is blocked. When artificial obstacles are created to hinder our communication-
-Then, the democracy is in danger, and that is why we are here today.
And the future of our society depends on our young people, and therefore I'll welcome up Gustav Nipe.
Here he is, Gustav Nipe. He's the leader of our youth league, and he represents our hopes for the future.
Thank you, thank you Anna.
So that I get a bit warmed up here, I'd appreciate it if you all said "Hi Gustav!"
Thank you very much! Now I'm really psyched!
The most beautiful thing in the world is love.
The second most beautiful thing is to be politically engaged.
I have been politically engaged in the Pirate Party since it was formed, and it has been a joy almost every day.
It's not always easy to be politically engaged, sometimes you have to go to meetings by yourself-
-other times you get yelled at for things you said, or didn't say.
But to say no to political engagement is to say no to life.
We are the pirates. Some have laughed at it and said "you can't call yourselves the pirates"-
-but we're not just the pirates. We're the rebels, we're the round bolts to the square holes-
There's no shortcuts to sucess, but we have chosen to put our foots down and to be politically engaged-
-and our message is heard every day, more and more clearly.
Let Hollywood and the Copyright Mafia hear: We will neither be scared into obedience-
-or threatened into silence! Long live the Pirate Bay! Thank you!
I won't step up here again, I feel that it won't end well.
I'd like to invite our guests from Norway.
I'll leave the mic to Geir, who is the leader of the Norwegian Pirate Party.
Thank you Anna.
Finally, we have started our own Pirate Party in Norway, inspired by the one here in Sweden.
September 9, the Parliament holds elections in Norway. Then the Norwegian Pirate Party goes to election-
-in all counties in Norway, and we'll do our best to get as many mandates as possible in the Parliament.
In Norway, we have the same important pirate issues, like free file sharing, better access to digital culture-
-freedom of speech, freedom from censorship, and right to broadband in all households-
-as naturally as with electricity and running water. Here, we are far behind you in Sweden, as in many other areas.
I would like to thank Rick, Anna, and all you other Swedish pirates-
-and I would like to thank the Pirate Bay for bringing us culture. You have been an enormous inspiration.
It's really nice that you are here today, I'm really happy to see you-
-but of course, it does not end here. This is only the beginning.
This letter that we recieved from Rättighetsalliansen (The Rights Alliance)
-where they state that they will take us to court if we don't cease to provide internet access to the Pirate Bay-
-we got until tuesday, and we'll give our answer on tuesday, but I'll give you a hint right now.
We will take this fight, wether it be in court or not, they won't get away without a fight-
-for we will not simply lie down and die and wait for them to take over the world.
But, this depends a lot on you too. It does nothing if only I or Christian stand here talking-
We must all help out, all the time. It's about doing things online, offline-
-and, most of you here probably live in Stockholm. And we have someone here-
-that coordinates and takes care of a lot of things going on in Stockholm-
I would like to get Johan up here so that he can talk about how you can help-
-and how you can be active and lift this issue.
Thanks. I'm not as scared as Anna to break my legs, so I'll dare to step up on the podium.
I sit on the board for the Pirate Party Stockholm
-and I thought I'd tell you a bit about what we do.
Together with Ung Pirat (Young Pirate) Stockholm, we have a sit-down every wednesday at 6:30 PM-
-at Ung Pirats office in Aspudden, just south of here.
We're up to a lot of things, for example political discussions, fliers distribution, book bombings-
-and things like that to spread our culture.
We deepen ourselves in a lot of different subjects and have a lot of fun doing it.
I'd like to ask all of you here from Stockholm to pop by any wednesday-
-every wednesday at 6:30 PM in Aspudden. There's more info and a calendar detailing what we're-
-up to every wednesday online. You'll find it at stockholm.piratpartiet.se.
So, have a look there, and don't be a stranger. See you around!
Excuse me, I was recruiting speakers from the audience.
Those of you who don't live in Stockholm to have the privilege to go to Aspudden every-
-wednesday to celebrate Incredible Wednesday every week, you can also contribute.
There are local chapters all around the country, you can find them on our website-
-and if there are no local chapters at your exact location, there is a local coordinator-
-that you can contact. Phone number and mail address are available on the website.
If you're not a group-person, you can still do lots of things. Write letters to the editor-
-blogging, writing debate articles, talking with your colleagues, friends at school.
The most important part is that we do not keep quiet! Because that's what they want.
They want to silence us, and to that we will respond by never ever being quiet.
We shall be talking like there's no tomorrow.
Speaking of speaking, here is our Member of European Parliament Amelia Andersdotter.
Hello. My name is Amelia Andersdotter and I'm a Member of European Parliament for the Pirate Party.
In my line as a MEP, we handle a lot of suggestions for information politics-
-and what's utterly obvious is that both Swedish and European politics-
-need to focus more on the individual. We often lose the rights of the individual to-
-exert control of their own communcation, and that's what all this is about.
All societies and groupings depend on free flow of communication. between the individuals-
-that are making up the society or grouping. We need good flow of information between industries-
-between individuals, individuals and companies, companies and authorities and so on.
The copyright issue is a good illustration on how this pattern has been broken
The copyright industry is no longer communicating in a way that people can relate to.
And politicians are unable to handle these conflicts that arise between individuals and companies in a competent manner-
-often the politicans make judgements much closer to the preferences of the corporations than necessary.
This is something we must change on a society-level, for we cannot have a constant overriding of-
-the possibilities of the individual, to network, make contacts, friends, and societies-
-for then we won't have any society left. This is the basis of our democracy and coexistence.
I believe that through political egagement in a party like the Pirate Party-
-one can contribute to change. Because when it comes down to it, our common rules for society-
-is made up of the politics. We who are elected by the people are the creators of the common-
-regulations to which we all must adhere.
If the politicians elected today cannot take responsibility for the possibilities of the individual-
-to exert power and control over their own information, communication and identity-
-we won't get a regulatory framework that recognises this, and then we no longer can found a society.
So, consider getting involved politically to change how politicians relate to this-
-we need a clearer focus on the possibilities of the inidividual to control their own information-
-their own identity, and make the best of it together with others. Thank you.
Thank you very much Amelia!
I very much enjoy being here today, partly because of you, but also because when I joined the party-
-some pirates sort of transformed me, because I got in by berating the entire party in my blog-
-which could have gone really bad, but a large number of pirates instead cared for me in that moment-
-and that is why I'm here today. One of those pirates is Emma over there.
She wrote in a chat that "This girl seem to have something in her head at least, so be kind"-
-and for that I thank you.
Amelia was one of the pirates I noticed early on, and I thought that this was an exciting movement.
Christian, who will be speaking in a short while, wrote a long blog post to me, answering all my questions-
-in such a manner that I had no counter arguments, which is really unusual for me.
With these words, I'll let him release his arguments upon you.
-and we'll see if you can resist them or not. Welcome Christian!
My name is Christian Engström and I am a Pirate Party MEP.
When I got home from Brussels last Thursday, I fly between Brussels and Stockholm every week-
-when i got home to my family, I have a wife and a son who's about to turn 13-
-they wanted to know if they needed to worry about this letter, could it be that it ruins us?
To which I answered, no, I don't think so. We'll manage this in a way as to avoid that.
But still. Among other things, I as a MEP have parliamentary immunity, that is put in place to protect elected-
-representatives from violations in their respective countries.
I learned of this when I was elected, but I never in my wildest dreams thought that I one day would need this-
-and start to think of it in real terms. That I, as a Swedish politician in Sweden, an elected representative in-
-the European Parliament, actually would find myself in a situation where I perhaps would need this immunity.
The problem is that only I and Amelia has this immunity, all the other activists in the Pirate Party are unprotected-
This letter that we recieved was aimed partly at the party itself, but also directly to board members-
-and against other active persons.
So this discussion, that a Swedish politician or activist these last few days have had a discussion with their families,-
-how big of a risk is it that we become ruined for life, have to move from our homes-
-how big is the risk of someone getting time in jail so we have to be apart for several months and so on.
This is actual risk assessments that ordinary Swedish politicians have had to do this past week.
And then it saddens me, for want of a better word, that I feel no trust for the Swedish judicial system-
-in cases pertaining to the Pirate Bay, or copyright, what so ever.
The verdict against TPB 2009 was nothing short of a legal scandal. It went against every correct procedure in-
-a Swedish court. I myself was a juror for seven years, so I have trial experience.
The trial against TPB was completely different. There, the court had decided from the beginning that they should nail them-
-And then they tried to find different arguments to do just that.
The arguments they found were not sound, strong, legal arguments, but they nailed them nonetheless.
Partly the three persons who had connections to TPB, but also a fourth person who had nothing with this to do what so ever-
-and had the bad luck to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. And the court was not interested in justice-
-they were interested in making an example.
The same thing has happened in other cases after this. Rättighetsalliansen (The Rights Alliance) have been using a tactic-
-where they go after the middlemen, that is the ones who convey the ones and zeroes over the internet-
-the ones who build our common infrastructure.
Then you can argue; but how can they do this? It clearly states in the law and in the EU e-trade agreement-
-which is incorporated into Swedish law of electronic communication that immunity of the messenger applies-
-someone who merely conveys something cannot be held responsible for the contents.
The Swedish postal service is Sweden's largest distributor of narcotics-
-but no one would ever dream that they are reponsible for this. They have no business with what's in the parcels they convey.
The mailman can never be guilty for the contents in the letters he delivers.
The Road Administration are not responsible for robbers using their roads to flee.
The ones that provide infrastructure cannot be held reponsible for someone commiting crimes via their networks.
If that was the case, no one would offer to build roads, distribute mail or provide internet access.
Then you think, well the law is on our side, how can this be a problem?
That's because all other ISPs, who also had the law on their side has gotten injuctions from the court-
-that orders them to stop providing internet access to TPB immediately, or you'll have to pay SEK 500 000-
-a day, or something along those lines.
Then you can think, Ok. The courts rule like this, they're corrupt, but still-
-the Pirate Party could at least try this threat letter in court, to see if it has any bearing what so ever-
-We could do that. The problem is that to get a hearing in court you have to get your own lawyers-
-This is a civil courts case. Rättighetsalliansen is careful how they tread. In a civil courts case-
-you have no right to an appointed attourney, but have to pay your own legal defense.
Which adds up to a couple of hundred thousand even in a cheap scenario.
And if the court should rule in favor of Rättighetsalliansen, the Pirate Party would have to pay Rättighetsalliansens lawyer bills.
And Rättighetsalliansen have all of Swedens best and most expensive lawyers on their side.
That bill wouldn't be cheap. In some of the previous cases, Rättighetsalliansens lawyers racked up a grand total of around SEK 790 000-
-which then the ISP who lost had to pay.
So, sadly, the legal playing field is very uneven and we're having difficulties claiming our rights.
We have the rights, we just don't have the means to assert them, because of the corrupness of the courts-
-in these cases pertaining to TPB and copyright.
In other cases, the Swedish courts are generally fair, but here, American interests weigh heavily.
So this is regrettably not a playing field on which we can expect to reach any success.
But, the good news is that the legal field is not the only one. There are two more that are at least as important.
First off, there's the technical field. The technical activists that keep TPB up no matter what-
-that keep all the other file sharing sites and WikiLeaks up-
-that have the know-how to decrypt films showing American war crimes.
All these highly competent technicians that make up the technical activists, it is they who keep us afloat-
-they are the ones that make this discussion a discussion. For if Hollywood could have shut down TPB-
-and all other sites they don't happen to like for some reason-
-the discussion would be quite abstract, and about rights that we, even if we had them, couldn't exercise anyway.
But thanks to these heroes, and especially those who started TPB, and the ones who run it today.
I have no idea who they are, and frankly I don't want to know either.
But I hope that someone, somehow can convey my heartfelt thanks to these heroes-
-for the technical activists, be it hosting file sharing sites och providing secure communications to activists in Syria-
-or caring for WikiLeaks. This is an important part. For on this playing field, the technical, we have a pretty big advantage.
Our technicians are often better than theirs.
It's a bit of a cat-and-mouse game, but we're doing quite well there.
That was the second playing field. The third is the purely political field.
We in the Pirate Party is a party simply because we want to attack the problem on a political front.
Many different people working in different ways is key to preserving the freedom on the internet-
-but also in society. The Pirate Party is a place for those who want to work the political way.
And on this field, the political, it's actually going quite well.
Politics is always something gradual, it's a slow process and is supposed to be that.
Whenever fast political desicisons are made overnight, they are almost always bad desicisons.
But, as I said, in the European Parliament in our daily work, when I and Amelia talk to members from other parties and countries-
-I feel that we are making progress, there is an intellectual movement coming up in Parliament-
-and, generally in the political sphere, there are things happening.
A concrete example of our work is the stopping of ACTA.
Had the Pirate Party not been elected into the European Parliament, ACTA would have been a reality.
I know this, I saw it from the inside and with how narrow margins it was rejected.
In the movie Mulàn, they talk about "The winning of this war could be up to a single soldier or a single grain of rice"-
When it came to the ACTA-agreement, the Pirate Party was that grain of rice.
And we're very proud of that, it shows that we can accomplish things-
-The Pirate Party on the inside of Parliament, together with thousands of activists all around Europe-
-that created a political pressure. Without that political pressure from activists, we would have been toast.
But when ordinary citizens went out on the streets, sent mails to their MEPs and showed that they cared-
-that changed the whole atmosphere in the Parliament. It became possible to win, which we did.
This is one concrete rule. Another thing is this book. Not the book as such, but the fact that-
-the things we write in this book, proposals for reforming the coyright laws so that it becomes legal to file share-
-so that libraries and museums are allowed to digitize our common cultural heritage-
-so that visually impaired people who needs books in special formats can have access to those books et c.
This is the plan the Pirate Party has for solving these problems, and was passed as the official-
-standpoint by The G/EFA in the European Parliament.
Granted, the G/EFA only has about seven percent of the votes so there's some way to go still-
-but me and Amelia, we only have 0.3 percent of the votes, so seven percent is quite a lot, all things considered.
And you can sense there's a movement going on there. I can't tell you how many seminars and such I attend where we talk about copyright laws.
And as I said, things are happening. Slowly, but they're happening.
I believe that there is a chance that if and when we're re-elected in the next term, in the election 2014-
-we will actually see a change, that it will become legal to share culture.
It should be that way, it must be that way, and so it shall be!
However much Hollywood and their lawyers resist, they cannot stop the future forever.
They can delay it, and cause a lot of harm. There's nothing more dangerous than a dying dinosaur-
-for it kicks and flails wildly and does not care what damage it does.
But it is dying, and it is a sign of that.
I believe, and I know that together, we will be able to solve these problems. And I hope and believe-
-that change will come much faster than Hollywood and the record companies have ever dreamed in their worst nightmares.
My name is Christian Engström, I'm a Memeber of European Parliament for the Pirate Party. Thank you to all who could join us today.
Thank you very much Christian!
Before you leave, I'd like to give you some information.
We will remain here for a while, if you'd like to come up and talk to us, don't be shy.
There's information here, if you'd like to become a member you can. There's books left to grab-
-don't be shy, take a bunch for your friends and family.
There purpose is to be read and spread.
I want to remind you once again about Incredible Wednesdays, with Pirate Party Stockholm in Aspudden-
Talk to Johan over here.
And he'll tell you all about it.
Also, I'll give you a tip for a movie. february 26, the same day for the deadline for answering this nasty letter-
-you can see a very good film on the TV. It's called TPB AFK. It's a nice coincidence that it airs the same day as our deadline.
So, watch that film, pop some popcorn, see how it works backstage, and see a bit of Rättighetsalliansen there.
And: Keep on fighting, keep on talking, keep active and keep on informing
Thank you very much for showing up today, please come up and talk to us-
-and if I know my pirates, there'll be both one, two and five "fika" after this, so stick around and grab someone and tag along.
Thank you very much! Goodbye!
Support the fight for a free and open society and a free and open internet.