Last year’s national elections, they took 1.92%, the best result until now for the Pirates in Switzerland. The local party in the town of Basel are now confident that the votes will reach the needed 4%.

The excitement among the Pirates in Basel is contagious, spreading quicker than the flu. The election campaign brims full of passion and optimism for the results. All the nine candidates need is their 4%, and one of the hundred Council positions will be theirs.

Piraten Basel’s platform, to create and implement a free Wi-Fi network infrastructure for the modern development of democracy, impacts everyone.  Basel can become a digital model city networking residents, merchants, tourists. It can expand opportunities towards fluid democracy and an open government.

Piraten Basel, with its 145 very active members, has worked hard for its platform since November 2010. Cedric Meury, the first president of Basel Pirates, told Pirate Times about their last election:

We participated last year in the election for the National Council. Five seats belong to the Canton of Basel-Stadt and we sent three Pirates into the elections battleground. We knew however that our chances were very dim, but participating in elections is mandatory and draws new activists, media attention and overall heightened activity. It was a very good learning experience and we managed the best result of all Cantonal Pirate chapters in Switzerland. For this reason, the national Pirate Party set aside a large part of its funds for the PP of Basel’s race for parliament. They are expecting a good result.

Elections for the Cantonal Council are very different from the national one. Piraten Basel is confident it can make the threshold of 4%, and that it can double its supporters in order of gaining at least one seat.

First, there are a hundred seats to be distributed, compared to five. So Piraten Basel reason that people will consider giving the Pirates a chance they wouldn’t to the same extent in regional or national elections.

Second, a small but committed team of Pirates has worked a lot in campaigning for the Pirates. They had many activities on the streets, resulting in great media and political discussions. Going from 2% to 4% will be difficult, but Piraten Basel stands ready to open a bottle of champagne if they manage it.

Basel is located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet. Its diverse culture centre of important museums, homes of many international artists, and Switzerland’s oldest university (established in 1460) exists in harmony with a significant chemical and pharmaceutical industry. Erasmus, Paracelsus and Nietzsche and many other well known scientists, thinkers and artists have lived in Basel, or continue to call Basel their home.

Maybe, a piratical chemical reaction will occur in Basel this Sunday, as in Eichberg, nearly a month ago, when Pirate Alex Arnold was elected as the Mayor of the town.

About Stathis Leivaditis

The English “pirate” is derived from the Greek word “πειρατής” (peiratēs) and this in turn from the verb “πειράομαι” (peiráomai), “I attempt”, which is a derivative of the noun “πείρα” (peîra), “experience”. Coming from the depths of the centuries, the word “pirate” took on another dimension in our days. The ruling classes saw pirates as rebels and hated them. Rebels without a state, they were not submissive to any law, except from the laws they instituted themselves, improvising together. This is the feeling of a Pirate: when something doesn’t work, you have to attempt to bring a new concept. Sometimes it goes beyond a certain point and perhaps exceeds certain limits, because it is an expression of challenge; the challenge to change the system. I’m a member of the Board (and former chairman) of Pirate Party of Greece, also a member of press team of PPGR, former journalist, now a free lancer. I’m in the team of Pirate Times from the start, I joined voluntarily and consciously because I am interested to meet pirates from around the world, to exchange views and spread the pirate spirit.

 

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Last year’s national elections, they took 1.92%, the best result until now for the Pirates in Switzerland. The local party in the town of Basel are now confident that the…