Pirates infiltrate EU Parliament

With a goal of doing no less than rebuilding human civilization as we know it, Sweden's small but vigorous left-wing Pirate Party earned enough votes in elections held there over the weekend to secure at least one seat in the European Parliament.

Rallying support through the well-publicized Pirate Bay trial, the Pirate Party was able to secure 7.1% of Sweden's popular vote, which guarantees it one of the 18 seats in EU Parliament allotted to the country. Based on a platform of copyright and telecommunications reform, the Pirates have become Sweden's largest party among voters under the age of 30, securing more than 20% of voters in that demographic, defeating both the Social Democrats and the Moderates.

Securing this one seat has been the party's mission since 2006, but a pirate "siege of the free world" does not stop there, as the party will technically hold two seats once the Treaty of Lisbon, a revision of the European Constitution, is ratified by all 27 member states. The document is currently ratified by 23.

Rick Falkvinge, the Swedish Pirate Party leader said, "This is not the end. This is just the end of the beginning: the first major, decisive victory of the next generation's Civil Liberties movement...The next step is to spread this fight outside of Sweden. That's where we will need the help of activists, people and dot-com millionaires all over the world. We have shown the world that this is possible. Now, all of us need to do the same thing where each of us live. We need to build civilization anew, and to do so together. We need to rebuild, and we need to stand tall, or we will lose the Liberties that are under siege."