January 3rd – In the middle of the night, while most U.S. citizens were sleeping and unable to be outraged, the United States invaded Venezuela and claims now to have captured Nicolás Maduro, President of Venezuela.

After promising peace, the Epstein files & fear mongering that their political opponents will start wars, they have taken upon themselves to invade Venezuela in the middle of the night without Congress’s permission, putting American lives on the line for oil & to distract you from the files.

This is what this administration thinks of you.

We have it in our platform explicitly that the U.S. must be a good neighbor and how we need to shift the dynamic in the New World from “a paradigm of United States dominance to genuine collaboration and friendship is essential. A more united American Continent will help each country become stronger and create a stronger bond between every American, from Greenland to Patagonia.”

Pan-American is essential to the Pirate foreign policy objectives. Our platform says we must “advocate for ending the Cuban embargo and lifting sanctions on Nicaragua and Venezuela.”

Not starting a new war with them.

Even if the administration sought permission to carry out such attacks, we (the United States) can not and should not be attacking our neighbor. This is ultimately another “blood-for-oil” scheme that will lead to countless deaths, billions spent and hard feelings developed by neighbors who already had a hard time trusting us.

For any U.S. citizen that is thinking “Oh but they were sending drugs into the United States, something something nacroterrorists”, I counter with this: Trump pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández, the convicted drug trafficking former President of Honduras.

This has little to do with drugs and everything to do with oil and a distraction from the Epstein files. This has to do with a government unfriendly to U.S. hegemony that the U.S. has tried like hell for years to be rid of, only to lead to this, the most brazen and obvious attempt.

The United States Pirate Party condemns these actions. Secretary Hegseth said Maduro “fucked around and found out”, but empires fall. When we no longer hold dominance over the New World, a fact which most certainly will one day come, our neighbors will remember how we treated them as the most powerful nation in the world. This is just one of many things I believe the United States, not Maduro, will have fucked around and for which they will find out. Not via immediate retaliation, not via the refugee crisis this will certainly exacerbate, but through the lingering memories of the world and especially our neighbors, we will find out.

No war with Venezuela. Ending war is possible.

uspirates.org/no-war-with-no-o…

We could not maintain our opposition to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and also support the Trump’s illegal invasion of Venezuela, a country that has not attacked the United States. Trump’s claims that Venezuelan boats, which were nowhere near the United States, were transporting Fentanyl is laughable and only served as cover for today’s invasion. Ending the Drug War and ensuring that people receive the medical and social support they need to deal with their addiction are better, humane policies. I reproduce this statement from the United States Pirate Party as it is is consistent with our platform, values and past statements.

January 3rd – In the middle of the night, while most U.S. citizens were sleeping and unable to be outraged, the United States invaded Venezuela and claims now to have captured Nicolás Maduro, President of Venezuela.

After promising peace, the Epstein files & fear mongering that their political opponents will start wars, they have taken upon themselves to invade Venezuela in the middle of the night without Congress’s permission, putting American lives on the line for oil & to distract you from the files.

This is what this administration thinks of you.

We have it in our platform explicitly that the U.S. must be a good neighbor and how we need to shift the dynamic in the New World from “a paradigm of United States dominance to genuine collaboration and friendship is essential. A more united American Continent will help each country become stronger and create a stronger bond between every American, from Greenland to Patagonia.”

Pan-American is essential to the Pirate foreign policy objectives. Our platform says we must “advocate for ending the Cuban embargo and lifting sanctions on Nicaragua and Venezuela.”

Not starting a new war with them.

Even if the administration sought permission to carry out such attacks, we (the United States) can not and should not be attacking our neighbor. This is ultimately another “blood-for-oil” scheme that will lead to countless deaths, billions spent and hard feelings developed by neighbors who already had a hard time trusting us.

For any U.S. citizen that is thinking “Oh but they were sending drugs into the United States, something something nacroterrorists”, I counter with this: Trump pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández, the convicted drug trafficking former President of Honduras.

This has little to do with drugs and everything to do with oil and a distraction from the Epstein files. This has to do with a government unfriendly to U.S. hegemony that the U.S. has tried like hell for years to be rid of, only to lead to this, the most brazen and obvious attempt.

The United States Pirate Party condemns these actions. Secretary Hegseth said Maduro “fucked around and found out”, but empires fall. When we no longer hold dominance over the New World, a fact which most certainly will one day come, our neighbors will remember how we treated them as the most powerful nation in the world. This is just one of many things I believe the United States, not Maduro, will have fucked around and for which they will find out. Not via immediate retaliation, not via the refugee crisis this will certainly exacerbate, but through the lingering memories of the world and especially our neighbors, we will find out.

No war with Venezuela. Ending war is possible.

masspirates.org/blog/2026/01/0…

The Totalitarian Regime in Iran is Facing an Existential Crisis

The recent wave of protests is a natural response to catastrophic leadership and systemic failure. Tragically, a vast number of Iranians live in exile across the globe, knowing that returning to their homeland could mean a death sentence.

The Need for Pirates in Iran

Iran needs Pirates, courageous individuals who are ready to stand up to the Ayatollahs and this ruthless, inhumane regime.

Pirate Parties International (PPI) is proud to have two board members of Iranian descent, Babak Tubis and Schoresch Davoodi, along with numerous Iranian members in Pirate parties worldwide. Babak recently published a statement in German regarding his party’s position on the protests.

Read the original statement here: Solidarität mit den Protestierenden im Iran

We have written this article to share his message with an international audience and provide further context.

Our Vision: A Peaceful Transition

PPI supports a peaceful transition to a democratic system in Iran that will protects individual rights, freedom of expression, and the right to protest. We call on the Iranian people to establish their own Pirate party as a vehicle for nonviolent, digital protest.

For over 45 years, Iran has been plundered by radical, religious tyrants who masquerade as a legitimate government. The regime is isolated from most industrialized nations due to its significant support of global terrorism. Internally, the currency has collapsed and inflation is skyrocketing.

A Cry for Dignity

The people have had enough. We are seeing constant reports of citizens taking to the streets. Many of us hope that the regime will finally collapse. We stand in solidarity with the brave individuals risking their lives, mindful of how brutally past protests were suppressed.

As Babak wrote:

“These protests are a cry for dignity and a rejection of fear. They represent a refusal to submit to a system that survives only through brute force.”

Is this the spark that finally leads to revolution?

PPI Stands Firmly With the Protesters

We stand clearly on the side of those fighting for their rights of the Iranian people. Our demands are simple:

• Maximize individual freedoms
• Support a transition to democracy
• Create a secular state

As we monitor this developing crisis, we will update our community on our efforts to support the liberation of the Iranian people.

pp-international.net/2026/01/i…

Pirate Parties International (PPI) strongly condemns the reported attack by the United States on Venezuela [1], which constitutes a grave violation of international law.

The use of military force against a sovereign state is a clear breach of the UN Charter, specifically the prohibition of the use of force under Article 2(4). International conflicts must be resolved exclusively through diplomatic and legal channels.

Reports regarding the abduction of Nicolás Maduro and his wife are deeply concerning. If the statements made by Donald Trump [2] [4] are confirmed, they represent serious human rights violations. Regardless of one’s political stance on the government in Caracas, such actions are a breach of international law.

Democratic states must operate according to the principles of the rule of law; it is this very adherence that distinguishes them from autocracies. By bypassing these principles, Trump is equating himself with figures like Vladimir Putin and risks turning the United States into a rogue state.

While Venezuela—despite being one of the world’s most oil-rich nations—has been economically devastated by mismanagement and authoritarian rule, leaving much of its population in poverty, this does not justify military intervention or the abandonment of fundamental legal principles.

To stabilize the situation, the Pirate Party demands that Edmundo González, the legally elected president as of July 2024, be allowed to take office immediately. This is essential to honoring the will of the Venezuelan people and preventing the country from sliding further into chaos.

The PPI calls for:

• Immediate compliance with international law.
• A transparent international investigation into these incidents.
• A return to diplomacy, the protection of human rights, and the strengthening of multilateral institutions.

Sources:
[1] Reuters: Loud noises heard in Venezuela capital
[2] Handelsblatt: US-Angriffe auf Venezuela – Was wir wissen
[3] FAZ Liveblog: Angriff auf Venezuela
[4] Truth Social: @realDonaldTrump Statement

pp-international.net/2026/01/p…

We scheduled four upcoming Cambridge/Somerville Pirate Meetups over the next two months:

• 1/10/2026, 2-4pm, 1369 Coffee House, 757 Mass. Ave., Cambridge;
• 1/25/2026, 3-5pm, Diesel Cafe, 257 Elm St., Somerville;
• 2/7/2026, 2-4pm, Tatte Bakery & Cafe, 318 Third St., Cambridge;
• 2/22/2026, 1-3pm, 37 Woodbine St., Somerville.

Click the links to go to their respective registration pages. Knowing how many people plan to attend helps to choose the right sized table.

Looking forward to meeting with fellow pirates in Camberville!

PS: You can also join our local mailing list.

masspirates.org/blog/2026/01/0…

Today is the first day of 2026; more than halfway through this decade. The beginning of the year marks the beginning of a new goal for some, hoping to set forth a change for the better. While some take the New Year to jump into a lifestyle or commitment to change, others may not feel they are ready to jump in, even with the year resetting and the feeling of “fresh starts” anew.

You’re never ready. Sometimes you just need to take that opportunity to do.

It was 20 years ago today, on New Year’s Day of 2006, that the first Pirate Party came into being: the Pirate Party of Sweden. Formed in the wake of the Pirate Bay raid, Pirates from Sweden set forth in motion a movement dedicated to the protection of a free and open culture. It was young, future focused, privacy minded and willing to call out intellectual property on the farce it was.

Months after Sweden, on the campus of the University of Georgia, came the second ever Pirate Party: the United States Pirate Party.

While that event occurred on June 6th, 2006, and is an event we shall celebrate the anniversary of later this year during our 2026 Pirate National Conference in Boston, that is not the focus of this post.

Instead, as we go into our 20th year as a movement, the time must be taken to acknowledge some folks. Pirate Parties have popped up worldwide, and while the European peninsula plays host to the most Pirate Parties, it is far from a European movement.

We wish to take a moment to recognize the grassroots efforts of Pirates across the world that have worked to build up this movement.

To our partners in América, the Pirates of Argentina, Brazil and Chile, we are proud to stand with you all as representatives in the New World and in commitment to our own Pan-Americanist platform, dedicating ourselves to bring the United States from a paradigm of U.S. dominance to genuine collaboration and friendship. With you all, we hope to see ourselves as “the first four”, but not the “lone four”.

To our friends in Greece, who provide a fire and energy this movement so desperately needs to continue to grow and thrive. Thank you for speaking up in defense of our movement and refusing to compromise on our ideals. The U.S. Pirate Party greatly looks forward to your success and progress towards the future.

To our candidates, some of whom we have announced and endorsed and some of whom we have yet to tell you about: thank you for believing in this movement. Thank you for caring about your neighbors. Thank you for fighting for a society and culture that is truly free and open.

To the volunteers within the United States Pirate Party: you are the beating heart of this vessel. This ship doesn’t run without their crew, and to our volunteers actively seeking to form Pirate Parties in their state: it is your leadership that is making the difference. Whether you are from one of our PNC member states like Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania or Texas, or one of the volunteers from Alabama, Colorado, the DMV, Kansas. Idaho, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio or West Virginia. Your work is recognized and appreciated to the highest degree.

To our leadership in Young Pirates USA, thank you for taking the time to build up the next generation of Pirate. We look forward to having a more lively YPUSA in the coming years.

To supporters of the Pirate Party, be it the United States or elsewhere: you have seen us grow from a seemingly single issue party to one more fleshed out and unique. No long just privacy, copyright and patents, but also Pan-Americanism, police reform and clean water. This party is a living, breathing reflection of all those who have taken the time to contribute. We hope you can see your reflection from the polish we plan to apply in 2026.

The Pirate Party’s goal was always fighting for “a free and open culture”. Adding clean water, police reform and Pan-Americanism were natural expansions of that idea. Protecting the commons, your privacy, your neighbors and our communities from overreach and profit-first-and-only-minded corporations.

It has been said that the Pirate Party is a bit of an open source project itself; people come in and out and contribute as much or as little as they’d like. It is here I believe our strengths truly lay.

To those looking from the outside in: thank you for checking us out! Maybe you thought we were a joke party (because Pirate Party is a silly name). Maybe you were convinced we existed but did little to nothing. While you might think a slow burn towards success isn’t ideal, I counter by saying that surviving twenty years is only the first obstacle. Sometimes parties and organizations linger before finding their footing, an example being the Democratic Socialists of America. While I am not insinuating we are next in line for that type of relevance, I insist that we are not stagnant in the background. If you have gotten so far as to visit our website or read this article, I invite you to check out our platform. You might not realize it, but our goals aren’t “for Pirates”; they’re for everyone. It just so happens everyone might just be a Pirate.

In the middle of this War on Privacy waged against the average citizen, assisted by the post-Citizens United major parties, in collaboration with those seeking to profit off of your data, we cannot afford to stop pushing. It’s been a long time coming, but I know a change is gonna come.

We have plenty in 2026 and beyond for supporters to sink their teeth into. Beyond volunteer opportunities, we look forward to running more candidates (including what is looking to be a record number of Pirates running in 2026), holding more camera walks, organizing more protests, creating more literature, and giving you all the more reason to Vote Pirate.

Happy New Years to all, and Happy Birthday to this movement we call our own. May these next twenty years be even more fruitful than the first, and may the change we all wish to see come by our hands and hard work.

Because, after all: if not you, then who?

uspirates.org/happy-new-years-…

By Babak Tubis

The U.S. sanctions on HateAid’s leaders in December 2025 have ignited a fierce transatlantic debate. One side frames it as an attack on European digital sovereignty and the fight against online hate, while the other celebrates it as a blow against “state‑sponsored censorship.”

Both narratives, however, miss the deeper structural problem which has been emerging for years: HateAid has become a textbook example of the “gezähmte Netzpolitik” — the taming of internet politics — where independent, pluralistic activism is gradually replaced by conformist, institutionally dependent structures. This is evidenced by its state funding and privileged role as a Trusted Flagger under the Digital Services Act (DSA).

Its vulnerability in the current geopolitical crossfire is not an accident, but the logical consequence of choices made long ago. [1][2][3][11]

Crisis, Stress, and the Symptomatic Response

Overlapping crises like the pandemic and the war in Ukraine create a collective stress that heightens vulnerability to manipulation, as discussed in the lecture ‘Fakten und Fiktionen – Wie die Gesellschaft durch Unsicherheit gestresst wird,’ at the Hack the Promise Festival 2024.

Political responses often remain symptomatic: censorship that once was justified by copyright is now sold as “defence of democracy” against fake news and propaganda—a seductive one‑size‑fits‑all solution that avoids dealing with deeper causes such as diffuse fears and erosion of pluralism. This shift has led to parts of net activism being used to legitimize greater control rather than to defend an open discourse—a pattern I have observed in German net policy debates on surveillance and civil rights. [4][1]

“HateAid fits this pattern perfectly. As a state‑funded organisation with accelerated flagging privileges under the DSA’s trusted‑flagger framework, it has moved from grassroots support for victims of online violence into a semi‑institutional role inside the regulatory apparatus.”

This trend was already criticised as part of a broader willingness of net‑political actors to exchange independence for access and symbolic influence, as noted in the Tübingen talk “Digitalität und Mündigkeit.” Such institutional ties may open doors in Brussels and Berlin, but they create dependencies that make actors like HateAid a pawn in geopolitical contests between Washington, Brussels, and Berlin. [2][1]

A Self-Inflicted Vulnerability?

Please do not get me wrong! Helping people against the wingnuts on the internet is important, but the current sanctions exposed this fragility. We need to be aware of the juristic and political dangers for the public debate which can evolve by this, as Franz Josef Linder already pointed out in November 2024 on Verfassungsblog. [10]

Large parts of the German and European political establishment reacted with almost unanimous outrage, yet from a Pirate perspective, this looks like a self‑inflicted vulnerability. When activism trades its rebellious spirit for institutional integration, it becomes exposed to pressure from all sides — not only from autocracies like Russia and China, but also from allies using legal and financial levers in transatlantic disputes.

Pirate Parties International underlined the broader relevance of this critique when they republished the Basel 2024 lecture in English in July 2025. They argued that Pirate Parties must move beyond purely reactive activism toward a more reflective, mature politics that emphasises:

• Civic education and resilience.
• Pluralistic discourse instead of technocratic content control.
• The courage to tolerate contradiction without sacrificing the fight against hate. [5][1]

Reclaiming the “Forgotten Promise”

The internet’s original promise of egalitarian participation—which media scholar Tarek Barkouni described as the idea that everyone with a connection could participate equally—has largely been displaced by surveillance‑capitalist business models. Barkouni showed how early hopes were undermined first by the commercialisation of Web 2.0 and then by platforms whose core logic is advertising revenue, not democratic discourse. [6]

Meaningful change in complex systems requires precision rather than revolutionary arson. As argued at the 2025 “Hack the System – wenigstens ein bisschen” talk, we need metaphorical “hackers” who understand socio-technical systems and repair their fragility—not “arsonists” who burn everything down in the name of purity. [7]

Drawing on Kant’s call for Mündigkeit — the courage to think without external tutelage — we must reject the comfort of simple narratives and “trusted” gatekeepers. [2][6][1][8][11]

The Strategic Choice for 2026

As a member of the federal board of Piratenpartei Deutschland and the European Pirate Party (PPEU), I see this debate as a concrete strategic choice for Pirates ahead of our 2026 program renewal. Either we let ourselves be integrated as “responsible stakeholders” into flawed systems, or we rebuild an independent, uncomfortable digital‑rights movement that resists both state and corporate pressure. [3][4][1]

The HateAid case is a warning signal. Reclaiming the internet’s emancipatory promise requires emancipating net activism itself: from gatekeepers, from status‑seeking conformity, and from dogmas that confuse access with power. [1][8]

Let us hack the system — at least a little — before the system finishes hacking us.

Babak Tubis is a member of the Federal Board (Beisitzer) of Piratenpartei Deutschland, a board member of the European Pirate Party (PPEU), and active on digital rights, migration, and democracy issues.

References

1. European Pirates – Board
2. Wikipedia – Pirate Party Germany
3. Piratenpartei Vorstand – Beisitzer
4. Piraten Herne – Palantir Warnung
5. PPI – Board Congratulations
6. Piratenpartei Facebook
7. Hack the Promise Info
8. CCC Media – Digitalität und Mündigkeit
9. PPI – Basel 2024 Reflections
10. Verfassungsblog – Trusted Flagger
11. Piratenpartei Innenpolitik – HateAid Sanctions

piratetimes.info/the-taming-of…

Since 2019, every January 1st, the public domain frees more works that copyright laws kept locked up. On this glorious Public Domain Day, works created in 1930 and sound recordings from 1925 are made available to everyone in the United States, at least, to use as they wish. We are free to enjoy and share these works without paying anyone for them. We can create new works from these old works by remixing them or repurposing them to our heart’s content.

This January 1st is special for Pirates because it is the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Swedish Pirate Party. It is fitting that both events should occur on the same day and we wish the Swedish Pirates a happy 20th anniversary!

As a celebration for this year’s Public Domain Day, the Internet Archive has a contest to explore and reimagine the creative treasures entering the public domain, especially works from 1930 that entered the public domain on January 1. Contestants must upload a 2-3 minute short film to the Internet Archive that uses at least one work published in 1930 that joined the public domain on January 1, 2026. This could be a poem, book, film, musical composition, painting, photograph or any other work that is now in the Public Domain. All submissions must be submitted by January 7, 2026 at 11:59pm PST. You can find more details on the contest at the Internet Archive.

As they do every year, Jennifer Jenkins and James Boyle of the Duke University Center for the Study of the Public Domain have a detailed, but brief list, of what new public domain works we have. A number of characters are now in the public domain, including Betty Boop, Disney’s Rover (later renamed Pluto) and Blondie and Dagwood. Below is a short list with links to copies at the Internet Archive and elsewhere.

Books

• William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying – At the Internet Archive
• Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon (the full book version) – At the Internet Archive
• Agatha Christie, The Murder at the Vicarage (the first novel featuring Miss Marple) – At the Internet Archive
• Carolyn Keene, the first four Nancy Drew books – At the Internet Archive
• Watty Piper, [em]The Little Engine That Could[/em] (the popular illustrated version, with drawings by Lois Lenski) – At the Internet Archive
• John Dos Passos, The 42nd Parallel
• Edna Ferber, Cimarron – At the Internet Archive
• Dorothy L. Sayers, Strong Poison – At the Internet Archive
• Olaf Stapledon, Last and First Men

Films

• All Quiet on the Western Front, directed by Lewis Milestone (winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture) – At the Internet Archive
• King of Jazz, directed by John Murray Anderson (musical revue featuring Paul Whiteman and Bing Crosby’s first feature-film appearance) – At the Internet Archive
• Animal Crackers, directed by Victor Heerman (starring the Marx Brothers)
• Soup to Nuts, directed by Benjamin Stoloff (written by Rube Goldberg, featuring later members of The Three Stooges) – At the Internet Archive
• Morocco, directed by Josef von Sternberg (starring Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, and Adolphe Menjou) – At the Internet Archive
• Anna Christie, directed by Clarence Brown (Greta Garbo’s first talkie) – At the Internet Archive
• Murder!, directed by Alfred Hitchcock – At the Internet Archive
• L’Âge d’Or, directed by Luis Buñuel, written by Buñuel and Salvador Dalí – At the Internet Archive
• Whoopee!, directed by Thornton Freeland

Musical Compositions

• Four Songs – I Got Rhythm, I’ve Got a Crush on You, But Not for Me, and Embraceable You – with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin
• Dream a Little Dream of Me, lyrics by Gus Kahn, music by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt
• On the Sunny Side of the Street, lyrics by Dorothy Fields, music by Jimmy McHugh
• Just a Gigolo (the first English translation), original German lyrics by Julius Brammer, English translation by Irving Caesar, music by Leonello Casucci
• The Royal Welch Fusiliers, by John Philip Sousa

Sound Recordings

• Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen, recorded by Marian Anderson
• Yes Sir, That’s My Baby, recorded by Gene Austin – At the Internet Archive
• You’ve Been A Good Old Wagon, recorded by Bessie Smith
• The St. Louis Blues, recorded by Bessie Smith, featuring Louis Armstrong
• Fascinating Rhythm, recorded by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra
• I’ll See You in My Dreams, recorded by Isham Jones, with Ray Miller’s Orchestra
• Everybody Loves My Baby (but My Baby Don’t Love Nobody but Me), recorded by Clarence Williams’ Blue Five – Recording

We’ll talk about Public Domain Day on the next Pirate News. See you then!

Image Credit: Public Domain

masspirates.org/blog/2026/01/0…

By Babak Tubis

The U.S. sanctions on HateAid’s leaders in December 2025 have ignited a fierce transatlantic debate. One side frames it as an attack on European digital sovereignty and the fight against online hate, while the other celebrates it as a blow against “state‑sponsored censorship.” Both narratives, however, miss the deeper structural problem which has been emerging for years: HateAid has become a textbook example of the “gezähmte Netzpolitik” — the taming of internet politics — where independent, pluralistic activism is gradually replaced by conformist, institutionally dependent structures, evidenced by its state funding and privileged role as a Trusted Flagger under the Digital Services Act (DSA). Its vulnerability in the current geopolitical crossfire is not an accident, but the logical consequence of choices made long ago.[1][2][3]

[11]Overlapping crises like the pandemic and the war in Ukraine create a collective stress that heightens vulnerability to manipulation, as discussed in the lecture ‘Fakten und Fiktionen – Wie die Gesellschaft durch Unsicherheit gestresst wird,’ at the Hack the Promise Festival 2024.

Political responses often remain symptomatic: censorship that once was justified by copyright is now sold as “defence of democracy” against fake news and propaganda, a seductive **one‑size‑fits‑all** solution that avoids dealing with deeper causes such as diffuse fears and erosion of pluralism. This shift has led to parts of net activism being used to legitimize greater control rather than to defend an open discourse—a pattern I have observed in German net policy debates on surveillance and civil rights.[4]

[1]HateAid fits this pattern perfectly. As a state‑funded organisation with accelerated flagging privileges under the DSA’s trusted‑flagger framework, it has moved from grassroots support for victims of online violence into a semi‑institutional role inside the regulatory apparatus.This trend was already criticised as part of a broader willingness of net‑political actors to exchange independence for access and symbolic influence as in the Tübingen talk “Digitalität und Mündigkeit”.

Such institutional ties may open doors in Brussels and Berlin, but they create dependencies that make actors like HateAid a pawn in geopolitical contests between Washington, Brussels, and Berlin.[2]

[1]Please do not get me wrong! Helping people against the wingnuts on the internet is important, but the current sanctions exposed this fragility. We need to be aware of the juristic and political dangers for the public debate which can evolve by this, as Franz Josef Linder already pointed out in November 2024 on Verfassungsblog.

[10]Large parts of the German and European political establishment reacted with almost unanimous outrage, denouncing an “authoritarian attack on free speech and democracy,” yet from a Pirate perspective this looks like a self‑inflicted vulnerability. When activism trades its rebellious spirit for institutional integration, it becomes exposed to pressure from all sides — not only from autocracies like Russia and China, but also from allies using legal and financial levers in transatlantic disputes. The result is not stronqger protection against hate and disinformation, but a weakened, easily divided digital‑rights landscape in an era of information warfare and hybrid conflict.[1]

[2]Pirate Parties International underlined the broader relevance of this critique when they republished the Basel 2024 lecture in English in July 2025, highlighting its “valuable programmatic impulses” for Pirates worldwide and explicitly linking it to a needed strategic shift in net politics.[9] They argued that Pirate Parties must move beyond purely reactive activism toward a more reflective, mature politics that emphasises civic education, resilience, and pluralistic discourse instead of technocratic content control. This does not mean abandoning the fight against online hate; it means insisting that this fight must not sacrifice the core values of digital freedom: openness, independence, and the courage to tolerate contradiction.[5]

[1]The internet’s original promise of egalitarian participation, which media scholar Tarek Barkouni described as the idea that everyone with a connection could participate equally in political communication, has largely been displaced by surveillance‑capitalist business models and recommendation‑driven attention economies. Barkouni showed how early hopes for a self‑organised, pluralistic digital public sphere were undermined first by the commercialisation of Web 2.0 and then by platforms whose core logic is advertising revenue and data extraction, not democratic discourse. This “forgotten promise” can only be redeemed if digital movements emancipate themselves from these logics and gatekeepers and deliberately rebuild spaces where pluralism and contradiction take precedence over engagement metrics.

[6]Meaningful change in complex systems requires precision rather than revolutionary arson, as argued in 2025 at the “Hack the System – wenigstens ein bisschen” talk at the Hack the Promise Festival in Basel.[7] We need metaphorical “hackers” who understand socio-technical systems and repair their fragility—not “arsonists” who burn everything down in the name of purity.
Dogmatism—from both censorship advocates and free-speech absolutists—only creates false comfort. Worse, it opens the door and invites for new forms of authoritarianism disguised as expert knowledge.[1]

[8]Drawing on Kant’s call for Mündigkeit — the courage to think without external tutelage — the talks in Basel and Tübingen argued for intellectual independence. In a stressed digital society, this means rejecting the comfort of simple narratives and “trusted” gatekeepers to instead defend pluralism and contradiction. Viewed through Barkouni’s diagnosis of “forgotten” social media ideals, the internet’s original promise becomes the benchmark that reveals the failure of today’s tamed net politics. [2][6][1][8]

[11]As a member of the federal board of Piratenpartei Deutschland and the European Pirate Party (PPEU), I see this debate not as abstract theory, but as a concrete strategic choice for Pirates ahead of our 2026 program renewal. Either we let ourselves be integrated as “responsible stakeholders” into flawed systems of platform governance and security politics, or we rebuild an independent, uncomfortable digital‑rights movement that resists both state and corporate pressure — much like our warnings on Palantir surveillance.[3][4]

[1]The HateAid case is therefore more than a bilateral quarrel. It is a warning signal for the entire digital‑rights community that has allowed itself to be tamed — through state funding, regulatory privileges, and the lure of being “responsible stakeholders” rather than inconvenient troublemakers. If net politics continues down this path, Pirate concerns about information warfare, latent societal stress, and authoritarian reflexes will remain analytically correct but politically ineffective, we need to change this, for the sake of a free society which can protect its freedom even against a populism which seeks to destroy the fundaments of the public debate. Reclaiming the internet’s emancipatory promise requires emancipating net activism itself: from gatekeepers, from status‑seeking conformity, and from dogmas that confuse access with power.[1]

[8]Let us fight for a stronger, free, united Europe also in the digital realm. Let us hack the system — at least a little — before the system finishes hacking us.

[1]*Babak Tubis is a member of the Federal Board (Beisitzer) of Piratenpartei Deutschland, a board member of the European Pirate Party (PPEU), and active on digital rights, migration, and democracy issues.*[3][5]

[1][1](europeanpirates.eu/board/)
[2](en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_P…)
[3](vorstand.piratenpartei.de/vors…)
[4](piraten-herne.de/piratenpartei…)
[5](pp-international.net/2025/10/c…)
[6](facebook.com/Piratenpartei/?lo…)
[7](https://t.co/7Ydpu7aw9m)
[8](media.ccc.de/v/tdf4-28-digital…)
[9](pp-international.net/2025/07/h…)
[10](verfassungsblog.de/trusted-fla…)
[11](innenpolitik.piratenpartei.de/…)

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