The Pirate Party of Israel is participating in national elections, which will take place on April 9th, and they don’t stand a chance. However, this does not keep them from promoting change in society, and they are running a fierce campaign suggesting a way to break past barriers between the public and policy makers and overturn the system.

Democracy in Israel is taking a turn for the worse. The main political parties are trying to crush the small parties that represent minorities and consolidate their own power by raising the threshold to be elected to the Knesset (parliament) from 1 (1%) in 1988 to 2 (2%) in 2003 to an all-time high this year of about 4 seats (3.25% of 120 seats). At the same time there are more parties participating than ever before, which reflects the overwhelming amount of alternatives people are suggesting to the current administration. A democracy can be measured by the amount of parties and diversities which are included, and people should be able to choose the party that best represents them. However, the high threshold prevents people from choosing their preferred candidate, fearful that their vote won’t matter. Israel used to have a very high participation of voters, and in recent years participation has dropped to all-time lows, meaning less people are represented in parliament. With this, the number of parties elected in Israel this year will decrease to a slim few. Entire sectors and communities, especially liberals, are going to be excluded from the public discourse and policy-making. An increasing number of citizens will lack representation. The politics of Israel are not isolated. The situation there affects the entire world. The Pirate Party of Israel wants all of you to share this information. We must keep Israel free from dubious, corrupt, hawks that will push the region into conflict and despair.

In light of this abomination of democracy, the Pirates have issued a call for the establishment of an Internet Council that will serve as a shadow government. They are inviting all of the political parties to join that do not pass the voting threshold. Together with this, they are calling on the high court to cancel the voting threshold in future elections: bring it back down to 1. They have called on the public, media and other small political parties to collaborate and fight this repression of democracy. The Pirates also seek to engage with Israel’s so-called enemies, to negotiate with Pirates in Iran, Gaza, Syria… Through transparency and open online communication, a subculture of Pirates can make peace and promote human freedom for everyone in the Middle East.

The Pirate Party of Israel is participating for the third time in national elections. They propose a unique model of online governance, which they call Dynamicracy. Their manifesto focuses on promoting democracy, transparency, freedom of expression, privacy, civil rights, human and animal rights, freedom, education, culture and welfare, peace, equality, freedom of worship and the legalization of cannabis. They extend an open hand to all citizens of Israel: Muslims, Jews, Christians, Druze, Atheists… Gays, Lesbians, Straights, Women, Men, Children… They extend an open hand to the world. They call on the international community to embrace liberal and moderate voices in the country and to reject the alt-right forces from all religions. Israeli Pirates represent an innovative group of artists, activists, academics, and concerned liberals. They run as anonymous individuals, volunteers, creative people, who reject the standing order. As an open society, which does not believe in the cult of personalities, they are fighting to keep the internet free and use the internet as a platform to put power back in the hands of the people. Anyone who is willing to promote a good, beautiful, just, open, and happy society is welcome to join. The Israeli Pirates call upon each and every one to encourage copying, duplicating, or refining their ideas. Share, discuss, debate, criticize, but please do not be apathetic about the political situation in Israel, because it affects the entire world.

Their website: //www.piratim.org

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