UK Pirate Party Calls for Anti-ACTA Protests in London

ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) may be on the ropes right now, but by no means is it technically dead. That’s why the UK Pirate Party is urging the public to join a public protest in London on June 9th so that the public can voice their displeasure over it.

We’ve been watching ACTA for some time. The agreement may have been seen as an unstoppable force a few years ago is now seemingly struggling to merely survive. In the midst of growing signs that the European Union will not ratify the agreement, ACTA officially headed to the European Court of Justice to determine its general legality with respect to fundamental rights. Shortly after that, another story surfaced where 50 law professors in the US questioned its overall legality. Then, last week, the Romanian Prime Minister said that the country would not ratify the agreement.

Just because there are growing signs that ACTA might be seen as a failure, does that mean ACTA is dead all together? Not according to the UK Pirate Party who has urged people who are in London on June 9th to join an anti-ACTA protest. From the UK Pirate Party:

We have been following ACTA’s progress with great interest and the European Parliament will be voting on ACTA in the coming weeks. Whilst many have been saying that ACTA is now dead in the water, there is a very real danger that rather than dropping it outright, they will ask for it to be ‘reconsidered’ or amended. With something as toxic as ACTA it will be difficult to do anything to fix it without still causing unintended damage.

We need to remind MEPs what their constituents expect from them before they sit down in Parliament to discuss ACTA. We need to show them, and the world at large, that we won’t accept this assault on our freedoms.

I therefore ask all members who can make it to London for the 9th of June to join us outside the European Parliament building in London for another ACTA protest. Loz Kaye will be speaking for the Party at the protest and ORG and Anonymous will be represented. Please also spread the word and try to get as many other people involved as possible. We need to show just how big the opposition to ACTA is. The protest will take place between 12pm and 4pm, leaving an hour for leafleting in the area.

If you are able to help with this protest, we also need some volunteers to act as stewards, if you can lend a hand and arrive at the location at least an hour earlier please let me know.

It’ll be interesting to see how successful this particular protest will be given that some would argue that after the massive SOPA blackout protests, protest fatigue would set in. Still, I think this is a great initiative and wish them all the best on this one.

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