User:Mozart

Press Officer

Undergraduate music student, musician and writer.

Contact:

[mailto:mozart.palmer@pirateparty.org.au Email]

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2012 Congress Statement on PPI
Pirate Parties International is the international organisation to which Pirate Party Australia, and the majority of other Pirate Parties around the world belong. While I recognise the necessity for strong international relations and a united front to help push not just for domestic but also international change, I recognise that PPI is not achieving this as efficiently as we would like.

PPI has done very little to aid our cause. It is extremely Euro-centric, and no amount of token effort to appease us is going to make the non-European parties feel as though they are considered as valuable as those within the EU. True, there has been success in elections in Sweden, Austria and Germany – but the trickle-down effect is not as strong as in Europe. Our geographical isolation and general political apathy, coupled with an unfavourable media environment does not impact on us as much as it should, or as much as the Europeans would like to think.

We have done more to network with other Pirate Parties simply through members talking to each other than PPI has ever done. The social aspects of the annual PPI GA are only valuable to those who can afford to attend. Through informal, discussions and mutual assistance, we have strong connections with the Dutch, New Zealand, UK and American Pirates in particular.

The formal structure of PPI is very rigid. So much so that common sense and compassion find it difficult to prevail. When the rules are not clearly defined, yet are expected to be stuck to, we have problems. We can either have strictly adhered-to and complete rules, or informal and flexible rules. As a member of the PPI Court of Arbitration, I enjoy working at the international level. I am interested in seeing us move as a united group, and am happy to play a part in keeping the necessary level of peace.

I understand that consensus is often difficult and impossible to achieve. It would be idealistic to believe that it is otherwise. But we tolerate difference from those we fundamentally relate to, and we share ideas to promote a common goal. This is how any movement should work. But when individual pirates disagree on an international level to an extent where personal attacks are exchanged, this divides the movement for no good reason. When blocs develop between parties because the leaders of those parties share a mutual contempt for a leader of another, we must ask ourselves why we are doing this.

I have recently put forward a proposal within PPI. That proposal was designed to ensure all parties had an internal democratic structure. The longer I am on the CoA, the more reports I hear about the lack of democracy within other Pirate Parties. We are not perfect, but in comparison to other Pirate Parties, we are leaders in the trek toward a new way of governing. At the moment I am frustrated with the resistance to this proposal. The organisation is slowly and pedantically trying to understand its own rules. PPI is good at enforcing standards of operation in theory. It is useful to have an organisation to which members can join only if they meet certain defined requirements that match the Pirate ideology. But there is a lack of definition of those requirements. Many were outraged at the Court of Arbitration's ruling that Catalonia constitutes a country. Catalonia is a semi-autonomous region of Spain. The PPI General Assembly voted in favour of admitting it. And it matches all dictionary definitions of the word. So why complain? Because they can.

PPI has become a mechanism to complain. Not to work through problems in a systematic fashion. But to complain and have egos stroked. The conference in April was frustrating because it was inefficient and inflexible. Motions could not be modified on the floor as they can here. And this is why the current statutes are not gender-neutral, and are not even consistent in their use of pronouns. When we pointed out that "she" should be changed to "they" in one of the motions, we were ignored. It was to be motioned that the statutes be checked for grammar and spelling mistakes and presented as a modified version at the next conference. Just as I am presenting a modified platform. But the difference is it can be changed now, rather than sitting for twelve months with mistakes we could have fixed easily.

And this is the key issue. Pirate Parties International wants to be a formal organisation, but cannot behave formally. Rules can be broken without repercussions sometimes, and other times the rules cannot be broken. The organisation can either be rigid or flexible; not both. PPI formalised too quickly, and now it's a bureaucratic nightmare. I would like to point out that Piratpartiet, the Swedish Pirate Party, the first Pirate Party, have not joined. Yet they are still respected and welcomed within the international community.

I became involved in the Pirate Party not because I wanted to be a politician. I saw something that I thought needed to be fixed, and wanted to help as much as I could. Internal mediation is necessary to keep the peace. But when disagreements occur that need not occur, when differences are highlighted because people refuse to build bridges and get over them, this is not progress. This is regression. This is not why I joined. I joined to build a better future. If that future looks like the past, then forget it.

The question we must ask ourselves as a party, representing the Pirate Party movement in one of the more significant yet difficult regions of the world, is whether we should stay in PPI. I am an optimist. I believe that there may still be hope for PPI. I am not sure how to get it back on track though. I know that other members do not share this hope. I do not wish for my optimism to get in the way of the will of the Party on this issue.

I therefore motion that Pirate Party Australia withdraw from Pirate Parties International.

We Are the Artists Too
An international association of Pirates who are also artists. The association would aim to raise awareness of the effects of copyright on artists, and also to promote and discover new business models and opportunities for artists in the emerging era of copyright reform. This is in reaction to the "We Are the Artists" group opposing copyright reform in Germany as a backlash against the Pirate Party there.

Some features might include:–
 * Informal structure with three positions elected at regular intervals (chair, deputy chair, and press officer):
 * Chair would facilitate meetings and organisational issues;
 * Deputy chair would work with the chair, and take over in case the Chair is unavailable;
 * Press officer would interact with media to promote the ideas publicly.
 * Distinctly separate from any current Pirate Party organisation – does not want to be PWB or PPI related;
 * Confined to creators only (broad term to be defined; a solution can be found I'm sure);
 * Adherence to the three-pirate rule;
 * No exclusion based on geography;
 * Requirement to actually be a member of a Pirate Party;
 * A general, non-contentious charter that members can agree and follow.