[pp.int.general] Pirate Manifesto Reloaded

[Ole Husgaard]

Carlos Ayala skrev:
> Actually I thought that yesterday in the irc meeting we agreed on focusing on the Pirate Manifesto and end this topic, though I have no problem in answering this Ole's mail :)
>   
We agreed that the Pirate Manifesto is important and that we should
concentrate on going forward with the Manifesto process. We also agreed
that the tone on this mailinglist had been a bit bad since Uppsala,
sometimes with non-productive and personal accusations. We should try
getting back to the good constructive and concensus-building tone we
usually have on this list.

However, the strategy for EU if not the same as the Pirate Manifesto.
Where the Pirate Manifesto should encompass all PPs in the world, the EU
strategy is local to Europe.

I think it is important we discuss this. If we just drop the topic now,
we beg for problems later when our voters ask where we stand. We should
try to agree on as much as we can, and clearly identify if there are
some areas where we do not agree.

And I think that the discussion we are having on this is moving forward
nicely, though I unfortunately have almost no time for it right now.

For example, I think we have now agreed that any political bartering we
should do in the EU-Parliament should not encompass getting nothing for
something. And although I cannot talk for the other PPs, I think that
all present at the conference agree with this.

You asked if PP SE introduced the proposal for EP strategy. They were
definitely not alone, though I have to admit that I care a lot less
about people and countries than about ideas and arguments.

But please let me sum up the process of the third international
conference: It was quite similar to the earlier conferences. We started
out with a brainstorm, where everybody gave their ideas. This lead to
the identification of a set of areas that we then discussed in smaller
groups. The groups then presented their discussions in plenum, where we
discussed them before forming other groups. Finally we all discussed in
plenum again.

So PP SE did not in any way dictate anything. The Uppsala document is
what we who attended the conference could build consensus for. We also
tried to respect the viewpoints of those not present, but in your case,
I think we were not well enough informed about your viewpoints. We
should learn from this, and at future conferences ask any countries not
attending the conference to explicitly state their viewpoints on the
topics to be discussed on the conference wiki.

I would like to know a bit more about the EP strategy you think would be
best. If this has already been written somewhere, please just refer me
to it.

If I understand correctly you would like to stay outside any groups if
we cannot form our own group. I think we have already discussed
advantages and disadvantages of this, and I respect your viewpoint
though I do not agree that this is the best strategy - not even in the
long run.

But it also sounds to me like you want your EP members to vote abstain
on everything except your core issues, unless a liquid democracy process
with your political grassroots has decided otherwise. I worry if such a
process could be a bit stiff, and make it hard for your EP members to
vote what they think you want because the democracy process is too slow.
At least you should try to make this process as fast as possible. Please
comment.

Best Regards,

Ole Husgaard.