[pp.int.general] Signing off

[Glenn Kerbein]

Just another thought I want to put out there:
It seems like there is a lot of confusion out there regarding parties.
Again and again I've spoken to, been interviewed by, and clashed with
various persons regarding independence. Many of them are under the
presumption that each party is just a clone of one another, with one
party's actions mimicing (or even dictating) another party's. Again and
again I've had to drive home that each party is different, unique, and
has a different agenda to push. I shan't name names, but many a person
has come to us seeking redemption (or vindication of) file-sharing or
illicit redistribution of works. Each party is nuanced in such a way
that we all have more trenchant platforms to push.

Andrew Norton wrote:
> Ok, it's time.
> 
> i've stepped down as 'PPI guy', and have removed my accesses from
> sites where posisble. There is no successor. The one person who was
> interested, has decided against taking the position, and I can't
> really say I blame them.
> 
> Three weeks ago, I said I was stepping down. I gave a list of the
> problems. These haven't even begun to be addressed by anyone. Part of
> the problem is that on a national level, so many of the parties seem
> to be a mess. One has a crisis of structure, another is so busy with
> symbolic actions, it's ignored common sense, and a third is so busy
> trying to plan promotional stuff, they've done nothing at all
> substantive and is turning into a soap bubble. Mostly, though, the
> issues are ignored by every party except for a token statement every
> now and then.
> 
> There have been talks about 'ideology' (which basically started a
> whole discussion from scratch, which duplicates the work last year in
> doing the manifesto.
> 
> Right now, there's been some small successes, first seat won, first
> establish elected official recruited. People have gone from that and
> are coasting on that success, acting like the whole thing's won. It's
> barely started. The easy 'unknown outsider' time is gone, and it's now
> that the parties are considered worthy of notice by their opponents,
> and yet instead of ramping up the pressure, just about every party has
> slacked off, or at least coasting.
> 
> My big question is, in a years time, are there going to be any parties
> left, or will they have self-destructed? If there are any left, what
> is their level of cooperation going to be like? It seems most forget
> that the issues we stand for are global issues, not little national
> ones, but most people are too busy looking at their little world to
> look at the worldview, and make better long term decisions. Hell, even
> basic communication would be an improvement. How many of you heard
> that The german party got their candidate lists registered in all but
> one state for next month's election? Probably very few of you, I only
> found out because a new member of their party told me. Right now,
> maybe half the parties around Europe have people without much to do,
> but could value the experiance of working with this camapign, even in
> a minor role. Hands up who has been asked for help? Sorry if I seem to
> be picking on the german party, but there was the same situation with
> the EU elections. No-one asked for help, and as anyone who has worked
> an election will tell you, you can NEVER have enough help. People who
> are too afraid to help, are probably too afraid to admit their own
> mistakes too.
> 
> This has turned into a bit of a rant, and for that i'm sorry, but we
> will see how accurate I have been over the next year. I hope i'm
> wrong, and if so, I'll gladly admit it. I have the sad feeling though,
> that I'm not.
> 
> Yours,
> Andrew Norton
> ____________________________________________________
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-- 
Glenn "Channel6" Kerbein
United States Pirate Party
"Burn, Hollywood, Burn"