[pp.int.general] Amendment proposals

[Andrew Norton]

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I realize that, under the strict interpretation of the statutes of PPI,
the deadline for this was Saturday, but since the INTENT was that
amendments be known in advance, so we don't have the farce of them being
presented for the first time AT the event (like last time), and this
more than fulfills that. Also, the actual letters of the statutes have
not exactly been followed with any sort of dogged determination (and
besides, I'm sure most people aren't even aware of what the proposed
amendments are -
https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/pp-international.net/ccc?key=0AnZcn8ossPs2dHBPTVp5UVh1R21EZ2RsN3Z3VVJfMnc&hl=en&ndplr=1#gid=0
so far

Ok, amendments. (the * marks some commentary and reasons for it)

To section IX,
- -modify
(4) Member Organizations are represented at any meeting of the
General Assembly by a delegate or delegates not exceeding two from
any one Member Organization.
*This is changed from six to two. Six gives extraordinary weight to
parties local to the event's location (especially those representing the
host country), who can steer the actions to methods more preferential to
them, rather than to the organisation and movement as a whole. An
international body should represent the whole membership, not be biased
by the local groups.

add
(8) The location of the General shall be held in preference in a country
that has not hosted before. In addition, no more that two consecutive
General Assembly's may be held on the same continent.
* This codifies what has been the general rule for these events back to
2007, when the first one was held. The second part also ensures that it
does NOT remain held in Europe, or indeed any other continent should
another regional group control the board. In other words, it reaffirms
the internationalism of a group that deems itself 'international'.

To Section XII
- -add to end
(1) To that end, any and all positions in member organizations (except
for that of 'ordinary member') must be terminated before taking office
* This is just plain self-evident. An officer of PPI can not represent
PPI _and_ a member party. The potential for conflicts of interest are
too high. (for a real life example, look at Ban Ki-Moon, who resigned
his post in the South Korean Govt. after being elected UN Sectary General.

- -modify
(7) The meetings are public unless one third of the members of the
Board vote in favor of a non-public meeting. The decision to hold a
secret meeting must be motivated. Minutes of public meetings have
to be published, in written form, not less than two weeks after the
meeting. The Board has to inform the General Assembly on its next
meeting on the fact of non-public meetings.
* While voice chats seem to be the rage, the problem is they're not very
good as records. We have one audio file for the meeting, consisting of
voices which may be muffled, and comprise people that are often speaking
English as a second language. It's INCREDIBLY difficult to understand
for some people. It's also not searchable/indexable. Finally, it's quite
discriminative against the deaf. Thus a written log. It's much easier to
see what happens, to follow the conversation, to accurately quote the
actions of the board. It's also just good practice for access for the
handicapped. Really, this is a no-brainer.

- -add
(9) Board members may be removed by a special vote of no confidence by
the General Assembly members. Said vote requires 72 hours notice. The
vote will be open to all member organizations, one vote per
organization, and the results will be published on the . Should the vote
pass by 50%+1, the Board member will be removed from the position
immediately, and be prohibited from running for election to the board
for a period of 12 months.
* For a political movement where so many members have 'accountability'
as a key principle, or underlying message, there is a clear and obvious
lack of any sort of accountability for the board. At present, the _only_
way to remove a board member is to hold a general assembly meeting
(either the regular one, or an emergency one) which requires a 5 week
lead-time. That's a long time to leave someone who is thought to be
acting 'badly' in place, PLUS it requires the entire board to be
re-elected. The barrier is also higher than the extrodinary meeting
route, as reflects the abbreviated timescale.

XVII
- -modify
(2) The Treasurer supervises the Pirate Parties International budget and
reports to the Board, and the representatives of the General Assembly
every three months.
* This just adds in the mater of informing the GA of the budget, as it
is, after all, them that are contributing.

END

Most of my suggestions are fairly clear, and are nothing more than
applying Pirate Party principles, to the structure of PPI. In effect,
showing that we will work by the rules and ideals we champion.

As I said, they're 5 days 'late', but they're still in plenty of time
for the actual event. As I said, it's not like I'm proposing them the
morning of the event, as was the case with the statutes themselves.

Andrew  Norton


- -- 
Andrew Norton
http://ktetch.blogspot.com
Tel: (352)6-KTETCH [352-658-3824]
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