[pp.int.general] The Next PPI Conference (?)

[W Tovey]

This may sound like a silly question, but who put in offers to host the
next conference?

It seems that, once again, we're in a situation where the PPI Board
asked for ideas and help, few people other than those with close ties to
the Board responded (going off the wiki page here;
http://int.piratenpartei.de/Conference-offers ) and so we have a result
far from the ideal. However, given what happened last year, I think that
a well-organised and planned conference in a non-ideal location might be
better than a rushed one somewhere more diplomatic (not that the PPBe
people didn't do a great job - more that we didn't know who was there as
a delegate until after the conference had started).

Looking at the map of current Parties (there's one here
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/File:Map_of_Pirate_Parties_International_Members.svg
) it does seem that Europe has the greatest density of PPs, with no
other continent having more than 4 - that would make it a logical
choice. However, we (nearly) all have access to this wonderful thing
called the Internet, which allows us to communicate near-instantly all
around the world, and could be put to great use and lessen the need for
a central location. However, an Internet-based conference would need to
be a lot more carefully planned (and I would be happy to offer
suggestions to any organisers based on my experiences of the last
conference).

Anyways, it is now January, and the conference really should be held by
June. So, allowing a month to let people book tickets and sort things
out, it should be fully planned by the end of April. I don't know how
many countries are 'represented' by people here, but perhaps it would be
useful if people (particularly those disappointed with the current
venues) could give your national Party leadership a strong poke and see
if they would be interested in hosting a conference and try to get other
options (I know at least one is already in the works). Of course, this
really should have been done back whenever the call for venues went out...

Still, I think some people are expecting too much from PPI. There's been
a lot of talk of the advantages of decentralisation recently - and at
the moment, I think a decentralised Pirate movement is pretty useful.
Few Parties currently have the resources to support a strong, central
PPI, so if one is going to exist, it will likely be dominated by those,
whereas all we really need from PPI at the moment is something to keep
communication lines and discussions areas open (like this list, IRC
etc.) - places where we can go to discuss international things and get
larger scale stuff sorted out when needed. I get the feeling that when
the PPI Board (or Coreteam before it) tries to get too involved in any
one issue things get slowed down and end up more complex than they
started (as with any bureaucracy, I guess) - the same seems to apply to
individual Party stuff; not everything needs to go through the Party's
leadership and be controlled by them.

Hmm, this turned into slightly more of an essay than I was planning but
never mind - just a few thoughts on the matters. Finally, I hope
everyone had a good new year.

-Will
[Former PPI Coreteam member]

On 02/01/2011 07:52, Core TX wrote:
> ( Some of you already have received this mail, now it's time for the
> public. )
>
> Dear Pirates,
>
> It has come to my attention that the current PPI board members have
> pulled of the "quorum trick". Obviously, i dislike opening a email to
> you all with such a devastating and maybe even demoralizing statement. 
>
> During the last PPI conference held in Brussels, many verbal
> agreements where made and not properly codified. One of these
> agreements mention that the next PPI conference was to be held on non
> european soil.
> Previous agreements on PPI conference locations, state that there is
> cyclic order of conference locations, implying that countries that
> have not organized a PPI conference yet, prevail over those that had
> the honor of organizing one before.
>
> In the light of this knowledge, the current PPI board must not, and
> can not accept the next PPI conference to be on european soil, and
> especially not on German soil since they already have held one.
> And not only because of a clear conflict of interest situation created
> by co-president Gregori who in violation of the PPI statutes also
> holds a seat in the german state Hessen.
> But more importantly, because of non european parties already having
> proposed to be willing to host the next conference during the latest
> conference. 
>
> Currently, the board is "hiding" behind a wikipage, stating the
> "proposals", whereas proper attempts to organize the next conference
> elsewhere have not been made.
> Complaints towards the board, accompanied with advice where made to no
> avail.
>
> However, it is not the current PPI board that is to blame. We are all
> to blame.
> We all hold the key towards a prosperous future for PPI.
> It is us, who elected the current board, and it's leaders - the people
> who are responsible for the mess that the last conference came to be.
> It is us, who empower them. And it's they, who are supposed to empower
> us as a movement. 
>
> The results of the last conference are utterly disappointing. Not only
> has PPI lost transparency. But it also instated pull-able information
> in the same fashion as our governments do.
> At the same time, most of us demand our governments to push data in
> order to create true transparency and accountability. 
> The mailing-lists are filled with trolls now, more than ever. 
> The PPI IRC channels is dying a slow death as a result of the last
> conference.
> No longer, is PPI coordinating international collaboration. 
> No longer is it being a true "hub" for pirates around the world.
> Knowledge exchange is no where to be seen.
> Objectives have not been met. 
>
> The 5 out of 9 objectives are still achievable and have become even
> more necessary than during the Viena Conference in 2007. More and
> more, our civil liberties are at stake.
> Even the United Nations is now committing an multi-vector approach on
> killing (internet) freedom.
> We must get the synergy back!
> Here fore, i urge you all to come into action before it's too late.
>
> Yours sincerely,
>
> Samir Allioui
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.pirateweb.net/pipermail/pp.international.general/attachments/20110102/e71907d1/attachment.htm>