[pp.int.general] "interesting" Spiegel piece this week

[Andrew Norton]

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I had my attention drawn to this piece in Spiegel Online on Friday, and
it's raised some questions, and discussion points.

Like many, i listened to the talk given last week at the conference by
Fabio Reinhardt (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4LoJa7cu-I) and I did
notice some differences between Spiegel and that talk.

- From what I remember (and it was cold, and I'd been sitting outside
trying to participate for 7 hours - since 3am - at that point, so if I
missed it, I'm sorry) there was no mention of what is perhaps the most
troubling aspects of that piece; pirates afraid to speak. Lots of
positives, but no negatives, or mentions of problems at all really.

*CLARIFICATION* What I'm saying now is based mainly on the article,
whose accuracy I'm uncertain of, so what I'm saying is based on that,
and is open for discussion if the article is in error. I'm also on
holiday (my first in 15 years) so I'm out of contact with people to
verify, and am writing this from a Florida beach.

In the sections titled 'Internal Wrangling' and 'Harsh Tone' a picture
is painted of what is essentially mob rule, and of a party where it's a
constant scramble to stay ahead of the mob, and not incur it's disfavour.

Perhaps most disappointing, is the report in there that Julia Schramm
had to make a choice between publicly advocating the party, or running
for an officer position in it. Worryingly, she apparently kept quiet to
improve her chances. But when (or if, I don't know the dynamics) she
wins, will she be able to speak then, or will she still have to be quiet
to secure the re-election? In many ways, the article makes out that the
position is more important than the message - a traditional political
position, where the aim is about getting power.

When we're afraid to discuss, to even have the conversation, is that a
good thing, or a very very BAD thing. I'm sure many know my opinion
already - I'll have the conversation and damn the personal consequences
(even if it means I come bottom of elections, as I did last week, and I
believe Boris has a similar position) - but we don't really have the
option to try and keep our head down and hope things through. Are we so
afraid of our positions, that we can't back them up under any threat of
personal loss, or is it a case of trying to be the ultimate politician,
and trying to appeal to pretty much everyone while trying to avoid
opposing anyone?

Again, I don't know. Things have been rather quiet coming out of Germany
on these topics. When I was making the digital editions of No Safe
Harbor (reminder, we're looking for pieces for No Safe Harbor 2! details
to come soon) one of the most involved pieces was one about Liquid
Democracy. With the knowledge I'd gained from 15 years in politics, what
it said wasn't quite gelling with what I'd experienced. A piece in
Spiegel 7 weeks ago
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,818683,00.html) did
clear up some of my unanswered questions, and this piece has answered
some more. It highlighted the instability and volatility issues I
thought it should have, but which I'd not heard about.

As an amusing side-note, I have a near-permanent IRC presence. Over the
last 2-3 years, we've had an occasional trickle of Germans into the US
party channel, telling us how great everything is, and that we should do
things the same way. Yet, they've never mentioned any of this stuff, or
anything much beyond 'yeah, it's great, and works well'. I've always
been skeptical, and this article gives a reason for that (of course, the
other reason is that Germany is COMPLETELY different from the US, and
needs a completely different approach).

Anyway, I've rattled on long again (now you know why my video was 8
minutes, actually cut down from over an hour of material). If there are
issues or corrections to be made, again, I welcome them. And if you're
German, and afraid to speak out, but still want to contribute, I can
understand that, just mail me direct at ktetch at ktetch.co.uk and I'll
repost your comments, anonymously (on that you have my word)

So, in the words of Spiegel ("The politics of Shitstorms",
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,823993,00.html), let
the shitstorm begin

Andrew
Getting sunburnt on a beach
Gulf coast of Florida

- -- 
Andrew Norton
http://ktetch.co.uk
Tel: +1(352)6-KTETCH [+1-352-658-3824]
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