[pp.int.general] Pirates and the 5 Star Movement

[Rick Falkvinge (Piratpartiet)]

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> why free software? because it's part of our "goals". You tell me I 
> haven't justified why internal democracy. Well, Rick said that we 
> should follow our goals, and he failed to mention them in extent
> and to justify each one of them.

I merely stated that our raison d'être is to change legislation, and
not to have a particular internal structure.

A particular set of internal processes is almost never the reason an
organization is created.


> I just argued that one of those goals is, in fact, for some pirates
> (that is my understanding) and at least for me as a pirate,
> internal democracy.

If the goal is to have a non-profit organization with internal
democracy, that can be done in a much easier manner than founding a
political party.

Democracy is a decision process that assists in deciding the best way
to reach the goal. It is a _method_; I would argue that if it becomes
a goal in itself, then one loses focus on the real goal, which is
changing legislation to resonate with our values.


> I'm really curious now. Is it legal in European Countries (or in
> USA, Canada) to have political parties that don't work in an
> internally democratic manner

Absolutely - at least in Sweden. Now, while PPSE has internal
elections, that doesn't mean every decision is (or should be) taken
with a democratic vote.

But you don't need that either. The legal definition of a political
party in Sweden is "one or more people running under a common party
name". You can have any decision process you like, as long as it is
defined in your statutes - anything from "Eduardo decides" to "a coin
is flipped" with everything in between.

Note that I don't necessarily think either of those decision processes
are good :)  -- I am merely pointing out that they are absolutely legal.

Cheers,
Rick

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