[pp.int.general] Conflict of interest between national parties and PPI

[Zbigniew Łukasiak]

On Sun, Mar 8, 2015 at 4:50 PM, Jan Lettow <janlettow at gmail.com> wrote:
> Once I experienced something you could potentially call a conflict of
> interest between PPI/IntCo roles.
>
> In March 2013, after a complaint from PPAU regarding PPI GA's, in my
> then role as PPDE's international coordinator for AU/NZ ¹ , I asked
> PPDE's IntCo to ratify a supportive statement.²
>
> I first sent out a draft, asking for feedback and offering not to
> table the motion if anyone has any issues with it at all. While the
> feedback was rather limited in quantity, it was 100% supportive and
> included Martina, who took over chairing the meetings after Julia's
> departure, and Markus, who was the new board member responsible for
> international coordination.
>
> It still failed though. I seem to recall an angry rant (from a PPI
> veteran) about an "idiot's conspiration to destroy the pirate
> movement", followed by opposition on something that seemed to be a
> technicality. ³ Still, everyone - including those who had supported
> the motion in the first place - spoke out against it on that ground.
> But people's first reaction seemed to correlate with their level of
> involvement with PPI.
>
> I'd say that being part of the quarreling that defines the PPI at
> least makes you less likely to support well-meaning/naive motions
> aiming to improve international relations. Maybe those who have seen
> the trenches at PPI with their own eyes (and live to tell about it)
> really are to traumatized afterwards to be great stewards of pirate
> peace and harmony.
>
> This took rather long to say, but imo it's not such a silly idea if we
> consider how taxing PPI can be.


Maybe I did not fully understand this - but it sounds like there was
more conflicting views on what is better for PPI rather then conflicts
of interest for the person holding the position of IntCo. In
themselves, conflicting views are normal in a pluralist political
culture. Conflict of interest would be when the IntCo, who was also a
member of the PPI board, knew that some action of the PPI board is
better for PPI - but other action is better for his good standing as
the IntCo in PPDE (i.e. something that would help him advance his PPDE
career or something).

The "Access to medicine" motion could be related to a conflict of
interest if Gregory believed that it would help his PPDE career, but
that it would be bad for PPI, and he pushed for it as a member of the
PPI board (but this is motion proposed for the GA to vote on - as a
member of the board Gregory cannot really much push it ahead).


--
Z.