I'll post here on the open what I replied to Travis, in case it may be of some interest,<br><br>I don't have very strong
feelings of the subject, but I do think I argued in favor of having a
PPI. Since there are no international elections, but there are
international political organizations, the PPI should be a mostly
"representative" body, devoid of control functions over national or
regional pirate parties, but able to let the voice of the PPs be heard
in the international political arena. A party with few rules and little
"hard" power, but with persons of Rick Falkvinge public status who are clever,
articulated and sensitive enough toward the real issues.<br><br>
What I don't consider a good idea is the notion that we have to choose
between a party *or* a NGO. We need both: an international party and an
international NGO, because one can do things the other can't (as for
instance representation in organisms like the WPO).<br><br>
My view, of course, is that the PPI should be a very different kind of
organization from the PPEU, because there are elections at the EU level
and organizative issues and political actions should be very different.<br><br>
best,<br><br>Daniel<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">2013/4/24 Justus Römeth <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:squig@dfpx.de" target="_blank">squig@dfpx.de</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div>I think PPI is needed, but that many people expect too much of it. Also, some people seem to expect it to handle everything that happens internationally concerning pirates.<br><br>
</div>
As an addition to what Thomas wrote, I think PPI can be a good place (not the only one!) for the press to get information and contacts concerning pirates. In the same manner it can be a good place for people willing to start their own pirate party to get support and tips. I can imagine that a lot of pirates form places that are not exactly democratic are doing exactly this. PPI can be something of a lightning rod or lighthouse, in that matter, as well as a formal way to help us stay organized and motivated.<br>
<br></div>However, it should not be the only place for Pirates that want to do stuff internationally. But it is up to all of us to make sure that those things happen elsewhere. It is true that PPI was very eurocentric. We are now in the process of founding PPEU to adress that (arguably in Europe more international contacts are needed to get stuff done politically than in, say, the US, Australia or Brazil), hopefully freeing PPI's time to adress more things on a global scale. It is true that the PPI GA in Prague has been quite chaotic to follow remotely, and that a lot of things were going on there that were going on there because it was the only big inernational Pirate Party conference after Friedrichshafen one year before in Europe. Some of us are adressing this, with the meetings concerning PPEU as well as with meetings unrelated to it (like the workshop in Hanover). It is true that PPI is not doing enough for information exchange. Hence some Pirates set up Pirate Times.<br>
<br></div>We do not need PPI to do organize dozens of conferences or the flow of knowledge. PPI is supposed to support those processes and events (except the annual GA), and we should not rely on it to do those things. PPI is not the only forum where pirates can engage internationally, and you do not need your national party to be a PPI member in order to become active internationally (thank god, I would hate to not have Joseph of Matthias from PPSE here!) It is not PPI's place to decide what a is or isn't a pirate party, and I do not think that that is what the conflict with and discussions about PPES and PPCAT have been about. I welcome each and every pirate to engage in these tasks, be them within or without PPI. I respect every Parties' decision not to engage with PPI anymore because of frustration, it is very much in their right, and does not make them less of a pirate party.<br>
<br>I would like to more less pirates being less judgemental about what other pirates are doing wrong, but focussing on trying to show that it can be done better by doing it themselves instead.<br><br></div>Kind regards<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
<br></font></span></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">Justus<br></font></span></div><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 3:26 PM, <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mattias.bjarnemalm@piratpartiet.se" target="_blank">mattias.bjarnemalm@piratpartiet.se</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div>On 2013-04-21 04:21, Tom Behets wrote:<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
And lastly, can someone explain me how it comes that the Catalanian<br>
party is a member of PPI, and not just a crew of Spain?<br>
</blockquote>
<br></div>
Dear Tom,<br>
<br>
I can give you a long and detailed explanation on that topic next time we meet. It is a topic that is better told face to face and I am pretty sure this mailing list don't need one more recap of this. For some reason it usually leads to a lot of emails being sent on the list with very little valuable content.<br>
<br>
/Mab<div><div><br>
______________________________<u></u>______________________<br>
Pirate Parties International - General Talk<br>
<a href="mailto:pp.international.general@lists.pirateweb.net" target="_blank">pp.international.general@<u></u>lists.pirateweb.net</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.pirateweb.net/mailman/listinfo/pp.international.general" target="_blank">http://lists.pirateweb.net/<u></u>mailman/listinfo/pp.<u></u>international.general</a><br>
<br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br></div>
</div></div><br>____________________________________________________<br>
Pirate Parties International - General Talk<br>
<a href="mailto:pp.international.general@lists.pirateweb.net">pp.international.general@lists.pirateweb.net</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.pirateweb.net/mailman/listinfo/pp.international.general" target="_blank">http://lists.pirateweb.net/mailman/listinfo/pp.international.general</a><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br>