A discussion-starter from the active membership of the Pirate Party of NZ
Danyl Strype
Public
Seen by 155
He mihi nui ki te rōpu Internet Party
We, the active membership of the Pirate Party of NZ (www.pirateparty.org.nz), the local affiliate of Pirate Parties International, send our warm regards to our fellow geek activists in the active membership of the Internet Party of NZ.
Firstly, we seek political cooperation with your party. We feel that the memberships of both parties can make more progress in campaigns on policies we agree on, if we communicate, collaborate, and see if we can move in the same direction, at the same time.
Secondly, further to this proposal to actively work together, we would like to open formal discussions about the possibility of merging our two parties. We believe that in a small country like ours, working together to build one socially progressive, digital-liberty party would be more effective than having two competing with each other. From your experience with the Mana Movement, it seems clear that any political alliance is much more likely to work if developed slowly, and thoughtfully, with full consensus and engagement of both memberships, and well before election year.
Both parties seem to us to have a lot in common. Both support the socially progressive use of technology. In line with this, both have engaged in exciting experiments in deep democracy, using our Loomio groups to engage any interested member in party decision-making.
Both prioritize the protection of human rights, civil liberties, and personal privacy, both online and offline. In line with this, we have both shown a willingness to stand up for rational but controversial policies, similar discussions and outcomes regarding drug law reform and UBI can be seen as examples. This opens up potential to work with the active membership of the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party and the New Economics Party.
One of the traditional divisions between libertarians is whether we ally ourselves with economically with the "left" or the "right". Just as the Greens transcend this false dichotomy with their own economic approaches, we can formulate economic approaches based on open source collaboration ("co-production", "peer-to-peer production", "social production", "collaborative consumption", "crowdsourcing"). This opens up even more potential to work with the active membership of the New Economics Party.
If there is interest from the Internet Party membership in entering into negotiations on the possibility of merging, our bottom lines can be summed up by the following criteria:
The resulting organisation will:
- be committed to a bottom-up organisational architecture,
- be committed to the core values that have been emphasised by the PPNZ community (human rights, civil liberties, free culture, personal privacy, transparent governance, net neutrality),
- be committed to a Code of Conduct that ensures a friendly environment for a diverse community, both in online channels, and in-person gatherings,
- not have any constitutional guarantees for named persons to have control over particular offices without being elected into their role.
We strongly advocate that the resulting organisation would use the name "Pirate Party", in solidarity with Pirate Parties around the world who share our values, and in order to benefit from the international recognition of this name, and what it stands for. However, we are open to other suggestions. Due to a recent rule change in PPI, any resulting organisation could continue as the official NZ affiliate of PPI, even without the word Pirate in the name.
EDIT: Just to clarify, as there has been some confusion on these points:
* we are open to working under any party name, so we would be willing to merge with the Internet Party under your name, or a new name, if the criteria listed above are met
* we are not insisting on the resulting party being a member of PPI, just noting that its a possibility, with or without the merged party using the Pirate name
Grant Keinzley Mon 6 Jul 2015 1:45PM
Interesting and noted. GrantK of IP Exec.
Thanks for this post.
Dan van Wylich Tue 7 Jul 2015 2:46AM
Thank you @strypey . This is exactly what is needed. Instead of seeing differences we need to focus on areas of common interest. This would be of interest to @fredlook @maelwryth @colinengland @rossburrows @williamasiata @tomhunsdale @jobooth @debbiestanley @miriammallinder @courtney3 @esthercook
Maelwryth Tue 7 Jul 2015 7:29PM
Fred Look Tue 7 Jul 2015 8:25PM
There is a lot to like about the pp website and their core policies . I feel that having a narrow and clearly defined focus has meant that what they are doing, they are doing well. Not throwing everything they had half cocked at the 2014 election looks like a good decision too. Time will tell
Colin England Wed 8 Jul 2015 12:42AM
One of the traditional divisions between libertarians is whether we ally ourselves with economically with the “left” or the “right”.
Act are libertarians and show all the propensities of the radical right-wing ideology including, despite their supposed individualism, a decided bent for authoritarianism and hierarchy. A hierarchy with the rich at the top known as Plutocracy.
I'd say that The Internet Party and Pirate Party are anarchists. We recognise that we're individuals within a society and that we must work together both so that the individual can reach their pinnacle and that society can as well. The two are intertwined.
I'd be supportive of discussing a merger of the Internet Party and the Pirate Party and the resultant name change.
Fred Look Wed 8 Jul 2015 12:56AM
One of the fallicies of modern politics is that there is a difference between left and right economics. Both these brands promote exponential unsustainable growth of consumption fueled by privately created interest bearing debt. They just have different coloured dresses on!
Danyl Strype Wed 8 Jul 2015 4:28AM
Just to clarify, the constitution @maelwryth refers to is somewhat out of date, as it was written before the Pirates started using Loomio to allow the full membership to fully participate in executive decisions, and before the recent proposal to dissolve the Board ("Executive Council") in favour of a network of working groups.
Also, while we do have non-negotiable policies around copyright reform etc, most of us endorse the policy framwork of the Pirate Wheel, and like the IP, we have been slowly using Loomio to work towards a broader policy platform (Policy Group).
Maelwryth Wed 8 Jul 2015 5:29AM
A possible decentralized policy approach could also be looked at. Eg; We both seem to support the use of Free software in government. After formalising our own (IP) stance on this, we could join with PP (TPP? :)) and others and come up with a promotional joint policy that could be promoted in similar ways across the affiliates.
Debbie Stanley Thu 9 Jul 2015 8:12AM
Unfortunately due to family health issues I can't give this the attention it is due right now but I will try and check out the links over the next few days, I do want to say that I am definitely not adverse to a merger or alliance however, while I actually believe very strongly that the shift, made in the 90's and fueled by the entertinment industry, from the pre existing situation where people could copyrite or patent specific creations to the legal concept of 'intellectual property' and the notion that we can copyrite 'ideas' has been a very dangerous one and that we have not finished discovering the possible negative consequences of it yet. I also strongly believe that current anti piracy laws stifle creativity and are very detrimental to both developing (and existing) artists in all genres and to society as a whole. However, the government and the entertainment industry has done a VERY good job of selling these notions and creating a 'brand perception' associated with the word piracy that contributes considerably to keeping those who fight for internet and creative freedoms segregted as quasi criminals in the mainstream mind. I don't think that incorporating the word pirate into our name would be a good idea politically. I will try and catch up on the reading as soon as I can and get back with something a bit more informed :) thanks @danvanwylich for bringing this to my attention :)
Danyl Strype · Mon 6 Jul 2015 12:20PM
Kia ora koutou katoa.
This discussion starter was crafted by a number of active Pirates over a week, and the consensus to approach the IP with this text passed with full agreement of those who were part of the discussion. As a member of both parties, I offered to present this text here, for you to discuss, and to answer any questions I can about the Pirates, and how we might work cooperatively.
I joined the Internet Party within the first few weeks of the membership sign-up form being available online. At that time, I was already a member of the Pirate Party of NZ. I joined to help you get your 500 members, because of our commonalities in values and focus. The Pirates welcome sharing members and alliances with other parties, and AFAIK the IP has no rule against dual-memberships either.
I haven't been part of this Loomio group, much as I would have liked to, because between May 2014 and May 2015, I completed a year-long "net fast", and didn't go online for that whole time. Prior to this, I served for a few months as Communications Officer for the Pirates, and attempted to continue offline in a self-created role called Orientation Officer, which was about welcoming new people when they join the party.
I look forward to hearing the thoughts of all IP members on this topic.