Pirate Parties International
| Pirate Parties International | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | PPI |
| Formation | April 18, 2010 |
| Type | International nongovernmental organisation |
| Legal status | Association |
| Purpose/focus | Political |
| Headquarters | Brussels, Belgium |
| Membership | Pirate parties and affiliated associations |
| Co-Chairmen | Grégory Engels/Vojtěch Pikal |
| Main organ | General Assembly |
| Website | www.pp-international.net |
Pirate Parties International (PPI) is a not for profit international non governmental organisation with its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.[1] Formed in 2010 it serves as a worldwide organisation for Pirate Parties, currently representing members from 42 countries. The Pirate Parties are political incarnations of the freedom of expression movement, trying to achieve their goals by the means of the established political system rather than through activism.
Aims
The PPI statutes[2] give its purposes as:
to help establish, to support and promote, and to maintain communication and co-operation between pirate parties around the world.
The PPI advocate on the international level for the promotion of the goals its Members share such as protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the digital age, consumer and authors rights oriented reform of copyright and related rights, support of information privacy, transparency and free access to information.
The name "Pirates" itself is a reappropriation of the title that was given to internet users by the representatives of the music and film industry, and do not refer to any illegal activity.
History
The first Pirate party was the Swedish Piratpartiet, founded on January 1, 2006 by Rick Falkvinge. Other parties and groups were formed in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain. In 2007, representatives of these parties met in Vienna, Austria to form an alliance and plan for the 2009 European Parliament elections.[3] Further conferences were held in 2008 in Berlin and Uppsala, the latter leading to the "Uppsala Declaration" of a basic platform for the elections.[4]
In September 2008, Andrew Norton (United States) was appointed as coordinator of the PPI collective. In August 2009 he stepped down[5] and passed the function of coordinator over to the "coreteam" led by Patrick Mächler and Samir Allioui.[6]
In 2009 the original Pirate Party won 7.1% of the vote[7] in Sweden's European Parliament elections and won two of Sweden's twenty MEP seats, inspired by a surge in membership following the trial and conviction of three members of the ideologically aligned Pirate Bay a year earlier.[8]
On 18 April 2010, the Pirate Parties International was formally founded in Brussels at the PPI Conference from April 16 to 18.[1]
On 17 January 2011, an activist of the Tunisian Pirate Party, Slim Amamou, was appointed Secretary of State of Youth and Sport[9][10][11] in the Tunisian government. On 25 May 2011, he resigned from his position, stating that once the country's democratic elections were planned, his mission would be over.[12]
In September 2011 in the Berlin state elections The Pirate Party won 8.9% of the vote and its first ever seats in a state parliament anywhere in the world.[13] They have gained representation in several German state parliaments elected in 2012 (North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein), typically at around 8% of the valid votes.
The Uppsala Declaration
At the 2009 conference of Pirate Parties International in Uppsala (Sweden), European Pirate parties agreed on a common declaration of the parties' goals for the upcoming election of the European Parliament.[14][15] Central issues of the declaration are:
- reform of copyright, exemption of non-commercial activity from copyright regulation, reduction of the duration of copyright protections; banning of DRM technologies, opposition to media or hardware levies;
- reform of patent law, particularly stating that patents on life (including patents on seeds and on genes) and software should not be allowed;
- strengthening civil rights, transparent government, speedy and fair trial and freedom of speech; expansion of the right to anonymity in communication.
The Prague Declaration
At 2012 conference of Pirate Parties International in Prague (Czech Republic), European Pirate parties agreed to run in the elections to the European Parliament in the year 2014 with a common program as well as establish a European political party. The declaration[16] has been followed by conferences in Potsdam and Barcelona to work on the structure of the legal body to come and the statutes for it.
Structure
The PPI is governed by a board, led by two co-chairs.[17] Policy, govenance, and applications for membership are the responsibility of the PPI General Assembly which must convene at least once per year.[18]
| Date of election | Co-chairmen | Chief Administrative Officer | Chief Financial Officer | Board members |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 18, 2010 | Grégory Engels, Jerry Weyer | Joachim Mönch | Nicolas Sahlqvist | Aleksandar Blagojevic, Jakub Michálek, Bogomil Shopov |
| March 13, 2011 | Samir Allioui, |
Lola Voronina | Patrick Mächler | |
| April 15, 2012[19] | Grégory Engels, Lola Voronina | Travis McCrea | Ed Geraghty | Nuno Cardoso, Jelena Jovanovic, Denis Simonet |
| April 21, 2013[20][21] | Grégory Engels, Vojtěch Pikal | Thomas Gaul | Marc Tholl | Nuno Cardoso, Azat Gabrakhmanov, Denis Simonet |
PPI Conferences
| Name | Date of Meeting | Location | Host Party |
|---|---|---|---|
| International Conference 2007 | 8-10/6/2007 | Vienna, Austria | |
| International Conference 1/2008 | 26-27/1/2008 | Berlin, Germany | |
| International Conference 2/2008 | 27-29/6/2008 | Uppsala, Sweden | |
| PPI Conference 2010 (Founding Conference) | 16-18/4/2010 | Brussels, Belgium | Pirate Party Belgium |
| PPI Conference 2011 | 12-13/3/2011 | Friedrichshafen, Germany | German Pirate Party |
| PPI Conference 2012 | 14-15/4/2012 | Prague, Czech Republic | Czech Pirate Party |
| Pirate Summer Conference | 9-10/6/2012 | Aarau, Switzerland | Pirate Party Aargau |
| PPI Conference 2013 | 20-21/4/2013 | Kazan, Russia | Pirate Party of Russia |
Pirate Party movement worldwide
See Pirate Party and List of Pirate Parties for an overview of all Pirate Parties around the world.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "The Pirate International is born". Presseurop. 2010-04-20. Retrieved 2010-05-17.
- ↑ "Pirate Parties International Statutes" (PDF). Pirate Parties International. 2010-04-18. Retrieved 2010-10-07.
- ↑ Ben Jones (2007-06-09). "Pirates Gather at First International Pirate Party Conference". TorrentFreak. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
- ↑ "The Uppsala Declaration or European Pirate Parties Declaration of a basic platform for the European Parliamentary Election of 2009". Piratpartiet. 2008-07-02. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
- ↑ Norton, Andrew (2009-08-02). "Signing off". pp.int.general mailing list. http://lists.pirateweb.net/pipermail/pp.international.general/2009-August/003775.html. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
- ↑ "Patrick Mächler steps down - Jerry Weyer Steps up!". 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
- ↑ "Swedish pirates capture EU seat". BBC News. BBC. 2008-06-08. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
- ↑ Will Smale (2010-04-27). "Election: Can Pirate Party UK emulate Sweden success?". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
- ↑ "Turmoil in Tunisia: As it happened on Monday". BBC News. BBC. 2011-01-17. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
- ↑ "Arrested Pirate Party Member Becomes Tunisian State Secretary". TorrentFreak. 2011-01-17. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
- ↑ "Dissident blogger enters new Tunisian government". The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings. 2011-01-18. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
- ↑ "Tunisian minster quits". The guardian. 2011-05-25. Retrieved 2011-05-27.
- ↑ Wil Longbottom (2011-09-19). "Shiver me timbers! Pirate Party wins 15 seats in Berlin parliamentary elections". Daily Mail. Retrieved 2011-10-12.
- ↑ "European Pirate Platform 2009". Pirate Party (Sweden). Retrieved 2012-04-05.
- ↑ "Uppsala-Deklaration". Piratenwiki (in German and English). Pirate Party Germany. 2010-07-29. Retrieved 2012-04-05.
- ↑ The Prague Declaration
- ↑ Pirate Parties International Statutes, Article XIII.
- ↑ Pirate Parties International Statutes, Articles IX - XI.
- ↑ "PPI GA 2012 minutes". Retrieved 2014-04-14.
- ↑ "PPI GA 2013 minutes". Retrieved 2013-05-13.
- ↑ "First board meeting of the board elected at the GA 2013 on 30th April 2013, internal decisions on CAO and CFO position". Retrieved 2013-05-13.
External links
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