Pirate Parties International Explained

Pirate Parties International
Size:162px
Abbreviation:PPI
Type:International nongovernmental organisation
Status:Association
Purpose:Political
Headquarters:Brussels, Belgium
Membership:Pirate parties and affiliated associations
Leader Title:Chairperson
Leader Name:Grégory Engels
Leader Title2:Vice-Chairperson
Leader Name2:Keith L. Goldstein
Leader Title3:General Secretary
Leader Name3:TBD
Leader Title4:Treasurer
Leader Name4:TBD
Main Organ:General Assembly
Website:www.pp-international.net

Pirate Parties International (PPI) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.[1] Formed in 2010, it serves as a worldwide organization for Pirate Parties, currently representing 39 members from 36 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and Australasia. 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 just through activism. In 2017, PPI had been granted special consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council.[2]

Aims

The PPI statutes[3] 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 does not refer to any illegal activity.

History

The first Pirate Party was the Swedish Piratpartiet, founded on 1 January 2006.Other parties and groups were formed in Austria, Canada, 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.[4] Further conferences were held in 2008 in Berlin and Uppsala, the latter leading to the "Uppsala Declaration" of a basic platform for the elections.[5]

In 2009, the original Pirate Party won 7.1% of the vote[6] 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.[7]

On 18 April 2010, the Pirate Parties International was formally founded in Brussels at the PPI Conference from April 16 to 18.[1]

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.[8] [9] Central issues of the declaration are:

Prague Declaration

At the conference of Pirate Parties International in Prague (Czech Republic) in 2012, 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 (European Pirate Party, PPEU). The declaration[10] 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.

Member Parties

As of July 2 2022, PPI has the following 31[11] Ordinary members with the voting power of 28 (parties sharing territory split the vote among themselves):

Asia and the Pacific

  1. Pirate Party of New Zealand (1/2 vote; vote shared with IP New Zealand)
  2. Internet Party New Zealand (1/2 vote; vote shared with PP New Zealand)

Americas

      1. Pirate Party of Brazil Pirate Party of Chile United States Pirate Party
  1. Pirate Party of Venezuela

Europe

    1. Pirate Party of Belgium Pirate Party of Catalonia
    2. Czech Pirate Party Estonian Pirate Party
                      1. Pirate Party of France Pirate Party Germany Pirate Party of Greece Pirate Party of Hungary Pirate Party of Israel Italian Pirate Party Pirate Party Luxembourg Pirate Party of Netherlands Pirate Party of Norway Polish Pirate Party Portuguese Pirate Party
    3. Pirate Party of Russia Pirate Party of Serbia
  1. Pirate Party of Slovakia (1/2 vote; vote shared with the other Slovakia)
  2. Pirate Party - Slovakia (1/2 vote; vote shared with the other Slovakia)
    1. Pirate Party Switzerland Pirate Party of Turkey (1/2 vote; vote shared with the other Turkey)
  3. Pirate Party Turkey (1/2 vote; vote shared with the other Turkey)
  4. Pirate Party of Ukraine

Resignations

In February 2015, Pirate Party Australia resigned from PPI due to serious disagreement with the direction and management of the organization.[12] In the same month, Pirate Party UK also resigned[13] and in March the Belgian Pirate Party suspended its membership within PPI.[14]

On 20 April 2015, the Pirate Party of Iceland voted overwhelmingly to leave PPI.[15] A member of the executive, Arnaldur Sigurðarson, reported a 96.56% vote in favor of leaving, adding: "PPI has been pretty much useless when it comes to its objectives which should be to encourage international cooperation between Pirate Parties."

In May 2015, the Pirate Party of Sweden resolved with a significant majority to leave PPI, canceling their observer status.[16]

In July 2016, the Pirate Party of Canada officially withdrew from Pirate Parties International citing ongoing troubles with the organization as well as a failure to adequately provide any accomplishments over its history.

In 2022, the Pirate Party of Austria withdrew from the Pirate Parties International.[17]

In December 2023, Florie Marie resigned from her role as chairperson of the Pirate Parties International after less than one year.[18]

Structure

The PPI is governed by a board, formerly led by two co-chairs,[19] and since the Warsaw conference of 2015 by a chair and a vice-chair. Policy, governance, and applications for membership are the responsibility of the PPI General Assembly which must convene at least once per year.[20] By the current rules, board members are elected for a two-year term, half of the board being elected every year. Since the 2019 General Assembly, the Board has 9 members (previously 7). General Secretary and Treasurer positions are filled by the board by its members.

PPI Board
No.TermCo-Chairs (chair & vice-chair from 2015 onwards)General SecretaryTreasurerMember of the boardAlternates
1st BoardIV/2010III/2011 Grégory Engels,
Jerry Weyer
Joachim Mönch Nicolas Sahlqvist Aleksandar Blagojevic,
Jakub Michálek,
Bogomil Shopov
align=center bgcolor=#ccc
2nd BoardIII/2011IV/2012 Samir Allioui,
Marcel Kolaja
(receded)
Lola Voronina Pat Mächler Finlay Archibald
(receded),
Paul da Silva
(receded),
Thomas Gaul
align=center bgcolor=#ccc
3rd BoardIV/2012IV/2013 Grégory Engels,
Lola Voronina
Travis McCrea Ed Geraghty Nuno Cardoso,
Jelena Jovanović,
Denis Simonet
Brendan Molloy,
Thomas Gaul,
Alessandra Minoni,
Andrew Norton
(receded)
4th BoardIV/2013IV/2014 Grégory Engels,
Vojtěch Pikal
Thomas Gaul Marc Tholl Nuno Cardoso,
Azat Gabrakhmanov,
Denis Simonet
Jelena Jovanović,
Paul Bossu,
Radosław Pietroń,
Yasin Aydın
5th BoardIV/2014VII/2015 Maša Čorak,
Koen de Voegt
Thomas Gaul Sebastian Krone Grégory Engels,
Anders Kleppe,
Stathis Leivaditis
Marco Confalonieri,
Yasin Aydın,
Min Chiaki,
Chemseddine Ben Jemaa
6th BoardVII/2015VII/2016 Andrew Reitemeyer (chair)
Patrick Schiffer (vice-chair)
Henrique Peer Karla Medrano Min Chiaki,
Chemseddine Ben Jemaa,
Dr. Richard Hill,
Anders Kleppe,
Nikolay Voronov,
Koen De Voegt,
Grégory Engels
7th BoardVII/2016XI/2017 Guillaume Saouli (chair)
Bailey Lamon (vice-chair)
Thomas Gaul Keith L. Goldstein Andrew Reitemeyer,
Raymond Johansen,
Koen De Voegt
Nikolay Voronov,
Patrick Schiffer,
Adam Wolf,
Grégory Engels
8th BoardXI/2017XI/2018 Guillaume Saouli (chair)
Bailey Lamon (vice-chair)
Keith L. Goldstein Thomas Gaul Koen De Voegt,
Raymond Johansen,
Nikolay Voronov
Adam Wolf,
Etienne Evellin,
Daniel Dantas Prazeres,
Grégory Engels
9th BoardXI/2018XII/2019 Guillaume Saouli (chair)
Bailey Lamon (vice-chair)
Keith L. Goldstein Michal Gill Etienne Evellin,
Raymond Johansen,
Ladislav Koubek
Daniel Dantas Prazeres,
Grégory Engels,
Kitty Hundal,
Cédric Levieux
10th BoardXII/2019XII/2020 Bailey Lamon (chair)
Grégory Engels (vice-chair)
Keith L. Goldstein Daniel Dantas Prazeres Cédric Levieux,
Thomas Gaul,
Michal Gill,
Linda B. Tørklep,
Giuseppe Calandra
Sebastian Krone,
Carlos Polo,
Svein Mork Dahl,
Cristina Diana Bargu[21]
11th BoardXII/2020I/2022 Bailey Lamon (chair)
Grégory Engels (vice-chair)
Michal Gill Sebastian Krone Keith L. Goldstein,
Carlos Polo,
Manuel Caicedo,
Dario Castane,
Daniel Dantas Prazeres
Svein Mork Dahl,
Thomas Gaul,
Ji Yong Dijkhuis
12th BoardsinceI/2022 Bailey Lamon (chair)
Grégory Engels (vice-chair)
Michal Gill Sebastian Krone Keith L. Goldstein,
Carlos Polo,
Manuel Caicedo,
Dario Castane,
Alexander Isavnin,
Mauricio Vargas
Ji Yong Dijkhuis
Veronika Murzynová
Adam Wolf
Sebastian Krone
13th Boardsince I/2023 Florie Marie (chair) Grégory Engels (vice-chair)TBDTBD Keith L. Goldstein
Michael Toledo
Bailey Lamon Michal Gill
Julian Häffner
Alexander Isavnin
Mauricio Vargas
Mia Utz
Adam Wolf
Sebastian Krone
Raman Ojha
Carlos Polo
14th Boardsince I/2024 Grégory Engels (chair) Keith L. Goldstein (vice-chair)TBDTBD Bailey Lamon,
Alexander Isavnin,
Sebastian Krone,
Owen C. Richardson,
Michael Toledo,
Julian Häffner,
Mia Utz
Raman Ojha,
Carlos Polo,
Thomas Gaul

All board meetings are recorded and the minutes are published here: https://wiki.pp-international.net/wiki/index.php?title=PPI_Board/Board_Meetings.

PPI Conferences

International Pirate Party Meetings
NameDate of MeetingLocationHost Party
International Conference 20078-10/6/2007Vienna, Austria
International Conference 1/200826-27/1/2008Berlin, Germany
International Conference 2/200827-29/6/2008Uppsala, Sweden
PPI Conference 2010 (Founding Conference)16-18/4/2010Brussels, BelgiumPirate Party Belgium
PPI Conference 201112-13/3/2011Friedrichshafen, GermanyPirate Party Germany
PPI Conference 201214-15/4/2012Prague, Czech RepublicCzech Pirate Party
Pirate Summer Conference 9-10/6/2012Aarau, SwitzerlandPirate Party Aargau
PPI Conference 201320-21/4/2013Kazan, RussiaPirate Party of Russia
PPI Conference 201412-13/4/2014Paris, France, on OpenSpace ConferencePirate Party of France
PPI Conference 20154-5/7/2015Warsaw, Poland, on OpenSpace ConferencePirate Party of Poland
PPI Conference 201623-24/7/2016Berlin, GermanyPirate Party of Berlin
PPI Conference 201725-23/11/2017Geneva, SwitzerlandPirate Party of Switzerland
PPI Conference 20183-4/11/2018, online continuation on 10/11/2018Munich, GermanyPirate Party Germany, Pirate Party Bavaria
PPI Conference 20197-8/12/2019 onlineBy video conference only
PPI Conference 2020 (w/out board election)30/5/2020onlineBy video conference only
PPI General Assembly 20206/12/2020onlineBy video conference only
PPI General Assembly 2021 (w/out board election)3/7/2021onlineBy video conference only
PPI General Assembly 20228/1/2022onlineBy video conference only
PPI General Assembly 2022 (w/out board election)2/7/2022onlineBy video conference only
PPI General Assembly28/1/2023onlineBy video conference only

[22]

Pirate Party movement worldwide

See also: Pirate Party and List of Pirate Parties.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Pirate International is born . . 2010-04-20 . 2010-05-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110102054618/http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/news-brief-cover/234921-pirate-international-born . 2011-01-02 . dead .
  2. Web site: Non-Governmental Organizations Committee Recommends Economic and Social Council Grant Special Status to 14 Entities, Postpones Action on 53 Others | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases.
  3. Web site: Pirate Parties International Statutes . 2010-10-07 . 2010-04-18 . Pirate Parties International . https://web.archive.org/web/20190224115756/http://int.piratenpartei.de/wiki/images/a/a6/Statutes_of_the_Pirate_Parties_International.pdf . 2019-02-24 . dead .
  4. Web site: Pirates Gather at First International Pirate Party Conference . Ben Jones . TorrentFreak . 2007-06-09 . 2010-05-28.
  5. Web site: The Uppsala Declaration or European Pirate Parties Declaration of a basic platform for the European Parliamentary Election of 2009 . Piratpartiet . 2008-07-02 . 2010-05-28 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100908223042/http://www.piratpartiet.se/nyheter/european_pirate_platform_2009 . 2010-09-08 .
  6. Web site: Swedish pirates capture EU seat . 2008-06-08. 2011-09-26. . BBC.
  7. Web site: Election: Can Pirate Party UK emulate Sweden success? . 2010-04-27. 2011-09-26. Will Smale. . BBC.
  8. Web site: European Pirate Platform 2009 . 2012-04-05 . . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100908223042/http://www.piratpartiet.se/nyheter/european_pirate_platform_2009 . 2010-09-08 .
  9. Web site: Uppsala-Deklaration . 2012-04-05 . 2010-07-29 . Piratenwiki . . de, en.
  10. http://ppeu.net/?p=339 The Prague Declaration
  11. Web site: PPI Member Parties . 2022-07-04. 2022-07-04. PPI .
  12. Web site: Pirate Party Australia resigns from PPI. 2015-02-11 . 2015-02-11 .
  13. Web site: PPUK leaves PPI . 2015-02-25 . 2015-02-25 . 10 January 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170110063320/http://pirateparty.org.uk/blogs/editor/ppuk-leaves-ppi . dead .
  14. Web site: PPBE suspends their PPI membership. 2015-03-08 . 2015-03-04 .
  15. Web site: Icelandic Pirates: PPIS Vote to Leave PPI and Birgitta only Politician to increase in Trust. 2015-04-20 . 2015-04-20 .
  16. Web site: Motion P01: Proposition ang. att lämna observatörsmedlemskapet i PPI . 2015-05-10 . 2015-05-10 . 15 November 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171115194616/https://mote.piratpartiet.se/showthread.php?t=40246 . dead .
  17. Web site: desertrold . 2022-12-17 . Stellungnahme zum PPI-Austritt . 2024-03-26 . ppAT Basisblog . de-DE.
  18. Web site: Discours : Ma démission de la présidence du Parti Pirate International / My resign of the presidency of the International Pirate Parties – Bienvenue par minou . 2023-12-09 . fr-FR.
  19. Pirate Parties International Statutes, Article XIII.
  20. Pirate Parties International Statutes, Articles IX - XI.
  21. Web site: Resigned on 22nd of February 2020. 2020-03-13 .
  22. Web site: PPI General Assembly - PPI . 2022-07-24 . wiki.pp-international.net.