Pirate Parties International
 | |
| Abbreviation | PPI |
|---|---|
| Formation | April 18, 2010 |
| Type | International nongovernmental organisation |
| Legal status | Association |
| Purpose | Political |
| Headquarters | Brussels, Belgium |
Membership | Pirate parties and affiliated associations |
Chairperson | Guillaume Saouli |
Vice-Chairperson | Bailey Lamon |
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 does 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]
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.[9][10] 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[11] 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.
Resignations
In February 2015, Pirate Party Australia resigned from PPI due to serious disagreement with the direction and management of the organisation.[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 favour 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, cancelling their observer status.[16]
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]
| Year | Co-Chairs | General Secretary | CFO | Member of the board | Alternates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010/2011 |  Grégory Engels, |
Joachim Mönch
|
 Nicolas Sahlqvist
|
 Aleksandar Blagojevic,
|
– |
| 2011/2012 |  Samir Allioui,
|
 Lola Voronina
|
 Patrick Mächler
|
 Finlay Archibald(receded),
|
– |
| 2012/2013 | Grégory Engels,
|
 Travis McCrea
|
Ed Geraghty
|
 Nuno Cardoso,
|
 Brendan Molloy,
|
| 2013/2014 | Grégory Engels, |
Thomas Gaul
|
 Marc Tholl
|
Nuno Cardoso,
|
Jelena Jovanović,
|
| 2014/2015 |  Maša Čorak, |
Thomas Gaul
|
Sebastian Krone
|
Grégory Engels,
|
 Marco Confalonieri,
|
| July 2015 - July 2016 |  Andrew Reitemeyer,
|
 Henrique Peer
|
 Karla Medrano
|
 Min Chiaki,
|
 Anders Kleppe,
|
| since July 2016 | Guillaume Saouli,
|
Thomas Gaul
|
 Keith L. Goldstein
|
Andrew Reitemeyer,
|
Anders Kleppe,
|
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 | Pirate Party Germany |
| 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 |
| PPI Conference 2014 | 12-13/4/2014 | Paris, France, on OpenSpace Conference | Pirate Party of France |
| PPI Conference 2015 | 4-5/7/2015 | Warsaw, Poland, on OpenSpace Conference | Pirate Party of Poland |
| PPI Conference 2016 | 23-24/7/2016 | Berlin, Germany | Pirate Party of Berlin |
Pirate Party movement worldwide
See Pirate Party and List of Pirate Parties for an overview of all Pirate Parties around the world.
References
- ^ a b "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). Retrieved 2009-09-07.
{{cite mailing list}}: Unknown parameter|mailinglist=ignored (|mailing-list=suggested) (help) - ^ "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.
- ^ "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 Party Australia resigns from PPI". 2015-02-11. Retrieved 2015-02-11.
- ^ "PPUK leaves PPI". 2015-02-25. Retrieved 2015-02-25.
- ^ "PPBE suspends their PPI membership". 2015-03-04. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
- ^ "Icelandic Pirates: PPIS Vote to Leave PPI and Birgitta only Politician to increase in Trust". 2015-04-20. Retrieved 2015-04-20.
- ^ "Motion P01: Proposition ang. att lämna observatörsmedlemskapet i PPI". 2015-05-10. Retrieved 2015-05-10.
- ^ Pirate Parties International Statutes, Article XIII.
- ^ Pirate Parties International Statutes, Articles IX - XI.
External links
