A Review of the 2019 PPI General Assembly
The PPI 2019 GA has officially ended, but it appears that we will have another GA in the near future.
We want to take this opportunity to share a review of the GA. We resolved some issues, didn’t resolve others, and proposed new solutions.
We thank everyone for coming to the event. It was a great turnout. We succeeded in our first ever all-online GA, which is an accomplishment in itself.
=REVIEW OF THE 2019 PPI=
Day One
Complete Minutes of Day One: https://wiki.pp-international.net/wiki/index.php?title=PPI_Minutes_2019_12_07
Complete Minutes of Day Two: https://wiki.pp-international.net/wiki/index.php?title=PPI_Minutes_2019_12_08
Tally of countries present
Austria
Catalonia
Germany
Israel
Italy
France
Czech
Norway
Netherlands
Brazil
Luxembourg
Greece
Russia arrived late but will be present tomorrow.
Portugal arrived late and joined.
30 – Presentation and use of Congressus, Discord and Discourse==
==Opening of the General Assembly==
Bailey begins the GA at 11
12 am.
It is awesome to see all of you here. I know we were worried about making Quorum. There are difficulties with zoom, congressus, and tech stuff. We appreciate your patience. We are almost ready to get going. Let’s have a good GA this weekend, and let’s move PPI forward. We have Marco here who is our nominated chair. Does anyone object to Marco being the chair? (No objections). I pass it off to Marco. GA is officially open.
I name two vice chairs for the meeting, Bailey and Raymond, please catch my attention if someone is speaking and I don’t pay attention.
Keith will take the notes of the meeting.
Additional staff for vote counts is Michael Sinclair.
My name is Marco Confeliere member of Pirate Party of Italy. I am the chairman of the GA.
Meeting chair is Marco. Vice chairs are Bailey and Ray. Secretary (minute taker) is Keith, Vote Tallier Assistant is Michael.
We have a voting power of 12.5, so we have a quorum.
Note that Catalonia has .5 votes.
Presentation of the new members
Pirate Party of Slovakia in the past was just an association and not a party. For some reasons that I don’t want to say here, they are split and now we are 15 members. We went through all the applications to be a proper politician party. So now we are a party and have a name Pirate Party Slovakia. We are officially registered, and now we want to be an official member of PPI.
My (Marco’s) proposal is that we have two rounds of votes, one to ask if they have ordinary membership and if not with a subsequent vote whether they can be ordinary members.
Pirate Party of Slovakia vote.
1 abstain
1 no
10.5 votes passed
Congratulations to PP Slovaki
Reports: Board, Treasurer, Lay Auditors and CoC==
Link to the Treasurer Report
https://ga.pp-international.net/t/treasury-report/204/3
Link to the budget
https://ga.pp-international.net/t/bookeeping-2019/198
Treasurer report made by Dan Prazeres of PP Brazil.
Link to report of lay auditor
https://ga.pp-international.net/t/report-of-lay-auditors/212
Remarks by Ray that we have made revisions. The bookkeeping is in order, and we are now fiscally organized and spending less than we bring in. There should be more income next year as we raised fees.
Thomas Gaul presented on behalf of the CoA. They convened once to decide on members who had dissolved. That is what they did. They submitted a report on this.
Report of CoA
https://ga.pp-international.net/t/report-of-court-of-arbitration/214
==15
Statutes Amendments aka Changes to Statutes==
https://ga.pp-international.net/t/statute-revisions-xii-board/158
We propose an increase in board size by two members.
One new new member is elected for one year, and the other for two years during this first year.
The statute will read as follows: XII. Board. The Board is composed of: a) one Chairperson, b) one: Vice-Chairperson, c) seven additional Board Members
PPCZ Alternate Member Proposal (not yet adopted)
Before the voting, the number of elected positions should be decided, if Statutes require to do so. b) Every Ordinary Member may vote “yes” for any number of candidates. c) The candidates that has achieved a simple majority of the “yes” votes from Ordinary Members present or represented and voting on them(St X(1)) are elected in the order determined by number of “yes” votes accumulated. Abstentions are not taken into account. In event of a tie where order matters, deciding elections are held, where only one “yes” vote per Ordinary Member can be cast.d) If the decided number (Art. 6a(6a)) of positions is not filled, additional round of elections is held unless decided otherwise.e) If elected positions allow for alternate members, candidates who were not elected only due to the lack of positions, are elected to the end of alternates list.
Link to yesterday’s minutes: https://wiki.pp-international.net/wiki/index.php?title=PPI_Minutes_2019_12_07
Link to Congressus: https://congressus.pp-international.net/meeting.php?id=93
=GA 2019 – Day Two=
:Norway yes
:Czech for now not present (Mike is here but not the delegate) (AMMENDED TO YES)
:Germany yes
:Italy yes
:Israel yes
:Greece yes
:Catalaonia yes
:Austria yes
:Netherlands yes
:Luxembourg yes
:France yes
:Switzerland yes
:Slovakia Old member yes
:Slovakia New member yes
:Portugal Not present (AMMENDED TO YES)
:Russia (AMMENDED TO YES)
We have 13.5 at the start of the GA with the inclusion of Czech. The PPRU sent a mail accepting Gregory as a delegate. Portugal arrived late.
==10:30 – Election of PPI officers==
===Chair===
https://ga.pp-international.net/t/nominations-for-chair/159
*Chair
:Bailey Lamon
:Bailey introduces herself. She thanks everyone who has nominated her. The purpose of PPI is to be a supportive organization, a political one to a degree if we balance appropriately. We are truly global, which makes us unique. We are internationalists in a lot of ways. We embrace modern technology and… I think of putting PPI into a permanent GA mode would be great, so we can have more involvement. Last year we had a tough year. We need to make sure that we don’t end up in this situation again. We need delegates to be involved. This will create more accountability and leadership. Somethings are systemic, and we need to take the values that we believe in, such as transparency and democracy and hold ourselves to them. Thank you everyone again.
::Votes are all yes. Unanimous decision that Bailey will be chair of PPI.
===Vice===
https://ga.pp-international.net/t/nominations-for-vice-chair/160
*Vice-Chair: Gregory Engels, Etienne Evelin
*Vice-Chair
:Gregory Engels
:Has been with PPI since 2010. He has been with the board consistently in various positions except one year. He recently transitioned from alternate board member to vice chair. Back in 2012 he wrote in the Wiki what PPI needs to do to fulfill its mission. Our intergovernmental aspect is well on its way. Lacking that we propose a lot of involvement, such as reactivating the standing committees. Also we hope to create a good governance structure. I look forward to starting again. Things are feeling pretty good. We are starting to be more impactful in the world, to reach out to other organizations and tell Pirates how they can impact the world. I also call out for individual support for members. Thank you very much.
:Etienne Evelin
:Etienne will not be able to present himself or anyone to present on his behalf, so there will not be a presentation. There is a mention that he is a former board member.
:there are no questions.
:Voting for Gregory Engels
::Quorum is passed with 10 votes
:Voting for Etienne Evelin
::Quorum is passed with 9.5 votes
:Gregory is elected vice-chair. He accepts.
===Board===
https://ga.pp-international.net/t/nominations-for-board/161===
*Board Members
:Keith Goldstein
:Thomas Gaul
:Linda Tørklep
:Guiseppe ‘CAL’ Calandra
:DanPrazeres
*Board Members:There is a discussion about how many board members should be elected and what is the status regarding the number of board members whoshould be elected ,and whether there will be a rotating system. The statutes state there should be a rotating system only once. We have aquestion about whether we must elect 5 board members and what the term lengths should be. The statutes state two years. There is a discussion of whether we enable rule 2a, allowing some members to be elected for 1 year. 2 years ago we had a similar problem, and we reapplied that rule at the GA in Switzerland. There is a vote on whether to accept rule 2a again, whereby we can insitute a rotating system for half the new members. Thus, half the members will get one year instead of 2. In this case one member will be for one year and the other members will be for 2.
:We have 7.5 votes yes with 12.5 members present.
:The GA finds with 50% that we do implement the rotating system again. We will thus elect 1 member for one year and the rest for 2 years. The member with the least votes will receive one year.
*PirateLinda
:Name of the candidate : Linda Tørklep
:Presentation of the candidate : Board member, PPNO, Vice Chair, Agder Pirate Party of Norway. Social Worker with a Master’s degree, specializing in treatment of and doing policy work in support of marginalized groups like people with mental health and substance abuse problems. Main focus is being a voice for objectivity and fact based processes over lobbyism.
:Positions to which you are candidate : [Board member]
:Support : [insert the name of the supporters of the candidate] PPNO
:She is new to the Pirate movement but a board member in PPNO. She works on new member services, trying to figure what we stand out more clearly. She is a social worker, and this is part of her passion for the Pirate party.
*Cal Giuseppe
:Italy (PPIT)
:I am nominating myself on behalf of the pirate party of Italy. Please don’t elect me if you have any alternatives.
A presentation of myself: I’ve been in international mailing lists for around ten years, currently a member of the coordination group of pp-it.
:He has been involved with the Pirates for about 10 years. He wants to help us make things better, and he is confident.
:Question whether
*danprazeresPPI Board
:Name of the candidate : DanPrazeres
:Presentation of the candidate : Board member, actual treasurer. I am a member of PPBR since 2011 (where I am actual treasurer, have been national coordinator and general secretary), board member of PPI since 2017. I am political scientist and musician. I work with pirate stuff since I entered on the movement, and I believe that is important for us having people from outside Europe
:Positions to which you are candidate : [Board member]
:Support : [insert the name of the supporters of the candidate] PPBr
:He has been a board member of PPI since 2017. He hopes to make PPI continue to improve…
*Name of the candidate : Keith Goldstein
:Presentation of the candidate : Board member, International Coordinator PPIL, General Secretary PPI (former treasurer).
I am an original member of PPIL (since around 2011). I have been a board member of PPI since 2016.
:Positions to which you are candidate : [Board member]
:Support : [insert the name of the supporters of the candidate] PPIL
*Name of the candidate :Thomas Gaul
:He has had several positions. He is happy to help with whatever knowledge that he has.
*We have 5 candidates
*Voting for Keith Goldstein
:All voted yes, unanimous, 14.5 votes
*Voting for Thomas Gaul
:1 abstain, Vote is passed. 13.5 votes
*Linda Tørklep
:2 abstain, Vote is passed. 12.5 votes
*Cal Giuseppe
:3 abstain, Vote is passed.10.5 votes.
*Voting for Dan Prazeres
:All votes are yes, Catalonia is .5 votes 1 not participating, 14.0 votes
:All of the board members were elected. Cal is elected for one year. The other board members are elected for 2 years.
===Alternate Board Members===
*Alternate Board Members
:Svein Mork Dahl
:Keith Goldstein
:Sebastian Krone
:Thomas Gaul
*Svein.Mork.Dahl
Political Vice-chair PPNO since 2017, elected Vice-chairs of Local Appeals Board and Expert Appeals Board Real Estate Tax, City Council of Arendal 2019. Experience from Development Aid work in East-Africa, startups, Real Estate and communications and corporate governance. Board member and delegate SMB Norge (Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Association of Norway, Vice-Chair of Refugees Welcome Norway.
Lawyer by trade, Pirate by heart. Former Lay Auditor for PPI.
*Sebastian Krone
:From the German Pirate Party and an observer with PP Potsdam. Been a treasurer in the past with PPI. He is working with a lot of international organizations. He is keen to support the PP international again.
:Call is asked for additional nominations for alternate board members.
*Carlos Polo
: He is the main delegate at UN Geneva. From PPCH. He has a lot of information on ECOSOC. He hopes that his knowledge of the organization can assist.
:We need one more nomination for alternate. According to the statutes there should be one more nomination.
*Cristina Diana Bargu
:She is from PPIT and nominated by PPI. She is a journalist. She is trying to reconnect with rural areas.
*Michael Sinclair
:PP Slovakia nominates Michael.
:He has been involved for quite a long time. He has done a lot of work with the German Pirates on discrimination and racism issues. There are a lot of NGOs that he has helped and worked with them on financing. We have a lot of good partnerships.
:Michael retreats his candidacy if there are enough candidates. He withdraws his candidacy.
*Vote for Svein Mork Dahl
:14.0 votes
:Point of order, Portugal just arrived in the middle of this vote.
*Vote for Bastian (Sebastian Krone)
:Vote is unanimous with 15.5.
*Vote for Carlos Polo
:14.0 votes
*Vote for Cristina Diana Bargu
:13.5 votes
:The rank is as follows: Bastian, Carlos, Svein, and Diana
:The 4 alternate board members are elected.
:Diana’s position is for one year.
:There is a moment of thanks to our outgoing board member Ray.
===CoA===
Chemseddine BEN JEMAA
Ohad Shem Tov
Emma Kristina Gillmor
Kristian Syverud
Anja Sofi Johannessen
Gisle Grøndahl
Sebastian Krone
Thomas Gaul
13.5 votes for Kristian
10.5 votes for Gisle, Ohad, and Chemseddine.
8.5 votes for everyone else
The vote total is irrelevant. They all were elected.
:Candidates (please see the official list on Discourse)
https://ga.pp-international.net/c/2019Proposals/2019Nominations
===Lay Auditor===
Ohad Bar Siman Tov,
Noam Kuzar
Anita Garrod
Axel Magnus-Maurer
Leif Attila Vold
===Lay Auditor===
Ohad Bar Siman Tov,
Noam Kuzar
Anita Garrod
Axel Magnus-Maurer
Leif Attila Vold
We have the following 3 lay auditors: Anita, Leif, and Noam.
==Motions proposed by members==
**The following are the 5 motions that we received on Discourse. The order is arbitrary and we should decide which to present in what order, probably relating to the sophistication of the motion (clarity and though) and whether there is someone to present the motion.
:Marco will follow the order that they were included in the minutes.
*Motion #1: Proposal to create a working group on pirate governance codex
*Motion #2: Suspension of the normal functioning
*Motion #3: PP Brazil – A motion on the importance of fighting against fascist leaders and governments
*Motion #4: Motion, NGO, Group Friendship
*Motion #5: Join the Save .ORG campaign
*Motion #6 Endorsement of “Contract for the Web”
*Motion #7: Revised Budget Motion
===Motion #1: Proposal to create a working group on pirate governance codex===
https://ga.pp-international.net/t/proposal-to-create-a-working-group-on-pirate-governance-codex/222
:Gregory Germany (PPDE)
:Working Group on Pirate Governance Codex :
:Presentation of the motion :
::As our organization develops and matures, the need for more detailed governance guidelines arises. A lot of questions are currently not addressed by the current Rules of Procedures and other Bylaws. Like the question, what is our travel reimbursement policy? What to do if someone thinks that some board member might have a conflict of interest? Should we always be transparent in all business matters? What kind of funding sources are acceptable?
::The proposing party had first thought to prepare a complete proposal for a code of good governance by copy/pasting it from some other NGO, but as we have spent time discussing it, we discovered, that it would be much more impactful to create such document nearly from scratch by discussing the overall direction and provision of such document – to create some living culture and not a dead peace of paper.
::There are good guidelines and research papers about good governance in NGO available. One notable example is The Handbook of NGO Governance (published 2004 by European Center of Non-Profit Law) – but it lacks a lot of “pirate specific” topics like digital transparency and overall it does not incorporate recent research on this topic. We should also survey what works best in other organisations and adopt those practices.
::The proposing delegation believe that we have a chance to create something that could be high value not only to PPI but to all its members and also to all new pirate parties around the world.
:Body of the motion :
The General Assembly of the Pirate Parties International calls the board to organize a working group to create a proposal for a Pirate Governance Codex. The working group should be open to all pirates and also invite external subject matter experts. The working group should present this proposal at the next GA.
:Support : PPDE
Rapporteur : Gregory
*Decision is that we have 11 votes affirming. The motion is passed.
===Motion #2: Suspension of the normal functioning===
https://ga.pp-international.net/t/motion-suspension-of-the-normal-functioning/200/4
:farlistenerFrance (PPFR)
:SUMMARY
This motion has for main purpose to :
• Act the desire of the members to change our current organization in order to allow us to be more active inside the PPI
• Not close the General Assembly until it decides to do so
• Require the Board to proceed to an administrative and financial reform
:FIRST PART : ARGUMENTSDemocracy and members involvement
::The members of PPI are only voters once a year and, sometime, a bunch of helping hands when an event is organized. The rest of the time, the Board rules, decides, tries to do some things at the same time it tries to do administrative works. It can’t work and, in fact it’s not the role of the board to make things happen. Indeed, the role of a Board is to help that the decisions of the General Assembly become a reality by providing support : a place to talk, a place to vote, some money, gather and share a network… The Board – even if it has a political role to play – is first and foremost a support.
:We are Pirates and we are fighting for more democracy. We have to assume this position and be exigent with ourselves.
:We are Pirates and we have common roots and one of those is to go behind the frontiers and being citizens of the world.
:We are Pirates, we share values and we wish to achieve the same goals.
:But in order to do this goal we need to communicate and decide together. It is time for the members of the PPI to be active, to build theirproject continuously and decide and make strong move to prove to the world that we are a true and authentic international movement.
Respect the past and imagine the future
:In 2012, the General Assembly set up ambitious goals for PPI. They are still actual. But we need to be realistic, the Board by himself can not achieve them and increasing the numbers of its members will not change the situation and we – members – will not have the capacity to doeverything even if we work together.
:That why we need to have more time and opportunity to decide during the year to debate and to act what PPI’s future will look like, whatproject we will support, what policies we want to promote.
:If we have to respect the past and all the work that have been done we need to face the future.
:That is why we need to be able to act our decision even if we are not reaching a perfect consensus. If at some point in front of a subject we arenot able to decide we will have to choose. The only solution will be to vote. The world will not wait for us to agree on every point.
:A project for a better democracy
:The main goal of this motion is to put aside the actual statutes and the current functioning of the PPI. During this time three mechanisms will beput in place :
• Permanent Assembly : Each member, with the same power of vote as the one given by the statutes for the GA, can propose, construct,vote, decide on every subject that it estimates to be important ;
• Executive Board : The board conducts the will of the Pirates and its members’ organizations and the changes of the PPI according of thedecisions made by the Permanent Assembly. The board doesn’t take decision but provides informed opinions. Its needs to fulfil the wishesof the Permanent Assembly. The Board is the keeper of the durability of PPI as a legal structure ;
• Change of statutes : During this time, Members and volunteers will work on a re-foundation of the PPI, and obviously its statutes. The main goal of these changes is to protect these new mechanisms : members empowerment. And because we change, we need to discuss the role of the PPI as its core, its purpose. We need to find what we want the PPI to accomplish: a political view of the world.
**Countermotion PPDE: We call the Board to create a working group on creating a permanent online GA that should develop the Rules of Procedure for it until the end of March 2020.
:PPDE withdraws its counter motion.
:The proposal of the chair is to delay this motion. He asks if anyone objects or has a clarification. There was a test of a procedural motion, which failed. We put motion 2 on hold for now. It can be brought up later.
===Motion #3: PP Brazil – A motion on the importance of fighting against fascist leaders and governments===
https://ga.pp-international.net/t/pp-brazil-a-motion-on-the-importance-of-fighting-against-fascist-leaders-and-governments/167/2
:PP Brazil proposes a motion on the importance of fighting against fascist leaders and governments.
:We are passing through problems in Brazil and other South American countries. There are some popular rebellions. We have coordinated action from government to propose authoritarian governments. The Brazilian president is a problem at the moment.
*Counterproposal from PPNO and PP Switzerland; The Pirateparty International strongly opposes decline in democracy which leads toviolations of human rights and citizen rights.
:PPBR accepts this countermotion. We are voting on the counterproposal as presented by PPNO.
**Voting
:The motion is approved with 13.0 voting power.
===Motion #4: Motion, NGO, Group Friendship===
https://ga.pp-international.net/t/motion-ngo-group-friendship/199/4
:Macburns (sponsored by PPNO)
:Every Year the Pirate Parties International may choose a NGO or social Group of people doing activism or helping others,
For one year we collaborate with them for the purposes of learning from and strengthening each other.
Each year we choose a new group.
:Counter proposal from Linda: PPI will adopt one NGO annually and support them in their work. The intention is to show support and learn from likeminded groups.
PPNO: Pirate Parties International may optionally adopt one NGO annually and support them in their work. The intention is to show support and learn from likeminded groups.
PPBBR: The counterproposal is that we set up a fund so that we can donate part of our received fees, but we can also find other donors. This fund would be managed by a board committee and would adopt and would support a NGO annually.
PPBR withdraw its conunterproposal
The counterproposal of PPNO was accepted.
===Motion #5: Join the Save .ORG campaign===
https://ga.pp-international.net/t/join-the-save-org-campaign/194/2
Cal: Italy (PPIT)
SaveDotOrg.orgSave .ORG | SaveDotOrg.org
The .org domain is about to be sold to a private equity firm. Join the coalition of nonprofits opposed to this blatant disregard of the public interest.
This motion was adopted unanimously.
===Motion #6 Endorsement of “Contract for the Web”===
https://ga.pp-international.net/t/endorsement-of-contract-for-the-web/184
PPDE: The General Assembly of Pirate Parties International supports and endorse the “Contract for the Web”
The General Assembly of Pirate Parties International supports and endorse the “Contract for the Web”
:Presentation of the motion:
::The Contract for the Web was launched by Sir Tim Berners-Lee form the Web Foundation on November 25th 2019 along with 160 organisation that support it.
::The Web was designed to bring people together and make knowledge freely available. It has changed the world for good and improved the lives of billions. Yet, many people are still unable to access its benefits and, for others, the Web comes with too many unacceptable costs.
::Everyone has a role to play in safeguarding the future of the Web. The Contract for the Web was created by representatives from over 80 organizations, representing governments, companies and civil society, and sets out commitments to guide digital policy agendas. To achieve the Contract’s goals, governments, companies, civil society and individuals must commit to sustained policy development, advocacy, and implementation of the Contract text.
:Contract for the web indicates principles 1 to 3 are for governments, 4 to 6 are for companies, and 7 to 9 are for citizens:
1. “Ensure everyone can connect to the internet”.
1. “Keep all of the internet available, all of the time”.
1. “Respect and protect people’s fundamental online privacy and data rights”.
1. “Make the internet affordable and accessible to everyone”.
1. “Respect and protect people’s privacy and personal data to build online trust”.
1. “Develop technologies that support the best in humanity and challenge the worst”.
1. “Be creators and collaborators on the Web”.
1. “Build strong communities that respect civil discourse and human dignity”.
1. “Fight for the Web”.
:Official campaign website 1
:Full text of the Contract for the Web
:In case the motion is adopted, the GA task the PPI board to sign the endorsement of this initiative.
:Support : Pirate Party of Germany
:Rapporteur : Gregory
This motion was adopted unanimously.
*Return to the PPFR proposal *Motion #2: Suspension of the normal functioning
2hr discussion .
vote on proposal from PPAT;
“As we cannot vote in the motion “Suspension of the normal functioning” on the GA at 7/8 december2019 we agree to open up a discussion between ppFR, the members of PPI and the board and aim for a soon GA in january/early february to address the issue”
motion passed .
==Any other business==
Bailey: AOB – we had poirate Beer in preparation to the GA – it was great fun. We should make it regulary.
Gregory AOB: Who is not on the pp-leaders mailing list, or does not know about it. (some hands shown.)
Michael Sinclair AOB: I would like to donate the domain globalpirates,org to PPI
PPAT: since Michle have not updated the website in a while we have rebuilt he website under globalpirates.net. But we can give this one to the PPI to.
Keith AOB: We look for more vice-secretairies. :We accept nominations for vice-secretaries. Please make your nominations here or mail them to the board or a board member. A vice secretary is in charge of a specific task, such as fundraising, conferences, or UN activities.
Bailey AOB: Please come to the PPI Board meetings, we need you!
PPCL AOB: From PPCL Mauricio Vargas to All panelists: (07:57 PM)
Hello, I just want to leave a few words here to greet you and draw your attention to the totalitarian actions that different governments are carrying out on their populations. In particular, I would appreciate it if you would keep informed of the situation in Chile, where after 50 days of protests, the government continues to promote laws that criminalize citizen demonstrations.
Thank you
PPAT AOB: You may be aware that we have done for the first time ever a video campaign during european elections. Thanks to everyone participating in it.
