Volunteers with Key Skills

I recently saw the bio-pic 'Che' where Benicio Del Toro plays revolutionary Ernesto 'Che' Guevara. Putting military metaphors aside, what struck home was that any mass movement needs more than volunteers and enthusiasm to succeed. It also needs organization and resources. In fact, it needs the right organization and the right resources. In the film, Guevara is presented as more than just a passionate idealist. He is also a talented organizer. In one scene, Guevara berates a junior officer for not scheduling the relief for a watch, hence leaving two soldiers on guard all night long. In another scene, Guevara interviews a new recruit, and having judged how to use her talents, he gives her the important job of making collections from nearby farmers. Several times in the movie, we see Guevara talking to his troops about the importance of learning to read and write, so they have the skills they need to tell fact from fiction and can learn to do more than shooting guns and carrying equipment. We can be thankful we still live in a democratic society, and that our struggle will be fought with words and not bullets. Even so, we need the same approach of being disciplined and organized, because we face hostility and entrenched opposition to our goals.

Our opponents will not give in easily. They are organized and they have tremendous resources at their disposal. That much is obvious. Just the other day we had the news story of Peter Mandelson dining with David Geffen at the Rothschild's villa in Corfu. We are challenging the interests of people with enormous wealth and power. They will not allow their wealth and power to be diminished without a tenacious fight. To defeat them, we pirates need to be as organized as Guevara's guerrillas. That means recognizing where we have jobs that need doing, even if they are not glamorous. It also means recognizing where we have gaps in the skills we need, and doing something to close those gaps.

To begin with, we need to identify supporters that have crucial skills and are willing to help us do specialist jobs for the party. To do this, we intend to set up ‘expert’ groups within the party. Each group will be a pool of volunteers with special qualifications or experience that the party needs. Membership of a group will be limited to individuals with relevant qualifications. To help set up the groups, I am initially looking for a coordinator for each group. If you have the relevant background, and would like to volunteer to be coordinator for one of the groups, please contact me. The expert groups we are looking to form are:

1. A Lawyers’ Expert Group to assist with legal obligations of running the party and interpreting legal implications of proposed reforms;
2. An Accountants’ Expert Group to assist with implementation and execution of robust financial controls within the party;
3. An Economists’ Expert Group to assist with interpreting economic implications of proposed reforms; and
4. A Journalists and Media Expert Group to assist with presenting the party message in a way that is accessible and attractive to the media.

If you are willing to volunteer to coordinate and recruit members to one of these groups, please let me know. You can contact me at treasurer@pirateparty.org.uk.