Party infrastructure

[cabalamat]

I also think we may be missing a trick here. The Pirate Party could have a constitution totally unlike most other political parties. Most parties have to be organized on a geographic basis because of the very real practical challenge of needing to organize people through meetings they physically attend and the need for lots of interpersonal contact. Who says we need to be like that? We would have the one party where you could guarantee that every active member is also on-line. We could organize in a radically different way as a result. [...]

To keep costs down, chances are a lot of our campaigning will be on-line because it will be cheaper and is a 100% match to our target voters. Local events will most likely be motivated by the same driver as it does in all the other parties - social events. But social events don't demand a lot of consideration in terms of party constitution or governance.

What do people think?

I think you speak a lot of sense.

[JohnathanPhan]

Campaigning in the physical world is key. I am in the business of email marketing. So let me make this clear. Physical world comes first, email/ online campaigns are only 1/3 of the fight. Almost every other campaign involves the PPUK party members to do something physical. Examples as shown below.

1> Staring clubs/ support groups in Universities
2> Door to Door canvasing
3> Handing out leaflets or holding rallies
4> Going out in a pirate costume.

Online campaign is something a small team can do to get national coverage. Thats the easy part, actually organizing people to work together is a nightmare. I am currently working out a core communication channel to insure that every member of the Party knows where to get information and what we are doing.

To start off with:

We have currently entered into the voting stage. I am glad we have so many people that want to take up party officer positions.

We will then be moving to the NEC stage. You will be in charge of rallying everyone in your constituency. The core team, IE – people that manage all the electronics (web-site, SMS systems, mailing list and ect.) supply the NEC members the information and resources to get the job done. (job being get more party members so we can force a major party to form a coalition government with us. Also stop people like the BNP from every getting any support ever again by insuring that people are aware of a legitimate party that does not want to promote some NAZI regime.

[epriezka]

We will then be moving to the NEC stage. You will be in charge of rallying everyone in your constituency. The core team, IE – people that manage all the electronics (web-site, SMS systems, mailing list and ect.) supply the NEC members the information and resources to get the job done. (job being get more party members so we can force a major party to form a coalition government with us. Also stop people like the BNP from every getting any support ever again by insuring that people are aware of a legitimate party that does not want to promote some NAZI regime.

Johnathan, I think you need to slow down a little, or you will run too far ahead of the rest of us.

We have not elected the officers of the party yet. Saying that we will definitely have an NEC etc. is premature. I am hazy on the supposed relationship between the 'core' team (what is this? is this the officers?) and the NEC. It is good to have ideas and ambition, but you need to be inclusive and build support within the party too.

It would take an outrageous fluke for the Pirate Party to get into a coalition government with the present electoral system. The Liberals have been bouncing around at 20% of the vote for over 20 years now, and they have not played any role in government since the Lib-Lab pact of the late 1970's. There is every reason to believe electoral dynamics will swing in our favour over time, but raising expectations too high at the start will only lead to a disappointed and demoralized party later on. Let's focus on the reasons why we are right and build an effective organization before we start predicting electoral success.

[medusa]

New postby Johnathan Phan on Mon Jun 15, 2009 12:43 pm
Campaigning in the physical world is key. I am in the business of email marketing. So let me make this clear. Physical world comes first, email/ online campaigns are only 1/3 of the fight.

I agree with what others have said about using the technology available to do things differently.The net is a fantastic tool for spreading the word and organising people,and it'll naturally spread into the physical world as people meet up and become active in their local communities under the pirate banner.I dont see how most things cant be done online at this stage ..as someone mentioned the partys not campaigning on local issues so a local 'presence' is less neccessary.The partys going to grow through the net,through geographically disperate people coming together under shared aims.We shouldnt discount that because everyone else uses the physical world to get support.

[cabalamat]

It would take an outrageous fluke for the Pirate Party to get into a coalition government with the present electoral system. The Liberals have been bouncing around at 20% of the vote for over 20 years now, and they have not played any role in government since the Lib-Lab pact of the late 1970's.

This is true. Realistically, we aren't going to get any MPs elected at the next Westminster election. FPTP doesn't do us any favours.

However, in 2011there are elections to the Scottish parliament and Welsh assembly, both using the additional member system (AMS). We could win seats in those elections with 6% of the vote. There will also be an election to the Northern Ireland assembly in 2011, using STV.

One problem with these elections, from our point of view, is that these bodies don't have much influence on the areas of policy we most care about.

There is every reason to believe electoral dynamics will swing in our favour over time

Yes. PP Sweden got 7% overall, and were the largest party for voters under 30. There's reason to expect their vote share will rise over time, because:

-- the entertainment industry will continue to push for bad laws

-- new voters just becoming 18 are likely to sympathise with our views

-- PP only got 4% of women's votes compared with 12% of men's votes, probably because men tend to be more into technology than women. But women use the internet, use mobile phones, listen to music, etc, the same as men do, so they have just as much reason to support us as men do, and over time they will do so.

I can easily see us getting 15-20% Europe-wide in the 2014 EU election.

but raising expectations too high at the start will only lead to a disappointed and demoralized party later on. Let's focus on the reasons why we are right and build an effective organization before we start predicting electoral success.

Yes. We can't expect overnight success in our first electoral outing. It will take years to build name recognition and support.

[epriezka]

There is every reason to believe electoral dynamics will swing in our favour over time

Yes. PP Sweden got 7% overall, and were the largest party for voters under 30. There's reason to expect their vote share will rise over time, because:

-- the entertainment industry will continue to push for bad laws

-- new voters just becoming 18 are likely to sympathise with our views

-- PP only got 4% of women's votes compared with 12% of men's votes, probably because men tend to be more into technology than women. But women use the internet, use mobile phones, listen to music, etc, the same as men do, so they have just as much reason to support us as men do, and over time they will do so.

I was also thinking of proposed changes to how we manage the democratic process in this country. Some of them are on the margins, but all of the following are gradually being taken more seriously:

• Labour's renewed interest in adopting AV as a voting system and the heightened possibility that the Liberals will be able to push for PR if the next election leads to a coalition or small minority for either Tories or Labour. Either AV or any form of PR would make it easier to persuade people that a vote for the Pirate Party is not a wasted vote.
• The inevitable and overdue reform of the House of Lords. This has got increased attention as part of the whole 'reform Parliament' movement in the wake of the expenses scandal. If replaced with a directly-elected chamber, as seems most likely, there is also a good chance that it will be elected using a different voting mechanism to first past the post based on existing Commons constituencies.
• Steadily growing support for reducing the voting age to 16.
• New ways of voting to counter voter apathy, especially amongst young people. There have been experiments with all-postal ballots already. A subtext of the need to get all government functions on-line is the possibility of using the internet to manage future polls.

A well-organized and credible Pirate Party would be in a strong position to benefit from any of these reforms.

[Tancred]

• Labour's renewed interest in adopting AV as a voting system and the heightened possibility that the Liberals will be able to push for PR if the next election leads to a coalition or small minority for either Tories or Labour. Either AV or any form of PR would make it easier to persuade people that a vote for the Pirate Party is not a wasted vote.

A small, but important point is to remember that AV is not PR, and will do nothing to help smaller parties get a voice (though the share of the vote they get should increase). Australia has used AV for over 50 years and has an very entrenched 2 party system. AV+ from the Jenkins report is a small step towards PR, but is still very much "PR lite"

New ways of voting to counter voter apathy, especially amongst young people. There have been experiments with all-postal ballots already. A subtext of the need to get all government functions on-line is the possibility of using the internet to manage future polls.

Changing the method of voting will do very little for voter apathy. If you live in a safe seat, under FTPT your vote will never count. Until the Commons is elected using a fairer system, voter apathy will remain high. Northern Ireland has STV with multi member electorates, as introduced by the Torys, yet for Westminister we are all stuck with FPTP.

[epriezka]

A small, but important point is to remember that AV is not PR, and will do nothing to help smaller parties get a voice (though the share of the vote they get should increase). Australia has used AV for over 50 years and has an very entrenched 2 party system. AV+ from the Jenkins report is a small step towards PR, but is still very much "PR lite"

Noted and agreed. The only advantage of AV is that, by permitting the ranking of preferences, there is no reason why our supporters could not give put Pirate Party as their number 1 choice, safe in the knowledge that the vote is not 'wasted'. It would help us to gain and demonstrate support, if not to win seats.

Changing the method of voting will do very little for voter apathy. If you live in a safe seat, under FTPT your vote will never count. Until the Commons is elected using a fairer system, voter apathy will remain high. Northern Ireland has STV with multi member electorates, as introduced by the Torys, yet for Westminister we are all stuck with FPTP.

Noted and agreed. Online voting is not a solution to voter apathy overall, and I could find no contrary evidence from my quick glance at the summary report of the trials performed in this nation. It could, however be an advantage to a party like ours. Part of the problem with voter apathy is not registering to vote, which is a particular problem amongst young people and students, especially if they move frequently. When campaigning for the youth and student vote, we need to be wary of getting a lot of enthusiasm from people who subsequently fail/forget to register. Like Obama in the US, getting our supporters to register will be an important aspect of maximizing our vote. A move towards online registration and online voting might be of disproportionate help in countering apathy amongst voters more likely to favour our cause. We might have a relative advantage at persuading people to register and vote if it could be done online.

[olskar]

We still trying to figure out away to list al party members. I am thinking that an online CRM system on the back end of this web-page will do the trick.

In short - the drupal account managerment area will have fields you can fill in to indicate weather you want to be a party member or not.

Perhaps PirateWeb can be used? It's used in Sweden and is very easily used and maintained.

https://pirateweb.net/

[EdwardE]

A bit late on the scene here.. but an interesting thread.

FPTP says it's unrealistic to try and field candidates everywhere in a national election. Focus on where we can get good support - e.g. university towns - or on marginal consttuencies. Declare this as policy in advance. Threatening to steal votes in marginal constituencies will put pressure on mainstream parties to run on pirate friendly manifestos - provided our threat is real enough.

I would see a realistic long term aim is to build support to get a Pirate MEP from the UK at the next EU elections. Influence in UK politics.. and a seat (or two) in Brussels...

In the short term I suggest we put a focus on membership numbers as a measure of mandate - and then campaign to get people signed up. Piratpartiet has 50 000 members - equivalent to around 300 000 members in UK which would be a sensation. Membership is free - but the party gets around £8000 a month in donations from members (if I remember correctly). Of the 50 000, around 16 000 are self declared activists - a clear asset for elections.. Free membeship is symbolic of freedom on the Internet - you don't need to pay to be politically active. In the wake of current 'sleaze' in politics that could be a refreshing and attractive message...

Organisationwise any regional organisation needs enough people to be effective - so splitting it up into too small chunks is not effective. In the near term it's probably sufficient to have regional co-ordinators - with a sub structure as growth requires it.....

[Teachdaire]

We sahoudl be lookign at places like Glasgow Central and Edinburgh South. Large student populations.

I'm not sure of the best ones England/Wales/NI wise, but there the best 2 scottish ones IMO

Very good idea. Another kind of target would be to aim for seats of high-profile politicians who may be vulnerable to losing their seat not because we win, but because we take votes away from them. I'm thinking here of people like Justice Secretary Jack Straw, who would be a Portillo-like scalp if he lost his seat in Blackburn. He had a majority of 8009 in the 2005 election. Campaigning against the Justice Secretary on our platform of law reform would generate plenty of media-friendly opportunities, and would pay off double if we got a strong showing that caused him to lose his seat.

If you're looking for a local volunteer to do this, I'd like to put my name forward.

[EdmundRW]

Can we not dress up as pirates? I think it makes the whole thing seem like an absolute joke. I fail to see how it will attract support or elevate discourse

[JohnB]

Can we not dress up as pirates? I think it makes the whole thing seem like an absolute joke. I fail to see how it will attract support or elevate discourse

So far (in certain settings) I've found it's very effective and simple way of getting people to ask me "Why?" in a public place, and for that moment I've got their attention, and if I'm ready to say, yes, I'm a pirate. And then let them prompt me again, for "What do yo mean, you're a Pirate!?" and then I go on to talk about freedom to share information and communicate, without being monitored by the government, and what a UK Pirate is, etc, etc... within a few moments they've forgotten the costume and are listening to the message.

And so far I've had very positive reactions from almost everyone I've spoken to, especially, but not only young people. If I've ever had a negative reaction/been laughed off it's been once or twice out of a few dozen encounters so far, for every one such there must be 9 or 10 people who now know there is a Pirate Party, and something about what we are (and why we have an outrageous name). It will be even better when I have an actual official PPUK t-shirt - and I also noticed I suddenly got taken a lot more seriously once the launch had happened, and I could point people at real-world media coverage about us.

It would work even better, I suspect, if there were a group of us, I see no reason not to march or protest in costume on occasion, quite likely I will seek to encourage or help organise such things. There's a time to be serious... There's also a time to have a bit of fun, make some noise and deliberately provoke attention, and then USE that to drive continued media attention.

[ashdanchan]

you would generate a lot of interest if you went to a shoping center on a saturday dressed up as pirates with some sort of stall, with a banner saying pirate party UK... you wouldn't all need to be dressed up as pirates.. but i think that in doing so you make politics a little bit more paletable for the 18-22 year olds.

[jamesmcm]

Can we not dress up as pirates? I think it makes the whole thing seem like an absolute joke. I fail to see how it will attract support or elevate discourse

I agree, it makes the entire party seem juvenile and foolish - instead we need people to read the policies, they are very well written and professional.

[DavidHenry]

Some light-hearted and upbeat imagery can't go amiss if its done well and not enforced.

I was at a public demo at Hazel Blears deselection meeting in Salford a couple of months ago before I'd even heard of the Pirate Party and people came with pirate flags and we had lots of shots in the media of people of all ages and political beliefs with lots pirate flags with a simple message - RECLAIM the state for the people. Take back politics for the masses not the few and put the decisions in the hands of all citizens at local, regional and national level.

We can utilise the internet and new technology to make government truley fair and democratic. If you can buy a lottery ticket by text or online why can't you vote in a public referendum in the same way instead of leaving it to a closed, select group of influencial and out of touch politicians. Their job should be to propose how the country is run, we shouldn't just vote for WHO runs the country, we should vote for HOW the country is run!