The Spanish Pirate Confederation has been born. Last week, representatives from five different Pirate Parties in Spain (Andalusia, Extremadura, Galicia, Madrid, Catalonia and La Rioja) signed up to the official statutes of the new political grouping. Thus, the Pirate Confederation will be better able to compete in any future elections in Spain. This confederation is non-exclusive and open to all Pirate groups that exist or may be grounded  in Spain.

Until now, the five founding members worked exclusively in their own territories without competing with each other. There was a loose network of informal cooperation, but it had a “bona fide” basis. Collaboration was expected, but technically it was not required.

The idea seems to have worked fine. Several common projects have arised from this network. For example, the creation of the “Parents 2 Parents” initiative (a database of free downloadable textbooks for parents who couldn’t afford to pay the expensive schoolbooks for their kids). Or the #SocialSOS project (a directory of social services allowing the disadvantaged strata of the population to cover their basic needs… and where those willing to help may join and be reachable). Or the #Megacomplaint, a joint complaint for those affected by the closure of the Megaupload service.

After seeing they could easily work together, the founding parties of the Confederation decided to create it as a way to strengthen the links between its members. Their wish is to share ideas and experiences, to communicate more closely and to form a common front in the upcoming European elections next year. In this particular field, their aim is to follow the common European Pirate electoral programme.

The creation of the Pirate Confederation has reached the mainstream media, something quite unusual in Spain (where Pirate news tend to be disregarded). Journalists have been curious about the fact that the Confederation has been created using direct democracy. This concept is foreign in a country that’s used to seeing political parties being ruled only by their elites.

But the truth is that the whole Confederation has been formed collectively. The first task force created the original draft of the statutes. Afterwards, each party voted on their own amendments. Those were debated and voted again by the task force, and included in the draft. Again, each member voted whether or not to accept the new text. It was unanimously accepted, and so it became the official document for the party’s Statutes.

The founding members hope this is a proof that their will to work in common can be stronger than any minor differences in terms of standpoints.

About Fabián Plaza Miranda

I’m a Spanish Lawyer, writer and Pirate.
As a Lawyer, I’m specialized in International Law and Spanish Internet Law. I’m a fighter for human rights and believe in peaceful conflict resolution. I speak fluent Spanish, Catalan, English, French and a quite decent Italian. As a writer, I was finalist of Andromeda (2008) and Minotauro (2010) Awards, with works centered on political science-fiction. I’ve published several books, short stories and opinion pieces. As a Pirate, I’m a member of the Spanish Pirate Confederation. I normally work -and have been an electoral candidate- for the Galician Pirate Party (Galicia is the beautiful Celtic land in Northwestern Spain), but I’ve also been appointed as a candidate for the Catalan Pirate Party. In short, I’d love to see the pirate network expand more and more.

 

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The Spanish Pirate Confederation has been born. Last week, representatives from five different Pirate Parties in Spain (Andalusia, Extremadura, Galicia, Madrid, Catalonia and La Rioja) signed up to the official…