The Podcast for the Order of the Pirate Unicorn Mumble chat held on 31 May 2015 and recorded on 3 June.

An evening with Spanish Pirates Dario Castañé, local pirate politician in Barcelona and Lorena Müller-Nischt, chair of the Spanish Pirate Confederation, were our Guests
We started on the Holographic Protests that were held outside the congress building earlier this year in anticipation of the gag laws that will come into effect on 1 July 2015

The Hologram Protests

Some related twitter accounts
Hologramas Libres for the No Somos Delito (Free holograms for “we are not criminals” : @Interactiv_a

Gran premio digital para la campaña para @Nosomosdelito

The Spanish mass media  is right leaning so citizen’s actions and initiatives like this are not reported in Spain

Another big demonstration planned in Madrid before the gag laws come into force plus others around the country for example

In Catalonia  beach in Palamós perhaps a flash mob – perhaps
I asked Lorena for the technical details and these have been placed in a discusion the New Pirate International web site (working title) I hope it will be translated.

The elections

Dario said that they had achieved what they expected in his Barcelona electorate. They entered a coalition including the local daughter party of a larger Spanish national party the Agreement party they aimed for two representatives but were happy for the one that was elected
The local media concentrated on Dario being a Pirate but to no avail. The group worked fine and as this was a first time and coalition started late. Despite other parties from the left, who tend to be fractious, but consensus reached and a very pirate based.
Local currencies
Not new in the world but the local currency idea from Podemos – Basque Country = Euskadi there are also other currencies in other places like Madrid

Also in Argentina unofficial currencies abounded in the time of crisis. I was at an economics conference and the topic of local informal currencies abounded

Why are there no country wide Strikes?

The idea of a general strike in strife torn Spain is unlikely as all the large unions are allied with the government which is why the Indignados movement started. Any strikes that do occur are at one company. Only small unions will strike in Spain. Pirates close to anarchist unions which do work for the workers

The Future of Spanish Pirate Confederation

The Future of Spanish Pirate Confederation – party initials CPES (working solution) PP = peoples party and has the ignominy of being a euphemism

All regional Pirate Parties are in the confederation however, PPES is not but is supported by the confederation

There are two things the confederation will be concentrating on in the near future

1 – There are four elections in 2015. One for Andalucia, then local an election May, 24th. Catalonia election on September 27th, then National election in November with the proviso that the governing party lost support so election might be moved.
They hope for at least one pirate in national congress – and hope to work with Podemos and other allied parties,depend on the region discussions are in progress. If coalitions do not materialise then the Pirates will run alone. They will consider working with most parties but not the People’s Party which is neo-liberal, neo-facist,misogynist ,anti-immigrant both the UN & EU are complaining about their policies and actions

Then there will be no elections for four years and then another round of multiple elections

2 – The need to change the system –

• Liquid Democracy and other forms of direct democracy –
• indignados – give politics back to the people – especially in local communities –
• expat Europeans to have same voting rights as citizens – Julia Reda in discussions – same in Germany – impediment to freedom of movement?
• Pirates Conf are pro Europe
• Educate people who are not reading manifestos – People voting for people with no idea of policies

Social Media

Social media in campaigns – twitter and FB – when no elections concentrate on Pirate issues e.g copyright is very topical in Spain at the moment plan to grow numbers eps for elections – used German templates and converted into spanish – hashtags in Spanish – doubled followers last year – no central control – regions can and do use own images etc. –

What aid would they wish for from international Pirates

• Financial help – overseas donations now possible
• Visibility – World Pirates talking about the Spanish pirates will help raise consciousness in Spain.
• Repository for posters etc – election materials – LGBTIQ flags – Shops – PPLU – promotional materials like pirate pig for web cams
• Meetings with international pirates to swap ideas

How difficult is it to get a party formed and someone elected in Spain

To start a political party in Spain you need 3 people – to run for signatures 15,000 voter national 50 MPs for local not signatures – independents can run in local – w/o regional differences Galacia has its own electoral law, Catalonia has no regional laws 1% of voters eg. Balcelona 6,000 Andelucai(sp) 100,000 – I am hoping European Pirates will start a campaign to make the laws in the EU not so discriminatory across countries and regions.

Pirates are being air-brushed  out in history of by some in the activist movement – Commons issues and more where started by pirates – but ignored by Indignados

PPI or New Pirate International

They are not in PPI (except for Catalonia) but are interested in working within The New Pirate International’s loose framework http://pirateint.org/ and would like to cooperate with working groups and discussions with world wide pirates

Think Tank

They are for the Think tank idea and they would like to add to the policies and ideologies to be explored. Lorena is involved with Mary Read. Feminist group

also anarchy, democracy not understood very well – gender violence – communication – education – even in Pirate Party – working with other feminists. 27% of Spanish pirates are women 30% women participate in politics in Spain – problem with participation of women in politics is something the movement can look at as whole
Suggestion that future some OOTPU mumble chats be based on topics – feminism – immigration and asylum – antifa – The Spanish have been running online conferences in Mumble and The Order of the Pirate Unicorn will be looking at doing the same sort of thing in the future.

https://confederacionpirata.org/wiki/

This week’s chat will feature Icelandic Pirates: Smári McCarthy, Ásta Helgadóttir, Herbert Snorrason, and
Arnaldur Sigurðarson who will try and explain why the Icelandic Pirates are doing so well and how they will deal with this in the next few years.
Also we will devote some time to the #Dragonpoking campaign

Disclaimer:
The content of the Podcast, these notes and any comments made are those of the respective authors and cannot be construed as those of the Pirate Times,the Pirate Movement  nor any Pirate organisation or Party.

About Andrew Reitemeyer

I joined the Pirate Party of Lower Saxony in Germany in April 2012, once I found out that non citizens were welcome to join and become active members of the Party.
I joined the Pirate Times soon after it was started as a proof reader and am now an editor and author. Since then I have returned to my native New Zealand and joined the Pirate Party of New Zealand.
Politically I come from the libertarian left and have, up to now, not regarded any political party as having a solution for the democratic deficit that envelops the world. With the advent of the Pirate Party, which truly embraces grass roots democracy, I have found a political home. The Pirate Times is a way I can contribute to furthering the Pirate Movement around the world.
Skype: frithogar

 

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The Podcast for the Order of the Pirate Unicorn Mumble chat held on 31 May 2015 and recorded on 3 June. An evening with Spanish Pirates Dario Castañé, local pirate…