PP Structure Proposal (draft)

Introduction

The goal of this document is to describe the process and structure of the Pirate Party Belgium.

The process can be seen as a wave:

• Like a wave it progresses in a horizontal way. This means there is no top-down hierarchy. We are all equal. We don't plan on having a small group of people to, based on their talents and or expertise, tell how things are going to be run. Good ideas and principles will be copied and fortified and will grow in to great swells that carry our pirate ship across the worlds oceans. Bad ideas, failed initiatives will die out like a small ripple after a stone is thrown in a pond. Don't worry about it, just throw another rock. The origin of the wave is of no importance, the results count. Casting blame is useless. Don't do it!

The structure of the party is a self-organizing distributed network:

• The members of the self-organizing distributed network are autonomous and free. They can act and contribute as they see best fit. All initiative is encouraged. Everybody is given the benefit of the doubt. Equally anybody is free to decline any request or to not participate. This would not be viewed as negative or have impact on membership status. For a network properly organize itself all members should have an equal ability to participate, have equal access to information regarding the network and have an equal ability to communicate with all other participants in the network. This means that from occasional militants to active, responsible, party members all have the same capacity in contributing, without prior selection or bias towards anyone. All members are united around our common program.

The strength of a our organization thus depends on it's dynamic leadership, the flexibility of it's structures and the absence of any hierarchy.

Overview

There is only one real fundamental rule in the Pirate Party, namely "The three pirate rule". The heart of the Pirate Party are it's members. It's the members that link all sections of the party together. He or she has the possibility and is encouraged to participate in any node. There are two basic types of nodes. There are organization entity within Pirate Party focusing on:

• any region big or small are called Crews
• specific themes or activities are called Squads

Three Pirate Rule

The Three Pirate Rule is a fundamental principle of the Pirate movement. The idea behind the Three Pirate Rule is to guarantee the freedom of initiative, vision and opinion for everyone.

The Three Pirate Rule tells us that only three pirates are necessary to execute an idea. They don't need any further “Permission” to continue and run this idea as an “official” Pirate Party activity.

There are three exceptions to the Three Pirate Rule:

1. Don't do anything illegal
2. Don't do anything that can damage the good name or the reputation of the party.
3. Don't use any funds of the party. You may ask for funds.

The Crews

The Crews are the base units of the Pirate Party. Their goal as well as their organizational reason, is to involve as much as possible pirates in all workings of the party.

Definition: A Crew is a self-organizing, local unit of the Pirate Party. Their goal is to do anything they see fit to help the Pirate Party achieve it's goals. The Pirates organize themselves and go about as they like, they are advised to follow these guidelines:

Guidelines

• A Crew is a regional entity.
• A Crew is made of 3 to 11 Pirates. 7 is ideal. With 7 people it is possible to sit around a single table and have a serious conversation. Above 11, the Crew is strongly advised to split and form 2 new Crews. If the Crew has only 3 Pirates left they are encouraged to join another Crew or recruit new Pirates into there existing Crew.
• The 3 pirate rule applies to the creation of a Crew.
• Every Crew chooses a captain and a navigator.
• A Crew is ideally composed of Pirates that mirror the region they aspire to represent. (race, religion, sex, sexual preference, ...)
• A Crew needs to organize at least 1 event a month.
• In decisions it is alway attempted to reach consensus. When voting is necessary the outcome of the vote is clearly noted down in the meeting report.
• Pirates are encouraged to join multiple Crews if they have the time and interest to do so. This will help in enabling cooperation and sharing of ideas between geographically separated groups of pirates.

Possible goals

• Recruit and embrace new members
• Organize Meetings to give Pirates the opportunity to join in and bond
• Discuss, debate and act
• Communicate with local media
• Apply the party program to local themes
• Participate in local elections
• Campaign

The Squads

They are the production unit of the Party. Just like Crews are the localized units, the Squads are the functional units. It is there where the actual work happens. Examples of squads can be an IT, website, reports, actions, studies, propositions, events organizing, press squad.

Definition: A Crew is a self-organizing, functional unit of the Pirate Party. Their goal is to work on any specific topic that caries the joint interest. The Pirates organize themselves and go about as they like, they are advised to follow these guidelines:

Guidelines

• Any group of three pirates that want to tackle a specific problem can start a squad.
• The 3 pirate rule applies to the creation of a Crew.
• A Squad centers around a theme, a project.
• Squads will often cooperate mostly on-line as geographic proximity of squad members is not guarantied.
• A Squad is can be made of Pirates of different Crews. In most instances it is desirable that multiple Crews are represented.
• A Pirate can be a part of as many Squads as desired. The only conditions to join a Squad is the intention and the capacity to participate
• In decisions it is alway attempted to reach consensus. When voting is necessary the outcome of the vote is clearly noted down in the meeting report.
• A Squad has a single contact point for information (Wiki-page, mailing list,…)
• The transparency of the production method is a necessary condition for the legitimacy of the workings of the Squad.

The National Crew

The National Crew is a Crew like any other in the Pirate Party Belgium and will follow the same principles as any other crew. Because of the specific language situation in our country there is not just one captain, but there are three, one for every region. This is done to ensure that the balance between the regions is respected and that everybody in the country can talk to the National Crew in his or her own language if necessary. The regional co-captains may also be referred to as co-presidents. The navigator of the National Crew is also called the General Secretary.

Moments

We'll define three types of meeting for pirates to get together:

The PirateBeers

These are informal get-togethers where the goal is to welcome and recruit new members. PirateBeers are announced and held publicly, and regularly. They are an opportunity for a prospective pirate, to take a first step and get more info about the project. They are organized by the crews, with the essential mission: a systematic, regular and convenient way to recruit new members.

These moments must be accessible: avoid gatherings around a large table (always intimidating) and opt instead for small group discussions. Each small group should be led by a member of the organizing crew.

The Working Meetings

These are formal meetings, with an agenda published a week ahead, and notes, published at most a week after the meeting took place.

These meeting-notes should contain at least the following elements:

• Date and time of the meeting
• Names of those present, excused and absent
• The approval of the notes of last meeting
• The issues discussed at the meeting

Other

Be creative if you feel like something must be organized for Pirate Party just do it. Some ideas could be nights out, visits, LAN parties, participation to an event, symposia, drinking, press conference, ... It's important to be very clear what the event is and who it is targeted to.

Financial aspects

The following rules apply to the Pirate Party Belgium, its Crews, Squads and every formal or informal structure which presents itself as an element of the Pirate Party Belgium.

• All mobile and immobile goods are to be used in the framework of the realization of the goals of the Pirate Party, and only in that framework.
• Every banking account need to have an audit every year in which a written finance report is presented. This report will be made public.
• Every Pirate can freely, after a request to the responsible (treasurer), have access to the financial reports of that account. For the moment this is only relevant for the National Crew.
• The amount in any account is published in a meeting report or a dedicated page monthly so everyone can follow up on the financial health and evolution of the organization.
• Every banking account of the Pirate Party:
  • must be distinct of these of its members;
  • must require at least 2 signatures to acquire funds or make payments;
  • use the word "PPBe" or "Pirate Party Belgium" as its title.