Loomio
Tue 12 May 2015 8:07AM

Launching Some Campaigns

DS Danyl Strype Public Seen by 168

Ok, I'm back, and I'd like to start a discussion around moving the NZ Pirates beyond our navel-gazing focus on our party structure, our software platforms, and recruitment.

Not that these things aren't important, they are. The work done on getting infostructure up and running, like this Loomio group and regular Mumble meetings, gives us platforms for coordination and cooperation which we need. But to really grow the party, and make it really worth people putting their energy into it, we need to become a bit more outward looking.

We have issues we all care about, from proposals on core Pirate issues like copyright and patent reform, to more radical proposals like UBI, and drug law reform. We need to think about how to help build movements around these proposals. As a small organisation, we need to build alliances with other groups to scale campaigns to the point where they can make countrywide impact. We need to think about who those allies might be, and how to build platforms of cooperation with them (both on the ideas level and the practical level).

Our outreach to the Cannabis Party and the New Economics Party is a good example of a step towards becoming part of a larger networked movement for social change. What else can we do? What campaigns could we launch, how should they be structured, how do we get more groups involved?

We all have limited amount of volunteer time to put into this. We need to think strategically about how to use it to best effect.

DS

Danyl Strype Thu 18 Jun 2015 5:20AM

Absolutely agree with @hubatmcjuhes , joining the campaigns against about TPPA and TISA would help to build some good links and awareness on at least 3 out of the 4 issues I identified.
* TISA impacts net neutrality.
* We all expect the TPPA would entrench US-style copyright tyranny
* TPPA, TISA, and other such globalization treaties probably conflict with Binding Referenda (or at least restrict what they could decide).
* not sure about UBI, but would be worth researching

DS

Danyl Strype Thu 18 Jun 2015 5:30AM

I agree with @andrewreitemeyer about opposing govt use of "IP" as an excuse to avoid transparency. In fact, that suggests another campaign we could consider. I believe that any non-government entity (whether not-for-profit or for-profit) receiving public funds from government for services should be subject to the same transparency requirements as government entities (OIA, Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act etc). This is especially important when govt is "outsourcing" not only support services like ICT (see the discussion on IRD computer systems), but core services like provision of health (Social Bonds) and education (Charter Schools).

I would support campaigns on patents and trademarks as well as copyright, but I think they would need to be separate campaigns. As well as being confusing, a single campaign about "IP" would implicitly support the propaganda notion that these three very different pieces of law are related, and that they create "property" rather than different kinds of limited or temporary monopoly.

DS

Danyl Strype Thu 18 Jun 2015 6:17AM

In the Health discussion on fluoridation @milesdugmore said that this party appears to be "going nowhere". Yes, we are at all low ebb at the moment, due to the dispiriting outcomes of the last election, and a number of formerly active members having jumped ship to the Internet Party, ACT, and others. Anyone who wants to see this party go somewhere needs to lead from the front. That's why I'm proposing we choose some campaign focus points, within which any member can propose a course of action, and start working on it locally.