Translated from the original Greek-language post from July 2024.

In our previous statement[1], we spoke of a shameful incident during a meeting of the Board of the Pirate Parties International (PPI) that was staged by two delegates of the German Pirate Party (Piratenpartei Deutschland – PPDE) and the Russian Pirate Party’s delegate (PPRU) against then PPI chairwoman Ms. Florie Marie. 

Back then, we wrote that we believe this dirty war against Ms. Marie could not have been waged without the PPDE’s leadership knowing about it. The fact that the two PPDE “mutineers” remained in the party and, when the “undesirable” Ms. Marie resigned from the PPI and left the Pirate Movement altogether, they were upgraded in the next PPI Board is solid proof. They were rewarded for their little “putsch”: Sebastian “Bastian” Krone became PPI treasurer, while Utz became a regular member[2]. We also wrote that this is highly suspect and stand by our position. Unfortunately, it seems that behaviors like these are not a new phenomenon.

In 2015, Andrew Norton, one of the founders of the United States Pirate Party, had reported that, as early as 2010, the Pirate Movement had ended up being run by the Central European parties and especially the German one[3]. What he wrote was, and still is, true. Starting from the composition of the Board, at least one regular member was always from the PPDE[4]. Usually, at least two regular PPI Board members were from the PPDE. In 2024’s PPI Board line-up, four out of nine (!) regular members were from the PPDE, and of the three alternate members, one[2]. Furthermore, some PPI Board members seem to be there for… life. This chronic overrepresentation of the PPDE in the PPI’s Board gives it a hegemonic position that allows it to manhandle the Pirate Movement as it sees fit.

There are several ways it does this. Norton mentioned a few: the PPDE has always made sure the Board was made up of people it preferred; it chose the time and place of the meetings so that only certain national parties’ delegates could easily participate; they always made sure the agenda, especially for the General Assembly, was the one they wanted, ignoring or sidestepping other parties. The list of deviations from ethical party governance does not end here: he spoke openly of a combination of inaction, lack of transparency, lack of accountability, even lack of respect to the Statutes and basic principles of democratic functioning. He found himself having to compare the PPI with the British royal family: a bunch of useless figureheads that fight against every effort to change the stagnant status quo.

What he said is still true today. His judgment is ruthless, but fair. We could simply point to the disgraceful events at the 24-5-2023 Board meeting and be done with it. That this was allowed to happen, with its instigators being rewarded instead of disciplined at national and transnational level says a lot. But this is not the only symptom of the rot at the heart of the PPI.

Trapped in its obsession with remaining a single-issue movement and in the cage of the historically illiterate and shockingly similar to French fascist Jean-Marie Le Pen’s maxim that we are “neither left-wing nor right-wing” (a maxim that we in the Pirate Party of Greece have abandoned in our 11th Conference), the German-ruled PPI is absent from world events and has little to say about the things that trouble people today: rising cost of living, impoverishment, erosion of the rule of law, degradation of social services (health, social security, education), unemployment, loss of workplace protections, loss of labor rights, promotion of the “forever war” idea”, rise of the goose-stepping alt-right. At best, it has reduced itself to an empty shell that only discusses party finances and redistribution of Board roles. Its extremely few political interventions are, at best, vague, timid, vapid, and empty.

We, the Pirate Party of Greece, are stressing once again that we unequivocally denounce and condemn all kinds of “camarilla”, all behaviors that violate party Statutes, and every attempt to manhandle and manipulate the Pirate Movement and its institutions. Such practices have no place in our ideological space and we shall always oppose them, especially when these actions promote policies and ideas that go against the Pirate Ideology, which is, by nature, progressive, anti-fascist, anti-racist, anti-colonialist – “woke”, if you want to call it that. As far as we are concerned, with the recent amendments to our Statutes[5], which will be strengthened and enriched even more in the future, we are fortifying our party against the obscene practices we already mentioned, and are empowering our party’s instruments to properly and swiftly handle any such incident.

Furthermore, in our 11th Conference, with our new Statutes and the revision of our Founding Declaration, we address the ideological vagueness, the political vacuum, and the single-issue character of the Pirate Movement. We have strengthened and clarified our party’s progressive ideological identity and have removed any margin for nods to the far-right. Additionally we have started rewriting our political program, with our own ideas, ensuring that they have our Pirate Ideology at their core and present progressive proposals, aiming to improve life for the people. We intervene in the political scene, national and international, to the best of our ability, with frequent statements and Press releases. But we are not going to stop there. We are planning more actions and initiatives, which will be announced in due time. Finally, regarding the PPI, we are watching its internal developments very closely and with great worry. In time, and under full transparency, sincerity, and honesty, we will decide with our members upon our relationship with it.

Sources:

[1] Pirate Party of Greece (2024). Quo Vaditis, Piratae? – Part 1. Κόμμα Πειρατών Ελλάδας – Pirate party of Greece. [online] Available at: https://www.pirateparty.gr/2025/01/quo-vaditis-piratae-part-1/ [Accessed 01 Feb. 2024].

[2] Pirate Parties International. (2024a). BOARD – Pirate Parties International. [online] Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20240601084318/https://pp-international.net/about-ppi/board-of-ppi/ [Accessed 28 Jun. 2024].

[3] Norton, A. (2015). Andrew Norton: PPI Became a Pirate Chimera [Pirate Visions] | PirateTimes. [online] Archived at: https://web.archive.org/web/20150315164041/http://piratetimes.net/andrew-norton-ppi-became-a-pirate-chimera-pirate-visions/ [Accessed 30 Jun. 2024].

[4] Pirate Parties International. (2024b). PPI Board/Old – PPI. [online] Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20240302111028/https://wiki.pp-international.net/wiki/index.php?title=PPI_Board/Old [Access 30 Jun. 2024].

[5] Κόμμα Πειρατών Ελλάδας (ΠΕΙΡ). Καταστατικό. [online] Available at: https://www.pirateparty.gr/katastatiko-2/.

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