Translation of the original Greek-language post from July 2024.
In the minutes of the meeting of the Board of the Pirate Parties International (PPI) that was held on 24-5-2023 we see an attempted “coup” against its then chairwoman, Florie Marie, by a group of Board members[1]. The “stars” of this “coup” were regular member Alexander Isavnin (Pirate Party Russia – PPRU) and, from the Pirate Party Germany (Piratenpartei – PPDE), Mia Utz (alternate member at the time) and Sebastian “Bastian” Krone. Krone was upgraded to PPI treasurer, while Utz became a regular member of the Board[2].
We note and stress here that, in the context of the declared dedication of the Pirate Movement to transparency, the minutes of the meetings of the PPI’s collective instruments are public[3], as was the internet broadcast of the meeting. So, nobody can accuse us of “leaking internal information of the movement and making it look bad” or anything like that. Especially in the wake of the crushing defeat suffered by the European Pirate Party (PPEU) in the European Elections of 2024, we have a moral obligation to the friends and members of our party, and to all actual Pirates worldwide, to be honest about the reasons that led to these results and to not stay silent. What is written in the minutes is but a deplorable machination of the two PPDE delegates, together with their Russian counterpart, to publicly humiliate the elected chairwoman of the PPI.
It goes without saying that the actions of Isavnin, Krone, and Utz would never be tolerated by any political project that respects itself, its members, and its supporters. All three would have been sent to the disciplinary instruments of the PPI and their national parties, with their dismissal being recommended. They violated all manner of ethics rule. They proved that they do not respect any of the values and principles of the Pirate Movement, that they do not respect the Pirates that watched the meeting live on the internet, that they do not care about how they humiliated the Movement, with its Board meeting becoming an arena of antidemocratic, abusive, harassing, intimidating behaviors. Let us not mince our words: all three of them acted like common thugs.
We must remind that Ms. Marie had been unjustifiably and arbitrarily by the neofascist “self-made” nepobaby Elon Musk’s platform Χ (formerly Twitter)[4], without ever having been given the slightest solidarity by her party, the Pirate Party France (Parti Pirate – PPFR). Eventually, she resigned and left the PPI, the PPFR, and the whole Pirate Movement on 9-12-2023, labeling the movement an “empty shell” and slamming her “comrades”‘ stance[5][6]. From the minutes, we conclude that each and every one of her words is absolutely true. Indeed, she was targeted and treated in an absolutely vulgar and obscene manner. We would have liked to believe that this dirty war against Ms. Marie was carried out without the PPDE’s leadership knowing, but we know full well this is out of the question. If Utz and Krone had acted all by themselves and against the wishes of their party’s leadership, they would have been ousted from both the PPDE and the PPI. Instead, they were upgraded. They were rewarded for their actions, which is highly suspect.
We, the Pirate Party of Greece, condemn unequivocally and in the strongest possible terms these vile machinations. If Ms. Marie was so widely disliked, then the disgruntled PPI Board members ought to have moved as per the Statutes. They did not. Sadly, this is not an isolated incident. On the contrary, the Pirte Movement has seen far too many backstabbings and intrigues all these years. To keep things manageable, we will talk in upcoming statements about persons, behaviors, and practices that devalued our movement, brought infamy to it, and led it to last year’s humiliating European Election results. It is our duty and responsibility to not hide anything under the rug.
Sources:
[1] Pirate Parties International. (2023). PPI Minutes 2023-05-24 – PPI. [online] Available at: https://wiki.pp-international.net/wiki/index.php?title=PPI_Minutes_2023-05-24#5.1_-_Proposals [Accessed 28 Jun. 2024].
[2] Pirate Parties International. (2024). 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] Pirate Parties International. TRANSPARENCY – Pirate Parties International. [online] Available at: https://pp-international.net/about-ppi/transparency/ [Accessed 28 Jun. 2024].
[4] Gayte, A. (2023). Le compte Twitter de la présidente du Parti Pirate International a été suspendu et personne ne sait pourquoi. [online] Numerama. Available at: https://www.numerama.com/politique/1315370-le-compte-twitter-de-la-presidente-du-parti-pirate-a-ete-suspendu-et-personne-ne-sait-pourquoi.html [Accessed 28 Jun. 2024].
[5] Marie, F. (2023). Discours : Ma démission de la présidence du Parti Pirate International / My resignation from the presidency of the International Pirate Parties – Bienvenue par minou. [online] Available at: https://floriemarie.fr/index.php/2023/12/09/discours-ma-demission-de-la-presidence-du-parti-pirate-international-my-resign-of-the-presidency-of-the-international-pirate-parties/ [Accessed 28 Jun. 2024].
[6] Pirate Parties International. (2023). PPI Minutes 2023-12-09 – PPI. [online] Available at: https://wiki.pp-international.net/wiki/index.php?title=PPI_Minutes_2023-12-09 [Accessed 28 Jun. 2024].
#PiratePartiesInternational #PPI #Piratenpartei #PPDE #FlorieMarie #Solidarity #PirateMovement #SebastianKrone #MiaUtz #AlexanderIsavnin #EuropeanElections2024
