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Agenda PPI BOARD MEETING
- --- [31/07/2016 22:00]h CEST ---
- Mumble: mumble.piratenpartei-nrw.de
- Room: "/international/pirate parties international/board meeting"
- Audio recording: Audiofile
Record of the meeting
1 - ATTENDEES
1.1 - Members of the PPI board
- participating: Andrew, ThomasG, Ray, Bailey, Keith, Guillaume
- excused:
- unexcused: Koen
1.2 - Others
- Alternate Board Members
- participating: Gregory, Nikolay, Adam,
- excused: Patrick Schiffer,
- unexcused:
- Guests
- participating: Bastian Krone, Alex Kohler,Tom Jp,
2 - PROCEEDINGS
- Meeting opened at 22:00 CEST by Guillaume
- Meeting chaired by Guillaume
- Secretary for this meeting is Bailey and Thomas
- Quorum established with 6 out of 7 board members present.
- Streaming started: not possible
- Recording started: yes
- Postal votes: none
- Notes on meeting process
- [HH:MM] CEST: (name) entered the meeting [=> Quorum not established with X out of Y board members]
- [HH:MM] CEST: (name) left the meeting [=> Quorum established with X out of Y board members]
- [HH:MM] x-minute break by initiated by (name)
- Meeting closed at HH:MM CEST by (name)
3 - APPROVAL ON THE MINUTES
Minutes of the last meeting: http://wiki.pp-international.net/PPI_Minutes_2016_07_05
Minutes approved
YES: Thomas, Andrew
NO:
ABSTENTIONS: Guillaume,Bailey,Keith,Adam, Ray
4 - REPORTS
4.1 - Short report of the board members if any 1)
- Board:
- Guillaume:
- Media coverage:
> > http://www.20min.ch/ro/news/geneve/story/Le-Parti-pirate-international-a-Geneve-28802501
> > http://www.tdg.ch/geneve/actu-genevoise/parti-pirate-international-deplace-geneve/story/27674952
> > @1:18 http://www.rts.ch/play/tv/couleurs-d039ete/video/le-resume-de-lactualite-romande?id=7900882
- Bailey: Nothing specific, but will discuss activism ideas later...just been brainstorming and chatting with Guillaume & others preparing for the first meeting.
- Andrew: Nothing much to report. The fundraiser netted 333.45 US$ this has been transferred to Patrick. The rewards still need to be disbursed. I would like to thank Patrick, Jelena and Jez for their work as well as the many volunteers.
- Keith: I have been reporting back with PP Israel. Regarding PP International Board work, chatted with Thomas about treasurer, going through all of the tasks, and making sure that I am connected on all forums.
- Koen: -
- Raymond: Before election of Treasurer I would like to read a statement from Anders Kleppe regarding the finacial report and generally about PPI's finances in the future. Background: http://wiki.pp-international.net/Finances /end
- Thomas: wiki-stuff, preparing agenda, minor administration
- Alternates:
- Nikolay: suggesting what we can improve on task 334 (see below)
- Patrick: handled over Wordpress accounts to some board members
- Adam: chairing the ppi ga. transmitting information of the ppi ga to pirates around here in Lower Saxony, trying to explain why a PPI is useful.. recollecting ideas and opinions.
- Gregory: I have created email addresses, pad accounts and other things neccessary for the newly elected board members. updated several wiki pages. Sent an email to the support of the collection services of archive.org to add up the board@ user to the collection, so that it is not attached to specific person. (see password database for password)
- 1) Very short and brief. For important issues add an agenda item!
5 Review of the RoP - Rules of Procedures
- For amendments: https://ppi.piratenpad.de/BOARD-RoP-2016-07-31
Redmine as a "centralization" tool to help us keep track of projects and keep everything transparent.
Important: We WANT lots of feedback and debate from all members of PPI. We need the board to be as transparent as possible. We need everyone to be aware of the decisions being made, and know if anyone sees our decisions as problematic. Democracy!
- Task 334
- In order to make governance of the board more transparent, as well as incorporate the feedback which was presented to the last GA with Motion MO-4 http://wiki.pp-international.net/PPI_Conference_2016/Other_proposals#MO-4
- additional proposal
we can create regular polls on loomio for some questions which doesn't need a quick action, for example - joining some UN-organization or Union or other NGO, financial budget or membership fees and so on, we can ask PPI-members to decide (advisory votes)
https://www.loomio.org/d/YA9nbaBF/polls-for-ppi-members-and-active-pirates (Nikolay)
- we need to be very careful with treating user privacy and if we are to use loomio officially - this need to be hosted by us (zby PPPL)
- The proposed revision can be found here https://ppi.piratenpad.de/BOARD-RoP-2016-07-31
- The key elements of the revision are:
- see pad above!
- Does the board agree with the proposed revised Rules of Procedures?
- Decision:
- In favour: Ray, Andrew,Bailey, Thomas, Guillaume, Keith
- against:
- abstain:
- Motion passed
- Thomas will transfer it to the wiki
6 - Elections of Officers to the Board 2016
From the Statutes:
XII. Board
(4) The Board elects among the Board Members a) a Treasurer and b) a Chief of Administration c) a Chairperson or Vice-Chairperson if the seat became vacant No Board Member shall fulfil more than one office.
6.1 - Treasurer
- The board elects a Treasurer.
- Candidates (approval voting):
- Keith
- In favour of Keith : Bailey,Andrew, Thomas, Guillaume, Ray
- against:
- abstain: Keith
- Result: Keith is elected Treasurer
6.2 General Secretary
- The board deisgnates one of its member a General Secretary
- Candidates (approval voting):
- Thomas
- In favour of Thomas :Andrew,Keith, Guillaume,Bailey, Ray
- against:
- abstain: Thomas
- Result: Thomas is elected General Secretary
7 - Appointments/Important Motions
7.1 - Task 331 - Appointment of PPI Cashiers & Roles and Responsibilities
- In order to manage a bank account, we need cashiers which can readily operate the bank account.
- The following three persons are proposed for the job:
- - Marie-France Perroud - Staff of PP Switzerland - PPS
- - Pat "Valio" Maechler - PPS - former PPI Auditor
- - Rüedu Sommer - Cashier of PPS - PPS
- Their role is:
- -Cashier of the PPI
- Their responsibilites are to:
- - issuing payment orders which will then released by another entitled person
- - booking payments and amounts received in the bookkeeping software (to be provided for by the PPI, preferably on a server or online, running under Windows)
- - I would need access to PPI's bank in order to issue/transfer payment orders
- What will not be within their scope of work are the following:
- - issuing and mailing invoices
- - establishing financial reports
- - establishing balance sheets
- The PPI grants access to bank account of PPI to the above mentionned cashiers with a role profile enabling them to generate payments, but not authorize them.
- The three above mentionned cashiers organise themselves to handle the tasks at hand.
- All tasks will adressed to them via this Redmine platform.
- The appointment can be withdrawn any time by either the treasurer or the board.
- This decision is not precluding the designation of the Treasurer of the PPI.
- Decision:
- In favour: Thomas, Ray,Bailey,Andrew,Keith, Guillaume
- against:
- abstain:
- Motion passed
- Responsible: Guillaume
7.2 - Task 332 - Selection of a banking establishment
- Select a banking establishment to open a bank account for the PPI
- The proposed banking establishment is:
- PostFinance AG
- Swiss Post
- Does the board agree to selecting the proposed banking establishment.
: Alternatively does the board select this banking establishment as secondary banking establishment candidate:
- Alternative Bank Schweiz
https://www.abs.ch/en/not part of the decision as being striked out as an option
- While this bank pretends to be "ethical" and alternative, it has been mired in various political scandals, amongst which related with the Swiss Green Party and the past local elections in the Canton de Fribourg. Their account opening process is very tedious and they are imposing a lot of red tape. Swiss Pirate Party has relationship with both, however the majority of accounts are located at Post Finance, as it is a stately run banking institution, and is preferred as each user can get notarized at any Postal Office within Switzerland.
- The use of Cantonal(Lander/state) Banks is too cumbersome as all cashier need to be notarized in situe, travelling to Geneva for that is a too great burden.
- Decision:
- In favour: Andrew, Ray, Bailey, Keith,Guillaume, Thomas,
- against:
- abstain:
- Motion passed
- Responsible: Guillaume
7.3 - Task 333 - Domiciliation of PPI
- In order to proceed with the registration of the PPI as an association and open bank accounts, a physical adress needs to be provided.
- In order to avoid any political issue, and to expedite the initial steps of the relocation of the PPI to Geneva, a physical address needs to be selected.
- The attorney of the PPS-GE (Geneva Section of PPS) has offered to host temporarily the PPI (subject to change until friday 29-07-2016).
- Maître Dimitri Tzortzis
- BST-Avocats
- 4, boulevard des Tranchées
- CH-1205 Genève
- Does the board agree to this domiciliation and delegates to its chairman the task, thereby granting the powers to execute a domiciliation contract with the aforementioned attorney?
- Decision:
- In favour: Ray, Thomas,Bailey, Guillaume,Andrew, Keith
- against:
- abstain:
- Motion passed
- Responsible: Guillaume
7.4 - Task 337 - Financial authorization process
http://tasks.pp-international.net/issues/337
In order to handle the execution of financial decisions at the operational level the board needs to approve the following authorization workflow:
- The present financial authorization process is a transitional measure until the Treasurer has establish Rules of Procedure, approved by the board, and is for the purpose of establishing a running bank account.
- The following decisions are made:
- The Board delegates the establishment of a banking relationship to its chairman, Guillaume Saouli. The said banking relationship is designated in decision #332
- The Board grant the cashiers (as designated in decision #331 the right to input payments and view bank balances and statuts of the payments
- The Board grant the authorization of payment execution to its chairman Guillaume Saouli
- The payment execution process is as follows:
- - A payment is submitted to the board for approval via redmine.
- - Upon approval during a board meeting, the treasurer mandates the cashier(s) to input the payment in the banking system.
- - Upon data entry, Guillaume Saouli executes the payment and provides feedback via redmine.
- The board approves the above authorization workflow.
- Decision:
- In favour: Thomas, Andrew,Keith Ray,Bailey, Guillaume
- against:
- abstain:
- Motion passed
- Responsible: Guillaume
7.5 - Task 338 - Membership invoicing
- The collection all past due membership fees has to be completed.
- In order to execute accurately the invoicing, the General Secretary is tasked with a complete review of the members and their current status.
- Does the board agree to conduct the membership review and subsequently collect the membership dues?
- Background: Decision on Membership fees: Decided by the online GA 2015: http://wiki.pp-international.net/Minutes_of_Online_GA_2015#AF-2
Calculation from the passed AF2: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nkpVltuhEioRFyZnYaho6sii7RCadj4c66vbO-lIcdg/pubhtml
- Discussion:
- The procedure for calculating the fees are crazy and we need to change them at next GA - but let me quote the important part:
- "Until these transparency requirements are fullfilled, members are not obliged to pay their membership fees for that year" (zby PPPL)
- -imo membership fees should be optional or abolished entirely. lots of parties around the world are smaller and don't have a lot of funding, and demanding it from them is actually harmful because they could be using that money in their own endeavors. (Answer: there is the limit of 1% of yearly party budget)
- -lack of funds should NEVER prevent anyone from being a member or participating in PPI (why?)
- -Question: How necessary are they, anyway? I assume the fees aren't that much, so are we hurting ourselves by abolishing them? (Even small amount of money can make a difference to a small party, however) (Answer: the small parties without any election success practically pay nothing, the bigger parties pay a lot (up to 20% of PPIs budget), which translates to several thousands of euros)
I am concerned that small parties will be confused about their ability to be members of PPI without paying. I think an email should be sent by the board to all Pirate Parties, former and current members, about membership fees, so that we can increase membership and participation in PPI forums.
- A statement from Anders Kleppe regarding the finacial report and generally about PPI's finances in the future.
- It has been some experience to be in the board, first as an ordinary board member and then as an alternate board member in the PPI board.
We have achieved some of our goals, but have seen a lot of obstacles in trying to get the finances in place so it would actually be possible to develop PPI to what is agreed it should be according to the statutes, section 1.3.1 II.
- As shown on http://wiki.pp-international.net/Finances there is not a lot of resources to use for any kind of activity that could make PPI a force in the international arena as a marketing spearhead for the Pirate Party movement. With the figures we see from the former boards there is very little hope to develop PPI in the direction we have agreed upon in the statutes.
In order to manage that it is actually required to have a working administration that will provide the services all members need and services according to the fore-mentioned section 1.3.1 II.
- To maintain a strong administration we need finace and funding. What is and can be provided by member parties will simply not aid anyone in institutionalising pirate party ideas and policies. To fight with the big birds we need heavier equipment and stronger wings.
- Why institutionalise anything? Isn't that what we need to get rid of? Institutions?
- Unfortunately the real world doesn't work that way. What PPI can do is institutionalize decentralization and all the other Pirate Party basics. Without institutions, laws and legal practices promoting the Pirate ideas there is not much for a movement to do in a long term game against other international organisations and institutions.
- I sincerely hope all PPI members will realise that any kind of big league play actually costs money if our goals is to be close to be acheived on an international level. We need more interest around the Pirate Party movement and we need more elected representatives around the world. For the activism the political part of the Pirate movement is supporting is other rules of the game, but for the political spearheads we only have institutionalisation as a tool.
- There is no work around until after we have changed the world. We can hack, we can help evoluting, and we can do a lot of things. But we cannot have power in a long term fight to prove our points until we also build institutions that can handle the big players. It will cost a lot more money than what we see in the figures from the last two boards. A lot more.
- It is therefore my recommendation that the new board start to work on these issues as soon as the GA 2016 in Berlin has ended. It is the single most important task of any future board to position PPI in a way that Pirate Parties can actually get assistance and also be a partner for multi-nationals that want to support the movement.
- There are actually a few huge players in this world that want to send money our way, but they cannot because PPI lack institutions to receive and handle a lot of money.
- Does the board agree to conduct the membership review and subsequently collect the membership dues?
- The board approves the above authorization workflow.
- Decision:
- In favour: Thomas, Ray, Bailey, Guillaume
- against:
- abstain: Andrew, Keith
- Motion passed
- Responsible: Thomas for collecting
7.6 - Task 339 - Bitcoin Currency Acceptance
- Does the board accept bitcoins as a currency?
- If yes, the treasurer is tasked to implement the bitcoin collection system with the help of the resident IT.
- Decision:
- In favour: Thomas, Bailey, Andrew, Keith ,Guillaume, Ray
- against:
- abstain:
- Motion passed
- Responsible: Keith
7.7 - Task 342 - Creation of a virtual postal address for PPI
- As any other association, the PPI is entitled to a postal facility called a virtual PO Box. This enables the PPI to have a postal adress which is not dependent on its physical address (domiciliation).
- Does the board approve the creation the two following virtual postal addresses:
- Pirate Parties International (PPI)
- CH-1200 Geneva
- Switzerland
- and:
- Partis Pirate International (PPI)
- CH-1200 Genève
- Suisse
- At a cost of 20 CHF/year each. https://www.post.ch/fr/particuliers/reception/particuliers-choix-du-lieu-de-reception/prix-de-reception-du-courrier/prix--adresse-d-association
- Decision:
- In favour: Keith,Thomas, Andrew, Ray, Bailey, Guillaume
- against:
- abstain:
- Motion passed
- Responsible: Guillaume
- Subtask: ask members for official translation for Pirate Parties International in their native language. Even Gallish or such languages.
- Responsible: Thomas
7.8 - Task 343 - Renew all SSL certificates
- Review and renew all SSL Certificates. Configure all servers to use per default SSL.
- We are about privacy protection, let's lead by example!
- https://letsencrypt.org/ -> its free (SSL is being used as a synonym)
- Decision:
- In favour: Keith,Thomas, Andrew,Bailey, Guillaume, Ray
- against: -
- abstain: -
- Motion passed
- Responsible: Gregory
7.9 Other Appointments
- Social Media Jelana is on it.
- Press -
- Admin (several systems) current
- Next meeting the announcement for the call of canditates for all kind of positions shall be made. In the meantime the call for candidates are being prepared by the board.
- Decision:
- In favour: Keith,Thomas, Andrew,Bailey, Guillaume, Ray
- against: -
- abstain: -
- Motion passed
- Responsible: Board
8 - GA 2016 - aftermath
- Public feedback pad: https://ppi.piratenpad.de/feedback-ppiga16
- Have a meeting with the members and particpants for having a real feedback and finding solutions.
- Other input to the pad mentioned about.
- Date and Time: 20.08.2016 09:00 CEST and 20:00 CEST
- Responsible: Guillaume, Andrew helping on the participants
- A questionnaire will be devello0ped to gather the overall experience fr om delegates and participants of the GA: https://ppi.piratenpad.de/GA-2016-questionnaire
9 - Review of pending issues
- Bailey:
- -I want to contact the parties who have left PPI and talk with them about their reasons for leaving, problems they've seen..it is very important that we understand the issues from their perspectives and not just try to defend PPI. It is the membership and participation that makes PPI a thing in the first place so we really need to understand what has happened in the past and how we can do better in the future.
- -will also talk to previous board members to get their perspectives
- Ray will be actively supporting it
- List of ressources has to be finalized plus responsibilities.
- Balance Paypal is needed. Andrew will take care of it.
EUR (primary) 169.52 EUR
- supporting members: 15
- have they been informed of being a supporting member?
- Andrew will send Thomas a copy of member list
10 - Review of ongoing projects
- Think Twice Conference
- single item for the next board agenda
- Activism part of the movement
- Bailey:
- Some ideas:
- -activism updates on the mailing list: keep in touch with pirates around the world and collect information about events, protests, direct actions, election stuff, etc. as well as contact info of community organizers and parties; send weekly, bi-weekly or monthly mailouts (the more frequent, the better) that summarize Pirate activities around the world happening in a certain time span. Ex. “Pirate Party events happening this week” and list all of the info + where to find more information, who to contact, how to support, etc.
- -no discrimination between members and non-members of PPI. Include everyone, even alternative projects by non-members
- -international days of action
- -monthly online workshops open to the public (perhaps over Mumble, Skype or livestream)
- -online petitions—creating our own as well as sharing others, perhaps this can be included in the mailing list idea above
- -networking with other digital activist groups, not just pirate parties
- -Interviews with Pirates around the world—as individuals and/or representing parties, publish on website
- -legal and prisoner support: there are many activists and journalists around the world who are fighting for the same things we are, and we should play a role in supporting them and helping in whatever way we can. Ex. Assange/WikiLeaks, Free Anons...lawyer contacts would be beneficial
- -fundraising
- Standing Committees (as decided by the online GA 2015) http://wiki.pp-international.net/Minutes_of_Online_GA_2015#MO-8_Standing_Committees
- Nikolay
- MEMBERSHIP OF STANDING COMMITTEES
- common political program?
- Status report of composition of standing committees
- no standing committee has met within the last year. Not knowing if they have been even established as for the announced dates and time only the board/alternates showed up. (Thomas)
- Status of drafting political manifesto http://wiki.pp-international.net/Decisons_of_GA#Political_Manifesto -> nothing happend here as well?
- has not been updated. Have seen it today. On my agenda. (Thomas)
11 - Communication plan draft
- In order to improve communication, and overall visibility, an action plan needs to be developed.
- The present task is:
- - an open discussion regarding on the ways to improve the communication channels
- - a virtual workshop which aims to deliver a comprehensive communication plan as of next PPI Board meeting for review and acceptance.
- The communication plan will incorporate the feedback presented by Members during the GA as well as the outcome of several bilateral discussions.
- Discussion:
- take into account mail from Muriel on pp-leaders
- Decision:
- In favour: Andrew,Ray, Keith,Thomas,Bailey Guillaume
- against:
- abstain:
- Motion passed
- Responsible: Guillaume
12 - Preparation of the 90 days, 180 days, 1 year and 2 years action plans
- In order to increase the visibility of the actions of the boards, and enable to create synergies, facilitate contributions and empower people, a 2 years action plan is to be drafted.
- There are 3 phases to that plan:
- - short term - within 6 months
- - mid term - 12 to 18 months
- - long term - 18 to 24 months
- Here is a preliminary outline of the action plan:
- Short term:
- The setup of a functioning PPI in Geneva
- Improve communication and media visibility
- Raise the empowerment level and support initiatives
- Prepare a clear project governance framework
- Support the ECOSOC membership application process
- Retool the General Assembly to enable all participants to be treated equally, no more distinction between remote and in situe delegates.
- Gain an oversight of all current global initatives, which the PPI is involved or can provide support.
- Mid term:
- Plan an online GA to test the outcome of the retooling initiative
- Define a set of strategic projects around the following areas: Peace, Human Rights & Democracy, and Economy, including immaterial rights (patents & copyrights), Culture
- Conduct Fund raising operations for PPI, its activities, and projets
- Enable the setup of physical project office, with permanent and project staff to fuly support the selected initiatives
- Long term
- Setup the physical headquaters of PPI in Geneva
- Launch the projects with their full fundings and staffing
- The intent of the chairman, as stated in his candidacy, is to make the PPI a operative organisation, with a clear vision, a strategy and means to execute and fulfill the charter upon which it was created, while delivering significat contribution to its members, the civil society and mankind.
- Decision:
- In favour:Keith, Andrew,Bailey, Ray, Guillaume, Thomas
- against:
- abstain:
- Motion passed
- Responsible: Guillaume
13 - Drafting the PR regarding the highlights of our action plan
- - which will be developed and shared.
- Decision:
- In favour: Ray, Andrew, Guillaume, Thomas, Keith,Bailey
- against:
- abstain:
- Motion passed
- Responsible: Guillaume
14 - Questions and Answers
15 - AOB - Any other business
- fnf - Freedeom not fear - Brussels 14th-17th October 2016 - PPI is supporter!
- ===================================================
Next Meeting: Tuesday, 2016-08-09 21:00 CEST (19:00 GMT)
Meeting Closed: 00:29 +1 CEST (00:00 UTC) / 10:29 GMT by Guillaume
