PPI Minutes 2023-07-29

https://wiki.pp-international.net/wiki/index.php?title=PPI_Minutes_2023-07-29

The official minutes for the PPI General Assembly of July 29th 2023

---29.07.2023 08:00 UTC ---

• Mumble: mumble.ppi.rocks
• Audio recording: PiratesOnAir Streaming, recording

https://owncloud.ag-technik.de/s/mFNGiEsZoFs6zLW

Video: https://www.youtube.com/user/PiratePartiesInt https://piratesonair.net/live-stream/

• Online Discourse link: https://ga.pp-international.net/c/july-2023-ga/33

• Minutes of the last GA: https://wiki.pp-international.net/wiki/index.php?title=PPI_GA_JAN_2023

1 - ATTENDEES

1.1 - Ordinary Members of PPI

Pirate Party of Belgium - <not present>
Pirate Party of Brazil - <not present>
Pirate Party of Catalonia -Exile13 
Pirate Party of Chile - <not present>
Czech Pirate Party - Mike Gill
Estonian Pirate Party - <not present>
Pirate Party of France - GravFu  
Pirate Party Germany - TygBY
Pirate Party of Greece - <not present>
Pirate Party of Hungary - <contact information lacking> <not present>
Pirate Party of Israel - Keith
Pirate Party of Italy - <not present>
Pirate Party Luxembourg - Rebecca LAU indicated she was present by email but had difficulties on Mumble.
Pirate Party of Netherlands - <not present>
Pirate Party of New Zealand (1/2 vote; vote shared with IP New Zealand) - <not present>
Internet Party New Zealand (1/2 vote; vote shared with PP New Zealand) - <not present>
Pirate Party of Norway - <not present>
Polish Pirate Party - <not present>
Pirate Party of Portugal - <not present>
Pirate Party of Russia - <not present> Alexander indicated on Wire that members would be coming.
Pirate Party of Serbia - <not present>
Pirate Party of Slovakia (1/2 vote; vote shared with the other Slovakia) - <not present>
Pirate Party - Slovakia (1/2 vote; vote shared with the other Slovakia) - <not present>
Pirate Party Switzerland - <not present>
Pirate Party of Tunisia - <not present>
Pirate Party of Turkey (1/2 vote; vote shared with new Pirate Party Turkey) - <party was apparently disolved> <not present>
Pirate Party Turkey (1/2 vote; vote shared with old Pirate Party of Turkey) - <not present>
Ukrainian Pirate Community - (Not present due to internet difficulties, but they are communicating with some of our members on a separate channel.) 
United States Pirate Party - <not present> <expressed difficulties with the start time>
Pirate Party of Venezuela - <contact information lacking> <not present>

Total Voting Power of the GA is 5 out of 27). Power needed for establishing the quorum is 9.

<Power would have been conceivably 8 out of 27 with Luxembourg, Russia, and Ukraine>.

• The meeting was adjourned due to lacking sufficient votes.

1.2 - Observer Members

Internet Party of Serbia
Pirates without Borders 
Pirate Lobby, France
Pirate Party of Berlin (Piratenpartei Berlin)
Pirate Party of Bavaria
Pirate Party of Hesse
Pirate Party of La Rioja (Spain)
Pirate Party of Lower Saxony - 
Pirate Party of New York
Pirate Party of North Rhine-Westfalia
Pirate Party Potsdam (present)
Europe beyond division e.V. Formerly: Young Pirates of Germany
Young Pirates Sweden (Ung Pirat)
Pirate Party of Japan [1] (old)
Brandenburg
Pirati
Pirate Party of Finland
European Pirate Party
The Pirates Center of Belarus
Pirate Party of Japan (new)
Pirate Party of Slovenia
Pirate Party of Spain
Pirate Party Romania
Pirate Party of Latvia

1.4 - Proceedings

RoP: https://wiki.pp-international.net/wiki/index.php?title=Rules_of_procedure

GA opened at ??? UTC by ???

Meeting chaired by ???

Secretary for this meeting is ???

Streaming started: https://piratesonair.net/live-stream/Recording and [1]

Proposed Agenda

08:00: Delegates accreditation

09:00: Opening of the General Assembly

09:30: Formalities–Meeting chair, secretary, acceptance of agenda

10:00: Reports–Board, Treasurer, CoA, Lay Auditors

11:00: Lunch

12:00: Budget proposal

13:00: Prepared Motions

14:00: Other Motions, continued

15:00: Break

15:30: Working Groups' Updates

16:30: Any Other Business

17:00: End of GA

Day 2 will be scheduled if necessary

• Are there any objections or suggested amendments to the agenda?

Budget Proposal

Motion
2023 Budget
Yes :
No :
Abstain :
Result:

Motions

• Revocation of Cedric Levieux’s membership on the Council of the CoA

Submitted by Mike Gill on behalf of PPCZ.

Based on the events in Spring of 2023, when Cedric Levieux (a CoA Council member) unilaterally revoked administrator and moderator privileges to this very platform, our Discourse server, I, on behalf of the PPCZ delegation, propose that Cedric’s conduct in this matter be investigated by the CoA according to section XIa. of our Statutes.

For the motion to pass, a one fifth of the voting power needs to vote on this motion. I believe that the unilateral act of sabotage of PPI’s systems is something that needs to have its consequences. All the board members are well informed about this case and can be consulted on the matter. Also, the votes for the investigation to start needn’t only be cast at the GA. I hereby call on all PPI members’ international coordinators to write to the PPI board and tell us their decision in this matter.

• • Motion: Does your party agree to initiate the revocation of a PPI officer Cedric Levieux by calling upon the Court of Arbitration to investigate the case of unilateral stripping all other Discourse admins of their rights in Spring 2023?

Summary of events:

mid April 2023: Cedric Levieux removes all administrator and moderator rights from everyone at the PPI Discourse server

11.5.2023: Stefan Thöni, the Discourse chief admin, informs the board and suspends the Discourse until issue is resolved

Issue resolved at the Board meeting on 24.5.2023 and Stefan immediately restores Discourse.

At the same Board meeting, Cedric is asked to explain his actions. At least in my opinion, he gives a lot of poor excuses and absolutely no reason that would in any way justify his actions.

For the reasons above I see no other way but to initiate the Revocation proceedings leading to CoA’s investigation and potential removal of Cedric Levieux from his office (on the CoA, ironically). Thank you for your time and support for this motion. I’m available for any questions at michal.gill@pirati.cz.

At the end, allow me to clarify that we’re only submitting a motion to the CoA, whether they should investigate and act on the evidence. We’re just allowing for the incident to be properly investigated, which, to me, is a no-brainer.

Mike Gill, PPCZ

PS: The PPCZ votes YES on this motion.

PPS: Picture: Log from the Discourse server admins’ removal by Cedric (Farlistener) and the actions taken afterwards by Stafan (Exception) to stop this.

Working Groups' Updates

• UN ECOSOC (SCUBA) and other

We will update on activities at the UN. Meetings we attended. Who has groundspasses, and we will issue a final call from any members who want to attend events this year and need access to UN facilities.

Any Other Business

• PP Australia

A motion to apply for PPI membership was passed at PP Australia’s National Congress. They intend to make the formal application in time for the PPI Northern Winter GA.

• Policy statements at global forums

Are there any specific causes that we would like to make statements about at the UN or other global forums?

• Other Public Statements

Are there any specific causes that we would like to make statements about on our website, social media, or elsewhere (e.g. refugee issues, whistleblower campaigns, conflict regions, environmental problems)?

• Collaboration

ECOSOC and other forums encourage us to collaborate with other NGOs on organizing events and making statements. Are there any specific NGOs that we would like to collaborate with?

• PPI E-Democracy

A PPI DAO is something that we have discussed at prior GAs, especially in line with the mandate to establish an E-Democracy system for PPI. We set up the template for the DAO, but several members expressed opposition to the proposal and the project was essentially derailed. Are parties interested in having PPI vote on-chain, and if so would we like to continue with the original idea of using Ethereum or another chain?

• GA closed by ??? at ??? UTC