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We could go totally hipster with:
âTake Bakunin the Leftâ
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I can see the appeal of trying to pinpoint us on the political spectrum - itâs how political parties are generally spoken about in the media and in everyday conversation. Itâs a shorthand of saying âwhich other parties are you similar to and different fromâ. It makes it easier for people who donât want to take an hour of reading politically and emotionally charged posts to work out roughly what weâre about.
In that context, and assuming that if we donât place ourselves on the spectrum, then somebody else will, I would say weâre more left-leaning than Centre, and not so much radical as âfuture-orientedâ.
I read Radical Centrist, and the PPAU doesnât come to mind.
Also, I like the name Pirate Party. Itâs interesting, fun, and a bit edgy. It encourages others to ask what weâre about, if only because they think we might be able to help them torrent the latest Game of Thrones episode.
Pirate parties have had success overseas and the name has not been an insurmountable impediment. We just need to start getting it out there more and broadening the definition that people ascribe to it.
For the record, this is me:
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I give up trying to explain this.
People donât new concept well.
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"Take Bakunin the Left"
That is both savage and obscure. I want to tweet it from the ppau account, however I am drunk and no where near the ppau account. I donât have access from my phone for precisely this reason.
I know a couple of people who identify as radical centrists and they wouldnât go anywhere near us, one is a fan of Martin Skrelli for example.
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Pirates are not extreme Libertarians, thatâs factually incorrect. Personal Liberty is a huge part of being a Pirate but above all else is that ideologies taken from elsewhere are all put into a sensible balance which is what makes it Pirate⌠like we are âpiratingâ all the best ideas and putting them together.
With all the comments youâve made in this topic alone, you are very absolutist on Social Libertarianism. That nothing can be done to target specific demographics no matter how bad the problem is affecting that particular demographic. It is possible do target without discriminating, as long as that targeted action is also available to non-targeted demographics, or there is a debt or reparation actually owed to undo effects from previously discriminatory policy.
Also, the Colonial and early history of our country seems to have fucked over the Aboriginal Community still to this day (which was a racist thing to do). Trying to find sensible ways repair the injustices caused by the forefathers of this country is not âracistâ in the negative sense of the word.
Itâs like applying a bandaid over the area which has been hurt instead of ignoring the problem - because that wouldnât be fair to other parts of the body who miss out on getting a bandaid.
Edit: Clarity
The Pirate Party is extreme Libertarian as defined by the Political Compass. Youâre more or less completely agreeing with me here.
Ha ha ha no. There are irreconcilable differences of opinion on economic policy between me and the LDP, amongst other reasons. Iâm here because I completely agree with Pirate Party values.
And Iâm thoroughly in favour of trying to find sensible ways to repair the injustices caused by the forefathers of this country. Which Iâve repeatedly stated.
I would say we are definitely libertarian, but the question is, what flavour of libertarian are we?
The LDP for example, are quite strongly right-leaning libertarian. Theyâre pretty much all about the freedom of individuals to do whatever they like and believe that government should not regulate business either. Some of the things they would privatise for example, include the NBN, the ABC/SBS,
Australia Post, all power generation, all transport. They donât believe in anything collective, because their libertarian perspective only looks at individuals.
The Pirate Party is libertarian, but more strongly left-leaning. Weâd be more inclined to protect those institutions because they act as a common good, effectively creating greater freedom via collective benefit, because how much liberty do you have if youâre dirt poor and canât engage with the rest of society?
The distinctive twist in Pirate Party policy tends to be that while we advocate for more collective benefits, we strongly prefer to do it in ways that preserve and extend liberty.
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Political Compass does not define us, we do. Extreme Libertarian is not us. Itâs not easy to just put a generic label on it which will accurately describe us, except for Pirate.
Not sure why you would think that targeting certain demographic groups where a problem needs to be fixed would be racist if that is not Extreme Libertarian or some other ideology. That certainly is not Pirate. The basic tenets of this movement are free culture, civil liberty and intellectual rights reform.
I donât know why anybody here is saying âextremeâ in relation to our own self description.
Most people that actually read our policies say they seem reasonable. âReasonableâ is by far the most common descriptive word I hear; occasionally âSo reasonableâ.
From the insular perspective of a die-hard Liberal supporter, we might be seen as âextremeâ, but it makes no sense as a self description.
Marketing ourselves, where we project our image on to the outside world, I donât think âextremeâ helps much either, except maybe like:. âextreme common senseâ or âradically sensible policyâ, which talks to the lack of good sense in prevailing alternatives.
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You are being silly. Please stop. Saying that we are extreme Libertarian as defined by the Political Compass means that our membership and policies always tend to score very negative on the Lib/Auth axis of the Political Compass. No more, no less.
Jedb, internal political discussion works best when you play the ball, not the player. Start by assuming positive intent, then frame your arguments that way, and you will cover a lot more ground and generally get your point across more effectively. Just saying.
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I get it. The party is starting to mature and now needs bums on seats in parliament. Your asking about branding to get the wider public to engageâŚ
Being in the middle of it all to provide solutions, policy and direction. Itâs radical alright.
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Nice. Someone got it.
Seems like political parties need to have some kind tribal identity to hold them together.
Is there some reason it canât be that weâre the radically sensible solutions tribe?
Seeing there are some who are throwing in the political compass I thought I would follow the trendâŚ
Economic Left/Right: -7.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -9.08
Hmm - I didnât expect that. Ok ok I have a problem with authority donât get on my back about it.
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There seems to be a lot of that going around here.
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My problem with authority is just that my problem⌠Will have to at some point confront it and fixâŚ
At the end of the day you raised a question and it wasnât replied to. The pirates have come a long way and the party here in OZ has broken away (Of sorts) from the international pirate community and has moved on a little. The political landscape here is different to Europe and having a name that wider population can relate to and take ownership over is not a bad idea to talk about. People now days have an attention span of about 12 seconds. We are the Pirate Party borne of the net and yet we have not connect with the 24 million here. Changing a name to get engagement (or even a reaction) doesnât change the position of the Party.
People of the party should also be aware if and when the party gets a person elected we will probably move more to the right. Primarily to cater for all peoples of Australia.
Hereâs an Edward Snowden quote:
All over the world we see ruling parties aligning to protect the powerful. Principle is the only public defender; applaud it on any side. The critical axis of politics is liberty versus authority, as fascism comes from both Hitler and Mao. Look first to regard for human life.
Chelsea Manning (though itâs probably more the vibe from her feed than specific quotes:
we dont need leaders
we need each other
#WeGotThis
Carl Sagan:
I have a foreboding of an America in my childrenâs or grandchildrenâs time â when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and whatâs true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darknessâŚ
The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance
I see those as very âPirateâ quotes. I can see how that puts us in the libertarian part of the spectrum, but⌠then what? It doesnât help define policy, it doesnât show Carl and Edward and Chelsea that weâre solving the problem. Weâre just using the same spectrum to be part of the same game show. My feeling is that once we start having the right conversations, pirate will start to make more sense.
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Being a Pirate in Australia right now feels like being part of a vibe, but a niche one. Once we start generating more content - think pieces, opinion pieces, medium pieces, letters to the editor, print/radio/tv interviews, youtube shorts, podcasts, geurilla brand awareness campaigns, branded meetups - we start becoming more visible. Anyone can say a message we just need to crystallise it and be heard saying it.
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