For once, an internal Pirate Party matter: if you’re a member of the Swedish Pirate Party and want to see me keep doing what I do, there’s something you need to do today (or November 6 at the latest). You need to vote for Christian Engström for the top position of the Pirate Party’s Europarl ballot. The reason is simple: between him and the other candidate for the ballot’s top position, Christian is the only one funding my keynoting and evangelizing. So if you want me to keep doing what I do, you need to vote, and you need to vote for Christian at the top.
Hi – today I have an internal matter for all people who are members of the Swedish Pirate Party and who appreciate my worldwide evangelizing.
The Swedish Pirate Party has two excellent candidates for the top spot on the EU ballot for next year’s European elections: Christian Engström and Amelia Andersdotter. They are quite different as individuals, and both have strong points. However, only one of them funds my keynoting, writing, and evangelizing that gives ripples worlwide, and that’s Christian Engström. So all else being equal, if you appreciate what I do and want me to continue doing so, you need to vote for the ballot proposals topped by Christian Engström.
The takeaway is straightforward: If you want me to keep spending all my energy traveling and talking about the pirate ideas and ideals in a way that is exceptionally rewarded and recognized (“Top Global Thinker”, “100 Most Influential People”, etc.), you need to vote for a ballot where Christian tops the Pirate Party Europarl ballot above Amelia, in anticipation of the quite real possibility that we only keep one of our two seats in the European Parliament in next year’s European elections. And you need to vote in the internal elections, today and possibly (but not necessarily) up to twice more.
If you’ve voted in an internal election before, it takes two minutes tops to place your four necessary votes. (If you haven’t voted before and need to register, it may take some five to ten minutes.) You need to go to this page, where there are four different cup-style elimination votes going on. In each of those elimination votes, a proposed ballot with Christian at the top is facing off against another ballot. You need to mark each of the four lists that is topped by Christian and vote for it, that is, the lists marked C01-Y04, C01-Y03, C01-Y06, and C01-Y01. Don’t forget to press “Vote” (rösta) after you’ve marked each ballot topped by Christian.
This takes two minutes or your time, and is your cost of making certain I’ll keep evangelizing freedoms of speech, expression, opinion, and the press for the next five years too. (Obviously, it assumes that the party also gets at least one seat, but that’s the next battle to fight.)
If you haven’t voted in Swedish Pirate Party meetings before, Christian’s blog has more elaborate instructions.
UPDATE – I can’t believe I have to point this out, but here goes: I obviously think Christian is the stronger candidate of the two by far, beside the point above, and I think both the party and the movement needs him in the top spot. However, I also recognize that a few people value the candidates fairly evenly, and I want to supply the above as a mere fact on the table for those who consider all things equal. (There have been a lot of people outside of the party that wanted to have strong opinions in the party’s internal elections, especially a few very vocal people who wanted the other candidate and who went into pretty much a nuanceless all-out rage when I advocated Christian – which I do for numerous good reasons, and far from only because he’s technically my employer, making it possible for me to travel and speak like I do. As I said, I can’t believe it’s necessary for me to point this out.)
As of 22:00 on November 6, the results are in, and Christian Engström tops all four non-eliminated candidate ballots. This means that he’s going to top the final ballot for Piratpartiet Sweden to the European Parliament next year. Congrats!
” However, only one of them funds my keynoting, writing, and evangelizing that gives ripples worlwide, and that’s Christian Engström.”
Seriously. This is bad pirate politics. In fact, this is horrendous politics. You want Engström on the top because he pays you money. You want him on top because he is the access for your own financial stability.
That’s not how we should select the top candidate as pirates. It is not about money, it is not about gender, haircolour, skincolour or what movies you prefer. This is about who is dong the best politics. And Amelia has been way more successful, being one of the youngest MEP to take seat in the parliament and has, in incredible short time worked towards real pirate values, understanding what should be the limits of technology within a moral framework. How far should one go.
I’m sorry Rick. We don’t need you. The Pirate movement has grown and your input, however charming it is, is not needed if you want to do politics in the name of money and fame.
Here I thought all members of parliaments primary concern was to get reelected. But it seems to be true for more politicians than them.
How much do you get paid by the way? Including both the salary from the parliament and other evangelist salaries you get.
Seriously, Rick? It is no secret that I really admire Amelia and the work she have done during her time in the EUP. I think her tech savvy mind is what EU politics (and more importantly, the Internets) needs. However, the process of choosing who should be the PP no1 front person is not for me to decide, as I am not a member.
But this? If your main argument for voting Christian is that you want to stay on the payroll, than the concept “pirate politics” is doomed. Especially as I just heard a leaked over-heard conversation where you state that you almost brake even on your evangelism, since you claim to have managed to work out a quite substantial price tag on your shows.
Shame on you, Rick. This should be about whether Amelia or Christian is to be pushed forward as top candidated. This election is not about you.
However much i appreciate your honesty regarding your political motivators, i have to say that i’m incredibly diasappointed.
There is so many good reasons to vote for Christian, and all you come up with is “money”.
Seriously, something tells me you drank just as much prior to writing this article as you did prior to the night of founding the Swedish Pirate Party. Either that, or you are trying to draw a negative “buzz” towards you i.e are experimenting with hate marketing.
Signed,
A pirate with more than 30k of debt due to Pirate Politics.
I’m with Asta on this one. I am following your site, Rick, for years, and you have inspired many people, including me, to act and to get involved in the copyright reform debate — and with solid results (to mention the anti-ACTA movement in Poland).
But this is dismal. I understand the need to finance your activities, but this is not the right reason for political decision of this weight, by no means!
In my opinion, the right person for the No 1 spot is, unsurprisingly, Amelia Andersdotter. You may believe otherwise. But the discussion should be based upon merit, not on who pays whom what.
Ok, this was apparently the first blog article ever where I needed to close the comment field. A number of people rooting for the other candidate were screaming-out-loud insulting and rude in their comments (and therefore had their comments removed as per the comment policy) – “shame on you”, “we don’t need you”, et cetera. That is not acceptable behavior here.
Sad to see, really. (And no, maintaining a comment field is not censorship. The difference is crucial – censorship is when the government decides what gets posted on my blog, not when I do so on my own blog.)