Party of the Week: Pirate Party of France

This week's Pirate Party of the Week is the Pirate Party of France.

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The Pirate Party of France will participate in the partial parliament elections in July. Please tell us about your expectations for the elections.

Actually, this is the second time we take part in this peculiar election. In September '09, we had made quite a nice success with 2.08% of the votes -- knowing that the candidate who was eventually elected only won by 5 votes, that should tell you how important the Pirate Party can be in this particular case!
Whilst the initial result was already very close, the difference span dwindled to one vote after recount, and the election was cancelled in the end, which is why we get to run again...
This is a one-name election, so except if it's you who actually wins, you don't get anything.

What are the core topics of the Pirate Party of France? Are there topics that are unique to the Pirate Party of France, something that distinguishes them from other Pirate Parties?

The nice thing with being a Pirate in France, is that the government actually works for you, and spends a great deal of time upsetting the citizens so they can vote for you in the end. You may have heard about our infamous three-strikes "hadopi" law, and that is but a part of the picture.
Other than that, our core issues are no different from the rest of you guys. We do need to adapt to France's specific landscape, organizations-wise: you could hardly imagine how many small associations, guilds, organizations, groups and whatnot there are here, who defend Free Software, citizenship, art, consumers... As yetanother organization, being the new guys in town has its advantages, but we've also been through some rough paths.

Tell us more about the inner structure of PP-France.

The French Pirate Party was founded 4 years ago, and underwent a chaotic history full of misunderstanding, heated debates, people quitting, coming back, etc. One particular point about Pirate Parties in France is that there were quite a lot of forks (seven to this day, the last one having been founded just a couple weeks ago). As members of the "upstream" branch (if I may say so) from the very beginning, we (a small group of us) have been through a lot and therefore have developed mutual respect and friendship ; today we're gradually transferring this charge to (relatively) new people, but organizing elections is not easy. Well, at least it's not when you want a "perfect" vote, totally anonymous, transparent, verifiable, etc. -- in this regard (no offence), the PPI election was some sort of a counter-example to us... :-)

If you think 5 years ahead, what will be different compared to today's situation?

If you'd ask me this question three years ago, I would've answered "5 years? There won't be any Pirate Party left in two weeks!"
Over the years, I've been pleasantly surprised to see that we (both as a national and international movement) could actually survive and do stuff. Somehow, I'm more optimistic now than I was then -- but come on, you and I both know that 5 years is still quite a stretch.

How do you manage to keep your financial balance? Do you have any special fund-raising methods? How can people support PP-France?

Let's put it this way: the Pirate Party of France is the cheapest political party the world has ever seen. For four years, the only expenses we had was to rent the cheapest server we could find, and that money came mostly from my own pocket (one tenth of my salary, thanks for asking). We have struggled (well, I have, since I was the appointed treasurer) to open a bank account for months and months: one year later, we still haven't got our checkbook! You have no idea how difficult it is in France to found a new party -- especially with such a hazardous name.
That being said, times are changing. We do now have a bank account (however dysfunctional), we have one hundred paid members (in just about six months, not as impressive as the PPde or PPse but still not too shabby). We've even bought our first flags, too much pride :-)

How many members does PP-France have at the moment? Can foreigners become members of PP-France?

We are right now just over hundred Pirates registered. But if you take our forum there's a thousand buccaneers there (several thousands if you put Facebook in the balance, which we all know you shouldn't). And we keep in mind there's a lot of potential, especially with all the crap our government especially brews for us. Remember: in 2006, our initial petition had 100000 signatures in less than a week! Our goal for now is continue to build a working democratic structure, compliant to the french regulations on political parties and show our difference to draw all the persons interested. The arrival of the forthcoming cease-and-desist-or-we'll-cut-your-Internet-you-pirate-scumbag mails from the HADOPI authority is expected by us with glee…

Foreigners, just like organizations can become members of our party. The only limitation in this regard is the inability for foreigners to be candidates in France, save in the European Parliament elections.

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• Pirate Party of France Website: http://partipirate.org/blog/index.php/
• Pirate Party of France on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Parti_Pirate_Fr
• Pirate Party of France on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=133730326377