Party of the Week: Pirate Party of Italy

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

Will the Pirate Party of Italy participate in any upcoming elections? Please tell us about your expectations for the next elections you will participate in.

At the present there's no chance to participate national elections. The electoral law in force is such that candidates are nominated by secretaries / head of parties (ie: 6-7 people choose the 800 deputies and senators); and the signatures required to make an autonomous candidate to participate are likely to discourage anyone who hasn't some thousands of supporters organized in a national organization.
Another chance is to be guests in a list of some other party; we tried this experience with our secretary Alessandro Bottoni at the latest European election, and with Rome's pirate Paolo Cocuroccia at regional election, and Athos Gualazzi with a list in a small town; results have been disappointing but significant in terms of experience. Many groups inside parties are in favor of a new electoral law to give back direct representation of citizens inside the parliament; if there will be a new law, and we'll be able to self-finance, we'll surely participate.

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

The main difference with other European PP isn't a matter of contents rather a matter of facts; we believe to be one of the European nations more exposed to risks of loosing rights instead of gain some more rights. Higher education (academic or similar
experience) in our parliament decreased instead of increase, as a consequence we are facing every single day law proposals that endanger network neutrality, freedom of speech, and many people evoke the privacy flag to purse other goals.

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

We started in September 2006 from the proposal of 5 friends participating the no1984.org mailing-list, and thanks to the resonance on mass media that Piratpartiet.se and ThePirateBay had in Italy. We legally registered a free association among citizens, enrolled in the court; this allows us to act as association and stand for election as
a party.
At the time of writing Partito Pirata, in accordance to the statute, consists of Athos Gualazzi as president; Claudio Brovelli as vice president; Alessandro Bottoni as secretary; Daniele Masini as treasurer; Marco Confalonieri as responsible for international relations, Paolo Cocuroccia responsible for Rome section, Alessandra
Minoni for public relations.

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

We hope that they will change the electoral law so that we can participate. In abstract we hope that PP and many other movements will succeed in keeping the Internet free.

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

We have three websites: partito-pirata.it, piratpartiet.it and anonet.it; annual fees are enough to pay the rent, and we tax ourselves every time we start a new initiative.

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

We have about 60 members who pay the annual fee, and about another 300 attending our mailing lists. About one thousand of the various Facebook and other social networks. We are trying to open offices in other cities as we did in Rome; every office is financially autonomous but initiatives are discussed among all national subscribers. We don't
deny anything to anyone; anyone can subscribe to Partito Pirata; the only thing we ask is to endorse the statute.

Something Else?

We believe that we must go over Italian edges; and we support PPI with all our strength. We would be happy if fathers of the movement (piratpartiet.se) would participate in all aspects to the Italian initiative, and the movement as a whole could become for culture and freedom what Greenpeace is for environment.

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• Pirate Party of Italy Website: http://partito-pirata.it/
• Pirate Party of Italy on Twitter: http://twitter.com/partitopirata
• Pirate Party of Italy on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/partitopirata

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