Pirate vision for societal evolution

Wiesbaden Papers, August 1st, 2013

framework for a future worth living in

translated from German by OrangeScarf

A Vision for societal evolution by the Pirate party

(Disclaimer: This text is an honest attempt to pool the different opinions of the pirate parties into one joint vision - but fails to include every opinion)

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that there is a suprising congruence of opinions regarding the basic wants, needs and desires of all individuals living on this blue planet. In a word: "World Peace has long been democratically legitimized." The fact that we do not yet all live in peace is due to outdated notions of limited resources, ideologies, the lust for power, an insane distribution of resources and capital, as well as politicians and governments that mostly do not primarily serve the best interest of their citizens but special interests. To tackle these problems is at the heart of this vision for societal evolution. This want for positive change fuels the imagination, thoughts and ideals of every pirate and drives us to co-create a reality that lives up to our common interests. Whether you feel a sense of belonging to a ‘party’ or not, if you have read this far you have begun to form your own vision as to how our collective, human future will unfold. I trust this short article will be motivation for you to put this into your own words.

Creating a supportive and democratic framework for a free society

We want a society that strives to offer it's members the most modern means and best options for participation in social and polical contexts and in a true democracy, a society that is supported by and in turn supports everyone and is thus able to evolve and adapt its ideas; a society that is aware of traditions but flexible enough to meet the requirements of necessary and desirable change.

We envision a society that offers a safe framework for every individual, a context in which people can flourish, work in jobs that meet their skills and interests and live lifes in dignity. Thus unnecessary fears will be minimized and still dormant potentials realized.

This ambitious vision can only become a reality over time if considerable efforts are made to adapt and improve education, social systems, the economy, the legal systems and other areas. This change also depends on general awareness. The Pirates offer one particular excelling mindset: We are convinced that this future is possible.

We think of ourselves as the supporters and enablers of societal evolution. This evolution will allow us all to build a sustainable future together. In this regard we are NOT in concurrence to anybody - often not even to other political parties - but instead we promote the meme "cooperation instead of confrontation".

We know that we can only find solutions together

In stark contrast to all previous, mostly ideologically motivated visions for a better future by political philosophers, social theoreticians or political parties, the Pirates do not believe to be able to think for everyone. On the contrary: Pirates demand that everybody think for themselves, feel for themselves, find out for themselves and act themselves. This can take place on an individual level, in groups or at the level of society.

In this regard the vision of the Pirates for future societies is a 'meta-vision', i.e. it's not about specific contents but a structural concept. We want framework conditions that allow every individual within a society to be able to contribute and help evolve that society into a free, creative and sustainable society. We are not messiahs who deliver society from top down, we are the ones who ask questions and point out the injustice and crimes of the present system. We create awareness and it may be surprising to all those who had expected or hoped for the pirate party to present a perfectly planned and elaborate detailed content vision for societal evolution to find out that we want everybody to participate in a joint effort to bring about positive change.

The fact that the pirate party, as all other political parties, has a program with detailed proposals does not at all mean that we want to foist these plans onto society with force. The program serves as an exemplary basis for a discussion within society - an offer to parley extended to ALL citizens and political powers.

Thinking and feeling in the 21st century: the End of Absolutism

Historically - and sadly even today - there are ideological, philosophical and religious/spiritual belief systems that share one key feature: One system alone is the TRUE and GOOD one and all others are EVIL and BAD. Every opposition to DOGMA was oppressed and persecuted and perpetrators were often killed. Such "absolutist" belief systems and models to explain reality have caused enormous unnecessary pain to humanity overy millenia and some continue to this day.

Such Manichaean belief systems are condemned by the Pirates.

We all have a part of the Truth within us …

… and we find truth in discourse within the community in free exchange of information and opinions between individuals and groups within society. Which specific truth in which situation holds is to be thoroughly discussed and democratically decided upon.

Dialectics will be updated to multi-value networking logic. »either-or« belief systems belong to the dustbin of history. TINA!

Left/right, red/blue, conservative/progressive, ecology/economy, pure good/ pure evil, approve / disapprove, true/false only exist as dialectic opposites. One side automatically excludes or even vilifies the other. Similar to Absolutism this black and white way of thinking limits everyone adhering to this paradigm in their human potential, feeling and acting mostly without them noticing. The first and most important question is: How can these seemingly opposites be brought into a reconciling context? The Pirates strive to create "more awareness" and more reflection on established thought patterns and on other peoples' thoughts and opinions.

Depending on the individual perspecive, one and the same thing can mean something completely different. Everybody makes that experience. We need discerning logical thinking to point out that the observer and the observed and the context are interconnected and interdependent and in relation to everything else - This holistic way of thinking goes far beyond dogmatism.

The Internet: Nervous system of a global future

The world wide web spans society on all levels - locally, regionally, nationally, internationally and globally. It is thus permanently creating and changing a completely new cultural habitat.

In a very slow manner people awaken to this new reality of being interconnected. This planetary nervous system connecting all inhabitants of Earth into an immense, capturing and revolutionary new awareness is changing the old paradigm of sentient beings on our planet.

As the Pirate Parties started as a "young" movement and comprise very many "internet savvy" members, the Pirate movement is up to now - internationally - the only political movement and party that can give us proper, in-time and realistic analyses of the changes that are coming over us like tsunamis. The NSA surveillance programs, the permanent warnings of the Pirates worldwide against state surveillance and censorship and the inability of the governments to properly react to these machinations send a clear signal.

The vision of the Pirates is predicated on the free internet as nervous system of all future societies. "Network neutrality" and "Open Data" are key words to describe an existential demand for the future of our societies. Our joint nervous system must forever be open, free and most of all not be limited by special interests. This is a cornerstone of the Pirate vision for societal evolution.

Values nearly everybody agrees on

The most important value is freedom. Freedom from undue repression; freedom to live in a self-defined way; freedom from existential fears; freedom from surveillance and worse man-made threats.

This ideal of freedum unites us Pirates and all other movements, such as citizen initiatives, NGOs and billions of individual people worldwide that stand up for themselves and each other. We all fight for a future worth living in. The International Pirate Party (IPP) comprises 177 (!) individual parties worldwide and is the parlamentary arm of this gigantic movement towards a functional Global Community that wants to sustainably cultivate and share this planet and transform it into a world, where human dignity will finally be respected and where societal evolution will become a reality.

Yes indeed: will become a reality. We are convinced that the Global Community in which we all flourish as much as possible will come. We also know that we are dealing with a project that will take generations. This is another clear exceptional standpoint of the Pirate Parties compared to all other until now established parties. We think and act in historical contexts instead of the crazy power struggles within election periods. We want to promote the advent of the Global Community in a way that makes the transition period as smooth and painless as possible. Therefore we uphold the ideals of compassion, justice, sustainability and honesty as a beacon and guiding light for our actions.

Profit as the only measure for success is very destructive

Even though profit will stay a value for a long period still, other values that promote a healthy and worthwhile society will complement it. Improving the quality of life and promoting the common wealth will become central values in every political action of a new politics that works for the civil society.

At the same time we need to purge the false ideals of profit maximization and the relentless growth paradigm from their present position. We live on a limited spherical world. Endless growth is thus impossible. But we still act, as if the world was flat and endless. For centuries the wealth and happiness of one part of the world's population has been bought with the blood, sweat and tears of the other parts. To understand globalization means knowing that whenever we cause damage to one part of the world, this damage is caused to all of us. It means that wherever we hurt the "Company Earth", we always hurt ourselves.

Real world and financial world: the tail is wagging the dog

In our times of perpetual "crises", the real economy and the financial markets have an insane and ever more destructive relation. We hold that the economy is there to serve the individuals. The financial markets is there to enable the real economy to do its job. Instead this system simultaneously creates unimaginable debt and unreal wealth assets within a fraction of a second. Those fictional assets (figures on a screen) have no real equivalent in real assets. Nothing has been produced. This malign cancerous and independent growth of large parts of the financial markets has to stop.

The necessary gigantic change and the price we will all have to pay in order to establish justice on a global scale are overwhelming. The ruling power structures are far from adressing these vital changes that are based on our understanding that the Earth is round. Somebody has to go ahead. That is why we begin NOW to research the implementation of necessary change.

Beyond wanting to own things: How do we want to live?

All present and historical political systems and parties have had one key topic that they strived to answer from ideologically different points of view: How can we share what we have in a way that society works? It is still considered 'normal' for individuals to permanently amass more and more goods.

We are now entering a period where these questions can be finally resolved for everyone in an acceptable way. The rich West is presently leading this exploration of postmodern and postmaterialistic societal models, but change has to happen on a global scale.

If we manage to stop thinking about wanting to have more, we can start thinking about wanting to be, wanting to evolve personally, wanting to discover our individual purpose within our common existence here and now. We can see these questions when we look today (in 2013) at the faces of Generation Y (Why?) today. And in the writings and speeches of all those who have thought about the sense of their lives and our acts. As we succeed to balance the wealth of this extremely rich world, a more and more interesting and creative era of human history will come. The Pirates can already see what is waiting behind this door and we will do everything to set the stage to open it. In this way the Pirates are the first postmaterialistic party.

Setting the course today

From our vision for a free and self-determined society a variety of particularly important short and medium term ideas and demands can be derived.

The courage to take a close look

The democratic, awake and responsible citizen is still a utopia. Up to now the power system had no interest in really active citizens. Instead of internal values a multi billion dollar industry incessantly promotes external values, dictates how to dress to appear successfull. As long as individuals can be kept infused with the drugs of consumerism and apathy and thus sedated in a false feeling of security, they will do it. We are the ones to not look the other way. Inasmuch the Pirates are a wake up call. We have to act before it is too late.

Civil rights

To make sure that no decision hurts those who have little and can hardly fight back, the respect of civil rights is the only proper foundation for social stabiliy. We stand for the rights inscribed in the German Basic Law and we help to make laws with the same intent for the 21st century. Pirates will always stand and fight for civil rights.

Transparency - making political processes visible

The way in which political processes happen and how decisions are prepared or steered has always been a shady business. This is why we need the never ending fight against corruption, secret agendas and attempts from special interests to influence politics. Modern technologies, such as streaming, and traceable digital documentation can help to make political processes more transparent. The Pirates have accepted the challenge and fight to maximize transparency in politics.

Participation

The participation of every individual in culture, politics, education, family, relationships, worthwile labor, opportunities, communication and mobility should be guaranteed. This gives rise to concrete projects, such as free public transport and free education, but also to a completely new category of pro bono work that every individual can do - enabled by an unconditional basic income - if that person thinks that his work is really important and worthwhile.

The Unconditional Basic Income (UBI)

Even though the media permanently reports on the debt pressure, we live in the richest phase of human development. We can take a categorical and cultural step further and abolish 'the need to work only to survive'. With the unconditional basic income we will enable a life free from existential fears not only for a privileged few, but for all individuals.

The individual right of self-realization is not open to individuals who have the need to permanently fulfill a function. We have to stop treating people as if they were machines. New technologies make that possible.

Distribution of goods and freedom to act

There will always be different income groups. Motivation, too, will be very different from individual to individual - some want to become rich and others want to live a simple life. Nobody can with impunity force individuals to be a certain way. We have to cherish our differences. At the same time the Pirates demand a very much more adequate and proportional distribution of goods. Extreme wealth and utter poverty have to be reconciled.

====„We all want to change the world. But when you talk about destruction, don't you know that you can count me out.”==== John Lennon, Revolution

On any side of (outdated) political movements there are those who preach violence and populism. They are firmly stuck in the dichotomy of friend and foe. Absolute rejection destroys every basis for sensible discourse. The Pirates are categorically opposed to political action that draws on hate, retaliation oder destructive phantasies.

But: We already see insurrection is several countries in Europe. The pressure of financial politics is recklessly exerted to create unbearable individual tragedies - innocent people loose everything. This is a monstrous situation. The Pirates demand that peaceful solutions be found before social unrest or greater insurrections happen.

Attention, stay real! This Vision is merely a »Great Attractor«

Many peoply have projected their hopes to the Pirates and were deceived to find that we are only normal people. We were not and we are not able, just as most other people, to completely live up to the ideals that were presented here. We can not yet serve as examples. But we have started to find out how we can become such examples.

The "not yet real" is the essence of visions - that is why Helmut Schmidt (former chancellor of Germany) once famously said: "Who has visions should go to therapy." Taking his advice - the entire society should go to therapy, namely to democratic self therapy, in order to recuperate.

It is our iron will to never stray from the visionary ideals lead out in this vision and to work on ourselves and together with others to live up to them more and more. That's what was called in earlier days: "having ideals". Inasmuch Pirates are pragmatic idealists.

Pirates invite, inspire and encourage you

We are convinced that together we can - with enough support - meet the real challenges of our generation. We can - for ourselves, our children and future generations - build a world worth living in.

The work on this project, our world, gives us great motivation and direction to do something important with our lives. We expirience this purpose in life as both responsablitiy and passion.

The Pirate Party invites every individual to join the ranks of the politically active and encourages everyone to build this new future together.

The Pirate Party is one - certainly my - inspiration for a future worth living in

People who support this vision

I no longer adhere to the idea of "I support this message". I want to thank everyone that have helped and are helping to support and contribute to this text and these ideas. This is a joint work. I am only one voice. I want to hear your voice!

If you want to put your name here and support this text, I would like you to think of it as a 'I LIKE' and not a rallying under any flag.

Robert Stein-Holzheim
Oliver Grube
Angelika Brandner
Thomas Küppers
NX
Bruno Kramm
Johannes Ponader
Arne.Pfeilsticker
Matthias.garscha
cosmic Berlin "Der Prozess ist das Produkt"
Andreas Hahn
Stevan Cirkovic
Christian Bethke
Colorofthenight
Boomel 23:11, 14. Aug. 2013 (CEST)
Balkongaertnerin
Reinhard Schmitz
Ralf Engelhardt
Jashan 12:28, 18. Aug. 2013 (CEST) (mein Mitgliedsantrag läuft noch, wurde gestellt am 28.07.2013)
Vogtlandmüller
Andreas Kabus
Gernot Reipen
Axel Braun (Brax59)
Richard Grüll
Kola Colman
Purodha Blissenbach — dem Sinn und der Intention nach …
Joachim Jördens als andauernder Prozess mit richtiger Zielsetzung.
Thomas Weiß
OrangeScarf
Paul Weiler
You?

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Feedback, additions and comments to the vision can be put here: http://steinholzheim.piratenpad.de/Vision

Further work on the vision within the Pirate Party

Vision 2025: http://thueringen.piratenpad.de/3? This is a collection of many important points for the future of society. Initiated by Bernd Schreiner. There is an AG wikisite (Workgroup wiki) that has not been updated for a long time now: AG Zukunftsvision