Vote on the referral to the Code of Conduct Council

Board
, ,
1

This is to decide on the submission of the below text to the Code of Conduct Council.

The voting deadline is one week after the opening of the vote.

CODE OF CONDUCT COUNCIL

The PPEU board hereby forwards the following complaint to the Code of Conduct Council

Summary

A member of the PPGR is suspected of engaging in improper conduct while seeking support for a proposal presented to the PPEU council. Ahead of, during, and following the submission of the proposal to the PPEU board, this individual posted material in social media that accused individuals from other pirate parties of unethical conduct and of being a threat to the movement. Some of this material included posts that listed individual members of PPNL, PPDE and PPI by name.

This conduct appears to be in violation of the following principles of the PPEU code of conduct:

  • Respect Freedom of Expression
  • Support Positive Interactions Among members
  • Commitment to Non-Violence
  • Respect for Privacy
  • Facilitate Participation & Collaboration

Therefore, we ask the code of conduct council to investigate the case to determine:

  • Whether this is a private conflict or whether it is a case of systematic harassment or targeted attempts at intimidating or silencing members with dissenting views
  • Whether and which (if any) principles in the code of conduct have been violated
  • Whether the conduct has also been damaging to the PPEU, member parties or the European pirate movement as a whole

We also ask that the Code of Conduct Council do the following:

  • Mediate between conflicting individuals or parties
  • Offer guidance to the offending party to prevent further issues
  • Recommend a stronger remedy/course of action if mediation and guidance is not deemed sufficient by the code of conduct council

What has occurred

Comments and various actions ahead of Council Meetings, during Council Meetings, and on social media.

How the code of conduct has been violated

For reference, the PPEU code of conduct can be found here.

The conduct identified in this complaint appears to violate the following elements of the code of conduct:

  • Respect Freedom of Expression
  • Support Positive Interactions Among members
  • Commitment to Non-Violence
  • Respect for Privacy
  • Facilitate Participation & Collaboration

Respect Freedom of Expression

This principle states that “We support an individual’s freedom of expression and will strive to better understand each other by not assuming experiences or beliefs, clarifying meanings, and making an effort to speak clearly, avoiding jargon and acronyms.” The conduct has involved making claims about the beliefs of specific individuals and posting names in social media together with statements about the implications of these beliefs. There does not appear to have been any attempts to better understand the individuals concerned or to seek clarification.

Commitment to Non-Violence

This principle states that “We will not engage in any type of violence or aggression, including verbal threats or complaints, intimidation, stalking or harassment, whether physically or psychologically”. What constitutes violence is often scary and difficult to determine if one does not actively work with it. For this reason, I’ve provided a few simple definitions below. They are originally from the book “Alternativ til vold” by Per Isdal, but can be commonly found on many websites that work with violence prevention.

Physical violence

Classic, often intuitive forms of violence, such as punching or pushing.

Emotional violence

Hurting or intimidating by manipulating people’s feelings, such as by inducing feelings of guilt or shame.

Sexual violence

Violence related to sex, including sexual harassment

Psychological violence

Causing harm, intimidation, etc. through verbal threats, derogatory names or false accusations.

Latent/hidden violence

When the potential for violence has been established and only words, looks or someone’s presence is enough to silence dissent or control someone’s movements and choices.

These definitions are used professionally throughout Europe by organisations such as WWP Europe, the Norwegian foundation Alternativ til vold, the Icelandic organisation Heimilisfri∂ur along with men’s crisis centres and women’s shelters throughout Europe. They are also discussed in multilateral agreements, such as the Istanbul convention. Organisations such as WWP Europe (www.work-with-perpetrators.eu) provide good information about how to identify when conduct constitutes violence. Systematically posting untrue information or accusations about a member’s beliefs and their validity or lack thereof constitutes the use of emotional, psychological and, possibly, hidden/latent violence when the subject of the violence starts to avoid confrontation.

Respect for Privacy

This states that we, as members, “Safeguard the privacy of members, individuals and participants in PPEU events.” This is a core value of European pirates and the PPEU. Posting member’s names in a post in social media without their consent fails to safeguard the privacy of those members.

Facilitate Participation & Collaboration

This means that we will not “engage in sustained disruption of sessions or events, interrupt conversations in a way that negatively impacts collaboration, or engage in toxic behaviours to attract negative attention to an attendee” . Posting member’s names in social media posts where they are accused of unethical conduct without their consent can constitute engaging in a behaviour that “attracts negative attention to an attendee”.

Support Positive Interactions Among members

This principle is about engaging constructively with others. It states that “We will not tolerate bullying, including requesting or mobilizing others, either in person or online, to bully others.”

The repeated actions of online violence or harassment and the green lighting of attacks on members may constitute bullying and even the mobilisation of people to bully others.

Next steps by the Code of Conduct Council

  • Establish the facts, in particular if the conflict is between private individuals or involves representatives of an Ordinary Member
  • Contact the parties involved and offer mediation
  • Provide recommendations of actions or measures (possibly disciplinary) which could be taken by the PPEU Board to remedy to the situation.
On the submission of the above text to the Code of Conduct Council, you declare yourself :
  • In favour
  • Against
  • Abstain
0 voters
1 Like
2

Thank you for forwarding this.

3

You are welcome, please note that this has not yet been sent to the CoCC for referral.

Your feedback on the formalism of the referral would be welcome, at a later point.