Welcome to the International Organisation for a Participatory Society website.
Please watch this video and read “About IOPS” before joining. After doing so, if you have any remaining unanswered questions, please don’t hesitate to ask via our section for newcomers on the 'forum' page before signing up.
IOPS is a new organisation launched in 2012. It has been setup to help bring people together to organise for, and ultimately win, what we call a participatory society (or participatory socialism if you prefer).
A participatory society is our vision for an alternative international system to the current world order.
The multifaceted insanity of the current social system is becoming apparent to more people everyday – the indignities, and hypocrisies, the wars and crimes…the needless and pointless oppression of the many by a system that perverts the few, the vast inequalities in power and wealth, the unnecessary deaths via starvation and treatable diseases, the mindless destruction of the natural environment.
Most people, it seems, feel that the system is broken and yet few know what to do about it. The Left asserts that “Another World is Possible” and yet most often offers little that is compelling, convincing, or inspiring about what this “other world” would look like and how it might function. The inability of the Left to compellingly address this question of vision only helps to reinforce the commonly held belief, there is no alternative.
IOPS is different!
If you take a look at “About IOPS” on this site you will see a “Visionary Commitments” section. This is where we spell-out our vision for a participatory society which includes a new type of government and economy, new gender / kinship and cultural / community systems, plus new international and ecological relations.
In addition to the “Visionary Commitments” you will also see an “Organisational & Programmatic Commitments” section. Here, amongst other important features, you will see that IOPS has a commitment to prefigurative organising – by which we mean that IOPS projects and branches plant the seeds of the future society in the present.
What this means is that when you become an active member of IOPS you are in fact helping make real our shared vision for an alternative society today! For example, if, after watching this video and reading About IOPS, you decide to join us, then you will find that you are automatically allotted into a National and regional branch. As more members join these branches they will start to take on more and more of the characteristics of the council system that we are organising for. In-so-doing members are engaging in reforming and dismantling existing institutions whilst simultaneously constructing new ones, all of which is the essence of the revolutionary transformation of society.
Furthermore, you will also find that these branches / chapters are self-managed. This means that members of these branches have control over decisions that only affect them and proportional say in National and international decisions.
Members can also initiate projects, or request to join existing projects, which are also self-managed. Self-management (as defined in the Organisational & Programmatic Commitments section) accommodates for both creative participation and serious organising within IOPS giving each member an appropriate say in all decisions whilst avoiding the stifling and elitist tenancies that typically result from the central committees that are common to many Left-wing organisations.
IOPS strives to be genuinely inclusive by consciously and constructively challenging agist, classist, sexist, racist and homophobic attitudes and behaviour whilst also remaining mindful of peoples diverse situations. By joining IOPS it is hoped that your life will become more fulfilled, meaningful and even more fun as a result of engaging in the various activities initiated by the membership.
As you will see on joining, the site has many facilities for participation and organising. These include mechanisms for voting, forums, blogs, instant chat etc all of which is updated and refined on a regular basis. We hope that you will seriously consider joining IOPS, taking advantage of all the great facilities available on the site whilst also, and ultimately far more importantly, attending local face-to-face meetings and future National and international gatherings.
Thank you for watching this IOPS introductory video and once again please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
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