The International Organization for a Participatory Society (IOPS) is an international, nongovernmental organisation embracing values such as self-management, diversity, ecological husbandry and egalitarianism. The organisation was founded in early in 2012, and names the likes of Noam Chomsky, David Harvey, John Pilger, Elaine Bernard and Vijay Prashad among its well-known members. After publishing an article in the Occupied Times by members of IOPS, we arranged the following Q&A with London-based member Conor Ó Daighre.
OT: What is the nature of a ‘participatory society’, and how does this differ from our current society?
CÓD: Our current society depends on division to function. It is based on class, gender and racial inequalities in order to exploit the many for the benefit of the few. Societal conflict, war, and ecological destruction are largely the outcomes of our social, political and economic organisation. In a participatory society such divisions would not exist and life would be lived in a cooperative, humane way in harmony with the natural world. It would be a society that realises every person’s potential to live a full and rewarding life in balance with the community they are part of. A participatory society seeks to allow all individuals, regardless of their background or bargaining power, to participate as equals. This would require a radical restructuring of much of society, including: kinship, the economy, politics, culture and how we interact with the planet and other nations.
Instead of the priority being the accumulation of monetary wealth or prestige, and ones worth being tied up with those things that history has shown to be something of a lottery, one would be valued just for being alive. Every citizen would be able to have a say in decisions that affect them. Communities and workplaces would be self-managed and jobs in the economy would be balanced so that there is a fair distribution of the benefits and burdens of economic activity. The implications of this are immense. We see it as a classless society which would be able to respond better to any stress, while at the same time supporting us to have interesting and harmonious lives.
OT: What methods do you hope to use to work towards a participatory society?
CÓD: To build a new society in the shell of the old requires a firm belief and commitment that we can create a better world and are capable of winning the struggle for human emancipation. It will involve an ever evolving flexible vision of a good society that will be updated as we go along, based on the insights we gain through experience.
We also hope to live our lives by the principles of a participatory society and so imagine radical approaches to relating and living in the world. In this vein, we have a lot in common with Occupy. As Noam Chomsky recently said in an interview about IOPS, “One of the primary achievements of the Occupy movement, I think, was the spontaneous development of communities of support and solidarity, with direct participation and open spaces for discussion and interchange, and mutual aid in many dimensions. That creates bonds and associations, and changes consciousness, and could spark really significant and positive changes in the society at large. IOPS can aspire to carrying such achievements far beyond.”
OT: In what ways can newcomers participate with IOPS to work towards this vision?
CÓD: Because of the federated, nested structure of IOPS, by joining, newcomers will immediately be part of a local IOPS chapter and also a regional and national branch. Members can meet with others that live locally to them and begin working on strategies and action plans to work towards their goals. Members can also use the IOPS website (www.iopsociety.org) to initiate projects that they can work on with others and use the blog, messaging, events and forum facilities.
It’s really up to the individual how involved they want to become once they are a member. Some will be content just to offer advice online by chipping in on the forums and writing blogs, while others will want to do more practical work whether it be creative/artistic projects or outreach and community work. At this early stage it’s important that people meet up in person and discuss what their priorities are – to discuss ParSoc theory to be clear on how to communicate such ideas and also ways to implement this in the real world.
One way to get involved with this initially is the Fanfare for the Future project consisting of online reading groups based on 3 new books; Occupy Theory, Occupy Vision and Occupy Strategy. The first two books are available for free as PDF files on the site (the 3rd is in the process of being written). More information on this can also be found on the Znet website (http://www.zcommunications.org/).
OT: What is the structure and programme of your organisation; in particular, in terms of leadership and decision-making?
CÓD: IOPS seeks to be a self-managed organisation and is organised in a federated structure of nested local, regional and national branches. Each chapter or branch makes decisions collectively that affect them. The logic runs from the local to the international level. Currently, there is an interim Consultative Committee of influential activists and radicals from all over the world to make interim choices regarding coordinating initial efforts and maintaining the website, but a voting system is close to being implemented where every member will be able to vote online on decisions that affect them. So at the local level, only members in the local chapter will vote on issues that concern people in that locality, whereas at the national level all members/groups in the national chapter have an equal say. Similarly at the international level – all members have an equal say on the role/structure of the international organisation.
Many decisions will be voted upon online but it is encouraged that at the local level people meet up and deliberate and come to collective decisions in person. It is only through deliberation and discussion that people can make informed decisions collectively without alienating dissenting minority views. At the national and international level, delegates – who will be directly accountable, rotated and instantly recallable to their local chapters – will be sent to discuss national and international issues with other delegates to come to shared agreements and understanding. With around 2000 members we are still in the process of deciding when, where and whether to have the founding international convention or whether to wait until we have had some national conventions first.
OT: The core values of IOPS are self-management, equity/justice, solidarity, diversity, ecological stewardship and internationalism. How do you hope to maintain these values in a world in which they can often be seen to go ‘against the grain’?
CÓD: We honestly don’t believe these values are against the grain – certainly not against the grain of human nature, anyway. In our current society a few people’s agendas set the norms, and they are so strange that we end up reacting to them or start training ourselves into thinking they are normal. The corporate media obfuscates reality and how the world really works so it’s difficult for people who are struggling to get by to be properly informed about what is possible and what can realistically be achieved. It’s often beyond people’s imaginations to envisage a different world but if people see the foundations of a new society in action and like what they see, they’ll be convinced it’s worthwhile. This doesn’t involve a blueprint where we have all the answers. It’s about finding the way together and supporting each other to create a truly participatory world.
Our aim is to transform our society by introducing new structures that promote humane values. For example, when we create new workplaces in the economy they will be structured differently than capitalist workplaces. Decisions will be made through democratic bodies, and tasks and income would be fairly distributed through new participatory mechanisms. IOPS is structured in the vision of the future society we want to win. The organisation will have self-managed projects, self-managed nested local, regional and national branches as alternatives to the existing top-down power structures in society. And by participating in IOPS and being part of these alternative structures you become empowered and your life is enriched. That solidarity, equality and justice will be furthered through taking part. The ambition is to show that a new world is possible, to be a shining example of how we can create structures in society that are a viable alternative to the status quo.
Answers by Conor Ó Daighre of the London chapter of International Organization for a Participatory Society (IOPS)
