IOPS Development

A revolutionary organization needs to grow, to seek change, and to provide a worthy home for its own membership. Providing a worthy home for its members includes fostering mutual aid and a fulfilling environment as well as aiding the development of members' abilities to pursue their own chosen paths. The latter, in turn, includes having internal mechanisms for members to expand their understanding bearing on social change. In that light, what follows is an outline of a possible process members might undertake on the road to such understanding.  

  

Of course the procedure and actual outline for study would alter from chapter to chapter and country to country, but the broad focus would likely not stray too much from what appears here. Some chapters might prefer a very school-like approach, with rotating lecturers, assignments that folks fulfill, and so on. Other chapters might prefer a seminar-like approach with preparation by all involved, and then a more free form exploration of issues and views. Chapters might benefit from all participants giving presentations. The mandate in general might be, for example, that new members go through a learning/sharing process, and that older members serve as sources of material, mentors, teachers, or whatever the chapter settles on.  

  

In any case, below is a possible draft “curriculum” chapters or even just individuals might opt to work from. It is based largely on the three book set, Fanfare for the Future, following its chapters pretty closely, which shouldn't occasion surprise as Fanfare was written with the express purpose of filling this type role. For some local chapters Fanfare might even serve as a kind of text. Others might make it supplemental to various other readings, and alternative forms of media etc. Still others might not use it at all, preferring some other resources. The main point is to get going with internal development of people’s ability to use and present ideas - as well as associated skills. 

  

Larger chapters may choose to build towards tiered membership structures and slowly work toward encouraging or requiring all members to engage in a comprehensive learning and sharing program, such as the one outlined below, in order to become ‘voting’ members. For members with less time and commitment, a summary version of the program might be of use and may be associated with different membership rights and responsibilities. 

 

In all cases – whether in the summary or comprehensive learning/sharing process - such a program might be carried out simultaneously while members create spaces to build trust, involvement within IOPS and with other revolutionary groups, and some members engage in grassroots struggles to resist forms of oppression. Grassroots struggles that seek to win meaningful and tangible improvement in the lives of people today are necessary, at the same time they create a sense of momentum crucial to growing the movement for a participatory society.  

 

By engaging in grassroots struggles while developing unity around shared methodology, analysis, vision, and strategy, we hope IOPS will grow and be strengthened – particularly through the application of experiences to theory and vice versa. In this way, some IOPS chapters may develop into a collection of activists sharing a common analysis, vision, strategy and program while cultivating skills and knowledge within the organization and the movement. Shared methodology, analysis, vision, and strategy would help IOPS members build alternative institutions that embody and prefigure our values and create spaces where we can confront and undo the oppression we’ve internalized. Through studying, developing our unity, creating sustainable structure and practicing our organizing on the grassroots level we may be able to grow IOPS so that we can eventually – in the future –begin to organize together on shared campaigns. 

 

The draft “curriculum” below highlights one way in which IOPS members may start to develop a shared methodology, analysis, vision, and strategy.  

 

 

  

 

Potential IOPS Curriculum for  

Participatory Comprehension, Creativity, and Communication 

 

Part One: Concepts for Comprehension

 

Thinking about society and history, and then also vision and strategy is aided tremendously by having useful concepts that quickly orient us to examine what is important and not get mired in what is peripheral. Part one of this potential curriculum is about developing such concepts and beginning to use them in assessing our societies. 

 

Conceptual Tools Development

 

Institutions and Beliefs

 

Collectively develop and try to apply ideas regarding: what is an institution, what are institutions’ defining aspects in general, roles, and then also what actual aspects, roles, do we find in some specific cases. 

 

Explore, the relation of beliefs and other human attributes to institutions and their roles, again, in general, as well as in specific cases.

 

Finally, determine how paying special attention to these concepts adds to comprehension for social change.

 

Four Spheres and Two Contexts

 

Collectively develop and try to apply ideas regarding what are the core institutional features of kinship, culture, polity, and economy, both in general and in one’s own society, and how they affect people filling roles in society’s institutions. 

 

Determine the key attributes of ecology and international relations in general, and in specific cases. 

 

Consider the insights of marxism, feminism, anarchism, nationalism, green movements, and internationalism, and assess what is desirable to keep, but what is problematic or flawed. Regarding problems, work through conceptual solutions.

Assess why useful comprehension for social change can and should be premised on attention to all these focuses without elevating any one above the rest, and why prioritizing any one of these focuses typically leads to poor results regarding the others, and often even the chosen one.

 

Accommodation and CoReproduction

 

Collectively develop and try to apply ideas regarding the general ways each of the four social spheres affects the rest, both influencing and even reproducing them, and being influenced and even reproduced by them. 

 

Find specific examples of the relations between the four social spheres and consider how attention to these dynamics is critical to useful theory for social change. 

 

Do the same for the two contexts.

 

Society

 

Collectively develop and try to apply the above ideas regarding institutions, people, spheres of social life, overarching contexts, accommodation and co-reproduction to assess the way your society fits together... including contrasting your society to others.

 

History

 

Collectively develop and try to apply the ideas developed thus far plus your own evaluations and refinements, to the usual changes that constitute typical day to day history and also, much less frequent revolutionary changes. Do this both in general, and more specifically for your society.

 

Consider some of the broad implications for movement program and organizational agendas - much more of which will come later in the curriculum.

 

Conceptual Tools Use

 

Case Studies

 

Collectively develop and try to apply the concepts considered so far to interesting aspects of your own society, national policies, movement phenomena, etc. 

 

Theory: Sectarian or Participatory

 

Explore how to use the concepts you have liked in ways that are open, foster continual development, and in ways that augment your natural inclinations due to your own experiences, rather than protecting them from insights less directly your own.

 

Thus, address the general question - with these concepts, however we have and will refine and enrich them, how do we remain flexible, open to insights, non defensive, anti sectarian - and also enlarge our own perspectives.

Part Two: Creativity Regarding Goals

 

The reason those seeking to change the world develop and share concepts, as we have done in Part One of our curriculum process, is to use them creatively, often in difficult circumstances, specifically to guide practice via creatively developing vision and developing and assessing strategy and tactics in diverse situations. Part two of the curriculum is about arriving at broad visionary insights sufficient to guiding insightful practice in current societies.

 

Visionary Guidelines

 

Developing Vision

 

Consider the importance of vision and how to make a case for needing it to doubters and critics. What are the arguments against - and how are they answered? What are the arguments for, and how might they be fulfilled?

 

What is too much vision? What is too little?

 

Thinking About Vision

 

Collectively develop an approach to developing institutional vision sufficient to provide orientation of analysis and strategy as well as a sense of informed and inspiring hope to movement activists, but not exceeding our capacity or overstepping our responsibilities.

  

Values to Guide Vision

 

Develop a set of shared values sufficient to guide visionary thinking, including exploring their implications and ways of arguing their merit. Use the values to assess existing societies and their institutions.

 

Raise objections to the values and rebut them, developing confidence in doing so.

Actual Visionary Substance

 

Economic Vision

 

Determine the composition of economics - for example, production, consumption, and allocation - and what are the core features one must address to provide a sufficient but not excessive economic vision. 

 

Apply the general values of vision to economics to determine more specific aims for the economy. What institutions are at root of economic oppression, class division and rule, etc.? What replacements are needed?

 

Examine the visionary economic commitments of IOPS. Assess their merit. Determine other visionary aspects that might be favored and assess them as well. 

 

Consider criticisms of any commitments you like, and defenses of any you dislike, to the point you are confident you can rebut the former and overcome the latter - or, if not - to the point where you comfortably hold or remain open to mixed views and have open questions. 

 

Political Vision

 

Determine the composition of politics - for example, legislation, adjudication, collective implementation - and what are the core features one must address to provide a sufficient but not excessive political vision. 

 

Apply the general values of vision to politics to determine more specific aims for the polity. What institutions are at root of political oppression, authoritarian division and rule, etc.? What replacements are needed?

 

Examine the visionary political commitments of IOPS. Assess their merit. Determine other visionary aspects that might be favored and assess them as well. 

 

Consider criticisms of any commitments you like, and defenses of any you dislike, to the point you are confident you can rebut the former and overcome the latter - or, if not - to the point where you comfortably hold or remain open to mixed views and have open questions. 

 

Kinship Vision

 

Determine the composition of kinship - for example, procreation, nurturance, socialization, sexual life, living unit life - and what are the core features one must address to provide a sufficient but not excessive kinship vision. 

 

Apply the general values of vision to kinship to determine more specific aims for kinship. What institutions are at root of kinship oppression, gender, age, and sexual division and rule, etc.? What replacements are needed?

 

Examine the visionary kinship commitments of IOPS. Assess their merit. Determine other visionary aspects that might be favored and assess them as well. 

 

Consider criticisms of any commitments you like, and defenses of any you dislike, to the point you are confident you can rebut the former and overcome the latter - or, if not - to the point where you comfortably hold or remain open to mixed views and have open questions. 

 

Cultural Vision

 

Determine the composition of  culture - for example, language, celebration, identity, race, religion, etc. - and what are the core features one must address to provide a sufficient but not excessive cultural vision. 

 

Apply the general values of vision to culture to determine more specific aims for the community/culture. What institutions are at root of culture oppression, race, ethnic, and national division and rule, etc.? What replacements are needed?

 

Examine the visionary cultural commitments of IOPS. Assess their merit. Determine other visionary aspects that might be favored and assess them as well. 

 

Consider criticisms of any commitments you like, and defenses of any you dislike, to the point you are confident you can rebut the former and overcome the latter - or, if not - to the point where you comfortably hold or remain open to mixed views and have open questions. 

 

Ecological Vision

 

Determine the composition of ecology - for example, natural and made environment and their interrelations - and what are the core features one must address to provide a sufficient but not excessive ecology vision. 

 

Apply the general values of vision to ecology to determine more specific aims for the ecology. What institutions are at root of ecological irrationality etc.? What replacements are needed?

 

Examine the visionary ecology commitments of IOPS. Assess their merit. Determine other visionary aspects that might be favored and assess them as well. 

 

Consider criticisms of any commitments you like, and defenses of any you dislike, to the point you are confident you can rebut the former and overcome the latter - or, if not - to the point where you comfortably hold or remain open to mixed views and have open questions. 

 

Internationalist Vision

 

Determine the composition of international relations - for example, trade, occupation, colonialism, war, adjudication, legislation - and what are the core features one must address to provide a sufficient but not excessive internationalist vision. 

 

Apply the general values of vision to economics to determine more specific aims for international relations. What institutions are at root of international oppression, impoverishment, war, etc.? What replacements are needed?

 

Examine the visionary international commitments of IOPS. Assess their merit. Determine other visionary aspects that might be favored and assess them as well. 

 

Consider criticisms of any commitments you like, and defenses of any you dislike, to the point you are confident you can rebut the former and overcome the latter - or, if not - to the point where you comfortably hold or remain open to mixed views and have open questions. 

 

 

Part Three: Conceiving and Using Strategy

 

Strategy is far more contextual than general concepts or overall vision. Everyone country, every locale, has its own issues. Still, there are insights that are general and others that are nearly so, with a high burden of proof to ignore. These are the focus of the third part of the potential IOPS curriculum. 

Importance of Strategy  

 

Think through why strategy is needed, why it must be flexible, what its components are.

 

Diverse Components of Strategy

 

Consider agents of revolution, necessity of commitment, importance of vision to motivation, the issues of difference, sectarianism, etc., over thinking, under thinking, the role of the personal, how to seek reforms non reformistly, planting the seeds of the future in the present, issues of power and dealing with the state and elections, the role of organization - and the strategies of various existing perspectives such as marxism leninism and anarchism.

Tactical Case Studies

 

Consider issues of violence and pacifism, consensus decision making, the occupy history, and other experiences from those involved in the curriculum.

 

Sample Program

 

Conceive and evaluate possible program for economy, polity, kinship, culture, ecology, and international relations.

 

Broad Paths

 

Consider broad paths to change include electoral, insurrectionary, and constructivist - and try to merge and mesh them in a single  conception, to the extent possible.

 

Minimalist Maximalism

 

Apply the idea that we should not have too much, or too little, to the issues of strategy.

 

Part Four: Communicating with Others

 

Being able to develop and share vision and strategy becomes a powerful asset only when one can also communicate them. This involves both skills and confidence, each largely a function of practice.

 

Writing

 

Practice writing different length pieces, on different matters - for example, about IOPS generally, about vision, strategy, events, etc. Mutually evaluate to develop skills and confidence. Do it until everyone is reasonably comfortable. Post results.

 

Speaking

 

Practice giving talks on different matters. Mutually evaluate to develop skills and confidence. Do it until everyone is reasonably comfortable. Then video and post results.

 

Interviewing

 

Practice interviewing and being interviewed on different matters. Mutually evaluate to develop skills and confidence. Do it until everyone is reasonably comfortable.Then post results.

 

Debating

 

Practice debating - and criticizing - by taking both sides of issues. Mutually evaluate to develop skills and confidence. Do it until everyone is reasonably comfortable.Then post results.

 

Chairing

 

Practice chairing sessions. Mutually evaluate to develop skills and confidence. Do it until everyone is reasonably comfortable.

 

This blog was authored jointly by: Jason Chrysostomou, Preeti Kaur, David Marty, Sarah Owens, Verena Stresing and Florian Zollmann.