/ Thesis
Towards an Open Civics
The OpenCivics Thesis exists to articulate the systemic failures and challenges of contemporary civilization while proposing a transformative vision for a collaborative and resilient future.
TL;DR
Root Down & Rise Up
We believe a participatory, vital and resilient civilization is possible.
Our civilization is in crisis, marked by environmental degradation, social fragmentation, political corruption, and economic inequality. Many are realizing that these crises are systemic and interconnected, a meta-crisis that is driving humanity at an exponential rate towards breakdown and collapse.
If we accept that our current crises are the result of our systems themselves, it becomes our civic responsibility to create new civic systems and rebuild our capacity to reimagine and redesign how civil society is organized from the bottom up.
meta-crisis
an interconnected set of crises whose common feature is their systemic and self-reinforcing nature, stemming from the long term effects of separation, rivalry, and the consolidation of wealth and power.
What is civics?
Civics refers to civilizational systems of care.
The origin of the word civics comes from in an act of care, an expression of solidarity and devotion rooted in mutuality and shared belonging.
An open civics calls forth a return or rebirth of the original meaning of civics. We see this civic renaissance as a renewal of the civic virtue of mutual care and responsibility, values that are embedded in a renewal of civic culture.
We believe that renewed civic culture will inspire the innovation of civic systems as networked infrastructures, social structures, and hyper-structures that support community solidarity and unlock collective action potential.
civic
adjective · /sĭv′ĭk/
mid 16th century: from French civique or Latin civicus, from civis ‘citizen’. The original use was in civic garland, crown, denoting a garland of oak leaves and acorns given in ancient Rome to a person who saved a fellow citizen's life.
– Oxford English Dictionary
Our critical path
No one is coming to save us.
It’s sobering to realize that people in positions of power are just as stuck within broken civic systems as we are. But within the grief or rage that many of us feel at the state of our world is a deep yearning to participate in and care for the places we call home.
Liberating the natural impulse of the human spirit to envision and co-create a more beautiful world is one of the greatest endeavors of our time. We must then embed that spirit of radical responsibility, mutuality, and solidarity with and for each other, based upon mutual care and interdependence, into the design of our civic systems.
The choice is ours to imagine and create a better future open civilization, together.
civic systems
systems that help the public govern common-pool resources and coordinate with one another for mutual benefit. Examples include: currency, food networks, identity, governance, and participatory budgeting.
Become a member
Join an aligned network of open civic innovators, organizers, and patrons.
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Discover and resource an ecosystem of open civic innovation activities.
Learn & Grow
Explore public resources and get inspired by models for local collective action.