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''The Zeitgeist Movement''' (TZM) is a [[501(c) organization|501(c)(3)]] [[Nonprofit organization|non-profit organization]] incorporated in the state of [[California]].<ref>[https://businessfilings.sos.ca.gov/ "THE ZEITGEIST MOVEMENT (Incorporation details)"], ''businessfilings.sos.ca.gov'',.</ref> It is also a grassroots social movement organized by regional chapters.<ref name="VC">Shane Cohn, [http://www.vcreporter.com/cms/story/detail/new_world_re_order/8838/ "The Zeitgeist Movement spreads to Ventura County"], ''vcreporter.com'' December 5, 2011,.</ref><ref>[http://www.tzmchapters.net/ "The Zeitgeist Movement Chapters Portal"], ''tzmchapters.net''.</ref> It was founded by filmmaker [[Peter Joseph]] in 2008.<ref name="HP">Travis Donovan, [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/travis-walter-donovan/the-zeitgeist-movement-en_b_501517.html "The Zeitgeist Movement: Envisioning A Sustainable Future"], ''huffingtonpost.com'' May 25, 2011,.</ref> According to its mission statement it is “a sustainability advocacy organization, which conducts community based activism and awareness actions through a network of global/regional chapters, project teams, annual events, media and charity work.”<ref name="HERALD">[http://www.heralddeparis.com/the-zeitgeist-movement-practical-advices-to-build-a-better-future/27800/ "The Zeitgeist Movement: practical advices to build a better future"], ''heralddeparis.com'' March 19, 2009.</ref> It advocates a transformation of society, specifically its economic system, promoting a [[Post-scarcity economy|post-scarcity]] type economic approach often termed a “resource-based economy”.<ref>[http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxOPorto-Peter-Joseph-Arrivin;search%3Apeter%20joseph "TEDxO'Porto - Peter Joseph - Arriving at a Resource-Based Economy"], ''tedxtalks.ted.com''.</ref>
'''The Zeitgeist Movement''' was established in 2008 by [[Peter Joseph]] and advocates a transformation of society and its [[economic system]] to a non monetary system based on resource allocation and environmentalism.


==History==
Originally, the ideas were based on a societal model by [[Jacque Fresco]] a [[Social engineering (political science)|social engineer]] with [[Jacque Fresco#The Venus Project and later career|The Venus Project]].<ref name="o3" />{{r|socialeng}} In the Venus project machines control government and industry and safeguard resources using artificially intelligent “earthwide autonomic sensor system” super-brain connected to all human knowledge.<ref name="h6" />
The Zeitgeist Movement was originally created in 2008 in partnership with an organization called The Venus Project that was founded by engineer and futurist [[Jacque Fresco]].<ref name="HP"/> Fresco is said to have coined the term “resource-based economy”.<ref name="HERALD"/> In 2011, the two groups separated over disagreements in goals and objectives.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6cCw_n1XJ8 "Zeitgeist: The Venus Project Break Up - Peter Joseph - London Real"], ''youtube.com'',.</ref> While started as an all volunteer, informal group, without any legal status, in 2016 the movement formed its 501(c)(3) nonprofit under the same name, allowing for tax-exempt status and tax-deductible donation support. The name “zeitgeist”, meaning the “spirit of the age” was taken from founder Peter Joseph’s [[Zeitgeist (film series)|Zeitgeist Film Series]], which was an inspiration for the organization.<ref name="HERALD"/>


==Overview==
==Structure==
The movement’s main administration consists of a board of directors based in the United States, while also maintaining a volunteer international chapter structure with groups in numerous countries.<ref name="VC"/><ref name="YOUNG">TIFFY THOMPSON, [http://www.yongestreetmedia.ca/features/torontozeitgeist060513.aspx "First Tool Libraries, now Timebanks: Toronto's Zeitgeist movement is expanding"], ''yongestreetmedia.ca'' June 5, 2013.</ref> As predominantly an educational movement, it conducts annual events, produces video and literary media, and works through teams to conduct research and development projects.<ref name="YOUNG"/>
The Zeitgeist Movement was formed in 2008<ref>{{Cite web|title = TZM - Mission Statement|url = http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/mission-statement|website = www.thezeitgeistmovement.com|accessdate = October 2, 2015}}</ref> by Peter Joseph shortly after the late 2008 release of ''[[Zeitgeist: Addendum]]'', the second film in the [[Zeitgeist (film series)|'Zeitgeist' film series]].<ref name=o3/><ref name=v2/> In its first year the group described itself as "the [[activist]] arm of [[Jacque Fresco#The Venus Project and later career|The Venus Project]].<ref name=h11/> In April 2011, the two groups partnership ended in an apparent power struggle, with Joseph commenting, “Without [The Zeitgeist Movement], [The Venus Project] doesn’t exist – it has nothing but ideas and has no viable method to bring it to light."<ref name="o3">{{cite journal |first=Jeff|last=Gore |url=http://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/the-view-from-venus/Content?oid=2248863 |title=The view from Venus Jacque Fresco designed a society without politics, poverty and war. Will it ever leave the drawing board? |journal=Orlando Weekly |date=October 12, 2011 |accessdate=September 17, 2015}}</ref>
Jacques Fresco in an interview said that although the Zeitgeist movement wanted to act as the 'activist arm' of Venus project, Peter Joseph never clarified what that would entail. In addition Fresco's ideas of how to change society were not followed, leading to Fresco dropping participation in the Zeitgeist Movement.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=retxWac-6Z8 Interview of Fresco Retrieved May-3-2016</ref>


==Structure==
''VC Reporter's'' Shane Cohn summarized the movement's charter as: "Our greatest social problems are the direct results of our economic system".<ref name="v2" />
As of 2016, the organization reports around 160 chapters worldwide with 400,000 to 500,000 subscribed members worldwide as reported in 2011.<ref name="VC"/><ref>[http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/2010/03/15/local-zeitgeist-chapter-celebrates-global-zday "Local Zeitgeist chapter celebrates global ZDay"], ''dailyheraldtribune.com'' March 15, 2010.</ref><ref name="TNA">Alex Newman, [http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/north-america/item/10634-zeitgeist-and-the-venus-project "Zeitgeist and the Venus Project"], ''thenewamerican.com'' March 10, 2011.</ref> Chapters are focused on public awareness actions engaging their local regions. Annual event days such as Zeitgeist Day or the Zeitgeist Media Festival are shared global events which not only have a central event location, chapters usually participate in parallel by holding their own regional events during the same period.<ref name="TNA"/>


Chapter tiers are currently organized as:
Samuel Gilonis describes the movements opinions as wanting to replace all [[private property]] with for what Joseph refers to as "strategic access" as well as replacing [[democracy]] with a form of [[technocracy]] whereby the ruling class would comprise technical experts in control of their relevant domains.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=http://www.wessexscene.co.uk/features/2011/02/21/the-cult-of-zeitgeist/|title=The Cult of Zeitgeist|last=Gilonis|first=Samuel|date=February 21, 2011|work=Wessex Scene|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701011630/http://www.wessexscene.co.uk/features/2011/02/21/the-cult-of-zeitgeist/|archive-date=July 1, 2015|access-date=|via=}}</ref>
* International Chapters (i.e Germany, Australia, Ukraine)

* Stave/Province Chapters (i.e. Toronto, Vancouver, California, North Carolina
The group is critical of [[market capitalism]] describing it as structurally corrupt and inefficient in the use of resources. According to ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', the group dismisses historic religious concepts as misleading and embraces a version of sustainable [[Ecology|ecological]] concepts and scientific administration of society.<ref name="t9" /><ref name="pia14" /><ref name="m15" /><ref name="g16" /><ref name="p17" /><ref name="n18" />
* Local Town/City Chapters

In January 2014, the group published a book, ''The Zeitgeist Movement Defined: Realizing A New Train Of Thought'', composed of eighteen essays on psychology, economics, and scientific theory written by the 'TZM Lecture Team' and edited by Ben McLeish, Matt Berkowitz, and Peter Joseph.<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Zeitgeist Movement Defined: Realizing a New Train of Thought|last = TZM Lecture Team|first = |publisher = |year = 2014|isbn = 978-1495303197|location = |pages = |edition = 1st|url = http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/uploads/upload/file/19/The_Zeitgeist_Movement_Defined_PDF_Final.pdf|editor-last = McLeish|editor-first = Ben|editor-last2 = Berkowitz|editor-first2 = Matt|editor-last3 = Joseph|editor-first3 = Peter|archive-url = http://web.archive.org/web/20150912194856/http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/uploads/upload/file/19/The_Zeitgeist_Movement_Defined_PDF_Final.pdf|archive-date = September 12, 2015}}</ref>


==Events==
==Events==
The group holds two annual events, Zeitgeist Day (or “ZDay”) and the Zeitgeist Media Festival. Zeitgeist Day is its flagship educational forum held in the spring of each year in.<ref name="HERALD"/><ref>Jane Dunlap Norris, [http://www.dailyprogress.com/entertainment/first-local-zeitgeist-day-part-of-global-pause-tofocus/article_e486425a-8cf5-11e2-817e-001a4bcf6878.html "First local Zeitgeist Day part of global pause to focus on improvements, big ideas"], ''dailyprogress.com'' March 15, 2013.</ref> There are single main events and there are parallel or sympathetic events. The first ZDay main event took place in Manhattan in 2009 with a sold out crowd of 900 and included a lecture from Peter Joseph and question and answer with Jacque Fresco, with reportedly 70 countries also participating in parallel.<ref name="NWT">ALAN FEUER, [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/nyregion/17zeitgeist.html?_r=1 "They've Seen the Future and Dislike the Present"], ''nytimes.com'' March 16, 2009.</ref><ref name="HERALD"/> Other keynote speakers through the years have included philosopher [[John McMurtry]] and independent journalist [[Abby Martin]].
The group holds two annual events: Z-Day (or Zeitgeist Day), an "educational forum"<ref name=n8/> held in March and an [[Artivism|artivist]] event called Zeitgeist Media Festival.<ref name=h6/> The second Z-Day took place in Manhattan in 2009 and included lectures by Peter Joseph and Jacque Fresco. The organisers said that local chapters also held sister events on the same day.<ref name="n8" /> The Zeitgeist Media Festival was first held in 2011. Its 3rd annual event took place on August 4, 2013 at the [[Avalon Hollywood]] nightclub in Los Angeles, California.<ref name=h6/><ref>{{Cite news|url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6btJbfcXUqA|title = RT - Breaking the Set|last = Martin|first = Abby|date = |work = |access-date = |via = }}</ref>

==Criticism==
An article in the ''[[Journal of Contemporary Religion]]'' describes the movement as an example of a "conspirituality," a synthesis of [[New Age]] spirituality and [[conspiracy theory]].<ref name=j10/>

[[Michelle Goldberg]] of ''[[Tablet Magazine]]'' called the movement "the world's first Internet-based apocalyptic cult, with members who parrot the party line with cheerful, rote fidelity." In her opinion, the movement is "devoted to a kind of sci-fi planetary communism", and the [[Zeitgeist (film series)#Zeitgeist: The Movie|2007 documentary]] that "sparked" the movement was "steeped in far-right, isolationist, and covertly anti-Semitic conspiracy theories."<ref name=t7 />

Alan Feuer of ''[[The New York Times]]'' said the movement was like "a utopian presentation of a money-free and computer-driven vision of the future, a wholesale reimagination of civilization, as if Karl Marx and Carl Sagan had hired John Lennon from his “Imagine” days to do no less than redesign the underlying structures of planetary life."<ref name=n8/>

In Socialist Unity magazine and also Tablet Magazine the film’s relationship to anti-Semitic texts is claimed and it is claimed that those theories are made to look left-wing or liberal. A relationship between the film and a book called [[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion]], along with the films use of other [[anti-Semitic]] tropes is claimed.<ref>http://socialistunity.com/zeitgeist-exposed Retrieved June-15-2016/</ref><ref>http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/57732/brave-new-world Retrieved June-15-2016</ref>

==See also==
* [[Post scarcity economy]]
* [[Technological utopianism]]


==References ==
==References ==

Revision as of 22:42, 26 June 2016

"TZM" redirects here. For the superalloy, see Molybdenum § Alloys.

The Zeitgeist Movement
AbbreviationTZM
Formation2008
TypeAdvocacy group
Region served
International
Key people
Peter Joseph
Websitewww.thezeitgeistmovement.com

The Zeitgeist Movement' (TZM) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization incorporated in the state of California.[1] It is also a grassroots social movement organized by regional chapters.[2][3] It was founded by filmmaker Peter Joseph in 2008.[4] According to its mission statement it is “a sustainability advocacy organization, which conducts community based activism and awareness actions through a network of global/regional chapters, project teams, annual events, media and charity work.”[5] It advocates a transformation of society, specifically its economic system, promoting a post-scarcity type economic approach often termed a “resource-based economy”.[6]

History

The Zeitgeist Movement was originally created in 2008 in partnership with an organization called The Venus Project that was founded by engineer and futurist Jacque Fresco.[4] Fresco is said to have coined the term “resource-based economy”.[5] In 2011, the two groups separated over disagreements in goals and objectives.[7] While started as an all volunteer, informal group, without any legal status, in 2016 the movement formed its 501(c)(3) nonprofit under the same name, allowing for tax-exempt status and tax-deductible donation support. The name “zeitgeist”, meaning the “spirit of the age” was taken from founder Peter Joseph’s Zeitgeist Film Series, which was an inspiration for the organization.[5]

Structure

The movement’s main administration consists of a board of directors based in the United States, while also maintaining a volunteer international chapter structure with groups in numerous countries.[2][8] As predominantly an educational movement, it conducts annual events, produces video and literary media, and works through teams to conduct research and development projects.[8]

Structure

As of 2016, the organization reports around 160 chapters worldwide with 400,000 to 500,000 subscribed members worldwide as reported in 2011.[2][9][10] Chapters are focused on public awareness actions engaging their local regions. Annual event days such as Zeitgeist Day or the Zeitgeist Media Festival are shared global events which not only have a central event location, chapters usually participate in parallel by holding their own regional events during the same period.[10]

Chapter tiers are currently organized as:

  • International Chapters (i.e Germany, Australia, Ukraine)
  • Stave/Province Chapters (i.e. Toronto, Vancouver, California, North Carolina
  • Local Town/City Chapters

Events

The group holds two annual events, Zeitgeist Day (or “ZDay”) and the Zeitgeist Media Festival. Zeitgeist Day is its flagship educational forum held in the spring of each year in.[5][11] There are single main events and there are parallel or sympathetic events. The first ZDay main event took place in Manhattan in 2009 with a sold out crowd of 900 and included a lecture from Peter Joseph and question and answer with Jacque Fresco, with reportedly 70 countries also participating in parallel.[12][5] Other keynote speakers through the years have included philosopher John McMurtry and independent journalist Abby Martin.

References

  1. ^ "THE ZEITGEIST MOVEMENT (Incorporation details)", businessfilings.sos.ca.gov,.
  2. ^ a b c Shane Cohn, "The Zeitgeist Movement spreads to Ventura County", vcreporter.com December 5, 2011,.
  3. ^ "The Zeitgeist Movement Chapters Portal", tzmchapters.net.
  4. ^ a b Travis Donovan, "The Zeitgeist Movement: Envisioning A Sustainable Future", huffingtonpost.com May 25, 2011,.
  5. ^ a b c d e "The Zeitgeist Movement: practical advices to build a better future", heralddeparis.com March 19, 2009.
  6. ^ "TEDxO'Porto - Peter Joseph - Arriving at a Resource-Based Economy", tedxtalks.ted.com.
  7. ^ "Zeitgeist: The Venus Project Break Up - Peter Joseph - London Real", youtube.com,.
  8. ^ a b TIFFY THOMPSON, "First Tool Libraries, now Timebanks: Toronto's Zeitgeist movement is expanding", yongestreetmedia.ca June 5, 2013.
  9. ^ "Local Zeitgeist chapter celebrates global ZDay", dailyheraldtribune.com March 15, 2010.
  10. ^ a b Alex Newman, "Zeitgeist and the Venus Project", thenewamerican.com March 10, 2011.
  11. ^ Jane Dunlap Norris, "First local Zeitgeist Day part of global pause to focus on improvements, big ideas", dailyprogress.com March 15, 2013.
  12. ^ ALAN FEUER, "They've Seen the Future and Dislike the Present", nytimes.com March 16, 2009.

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