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The Zeitgeist Movement

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The Zeitgeist Movement
AbbreviationTZM or ZM
FormationAugust 18, 2008; 16 years ago (2008-08-18)
TypeSocial movement
Key people
Peter Joseph, Ben McLeish
WebsiteTheZeitgeistMovement.com

The Zeitgeist Movement (Zeitgeist which means 'the spirit of the times' in German) is a global, nonviolent, sustainability and social equality advocacy organization founded in 2008.

It seeks to provide education concerning their belief that the "monetary-market" economy should be replaced with a resource-based economy[1][2][3], a moneyless and stateless global system in which money, debt, credit, exchange, barter, wage labor, private property and the profit motive would be eliminated. Resources would be managed efficiently and carefully as possible through the technological potential of sustainable development. [clarification needed][1][2][4][3][5][6][7]

The movement believes in a sustainable future where humanity unites via the scientific method. [clarification needed][1][3][4][6][5][2]

The Zeitgeist Movement was inspired by Peter Joseph's film Zeitgeist: Addendum. The film described The Venus Project as a possible solution.[8]

Activities

The movement aims to provide information about why a new global system is needed.[1] The members of the movement are engaged in raising awareness on the issues discussed in the films (Zeitgeist: The Movie, Zeitgeist: Addendum and Zeitgeist: Moving Forward) regarding what is, in their view, the inherent structural corruption of the current socio-economic system.[5]

Z-Day

The Zeitgeist Movement stages an annual event called "Z-Day" in March, to raise awareness of the movement's goals.[1][5] The first Z-Day was on March 15, 2009. The main event in New York City had a sold-out crowd of around 900 at the Borough of Manhattan Community College.[4] The 2010 event took place on March 13. "While 337 sympathetic events occurred in over 70 countries worldwide, NYC was home to the main event, a 6-hour live web cast presentation with lectures from the movement's key figures, and 30 different countries represented in the audience."[1] The 2011 main event was held in London,[9] and the 2012 main event was held in Vancouver.[10]

Criticism of Zeitgeist and a resource-based economy

The Huffington Post,[1] The New York Times,[4] The Palm Beach Post,[3] Globes,[6] TheMarker,[5] The Orlando Sentinel,[7] RT TV,[11][12] and TheMarkerTV [13] discussed various aspects of criticism of the Zeitgeist movement, for example allegations of utopianism, reduced work incentives in an RBE and practical difficulties in a transition to an RBE. (In each case, members of the movement were given an opportunity to respond to the criticism.)

The original documentary that launched the Zeitgeist movement has been criticized as being anti-Jewish. In 2009 a German social networking site, studiVZ, banned Zeitgeist groups because of what they characterized as their implicit anti-Semitism.[14][15]

The Austrian economist Robert P. Murphy, in his article "Venus Needs Some Austrians", argued that several of the project's foundational premises, such as the notion that human productivity is not dependent on monetary wealth or property rights, are fundamentally flawed.[16] He writes, "these idealists are wrong to blame our current, dysfunctional world on capitalism or money per se. On the contrary, if everyone respected each other's property rights — meaning there would be no more petty crime, but also no more taxation, military conscription, or drug prohibition — then humanity would become fantastically wealthy, in material terms." His basic thesis is that unjustified governmental imposition into the economic freedom of democratic citizens results in decreased productivity and diminished prosperity, and that only a capitalistically predicated, free market economy based on libertarian principles of individual freedom will result in improved products and an enhanced society.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "The Zeitgeist Movement: Envisioning A Sustainable Future". Huffington Post. Mar 16, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ a b c "Resource Based Economy". The Venus Project.
  3. ^ a b c d A dream worth having, Rhonda Swan, The Palm Beach Post, April 30, 2009
  4. ^ a b c d "They've Seen the Future and Dislike the Present". New York Times. 2009-03-16.
  5. ^ a b c d e Quotations and citations in this Wikipedia article are based on the translation from Hebrew to English of The Filmmaker Who Helped Recruit Millions for the Global Protests of the Bottom 99%, original Hebrew article by Asher Schechter, TheMarker (Israel), January 19, 2012.
  6. ^ a b c Quotations and citations in this Wikipedia article are based on the translation from Hebrew to English of Imagine, original Hebrew article by Tzaela Kotler, Globes (Israel), March 18, 2010.
  7. ^ a b "He's A Dreamer From Venus", Mike Thomas, Orlando Sentinel, Feb. 12, 1995.
  8. ^ Bill Stamets (February 15, 2011). "Art-house films: 'Marwencol,' 'Zeitgeist'". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  9. ^ "Brockwood at Zeitgeist-Day in London – March 13th, 2011". Brockwood Park School. 2011-04-11.
  10. ^ "Zeitgeist Day 2012 - Vogue Theatre in Vancouver, BC". voguetheatre.com.
  11. ^ Zeitgeist Solutions: New World Re-Order, RT, Sept. 14, 2011
  12. ^ Zeitgeist Solutions: Money, Debt and RBE, RT, Dec. 2, 2011
  13. ^ Discussion of the Zeitgeist movement with Peter Joseph, TheMarkerTV, Jan. 19, 2012. Interview conducted in English, following a brief introduction in Hebrew. The brief Hebrew introduction states: "Hello, Peter Joseph is with us, he is the filmmaker and director who created the Zeitgeist film series and The Zeitgeist movement, which advances for a global socio-economic change. The Zeitgeist films were among the most popular films in the history of the Internet, and Peter is here to answer a few questions regarding the nature of the Zeitgeist movement."
  14. ^ http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/57732/brave-new-world Retrieval June-2-2012
  15. ^ http://www.zeitgeistaustralia.org/studivznet-shut-down-zeitgeist-groups/ Retrieval June-2-2012
  16. ^ a b Murphy, Robert P. Venus Needs Some Austrians, "The Ludwig Von Mises Institute," 30 Aug. 2010
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