Zeitgeist Hareketi
2008 yılında kurulan Zeitgeist Hareketi, Küresel/Bölgesel Bölümler, Proje Ekipleri, Yıllık Etkinlikler, Medya ve Yardımseverlik çalışmaları ağı aracılığıyla toplum kaynaklı aktivizm ve farkındalık eylemlerini yönlendiren, Sürdürülebilirlik Yanlısı bir oluşumdur.
Hareketin temel odak noktası, günümüzde insanlık için sorun olan toplumsal problemlerin, bazı kurumsal yolsuzluklar, kıtlık, siyasi politika, “insan doğası”ndaki bozulma veya genel olarak kabul görmüş diğer nedensellik varsayımlarının sonucu olmadığını kabul etmektir.
Daha doğrusu Hareket, fakirlik, yozlaşma, dejenerasyon, evsizlik, savaş, açlık gibi sorunların eskimiş bir toplumsal yapının “Belirtileri” olarak ortaya çıktığını kabul eder. Her ne kadar yenilik geliştirme süreçleri ve zamana bağlı toplum desteği Hareket’in ilgi alanına dahil olsa da , asıl amaç, teknik olarak Kaynak Yönetimi, Paylaşımı ve Dağıtımına bağlı yeni bir sosyo-ekonomik modeli hayata geçirmektir ki bu, problemler üzerine akıl yürütme ve mümkün olan en iyi çözümü bulmak için uygulanan Bilimsel Yöntem olarak düşünülebilir.
“Kaynak Bazlı Ekonomi Modeli”, toplumsal yönetim üzerindeki parasal ve hatta siyasi düzenlemelere karşı doğrudan teknik bir yaklaşım uygulamakla ilgilidir. Bu durum, parasal takas, kar, kurumlar ile diğer yapısal ve motivasyonel öğelerden meydana gelen mevcut sistemimizin doğurduğu yıkıcı sonuçlar ve sınırlandırıcı önlemleri geride bırakarak, bilimin ortaya koyduğu en gelişmiş ve kanıtlanmış yöntemlerle toplum çalışmalarını yenilemekten ibarettir.
Hareket, şahıslara veya kurumlara değil bir düşünce dizisine sadıktır. Başka bir deyişle, savunduğumuz görüş, bilim ve teknoloji alanında gerçekleşen toplum hedefli araştırmalar ve denenmiş anlayışlar sayesinde günümüzde insan nüfusunun ihtiyaçlarını karşılamada son derece etkili olabilecek toplumsal uygulamalara erişebilme imkanımızın olduğudur. Aslına bakacak olursak, mevcut sistemimizde hepimizin ortak sorunu olan suçların büyük bir kısmı, savaş, fakirlik, para-kaynaklı kıtlık etkilerinin zaman içinde çözülememesi için çok az sebep vardır.
Hareketin Aktivizm ve Farkındalık Çalışmaları kısa vadeden uzun vadeye doğru şiddet karşıtı iletişim metodlarıyla genişler. Uzun vadedeki hedef olan Kaynak Bazlı Ekonomi’ye geçiş daha önceden de belirtildiği gibi değişmez amaçtır. Bununla beraber Hareket, hedefe ulaşma yolunda doğrudan Toplum Desteği ve dönüşümsel Reform tekniklerine olan ihtiyacı da kabul eder.
Mesela, “Parasal Reform” Hareket tarafından önerilen nihai çözüm olmamakla beraber, yine de geçiş süresince geçici bütünlüğü sağlamak anlamında bu tür yasal yaklaşımların geçerliliği savunulmaktadır. Benzer olarak, günümüzde ihtiyacı olanlara yapılan yiyecek ve giyecek yardımı tarzı destekleyici projelerin uzun vadede bir çözüm getireceği düşünülmese de, asıl amaca yönelik farkındalığı yayma çerçevesinde, ihtiyaç sahiplerine yardım etme düşüncesi savunulmaktadır.
Zeitgeist Hareketi’nin herhangi bir ülke veya siyasi partiye bağlılığı yoktur. Zeitgeist Hareketi, dünyayı tek bir sistem, insan türünü de tek bir aile olarak görür ve uzun vadede hayatta kalabilmek adına tüm ülkelerin silahsızlanarak, fikirlerini ve kaynaklarını birbirleriyle paylaşmayı öğrenmek zorunda olduğunu kabul eder. Bu nedenle, ortaya koyduğu ve desteklediği çözümler, seçilmiş bir gruba değil Dünyada yaşayan herkese yardım etme kaygısındadır.
MISSION STATEMENT
Founded in 2008, The Zeitgeist Movement 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.
The Movement's principle focus includes the recognition that the majority of the social problems which plague the human species at this time are not the sole result of some institutional corruption, scarcity, a political policy, a flaw of "human nature" or other commonly held assumptions of causality.
Rather, The Movement recognizes that issues such as poverty, corruption, collapse, homelessness, war, starvation and the like appear to be "Symptoms" born out of an outdated social structure. While intermediate Reform steps and temporal Community Support are of interest to The Movement, the defining goal here is the installation of a new socioeconomic model based upon technically responsible Resource Management, Allocation and Distribution through what would be considered The Scientific Method of reasoning problems and finding optimized solutions.
This "Resource-Based Economic Model" is about taking a direct technical approach to social management as opposed to a Monetary or even Political one. It is about updating the workings of society to the most advanced and proven methods Science has to offer, leaving behind the damaging consequences and limiting inhibitions which are generated by our current system of monetary exchange, profits, corporations and other structural and motivational components.
The Movement is loyal to a train of thought, not figures or institutions. In other words, the view held is that through the use of socially targeted research and tested understandings in Science and Technology, we are now able to logically arrive at societal applications which could be profoundly more effective in meeting the needs of the human population. In fact, so much so, that there is little reason to assume war, poverty, most crimes and many other money-based scarcity effects common in our current model cannot be resolved over time.
The range of The Movement's Activism & Awareness Campaigns extend from short to long term, with the model based explicitly on Non-Violent methods of communication. The long term view, which is the transition into a Resource-Based Economic Model, is a constant pursuit and expression, as stated before. However, in the path to get there, The Movement also recognizes the need for transitional Reform techniques, along with direct Community Support.
For instance, while "Monetary Reform" itself is not an end solution proposed by The Movement, the merit of such legislative approaches are still considered valid in the context of transition and temporal integrity. Likewise, while food and clothes drives and other supportive projects to help those in need today are also not considered a long term solution, it is still considered valid in the context of helping others in a time of need, while also drawing awareness to the principle goal.
The Zeitgeist Movement also has no allegiance to a country or traditional political platforms. It views the world as a single system and the human species as a single family and recognizes that all countries must disarm and learn to share resources and ideas if we expect to survive in the long run. Hence, the solutions arrived at and promoted are in the interest to help everyone on the planet Earth, not a select group.
STRUCTURE
Terms/Issues covered:
•"The Movement"
•"Members"
•"Chapters"
•"Teams"
•"Projects"
•"Coordinators"
•"Rational Consensus"
•"Fundraising"
The Movement
The Movement, as an entity, consists of the global Chapter set usually comprising City, State and Nation. While The Movement is global, by definition, Chapters are what comprise the physical presence of The Zeitgeist Movement in form. To be apart of The Movement is to be apart of your regional Chapter at the lowest degree of operation in your area, hence becoming part of the whole.
Members
For a person to be technically considered a Member of The Zeitgeist Movement they must be active in a Chapter. If a Chapter doesn't exist in their respective region, a prospective Member would found one. This is very simple in its preliminary stages as all it requires is a website or community group of any kind/size. It has to start somewhere.
Chapters
Chapters are regional Zeitgeist Movement Member groups, organized in Tiers.
From "Top to Bottom", the current Chapter Tiers are:
1.International— [Countries]
2.State/Province— [ Next lower degree regional distinctions within a given Country ]
3.City/Town— [ Next lower degree regional distinctions within a given State or Province ]
Chapters need to have the ability to enable communication among its Members, along with other Chapters. As a Chapter grows, periodic Meetings should be conducted in live and/or virtual (online) settings along with taking part in regional or global events and actions.
Chapter Meetings occur in Tiers with the Coordinators meeting on their respective level. For example, the North Carolina State Chapter, assuming no sub-chapters within it, would have a meeting with all NC Members present. However, the meeting of the next largest Tier, the Country level (USA), would be only with the Coordinators of each State, not all the Members. This narrowing is for the sake of comprehension as it would be too difficult to have Global Meetings with thousands of Members at once.
Teams
Groups of Members, organized by Team Coordinators, working with a specific Project or Projects.
Teams generally take two forms : Global Teams and Regional Teams.
Global Teams are teams which work on central Movement Projects which relate to the entire global organization. There are Currently 6 Global Teams and each Team has its own set of participatory guidelines/processes:
•Linguistic Team
•Developer Team
•Newsletter / Press Release Team
•Media Project Team
•Technology Team
•Lecture Team
Regional Teams are typically independent of global assessment and are created by the Chapter.
Projects
Any task of relevant interest agreed upon and set forth by a Team, either Regional or Global. These often include Newsletters, Events or Charity actions.
Coordinators
Member-ed organizers/representatives for each Chapter or Team.
These are the point people and basic operation oversight organizers who work with a Chapter or Team on communication and any related admin issues. They are not to be confused with leaders or authorities [ie "Presidents/Mayors" or "Decision Makers"]. They are equal in relevance to each other Member of the respective Chapter/Team and they are not in a position of final decision making over the Chapter. Rather, they volunteer their time for the sake of relaying consensus information from and to their Chapter/Team, along with often taking the initiative for respective Projects. Chapter Coordinators are typically the founding party of a given Chapter and they are, of course, volunteers - like everyone else. They have to undergo approval, however, by the next larger degree Coordinator(s). For example, if a City Chapter is to be set up, that person is reviewed by the State Coordinator as to the integrity of that new prospect. New Chapter creation is contingent upon the dedication and knowledge shown by the prospective Chapter Coordinator and this is assessed on a per case basis. This is one of the few cases where the Coordinator of a City/State/Country is required to make a "decision" - in this case, about a [sub] Chapter application under their degree. In the event of conflict, the relevant next degree Tier as a whole will work to reach Rational Consensus. Global Team Coordinators are also not authorities but, again, are rather volunteer helpers to make sure the processes of each team is going smoothly. In the event of problems/conflict, the change of Coordinator(s) of a given Chapter/Team are achieved through both respective Chapter/Team Consensus and International Coordinator assessment - through "Rational Consensus".
Rational Consensus
Rational Consensus is not to be confused with the historically failed traditional Mob Rule Democratic Process of "one person - one vote". TZM does not condone total, open mob rule democracy as it is based on the faulty assumption that each participating party is educated enough to make the most intellectually appropriate, unbiased decision. Proper Decision Making has nothing to do with the interests of a group of people, nor the interests of a single person. Proper Decision Making is a purely technical process of logical assessment of a given set of variables and hence can only be based on upon tangible, technical referents - not abject, unsupported mass value opinion, which is what the pure democratic theory erroneously assumes holds integrity. In other words, each argument of a given member must be logically supported by an external referent/set of external referents – clearly reasoned in communication to support the conclusion given. The manifestation of this reasoning could be called a "Case".
Using the example of a Chapter scenario: When a conflict of agreement occurs between the group, the process of Rational Consensus is commenced which requires each conflicting party to present their Case to everyone else. This Case must consist of technically reasoned factors/instances/examples which can be evaluated outside of the expression of the person who is presenting the problem. In other words, insinuation, assumptions and predispositions have no value. If the argument cannot be quantified in some manner - it isn't valid as an argument.
Let's assume a Member has a problem with a Coordinator's actions and would like to see the removal of that Coordinator. Let's assume the Case reasoning is that the Coordinator is not properly representing the interests/ideas of the majority of the group.
In this scenario, a set of technical examples would need to be provided by which the group itself can review. Then a rational "democratic" consensus is made within that group based solely upon the evidence presented - not the expression of any persons themselves. Now, while this process is simple and direct enough - resembling traditional democracy - the decision can still be overridden in the event the conclusions made are suspect as to their technical reasoning by the next tier degree in the Chapter Structure. This extended evaluation is there to protect from erroneous conclusions made by a possibly un-knowledgeable or biased Chapter Membership.
In other words, for example, the removal of a State Chapter Coordinator, while meeting Rational Consensus in the respective Chapter, might still need to meet Rational Consensus on the State Tier on the Structure. [ie. Consensus by all 50 states] to protect against erroneous or biased group decisions or even infiltrations by 3rd parties with the intent of problem generation. Since these situations are very rare and occur usually within very small, lower tier Chapters, the factors which comprise such an intervention naturally exist on a per case basis.
As an aside, it is important to point out that there is nothing to gain personally by being a Coordinator of any Chapter or Team in and of itself. Abuse of this position offers nothing in self-interest return, except perhaps Ego Satisfaction. There is no pay and typically it is a higher stress position due to the responsibility inherent. Many who come from the hyper-democratic conditioning assume that mass consensus is the only thing we can trust while the individual is not trust worthy at all. This cynical view needs to be adjusted to understand that in an environment where a person cannot find reward for their narrow self-interest, they will have no reason typically to perpetuate that narrow self-interest. This is one of the core reasons, as an aside, The Movement operates without money overall - as money always sets the stage for corruption on a basic level, as history has shown.
Information Relay
Each Chapter Tier has a set Coordinator or set of Coordinators and these Coordinators are only the communicative representative of the interests of that Chapter while, in certain cases, they are needed to assess decisions about Chapter conflicts/appointments in the Tier beneath them [See above]. In all cases, Rational Consensus is the process of decision making and this naturally underscores what we could call "Information Relay" as well.
Information is discussed within each Chapter at their respective periodic meetings, either live or online, with Rational Census being met with regard to any issue of importance. Then a given idea, if relevant to the Global Movement, is set on a course from Bottom to Top through a process of systematic Coordinator representation. If a City Chapter [i.e. - Chicago] originates an idea/project which it feels would be applicable to the global whole of The Zeitgeist Movement, that idea is then presented and discussed at the State Level [i.e. - Illinois], with all other City Chapters.
Once Rational Consensus is met on that level, the State Coordinator brings that idea to the Country Level [i.e. - USA], where the idea is presented and discussed with all States/Provinces. Once Rational Consensus is met on that level, the Country Coordinator brings that idea to the International Level [i.e. - World], where the idea is presented and discussed with all Countries. It is at this level that Rational Consensus would implement the idea.
This is the "Bottom Up" approach. From there, "Top Down" directives can be suggested which affect all Chapter actions. Obviously, there are "middle ground" proposals which will begin not on the "lower" tier level, but on a "mid" or "high" level. In this case, it is the responsibility of each Coordinator of The Movement to communicate the issues presented to their respective Chapters and, if there is conflict, the bottom up approach is instituted again to reach Rational Consensus and hence resolution.
Fundraising
As a Global Rule, The Movement operates on the basis of Time Dedication and not Monetary Dedication. No chapter is allowed to take direct, Open Donations. Overall, The Movement deliberately operates on a personal contribution, volunteer model. However, there are two basic exceptions. Since the websites cost money to run, simple merchandise is respectable to offer. The Global Website, for example, offers a single Shirt to help offset the administrative and hosting costs. Each Chapter is allowed to also offer a custom Shirt or similar. However, any "excessive" merchandising will be shut down if it presents a case for abuse. Such decisions are made by International/Global Admin Consensus.
The 2nd exception is when a specific temporal project is required which needs funding. Typically, it is expected that such funding will come personally from an individual or set of individuals working with the Chapter directly. In the event that cannot happen, a fully transparent temporary donation system can be put into place to meet the needs of that Project.
PRESS
Zeitgeist Revolution: TZM Interview for RT's Breaking the Set"
Russia Today/Breaking the Set
" Abby Martin talks to Independent Filmmaker Peter Joseph, about the Zeitgeist movement and humanity's capacity to evolve beyond current social structures."
In "A World that Works for Everyone," Work and Jobs As We Know Them Are Obsolete: The Buckminster Fuller View
Huffington Post.com
"Critical Path was published in 1981 less than two years before his death. Interestingly, The Zeitgeist Movement has just made Critical Path its October Book of the Month. So, three plus decades after it was published, many more people will finally become aware of the actions we need to take in order to create Bucky's vision "a world that works for everyone" and perhaps take one step away from their traditional vision of work and jobs."
THE FAR-SEEING EMERGENT ZEITGEIST, PART II: What is this Earth of Ours?
Hollywood Today
"The Zeitgeist Movement, galvanized by the penetrating constellation of observations of Peter Joseph, has developed an acute sensitivity to the consequences of this decoupling process at the same time that prominent leaders around the world – including political and corporate America – appear to exhibit a conscious scorn for our planet’s health, even as human afflictions increase in both scope and variety."
Far-Seeing Emergent ZEITGEIST Part 1 “What really matters”?
Hollywood Today
"The Zeitgeist Movement – and hence a conversation with Peter Joseph – touches everything and becomes a flowing mobius strip of factors that inform our existence and cannot escape us, because everything is connected to everything else and everything interacts with everything else, whether directly or indirectly – no matter how difficult it is to actually make secure the truth – let alone a jointly held consensus of truth that would make our world a better place to call home."
ZEITGEIST MEDIA FESTIVAL 2012: A celebration to be shared with the entire Earth2
Hollywood Today
"It was a Festival of full-spectrum conviction, overflowing with compelling emotions that reflect the real conundrums pressing in upon our emerging global society with accelerating force. In this sense this now-annual Festival is a natural outgrowth of a growing, terrestrial upheaval that is going to leave no part of man’s collective being untouched."
The Zeitgeist Movement/Ben McLeish on "EBTV" April, 2012
EBTV
"Ben shares how he got started with the Zeitgeist Movement, what the Movement is all about, what is a resource based economy, and how it can help..."
The Zeitgeist Movement/Peter Joseph on "The Marker" Feb 5th, 2012
themarker.com
"Joseph came to speak at the event Z-Fest Tel Aviv in 2012, to be held at the ZOA House and organized by the Zeitgeist Movement Israel Branch..."
The Zeitgeist Movement/Peter Joseph on RT, Feb 10th, 2012 : War and The State
rt.com
"But in the West's efforts to isolate Iran, India has announced it will send a delegation into Iran and has now emerged as the number one customer of the Iranian oil. There are new indications showing China will send in its officials. This global chess match looks like it maybe a long and messy one. Peter Joseph, of the Zeitgeist movement talks to RT's Kristine Frazao. His group is dealing with the global economic crisis and has just returned from a week in Israel."
The Zeitgeist Movement on Russia Today:"Capital Account", Dec 2nd 2011
rt.com
"So, with all of the problems in the world today, how do people begin to think about, let alone implement solutions that can improve their lives and those of others in society? Economists like Steve Keen support debt jubilees, others like Lew Rockwell and Ron Paul support sound money as the solution, but what about something more radical? What about getting grid of money, profit and competition all together? Well, Peter Joseph, author of the Zeitgeist series, believes that society can evolve to do just that..."
The Zeitgeist Movement: Envisioning A Sensible Future
huffingtonpost.com
"March 13th, 2010 was the second annual celebration of ZDay. Coordinated by The Zeitgeist Movement, ZDay is an educational event geared toward raising awareness of the movement. 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…"
They've Seen the Future and Dislike the Present
nytimes.com
"If the election of Barack Obama was supposed to denote the gradual demise of churlish, corporate governance and usher in a new, sustainable era of visionary change, there was little sign of it at the second annual meeting of the Worldwide Zeitgeist Movement, which, its organizers said, held 450 sister events in 70 countries around the globe…"