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The Zeitgeist Movement is a grassroots, sustainability advocacy organization. Established in 2008 by Peter Joseph, the organization states that it has no leaders. Zeitgeist group members advocate a transition from the global money-based economic system to what they refer to as a resource-based economy.

Popularized in a series of films critical of market capitalism, the films created a political movement that, according to The Telegraph, assumes future generations will view religious ideas as a misleading method of controlling society and embrace sustainable ecological concepts. The Zeitgeist Movement argues that a religious or political ideology should not be the basis for societal operations but instead the scientific method should be employed to develop a society based on collaboration and a balance of technology and nature.

The name of the group comes from the German word Zeitgeist, which refers to the "spirit of the age" or "spirit of the time."

History

After the release of Peter Joseph's first film, Zeitgeist: The Movie (2007), Joseph said that fans began asking what to do about issues raised by it, and in a sequence at the end of the subsequent film, Zeitgeist: Addendum (2008), the Zeitgeist Movement was introduced by Joseph. At that time the Zeitgeist Movement described itself as the activist arm of The Venus Project, which was featured in Zeitgeist: Addendum and Zeitgeist: Moving Forward (2011). In April 2011 the two groups ended their association with one reporter describing their contentions as an "apparent power struggle".

Views

The group describes the current socioeconomic system as structurally corrupt and in need of replacement with their concept of a system based on efficient use of resources and sustainable development. The Zeitgeist Movement advocates renewable energy and automated systems worldwide to provide the necessities of life without using a price system. The movement advocates the elimination of money and private ownership of property in exchange for their version of a resource-based economy.

The Ventura County Reporter, described the views of The Zeitgeist Movement according to their interview of Peter Joseph: “They call it a Utopia and say it can’t happen,” said Joseph. “They can’t fathom it because they are so used to the deprived, neurotic, twisted world where people are trying to screw each other over as fast as possible for their own self-interest, which is essentially what this system is based on. “It’s not about getting mad and breaking windows. That doesn’t do anything but reinforce power and lead to more police, more military, and that can lead to a police-state. Ultimately, we want concentrated nonviolent action, not against the U.S. but against the entire global manifold, saying ‘you can’t do anything if we don’t participate.’ The fabric of the system is based on participation in it.” End quote.

Currently

The Zeitgeist Movement's ideas are presented through local and national chapters and online release of media. Zeitgeist holds an annual event, Z-Day, in March. Z-Day 2014 was held in Toronto, Ontario.

Reception

The Huffington Post, The New York Times, and The Palm Beach Post have reported reactions to various aspects of the Zeitgeist movement, including utopianism and its wholesale reimagination of civilization, diversity in its attendees, reduced work incentives in their proposed economy, its solution oriented focus, practical difficulties in a transition to that economy, and subscribing to 9/11 conspiracy theories in Zeitgeist: The Movie. The article in The New York Times noted that Zeitgeist The Movie may be most famous for alleging that the attacks of Sept. 11 were an “inside job” 'perpetrated by a power-hungry government on its witless population', a point of view Mr. Joseph said he "moved away from" (as of 2009 in an interview).

According to a film critic for the Sun Times (Bill Stamets) Peter Joseph’s movie Zeitgeist Moving Forward takes an imaginative leap at the end of the movie when a dramatized scenario for peaceful revolt occurs: 'citizens of Earth see the light and toss all their cash into fires outside banks'. The review goes on to say that 'the first two “Zeitgeist” films, spawned a grass-roots movement, “Zeitgeist: The Movie” (2007) and “Zeitgeist: Addendum” (2008).

In Tablet magazine, journalist Michelle Goldberg criticized Zeitgeist: The Movie as being "steeped in far-right, isolationist, and covertly anti-Semitic conspiracy theories," and called the Zeitgeist movement "the world's first Internet-based cult, with members who parrot the party line with cheerful, rote fidelity". In her article she also made reference to the size and sentiment of the organization, stating, "But to hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, the Zeitgeist movement is entirely serious. She went on to say: "Most members, particularly the new ones, are probably unaware of the Jew-baiting subtext of the documentary that launched their movement. Many were genuinely baffled in 2009 when a German social networking site, studiVZ, banned Zeitgeist groups because of their implicit anti-Semitism. Others seem a bit embarrassed by the first Zeitgeist; they’ll often say it’s “irrelevant”—one of TZM’s favorite epithets—because it came out before the movement got started. But no one is disavowing it, and so a growing global movement of tech-savvy idealists continues to promote a work of far-right paranoia." end quote from the article.

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, asserting that Zeitgeist: The Movie claims that "organised religion is about social control and that 9/11 was an inside job".

Peter Joseph reacted to accusations of the Zeitgeist movement being an 'arm of communism, conspiracy theorists, anarchy, or just wide-eyed dissidents dreaming of an unattainable Utopia' by saying in an interview (Ventura County Reporter): "They call it a utopia and say it can’t happen," "They can’t fathom it because they are so used to the deprived, neurotic, twisted world where people are trying to screw each other over as fast as possible for their own self-interest, which is essentially what this system is based on."

See also

• Post-scarcity economy
• Technological utopianism

References

1. "TZM – Mission Statement". Retrieved April 2, 2013.
2. http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/faq#faq6
3. ^ New world re-order: The Zeitgeist Movement spreads to Ventura County, Shane Cohn, VC Reporter (California), May 12, 2011
4. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/netherlands/9337209/Forest-boy-inspired-by-Zeitgeist-movement.html Retrieved April-29-2014
5. ^ "The Zeitgeist Movement: Envisioning A Sustainable Future". Huffington Post. Mar 16, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
6. ^ http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/57732/brave-new-world Retrieved June 9, 2012
7. ^ Bill Stamets (February 15, 2011). "Art-house films: 'Marwencol,' 'Zeitgeist'". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
8. http://orlandoweekly.com/news/the-view-from-venus-1.1217175?pgno=6 Retrieved May-18-2014
9. ^ "They've Seen the Future and Dislike the Present". New York Times. 2009-03-16.
10. A dream worth having, Rhonda Swan, The Palm Beach Post, April 30, 2009
11. http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/movies/3245249-421/hogancamp-marwencol-zeitgeist-dolls-films.html?print=true
12. Ward, Charlotte; Voas, David (2011). "The Emergence of Conspirituality". Journal of Contemporary Religion. 26 (1): 109. doi:10.1080/13537903.2011.539846. Retrieved June 16, 2012.

External links

• Official website

• The Zeitgeist Movement
• Sustainability organisations
• Environmental movements
• Conspiracy theories