Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • The Zeitgeist Movement Communications Team

  • Global Politics on Trial

  • Poised at the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century

  • we continue to find the geopolitical landscape in upheaval.

  • Wars, economic crises

  • and ever encroaching consolidated

  • national and corporate power structures

  • are re-shaping the world as we know it.

  • In reaction to the newest set of documents now made public

  • a contentious debate rages within capitals and cafes worldwide.

  • Most prominently in the Middle East as of January 30th 2011

  • the time this statement was written.

  • WikiLeakscontroversial release

  • of previously classified documents

  • reveal one undeniable fact:

  • the current methods of global business and public policy

  • are on trial.

  • This wave of awareness in response to

  • our current geopolitical and economic system

  • is becoming apparent for the greater public

  • as we are witnessing the increasingly vocal response

  • by citizens of Tunisia, Egypt in the greater Middle East.

  • With the release of diplomatic cables

  • related to growing despotism and economic inequality

  • a new wave of individuals are standing up

  • to demand their right to exist within a free and open society.

  • Not as Muslims or Christians, Atheists or Jews

  • but as independent human beings requesting in greater numbers

  • their human rights to a free and independent life.

  • The numbers of citizens standing up for their inalienable rights

  • are rapidly increasing as the world is taking notice.

  • We have seen the dire predicament the citizens of Iran

  • suffered through in 2009 as an example

  • and this is happening now at a higher frequency

  • as the global economic and political paradigm

  • becomes more inadequate day by day.

  • This response in North Africa indicates that people

  • when given access to knowledge as to how their system truly operates

  • are given a choice.

  • they can either perpetuate a morally bankrupt

  • and economically broken world

  • or demand a more equitable alternative.

  • In a world where information is digitized and ubiquitous

  • it is of significance to point out that it has now been confirmed

  • that the entire Internet for Egypt has been temporarily shut down

  • along with high bandwidth (3G) wireless networks.

  • If nations fundamentally operate for the benefit of the people

  • as a primary motivating factor for public policy

  • what then would need to be suppressed?

  • Civil unrest can and will continue

  • as despots are replaced by slightly more benevolent

  • or malevolent politicians

  • depending on the collective whims of the body public.

  • The time has come to reappraise our current paradigm.

  • As previously stated, the disturbing concept of aninternet kill switch

  • is not far from becoming a reality in North America or Western Europe.

  • Senator Lieberman, former U.S Vice Presidential candidate

  • has proposed such legislation

  • and it is in the U.S congress at the time this statement is being written.

  • This is what happens when inefficient

  • and irresponsible political entities

  • no longer operate for the benefit of their constituents

  • but instead operate to perpetuate the status quo

  • regardless of who inevitably gets trampled underfoot.

  • Like a wounded animal, it will do all that it can to guarantee its survival

  • no matter how sick it becomes.

  • Wikileaks' supporters and detractors, in both public and private

  • operate with the knowledge, that information is being suppressed

  • to justify the status quo

  • of the current geopolitical and economic climate.

  • Both parties further assert that

  • deception is being utilized to manufacture the consent of the world's citizens.

  • The reports suggest that the United States

  • has committed acts contrary to their stated political positions

  • and has also blatantly disregarded international law.

  • The United States, however, is not alone in that arena

  • it is now confirmed that other countries

  • including Russia, China, Saudi Arabia

  • and various states within the European Union and the greater Middle East

  • are involved in similar contradictions of character.

  • Three important questions

  • The Zeitgeist Movement would like to ask the listener to consider:

  • Does any government representing the people

  • and acting on their behalf

  • have a right to operate clandestinely

  • and in many cases, illegally?

  • If such actions are condemned by the majority

  • then what role does the press have in keeping the power structure in check?

  • Most importantly, isn’t this conduct and behavior

  • an indication of the fundamental problems within the system itself?

  • Global citizens of The Zeitgeist Movement

  • realize that the tactics a nation chooses

  • in order to undermine another nation, and their own people’s will

  • stems from the economic competition

  • and constant battles for finite resources within the modern economic system

  • as well as their own systemic perpetuation.

  • Such systems are now proven to be flawed

  • outdated and fundamentally corrupt.

  • The documents released thus far

  • have proven to define the current state of geopolitics in that regard.

  • When interpreted in the light of modern science and technology

  • and the enormous benefits they attribute to society

  • the word "geopolitical"

  • provides no relevance in regards to quality of life.

  • Science and technology have been solely responsible

  • for all improvements to the standard of living in our modern world.

  • Understanding that important fact

  • The Zeitgeist Movement advocates a systems approach

  • utilizing science and technology

  • for the intelligent management of the Earth's resources

  • and the social welfare of its population.

  • This concept in practice

  • is known as a Resource-Based Economy.

  • While neither supporting nor condemning

  • the legality of publicizing confidential information

  • The Zeitgeist Movement seeks to address the issues

  • brought to light via the numerous, previously classified

  • media released through the Wikileaks organization.

  • These documents accurately define the inner workings

  • of our system as it exists today.

  • We, The Zeitgeist Movement, are entering this public conversation

  • in order to discuss the relevance

  • of these published documents

  • in relation to the global monetary system.

  • The undermining of a rival nation's well-being

  • was the status quo of the last century

  • when governments of the world had made it their top priority

  • to maintain centralized power structures

  • through the use of intimidation

  • violence and economic warfare.

  • The data suggests that such systems

  • are being exploited into our present era.

  • The Zeitgeist Movement advocates the position

  • that such actions are now obsolete and increasingly dangerous.

  • The global population is realizing

  • that what happens to one will impact all.

  • We recognize that the current cultural climate

  • has offered the people limited access to relevant knowledge

  • and produces negative results.

  • Attributes of governance such as these

  • undermine mature and informed decision-making.

  • Suppression of dissent

  • as well as the distortion of objective truth

  • can only have negative consequences

  • and thus, relevant conclusions can never be achieved.

  • One must ask their representatives:

  • "How can undermining freedoms produce a sense of security?"

  • Can we really expect to create different outcomes

  • utilizing the unsuccessful approaches of the past?

  • Why is this planet, in one form or another

  • in a state of perpetual war?

  • For a just and reasoned society to flourish

  • open access to knowledge and its expression thereof

  • is essential as it exists as the cornerstone of freedom.

  • TheCablegatecontroversy has offered the public

  • an unprecedented glimpse into the inner workings of government

  • military and intelligence agencies.

  • These groups have not met the expectations

  • of a civil and reasoned society

  • by promoting leverage of the corporate and banking structure

  • underlying the global economic and political system.

  • Those aforementioned groups are producing fear and distrust

  • among many segments of the population.

  • These agencies are currently operating within a paradigm

  • they were created to oppose.

  • We understand that countries acting in their own self-interest

  • will go to great lengths to protect themselves

  • from each other and anyperceivedthreats

  • as we have seen through the documents that have been released.

  • The obsession for security

  • is proving to be more detrimental to society

  • than the potential risk any leak or act of terrorism can cause.

  • Is the risk of losing one’s liberty a worthwhile price

  • and if so, what way of life is then worth defending?

  • The Zeitgeist Movement realizes that we, the people

  • as one collective voice

  • actively seek a mature and rational environment

  • for public and global discourse.

  • The sole purpose of doing so

  • allows those directly affected by the outcome

  • a means to arrive at reasoned and valid conclusions

  • to solve serious issues that face the world today.

  • New governing mechanisms

  • with a foundation grounded in reason

  • social equality and justice

  • rather than consolidation of government and corporate interests

  • must be implemented as our current system

  • is reaching the end of its serviceable life.

  • The documents that have been released so far have shown us

  • in regards to meetings among diplomats

  • that there is a general fear and mistrust

  • amongst competing national economic systems

  • which are being undermined

  • by the very institutions that put them into place.

  • Such policies ferment instability and chaos

  • with a small population reaping the benefits of a dangerous world.

  • The problems we collectively face

  • are the direct result of a system that relies on

  • fierce nationalism and protection of the status quo to survive.

  • These new governing mechanisms can outgrow

  • the dangerous and irrational world we currently live in.

  • Without a reliable system to counteract aberrant behaviors on all levels

  • the well-being of a nation’s constituent population will diminish.

  • In the United States, legislation outside of and within

  • the first amendment of the U.S Constitution

  • guarantees freedom of the press

  • as well as whistle blower protection

  • put into place in order to keep government

  • fully accountable to the people

  • for any actions it chose to engage in.

  • We have addressed in this public statement

  • that the latest scandal, "Cablegate"

  • gives credence to the old axiom

  • The Emperor Wears No Clothes."

  • In other words, we all collectively understand

  • the fundamental flaws that exist within our governing mechanism.

  • This current system is not equipped to handle

  • an ever increasingly complex

  • and technologically advanced world.

  • As we are discovering

  • the needs of the global population

  • are radically different than they were centuries ago

  • at the birth of the economic paradigm we live in today.

  • The current value system

  • influenced by our current socioeconomic climate

  • has produced systemic corruption

  • as well as a trend towards a diminishing of personal freedoms.

  • In this current system

  • governments and their corporate partners

  • are undermining both the public and themselves.

  • It is essential that accurate information

  • and transparency within representative governments

  • becomes commonplace to advance

  • the most essential aspects of freedom.

  • The current failures for reasonable governance speak for itself.

  • Throughout history, policy has been dictated

  • by unverifiable and subjective opinions.

  • We are moving forward with the concept

  • that to arrive at decisions which produce

  • the most accurate and objective results possible

  • for the betterment of all humanity

  • includes absolute transparency.

  • You will come to understand

  • we hold no interest in supporting or opposing entities

  • which seek to undermine

  • and destroy our present world

  • but transcend it.

  • The problems we have defined, do not have to define us.

  • We invite you to look past the headlines

  • and understand that the crimes

  • which WikiLeaks allegedly uncovered

  • are merely symptoms of an underlying problem

  • endemic across the spectrum.

  • We cannot legislate these problems away

  • because every nation will legislate to the benefit of the corporation

  • the financial institutions and themselves

  • rather than the individual citizen.

  • Finally, legislation cannot effect relevant change

  • due to the inherent cultural behavior patterns

  • integral to the current socio-economic paradigm

  • for, the current system cannot function without said behaviors.

  • It is time we redefine the world around us

  • understand how it operates

  • and construct a better alternative

  • using the highest levels of transparency

  • and technical ability.

  • The Zeitgeist Movement

  • which currently has roughly 500,000 members worldwide

  • was founded in 2008 by film director Peter Joseph.

  • The film Zeitgeist Addendum

  • and the recently released filmZeitgeist: Moving Forward

  • exists as a direct response to the documented errors

  • prevalent in modern society

  • which advocates the realization that the current system

  • exists as continuation of historical baggage.

  • The activist arm of The Venus Project

  • which was founded in Venus, Florida

  • by Industrial Designer and Social Engineer Jacque Fresco.

  • The Zeitgeist Movement seeks to align modern understanding

  • of science and technology with social design

  • to implement what is termed “A Resource Based Economy

  • An R.B.E relies on the concept that abundance for all people

  • is a much more relevant motivator than monetary incentive

  • with the end result being a healthy

  • and technologically advanced society.

  • More information can be found at TheZeitgeistMovement.com and TheVenusProject.com

  • For press inquiries contact: media@thezeitgeistmovement.com

The Zeitgeist Movement Communications Team

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it