Thursday, April 04, 2019

NEW MOVEMENTS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE: DiEM25, THE EMERGENCE NETWORK, EMERGE, THE ZEITGEIST MOVEMENT

 

2009 UN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE, COPENHAGEN

The Democracy in Europe Movement (DiEM25)

'A pan-European, cross-border movement of democrats. We believe that the European Union is disintegrating. Europeans are losing their faith in the possibility of European solutions to European problems. At the same time as faith in the EU is waning, we see a rise of misanthropy, xenophobia and toxic nationalism. 
'If this development is not stopped, we fear a return to the 1930s. That is why we have come together despite our diverse political traditions - Green, radical left, liberal - in order to repair the EU. The EU needs to become a realm of shared prosperity, peace and solidarity for all Europeans. We must act quickly, before the EU disintegrates.'
'In February 2016, a group of activists, thinkers, and agitators gathered together in Berlin’s Volksbühne theatre and vowed to shake Europe.
 Many doubt us. The establishment fears us. But in the course of just two years, we have shown that it is possible for the people of Europe to come together in the fight for democracy.
'Two years on, our movement is rumbling around the globe, with 70,000 members and more than 100 Spontaneous Collectives (DSCs) worldwide. DiEM25 local groups are sprouting up in cities from London to Ljubljana to address Europe’s crisis of democracy. DiEM25 chapters are marching in the street for a European New Deal. And — as of this year — DiEM25 has activated an ‘electoral wing’ to contest elections and take its Progressive Agenda for Europe to ballots everywhere. And that fight has just begun.'

THE EMERGENCE NETWORK

Their theme for 2019 is HOPE IN A TIME OF HOPELESSNESS

What if the way we respond to the crisis is part of the crisis?

'We are a constellation of humans and nonhumans working together trans-locally to curate projects, rituals, conversations and events that nurture senses of the otherwise via practices that trouble the traditional boundaries of agency and possibility. 
'We seek to shock outmoded modes of perception and action. We want to show how human bodies are changing, how whales and discarded pieces of gum are also ‘activists’, how remembering ancestry has political consequences, how thought is not a human feature, how bodies secrete time, and how slowing down in times of urgency makes sense in specific circumstances – especially now.
'The Emergence Network surfaces at a time when there seems to be a felt need for ‘alternative’ modes of engaging with our more troubling realities. What we offer are ways of diving into the cracks in our skins, processes that allow us notice that there are other items on the menu. That there are other places of power.
'Our work is to make more room available for movement – to emancipate action and responsiveness from its narrow humanist confines. Our approach takes for granted the fact that humans can no longer be centralized in our conceptions of change – and that, instead, we must begin to take into consideration the eco-cultural environments that are the conditions for our acting.
Our work is to facilitate conversations, curate assemblies, foster trans-disciplinary and trans-professional interactions, convene events that mobilize people into exploring the occluded and the invisible, and nurture regenerative practices that allow for other compelling questions and values to be articulated in the face of crisis.'

 Emerge is an independent, non-profit media platform sowing the seeds of a new civilisation

How Did Emerge Begin?
Emerge began as a three-day live event in Berlin in November 2018 initiated by three non-profit organisations: Perspectiva, London; co-creation.loft, Berlin and Ekskäret Foundation, Stockholm. The gathering brought together pioneers in complexity science, philosophy, spirituality, psychology, sustainability, creativity, and wisdom to explore dynamic solutions to our planet’s greatest challenges and discover new pathways of working, living and creating together. 

What We Believe

 The challenges facing our world today are more complex and species-threatening than ever before in human history. The global threat of climate change and the social impacts of digitalisation and globalisation are currently far more complex than our collective capacity to comprehend. In order for us to move forward, our thinking about global problems has to evolve to match their complexity.

Our personal psychology is of huge consequence to the outside world. If we are going to transform as a society then the personal development of individuals must be taken seriously as a societal, as well as an individual, concern.

There is no one ‘true’ way of seeing the world. In order to move forward we need to transcend binary thinking.This means moving beyond left and right political divides, thinking in terms of individual and collective responsibility, national and global identity, honoring individual identities and recognising the need to focus on a greater “we”.

Our world is socially constructed in more ways than we habitually tend to think. Human beings are dependent on and connected to the natural world, but when it comes to human society we are the creators. This means that we have more power than we realise to change it.

The emerging future will be co-created by all of us. The world is learning to come together in new ways and each of us has a vital role to play. Emerge is a place where all are called forth to bring our gifts to the greater circle.

Across the world, there are hundreds of initiatives, projects and persons who are already tackling real world problems from this place of deeper awareness. Our aim is to bring awareness to this growing movement and connect the dots between the people and projects contributing to this emergence.

This is a time of profound collaboration and we see you as a vital part of this mission. We’d love to weave your voice and vision into all that is being created and keep you updated on the launch of new projects, events and initiatives around the world.  Email contribute@whatisemerging.com and sign up to our newsletter here.
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Science, Technology, Nature, Sustainability

Founded in 2008, The Zeitgeist Movement (TZM) is a sustainability and public health advocacy organization.

It conducts research and activism through a network of regional chapters, public events and various forms of educational media.

The focus includes recognizing that the majority of the modern world’s social problems, including mounting ecological crises and destabilizing economic inequality (oppression, poverty, conflict, corruption, etc.) is not an inevitable outcome of our civilization. Rather, TZM sees these issues as consequential symptoms of an outdated social system.

While common reforms and general community support to improve conditions are of interest to TZM, working to galvanize the population in a move to change the very nature of our social system itself is the goal.

In this, a central criticism has been in addressing the inefficient nature of market-based economics or capitalism itself. TZM concludes that without a dramatic move away from the incentives and structural dynamics of the market system, there is little hope today for further, relevant improvements in the areas of human rights, ecological sustainability and general public health.

Supporters refer to the model promoted by TZM as a “Natural-Law Resource-Based Economy”. This model is inferential, derived from modern principles of scientific, sustainable earthly management, along with contemporary findings in social and epidemiological research.

TZM’s interest in change is global.

It has no allegiance to country or traditional political platforms. It views the world as a single system and the human species as a single family. It recognizes that all countries must disarm and learn to share resources and ideas if we expect to survive in the long run. Self-interest must become social-interest and the solutions arrived at and promoted are in the interest to help every human being.


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