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Myths, Mythology & Myth-busting

Issue #8November 2012

A New Mythology

Debunking Reality

The Flawed Paradigmsof Economics andSustainable Development

Walk for Solar

The End of Growth,

by Richard Heinberg

Book ReviewA Crude Awakening

Documentary Series Review:

Where Did We Come From?

Debunking theVenus Project

A Tragedy ofCircumstance

by Peter Joseph

By Richard Sanders


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Contents 11/12

November 2012 /Spirit o the Times Magazine2

Comment4.

6.

8.

10.

18.

News Throughthe Prism

The Innocence of (insertreligious/ethnic/cultural group):Manufacturing Your Consent?

Climate Scepticism: ControversyShrinking at the Rate of Ice

The Heresy of the Post-GrowthMessage

A Tragedy of Circumstance

Peter Joseph writes on the taboo

subject o Americas involvement

in Libya, debunking the politicallyappealing premises and

hitting the reresh button on the

geopolitical story.

Debunking the Venus Project

David Zwolski goes where ew

have gone beore in examining

the technotopian Venus Project

and how its proponents ail to

walk their ideological talk.

Information

Analysis

Review

26

43.

54.

38.

46.

50.

56.

The Flawed Paradigms ofEconomics and SustainableDevelopment

Richard Sanders, Ecological

Economist and systems-thinker

challenges contemporary

economic paradigms and calls

out their ailure to address our

planetary emergency.

Debunking Reality

Shakti Saraswati takes on the

daunting task o dissecting

our views o reality and

demonstrating the how ar back

the aws in our worldviews

extend.

Where Did We Come From?

James Hill takes on the

Flintstonization o humanitys

prehistory and oers a

rereshingly honest and up-to-

date alternative to the outdated,

yet all-too prevalent, myths o

our past.

Walk for SolarMichael Kubler recounts his

journey rom Port Augusta

to Adelaide in support o a

renewable energy uture or

Australia and the busting o

the corporate-sponsored anti-

renewables myth.

Book Review: The End of Growth,by Richard Heinberg

Documentary Film Review: ACrude Awakening

Introducing an in-depth analysis o contemporarynews items rom the perspective o sustainability-

frst, News Through the Prism seeks not to sweepthe reader up in unacknowledged bias, insteadpresenting with honesty the prism through whichSpirit o the Times reports that o a need tostrive toward a truly sustainablefuture.

A New Mythology

Kari McGregor ventures into

the grey area between act and

fction, examining our cultures

need or an alternative set o

stories to rame our heroicjourney into a new paradigm.


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Letter from the editor

some of The Spirit of the Times Team

Kari McGregor

Editor o Spirit o the Times

and co-organizer o the

Australian chapter o the

Zeitgeist Movement, Kari

is a teacher by day and

a lielong sustainability

advocate at heart.

David Zwolski

Graphic designer and

website admin or Spirit

o the Times, David is

national coordinator and

spokesperson or the

Australian chapter o the

Zeitgeist Movement.

Ben Matei

Head o the graphics

team and writer or

Spirit o the Times, Ben

is a graphic designer

by day in between the

sustainability projects he

considers his real work.

Introducing the tirelessteam of collaborators -the Spirit of the Timesteam of volunteers worktogether, despite theirday-jobs, to produce thismagazine, packed full ofprofessional quality work.

Our blood, sweat andtears are delivered to youin A5, A4, pdf, you nameit - we produce it!

Each issue hosts articlesfrom a number of sociallyconscious Australia-based writers, with theoccasional overseasguest.

3Spirit o the Times Magazine/November 2012

Dear pensive reader,

2012 is coming to a close soon and the end of the worldis nigh, if the doomsday prophets are to be believed!

Of course most people dont really think were about tomeet our end, but such stories are worth examining fora variety of reasons, not least for the value of exploringour cultural myths and their effects on how we run oursocieties.

Welcome to the eighth issue of Spirit of the Times inwhich we challenge our cultural narratives and examinethe need for a new mythology! Between the usual life-dramas and more, our multi-tasking team of inter-statevolunteers has once again managed to pull together awholesome treat for the critical thinking mind.

Each of our bimonthly compilations aims to presentglobal issues primarily within an Australian context,delivering Australia-specific news items from analternative perspective, informative articles regardingcontemporary issues, discursive analyses, socialcommentary and critique, and book and film reviewswith content relevant to the aims and ethos of aparadigm in which sustainability is the bottom line. Eachissue presents its own theme; and this one is Myths,Mythology, and Myth-Busting.

It is in this, our eighth issue, that contemporarymyths and narratives of our society are examinedand critiqued, and approaches to mythology andnarrative as catalysts for a paradigm of sustainability

are explored. Those of us brave enough to challengenorms and ask challenging questions are sure to findsomething to chew on amongst the food for thoughtoffered in this issue!

We hope that you will find this an inspiring andempowering read, and that you will find informationworth sharing!

Regards,

Kari McGregor &the Spirit of the Times team

Any eedback regarding current articles or enquiriesabout uture submissions is to be sent to: [email protected]

Please indicate whether you would like eedback tobe passed on to the writer o any given article, and/orpublished in the next issue. Thank you.


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NEWS THROUGH THE PRISM

The Innocence o (insert religious/ethnic/cultural group): Manuacturing

Your Consent?

Yet again, hatred against a particulargroup of human beings is beingutilized to manufacture consent.

In light of the recent Innocence of Muslimsscandal, in which a film ridiculing theMuslim faith and purportedly insulting theprophet was produced by a radical anti-Muslim Christian sect and distributed with

the intention of stoking fires, we need toexamine what is really happening beyondthe reportage of the mainstream media.

Have we swallowed, hook, line and sinker,the narrative that depicts Muslims asbloodthirsty hate-mongers baying for theblood of infidels every time an irresponsiblyinsulting cartoon or video is released? Do wenot know manipulation and agenda-hijackingwhen we see it? Have we not stopped for amoment to consider that it is, in fact, insultingto harass and ridicule adherents of any

particular school of thought rather than getto know them as equal human beings whomay well not all adhere to the nonsensicalstereotype portrayed in such low-calibreslurs? Particularly when we so consistentlyinvade and occupy their countries and

make assaults on their way of life bothmetaphorical, and literal, as evidenced bytoo many bombing campaigns and lost livesof innocents to count.

It seems we need to take a long, hard lookat the real targets of the mainstream mediasspin on the Innocence of Muslims scandal:us.

Religion, as with any mythology, has longbeen used as a tool of manipulation, but inthis modern era anti-religious sentiment alsofeatures prominently in the propagandiststoolkit. With the rising trend of atheism,agnosticism, and even fervent anti-religionism, it appears that Marxs criticismof religion as a tool of the ruling classesto propound their ideologies can also beapplied to a stance taken against anyparticular religion. We would do well to beon guard with regard to sentiments spouted

against any given religious, ethnic or culturalgroup, as this serves only to propound theideologies of those who seek to manipulatepublic opinion and manufacture our consentfor their imperialist wars.


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Stop to think for a moment whythe western world is so outragedat some radical Muslims wavingplacards calling for the execution ofthe inflammatory films producers, yetapparently fails to bat an eyelid atthe very real and public executionsof Rohingya Muslims in Burma at thebehest of Buddhist monks. Withoutexcusing any of the deplorableresponses to this latest inflammatorylow-grade piece of media junk, arentwe failing to apply universality in ourjudgement? Or are we allowing a hintof manufactured prejudice to make usinto hypocrites who have no problemwith the murder of innocent Muslimsat the hands of Buddhists yet go crazyat the notion that Muslims might beangered by our repeated assaults ontheir way of life, and their security. Isit not possible that our manufactured

prejudice has somewhat more to dowith the parts of the world inhabitedby Muslim majority populations justhappening to be sitting atop largecaches of natural resources whichour governments and corporationswant to get their hands on, but whosegovernments refuse to play ball?

Lest we forget, the propagandamachine in Nazi Germany succeededin manufacturing the consent of anentire population with regard to theextermination of millions of innocentJews. The Innocence of Muslimstitle may serve as a reminder of theinnocence of the majority of thoseattacked with the Islamophobicfervour that has swept the world inresponse the manufactured protesttaking place in much of the Muslimworld. A precedent which may wellresult in yet another population ofinnocents slaughtered for the sakeof a hegemonic behemoth this time

the US regime.Surely no one can forget the Jihadschoolbooks scandal? During the US/Soviet hegemonic struggle knownas the Cold War UNICEF proudlydistributed Jihadi material to schoolchildren in occupied Afghanistan,under the guise of teachingmathematics (through counting guns,tanks and bullets), etc. and, ofcourse, that the only good Soviet wasa dead Soviet... All this not-too-subtle

indoctrination came at the behest of theUnited States so that Afghanis wouldunwittingly manufacture an entire

generation (or two) that harbouredmilitant anti-communist and anti-Soviet sentiments to the benefit of UShegemony. Unfortunately, or somewould say fortunately, this has resultedin general anti-western sentimentsamong many, and the capacity torecognize when ones land is invaded,occupied, and exploited. Never fear,such sentiments can always be usedto manufacture western consentof ever more bombing of innocentMuslim women, men and childrenfor the sake of access to fossil fuelresources... and now mineral wealth.

In these confusing times, wheneverhatred is propagated againstany particular group, one thingremains clear and must be dulynoted: this hatred was not originallymanufactured to serve either the

us or the them side of the fence.It is used, however, on both sidesunsparingly, as with the case ofInnocence of Muslims, which wasaggressively promoted by radicalMuslim and radical Christian groupsalike, for the same ultimate purposes:to stir hatred and manufacture theconsent of what is to follow. Thishatred is carefully calculated andmanipulated, and is advanced with aparticular agenda which the us andthem mentality serves unawares. Anagenda that will see further death anddestruction for the sake of corporateprofits and global hegemony, anabsurd advance in the direction ofthe destruction of humanity that wecannot afford to be pushed in.

Do not allow your consent to bemanufactured. Question everythingand accept nothing pre-filtered. Takeresponsibility for your own learningand analysis and be on guard. Hard

times are coming and your consentwill be required for what will be carriedout in the name of your security.

And what if your consent is notrequired? Then, my friend, it is youwho are the innocent to be sacrificed.Take heed.


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Global weather patterns are set to changedramatically as a result of an ice-free Arctic.Although Arctic ice-melt does not directly lead

to rising sea levels as the ice is floating sea-ice, theextra heat generated by the melting is quickeningthe pace of melting of the Greenland ice sheet. Lossof the Greenland ice sheet translates to a 7 metreglobal sea-level rise which, although it would notoccur overnight, would wreak devastation on livingconditions worldwide. With a 1-metre rise considered

highly likely within this century alone there is

much to ponder.With a 2-degree centigrade target agreed uponas the maximum acceptable level of warmingwith regard to the level of damage caused BillMcKibben comments that this is a sign of ourdesperation, not our safety margin. Although a2-degree increase in global mean temperaturewould be catastrophic, it is unlikely that wewill stay within those boundaries with ourcurrent plan of action being business as usual.According to Fatih Birol, chief economist of theIEA, the current trend points toward a 6-degreeincrease an increase that would render ourplanet unrecognizable.

It is likely the controversy is over.It is unlikely that climate-changesceptics will continue to have muchsway over public opinion in the faceof the overwhelming evidence nowin. Comparisons spanning more than1,400 years shows accelerated rates ofsummer Arctic ice-melt descending intofree-fall. While the scientific consensusis that the Arctic will be ice-free duringthe summer months in the not-toodistant future, the jury is out with regardto precisely when some claiming wehave a decade or two, others as little as 4years. Regardless of when the final meltoccurs this will be an unprecedentedoccurrence in the space of humanitysexistence on this planet.

March-September 2012 saw the biggestloss of ice since satellite measurementsbegan in 1979 with 11.8 million squarekilometres lost. Reaching a new recordminimum, the 2012 measurements

record ice coverage at a whopping18% less than the previous record lowof 2007. With more of the dark oceanwater exposed, more of the suns energyis absorbed; this raises temperaturesfurther still, accelerating the rate of icemelt. Under such conditions it is harderfor new ice to form, and winter ice doesnot grow as thick, rendering it morevulnerable to summer melt.


Climate Scepticism:Controversy Shrinking at the

Rate of Ice


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It is estimated that there is reasonable leewaybeneath the 2-degree increase mark for humanity toemit approximately 565 gigatons more CO2 into theatmosphere before the middle of the century. Whatis less commonly understood is that reasonablein this sense refers to a 4 in 5 chance, or, to putit bluntly, somewhat worse odds than playingRussian roulette. What this means, on real terms,is that even if we are reasonably conservative and

cut our rate of emissions sharply we are likely to hitor exceed the 2-degree mark, at which our future isuncertain.

What is perhaps even more disturbing than allof these figures is the 2,795 gigatons of carboncontained within the known coal, oil and gasreserves of the fossil-fuel companies and majorproducing countries. The reason this number is sodisturbing is because its the amount of fossil fuelwe intend to burn. And its 5 times higher than thethan the 565 gigatons we can safely burn withoutguaranteeing an overshoot of the 2-degree limit.

And although this fossil fuel is still technically in theground, economically speaking its already beenfactored into the equation. Corporate and nationalbudgets are based on the presumed returns on their

investments in these resources. 2,795 gigatons isthe reason why corporations have fought so hardfor the rights to drill, frack and pump; the $27 trillionthis represents to those corporate interests is thereason we are facing a toss-up between a healthyfossil-fuel balance sheet and a healthy planet withthe dice loaded on the side of the money.

It is easy to choose the side of the climate sceptics;its a far more appealing scenario to believe werejust being taken for a ride by carbon-traders andrenewable energy profiteers as opposed to thosetrading in the burning of carbon and fossil-fuelprofiteers. What is more likely, however, in lightof the remarkable similarity in the figures quotedby the scientific community, is that the scientificconsensus is refining its accuracy, and that wehave little time left for quibbling over whose view ofreality is correct. Lets put it this way: if we chooseto side with the renewable energy profiteers and itturns out were wrong nothing bad happens; if wechoose to side with the fossil-fuel profiteers and itturns out were wrong were screwed.


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With neither free-marketeersnor proponents of publicspending willing to concede

their position, public attention isdiverted from the encroaching realitythat economic growth is reaching its

bitter end. With absolute limits to bothnatural resources and the level of debtany system can sustain our illusion musteventually be shattered, and the echowill likely resonate loudly enough to beheard across the political spectrum.

Despite the fears of a global economiccollapse there are those who see theending of this era as a blessing indisguise as it is likely the only wake-up call loud enough to stopus in our tracks, derailingour headlong rush towardsecological disaster. With thespiralling economic costs of climatechange already reaching calamitousproportions, and record droughts andfloods becoming commonplace, we arereceiving the message loud and clear:growth will end whether we like it or not.

Life after growth is inconceivable formost particularly those economicsupergiants whose paychecks dependupon their rejection of the overwhelmingevidence that their work cannot continue


The Heresy o the

Post-Growth Message

With Australia frantically gambling its futureon resource extraction for a growing Chineseeconomy one that has been growing at a rate of7-10% per year one would think that we were onthe verge of breaking the bank. But in the grandcasino of planetary resources there can only ever

be one winner: the house. As Chinas bubble looksset to burst Australias commodity prices are set toplummet, an unwelcome truth recently uttered byResources Minister Martin Ferguson. And as withall boom towns, Australia is headed for a bust.

The position that there are limits to economicgrowth is one that can incite ridicule toward eventhe most celebrated experts. With economic growthtouted as the necessary factor in job creation andreturns on investments the steady-state economicargument is tantamount to arguing against petrolat a Formula One race, comments Richard

Heinberg, senior fellow of the Post Carbon Institute.The free-market faith preaches that public sectorspending must be reduced in order for privateenterprise to be sufficiently liberated from theshackles of constraint that are holding backeconomic growth. Campbell Newmans Septembercull of 14,000 Queensland public sector jobs mostnotably in environment and planning appearsas an act of prayer to the free-market faith. ButEuropean examples reveal that austerity measureshave had the opposite of the desired effect, withcountries implementing programs of austerity

experiencing less growth overall.


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for much longer. However, life after growth isa notion that must be entertained, and onethat need not hit us as hard as the factors

that will ensure its inevitability if only policycan be steered onto a pre-emptive coursethat can assist with a soft landing.

With the heretical post-growth messagegetting such little attention it is likely we willwatch the European, American and Chineseeconomies topple like dominoes beforerealising that we, too, are on the Titanic. Theview from the top deck is panoramic, yetour field of vision is narrow. With our growth-obsessed mythology a mantra scarcelyrecognized as false it is likely we will continue

to dance in the ballroom as the ship goesdown until we find ourselves floundering andour ideology comprehensively debunked.

O WT

H


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A T RAGEDY OF

CIRCUMSTANCEBy Peter Joseph

INFOARTICLE

Love Story

The love story - a staple of our history and

culture. As much as modern economictheory and the dubious claims about

our supposed human nature would haveus believe that all humans are merely selfishorganisms that would rather sacrifice eachother than save each other for the sake ofmere convenience, the archetypal love storyprolific in our artwork challenges all - andreminds us of our deeply empathic andsocial nature a clear characteristic of ourevolutionary psychology and perhaps eventhe hidden saving grace of our evolutionary

fitness as a species.However, likely the grandest of all love storiesin our history might be the heartbreakingdepiction found in Shakespeares classic:Romeo and Juliet. Among the many themesin this play is the taboo of their love due totheir feuding enemy families, and in theirpressured attempts to overcome they meet adoleful, epic demise.

The reaction of the audience to this tragicromance is fairly predictable. Rarely does the

sympathy of the reader turn to support thefamilies, which were at odds, while thinkingthat Romeo and Juliet got what they deserved.

Rather, we identify with the desperate, lovingcouple whose lives are vanquished due to thecircumstance they found themselves in.

At the core of this play, love story aside, is abroader concept we will call the Tragedy ofCircumstance. Perhaps the true brilliance ofthis work is its hidden message of how eachof us are born into familial, cultural, political,religious and other pre-existing sociologicalestablishments which, without our choice inmany ways, influence our thoughts, biases,loyalties, ambitions, ideas, social affiliationsand the like.

In this sense, we are all victims, just likeRomeo and Juliet, and likely the most tragicpart of all comes when these influences, oncegiven a human face or group association,clash with the influences of other persons orgroups each side having no idea they areboth victims of circumstance in their ultimatelyvain opposition.


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11Spirit of the Times Magazine - Nov Issue 2012

Miss Orly Weinerman

In early September 2012 I was introduced toan Israeli actress named Orly Weinermanthrough a friend involved in the Israeli

chapter of The Zeitgeist Movement, a globalsustainability advocacy group seeking socialreformation. A glamorous model as well, quitefamous in Israel and blessed with the prestigeand comforts of her successful career, she hasrecently taken a very bold position at which many in herhome country and in the Western world might gawk in moraloutrage.

She wishes to see her now incarcerated love, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi,son of the infamous, so called tyrant dictator

Muammar Gaddafi, be removed from his currentLibyan rebel captors, who intend to try himfor war crimes, and instead brought to theInternational Criminal Court for his pendingtrial. No evidence has been given as to theseaccusations and the ongoing postponement

of the trial suggests the opposition might bestruggling to manifest such evidence.

Since the fall of the Gaddafi regime in 2011,some of the now captive Gaddafi family and

loyalists face severe charges, many under themost despised of distinctions: crimes against humanity. Saif iscurrently facing the death penalty in Libya, where he is, mostnotably, accused of participating in the killing of civilian protestersduring last years Western backed coup dtat against his father.Weinermans concern is that Saif has no chance of a fair trial in thehands of the new power establishment in Libya and also feels thenature of the Western backed invasion was not for the interests

of the Libyan people but rather for geo-political and geo-economic advantage - a criminal act.

British Prime Minister David Camerons notable publicstatement: We must not tolerate this regime using militaryforce against its own people, was just one of manysound-bites heard from US and UK politicians as theyworked with NATO to take out the Gaddafi regime underthe guise of a humanitarian mandate. The mainstreammedia describes the Libyan Revolution as an organicrebellion originating from an opposing group of citizens,often categorizing the event as part of the mass protests andrevolutions now known as the Arab Spring uprisings that affectedTunisia, Egypt and many others. However, a closer look at the rapiddethroning of the Gaddafi regime starts to take a different picture a picture all too familiar to those who have had the sad fortuneof following the history of covert warfare coming from Westernpowers and their economic interests.

A History Lesson

In the past 70 years, the idea of using the facade of civiluprisings to execute Geo-Economic/Political reformationsfavourable to Western economic interests has become

increasingly common. We know this not only because of the nowdeclassified CIA documents that boast of such measures - suchas the overthrow of the democratically elected Iranian leaderMohammad Mosaddegh in 1953 which returned commercial


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power to Western oil interestsas a response to the unwantednationalization of Iranian oilfields by Mosaddegh prior -we also have the testimony ofwhistleblowers, such as famedEconomic Hit-Man JohnPerkins, who has admitted ingreat detail as to his involvementin such affairs in Latin America.

Another little-known yet nowdeclassified example of a CIA-sponsored overthrow for corporateand financial interests was the1954 coup dtat that oustedPresident Jacobo rbenz Guzmnof Guatemala. The United Statesengineered this for the benefit ofthe United Fruit Company whichhad been lobbying the CIA tooust reformist governments in the

Republic of Guatemala for yearsprior to secure its commercialinterests. Similar CIA behaviourcan also be linked in one variationor another to the overthrows and/or assassinations of EcuadorsJaime Rolds Aguilera in 1981due to energy interests; PanamasOmar Torrijos also in 1981, due toconflicts over the Panama Canal(a key conduit for internationalmaritime trade), along withperhaps the most interestingrecent example - the failed 2002coup dtat against PresidentHugo Chvez in Venezuela.

As detailed by journalist EvaGolinger who obtained top-secret documents from the CIAand State Department throughthe Freedom of InformationAct (FOIA), the United StatesBush administration hadprior knowledge of, and was

complicit in, the 2002 coupagainst President HugoChvez, and had apparentlyprovided over $30 million infunding aid to oppositiongroups to help executethe public uprisingagainst him. Why? Oilinterests.

Not to say it is a new thingfor CIA to covertly arm rebelforces in other countries as they

try to remove the power structure,as can be exemplified fromAfghanistan to Cuba to Iraq toArgentina to Honduras to many,

many other cases but the recipefor the covert war that doesntcause public outcry within theinvading nation, without seriousmilitary commitment, is a specialcircumstance.

The basic requirement is aninitial, ideally organic publicrebellion. From there, the task isto fuel the conflict and escalatedestabilization, which serves asa cover for covert moves. Publicperception can be exploited withthe conflict artificially magnifiedby the media. Then, some type ofknee-jerk accusation that drawspublic sympathy is needed togenerate acute disdain for thetargeted parties and enable followthrough.

For example, before the 1991invasion of Iraq, a 15-year-oldKuwaiti girl gave public testimony

stating she watched Iraqi soldierscome into the hospital with gunsand go into the room where...babies were in incubators.They took the babies out of theincubators, took the incubators,

and left the babies on thecold floor to die. This

t e s t i m o n yw a srepeated asfact in further

c o n g r e s s i o n a ltestimony, on TVand radio shows,

at the UN Security Council, and

even by then President GeorgeH.W. Bush. It had a clearlyrelevant effect on public opinionand support for the 1991 invasion.

However, what was not discussedwas that this 15-year-old Kuwaitigirl was a member of the KuwaitiRoyal Family. Her father wasSaud Nasir al-Sabah, KuwaitsAmbassador to the USA and herentire testimony was a lie. Again,this is public record.

Libya Decoded

So what is the story withLibya? Does it fit anyof these profiles? Were

the US & UK simply being

good parents and working toaltruistically protect humanityfrom some rogue tyrant or isthere something else going on?Is there evidence to show theywere complicit in the uprising,exploiting mass sympathy bysome event, while holding deep

ulterior motives to serve theirfinancial and political interests?Yes. In fact, the event appearsto be just about as textbook asthe case was with Mosaddegh in1954 and Chavez in 2002.

First, lets start with the stateof affairs. If you are like mostWesterners, you have likely nevermet anyone from Libya, nor do youknow anything about the countryother than that odd looking man

with the funky sunglasses whohad been in charge for 40 someyears. The idea of autocratic ruleis deeply opposed in the West

In 2010, Libya ranked 53rd on the Human Development

Index (out of 170 U.N. member states), making it

a high human development country. The U.N.

Development Program said Libya had achieved high

human development in every major index category,

including education, empowerment, economy and

infrastructure, access to information, civic and

community wellbeing, and gender equality.


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and perhaps that is a legitimateconcern given the patterns ofhistory in general. However, letsleave our ideologies aside andask about the relative state of theculture before the uprising andinvasion.

In 2010, Libya ranked 53rdon the Human Development

Index (out of 170 U.N. memberstates), making it a high humandevelopment country. TheU.N. Development Programsaid Libya had achieved highhuman development in everymajor index category, includingeducation, empowerment,economy and infrastructure,access to information, civicand community wellbeing,and gender equality. In a 2005Country Profile Report by theLibrary of Congress FederalResearch Division, it noted: Incomparison to other states in theMiddle East, the health statusof the population is relativelygood. Childhood immunizationis almost universal. The cleanwater supply has increased, andsanitation has been improved.

As far as accusations of terrorismor weapons of mass destruction,

it also stated that: During theperiod 19992003, Qadhafi, everthe pragmatist, eventually fulfilledall the terms of the UN SecurityCouncil Resolutions required tolift the sanctions against Libya.He accepted responsibility forthe actions of his officials andagreed to provide financial

compensation to the families ofthe victims of Pan Am 103. Asa result, the UN sanctions werelifted on September 12, 2003.In December 2003, Qadhafipublicly announced that Libyawas ridding itself of weapons ofmass destruction and ballisticmissile development programs,and fully cooperated with

the United States, the UnitedKingdom, the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency (IAEA),and the Organization forthe Prohibition of ChemicalWeapons. Through theseactions and decisions, Qadhafibrought Libya back into theworld community.

Any general research on Libyashows that it was improving and

stable and while accusations ofsocial oppression and misdeedsmight hold true on some level,as with many countries in thatregion, we need to be honestwith ourselves and considerthe realistic nature of thecircumstance in comparison.If we were to examine all theoppressive regimes the UnitedStates and United Kingdomcoexist with without objectionLibya was far from the worst,

and it wasnt until the 2011uprising that the accusation ofLibya using force against its owncitizens become a heated claimfor intervention.

If the Western powers caredabout the humanitarian crisisin Africa or the Middle-East,

both general and oppressive,forces would have taken controlof the Sudan long ago, wherethe genocide and barbarianabuses are almost beyondcomprehension, not to mentionintervene to end the virtual prisonstill existing in the West Bankdue to the illegal, US sponsoredIsraeli occupation. This list could

go on and on and the bottomline is that the very idea that theWest cares about the citizenryof any such country to inspiresuch intervention is enormouslynaive and completely ignorant ofhistory.

The central war crimeaccusation itself, which givesthe appearance that Gaddafiforces just decided to start killing

civilian protestors for fun, is voidof its true context, which was aresponse to an armed conflictfrom rebel forces. Does this justifythe death of human beings? Ofcourse not, but this is an issue ofcircumstance. If an armed militiabegan to make its way towardsthe White House, do you haveany doubt that once the first shotwas fired, the police, militaryand Secret Service would nothesitate to shoot anyone in their

line of fire under such pressure?Again, this justifies nothing inand of itself, but such is thenature of circumstance in thediscordant, power-sick zeitgeistwe share today and the crimesagainst humanity charge beingpropagated around the nowfallen regime needs a much


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Page 14Spirit of the Times Magazine - Nov Issue 2012

closer examination.

The central charge against Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who actually didnthold any political office, is thisclaim of civilian murder, whichappears as an act of defence, notcold-blooded execution that would

define a war crime. It is estimatedthat the United States and its alliesare responsible for threequartersof a million to a million civiliandeaths in Iraq, and likely tens ofthousands more during the UNsanctions that crippled the nationfor many years prior - yet we seeno one on trial here. Lets alsonot discount the score of civiliandeaths achieved by NATO as itbombed Libya for months.

CurrencyWars

Have you everwondered how theUnited States can

operate at 16 trillion dollarsin debt and growing? It hasthe Global Reserve Currency. Ofall the macroeconomic factorsthat favour Western dominationin the world today, the fact thatthe Euro and the US Dollar areused for not only the majority of oiltransactions, which in many waysserves as the virtual backing ofthese fiat currencies, many othermajor goods are priced in Dollarsand Euros, requiring most nationsto purchase these currencies inorder to engage in global trade,maintaining demand.

In fact, approximately two thirdsof world trade is done in dollarsand two thirds of central bankscurrency reserves are held in

the Americancurrency, whichremains the solecurrency used byglobal institutionssuch as the IMF.This gives the USa major economicadvantage asthey have theability to run aconstant tradedeficit becauseforeign countriesneed those dollars

to repay their debts to the IMF, toconduct international trade, and tobuild up their currency reserves.As long as the dollar remains themain international currency, theUS can continue consuming morethan it produces, as it has been

doing for decades now.Well, guess what? MuammarGaddafi had been openlyadvocating the creation of a newcurrency that would counter thedollar and the euro. He calledupon African and Muslim nationsto join an alliance that would

make this new currency,the Gold Dinar, their

main currency. Theywould sell oil and

other resourcesto the US and

the rest of theworld only forgold dinars.If this wereto happen, itwould have

had dramaticeffects on US

economic hegemony.In fact, some might remember that

Saddam Hussein was pushingfor a similar petrodollarshift before the 2003 US

Invasion. This is a very serious yetlittle discussed reality.

With that noted, we shouldntdismiss the energy interests, eventhough they may be secondaryin importance. The National OilCorporation, Libyas nationalizedoil company, was ranked 25 amongthe worlds Top 100 oil companies,

and while its reserves might beminor compared to the reservesof Saudi Arabia, the liberatingof previously off-limit businesscontracts is clearly a positive forthe West.

NATOIntervention

The Libyan rebel forces that

took to the street in February2011 were depicted bythe media and Western politicalcommentary as an unexpectedorganic uprising mirroring theArab Spring revolts nearby. Yet,a closer examination reveals adeep premeditation and clearconnection to CIA involvement.Former Gaddafi army commander,Khalifa Haftar, who had been livingin exile for 20 years essentially nextto CIA headquarters in Virginia,with tremendous evidence toindicate ties to the agency, wasquickly brought to Libya after theuprising and put into position ascommander for the rebel forces.How convenient.

All that was left was a trigger forintervention and it wasnt longbefore Libya fought back againstwhat could very well have been amercenary group set in motion to

enable a larger mobilization against


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15Spirit of the Times Magazine - Nov Issue 2012

Gaddafi. This violence was quickly emphasizedand set the stage for the so called humanitarianintervention less than 2 weeks after, with Resolution1973 from the UN Security Council. Quickly, andsemi-covertly, the US began to add more arms to therebels. Something, again, they have done in so manyother cases to secure their interests, such as with thetens of millions of dollars going to anti-Soviet Afghanrebels for the 1980s Afghanistan War.

This is the earmark. The earmark that links dozensof US covert interventions in the past 100 years andthere is even evidence the US has been fundingopposition groups in Iran, if not many other places inthis turbulent world we see rising. Its a great strategy- low budget; mostly hidden from the general public and completely against international law.

And once the fireworks started with NATO, therewas no turning back - another coup dtat success.Today Libya is a fragmented and destabilized terrain.Apparently is it now a democracy for whatever thatis really worth since it is looking more like anotherpost-war Iraq than anything else and it will likely be along time before progress is achieved.

Saving Face

Now coming back to our Love Story, there islittle that can be done now with respect to theirresponsible overthrow of Libya but perhaps a

little poetic sensitivity could heal these global woundsin some small way... So lets return to Ms. Weinermansstruggle to save someone dear to her - someone who

might be deeply misunderstood Muammars son:Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.

Today, she has not only spoken out in praise of Saifsmoral character, interest to reform Libya into a truedemocracy, defiance of his father on many issuesregarding needed change and equality; she has alsopublicly implored Saifs known associate and long-time friend, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, tointervene. She is also working to petition for his releasefrom the Libyan successors an effort the reader isencouraged to review and hopefully participate in.

Since that time she has been criticized and eventargeted for criminal wrong-doing by politicalpowers in her home country, such as by a memberof the National Union Party who wrote to the attorneygeneral that she was involved with a terrorist whowanted to destroy the Jewish people, as reported byThe Times of Israel.

A fascinating circumstance indeed. Geo-Politics,warfare and corruption aside, their very relationshipchallenges some common taboos all too commonin the world today. In the story of Romeo and Julietthe tragedy of circumstance rested mostly with a

disruption of traditional loyalty to the feuding families.In this story, there is a disruption of loyalty acrossmultiple cultural lines.

First, we have the nationalist disruption: If the stateof Israel is against another state and vice versa, theimplication is that citizens of that state must also beopposed. Second, we have the religious disruption:Ms. Weinerman of the Jewish faith and Saif of theMuslim faith, which, unlike other combinations, isparticularly rare. Third, we have the race disruption,which is a corollary to the nationalist loyalty, and whileless relevant today in general, is still notable given thedeep racial tension still existing in the Middle East;and fourth we have what we will call the disruption ofassociated bias which, in this case, is the prima facieassumption that Saif, who, again, never officiallyheld political office and has yet to be named in anydocuments for such criminal evidence, is still to beassociated with the alleged crimes of his father.

That determination, of course, is the role andimportance of the fair trial which Ms. Weinermanpursues. This bias of association is a powerfulinfluence of perspective and to expect a fair trialfrom what is to be, in effect, a court run by the rebel

opposition in Libya, might be wishful thinking.

InterviewBelow is an exclusive interview with Ms.Weinerman:

Question: Please briefly discuss your upbringing, especiallygiven the context of tension in your homeland, Israel; in theMiddle East.

I was born in Tel Aviv to a pianist mother and anengineer father who specializes in the field ofrenewable energy. Ive been acting and modelling since

I was a child and as a teenager I already started beingsocially and politically involved. However, activismwasnt something I picked up at home but was rathermy natural response to all the wrongdoings I witnessedgrowing up. Spending 3 years in South Africa during theapartheid years in the mid 1980s, between the ages of13-16, shaped the way I view the world today.

was constantly asking questions about the humaninequality and neglect that I saw around me, ratherthan accept it as natural or normal. Ive always beena social activist in Israel with a special interest in humanrights, especially around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.I worked with Btselem- a non-governmental non-profit

organization promoting human rights in the occupiedterritories. I worked in fundraising for Alon- anassociation dedicated to bridging social gaps througheducation, and am currently working in fundraising forIsraeli Flying Aid. It has always been important to meto use my celebrity and my connections for a greatercause.

Question: Please describe your impression and experiencewith Saif.

Saif is the best person Ive ever known. Hes a warm,kind, friendly, open-minded, peaceful, calm and lovingman. A real gentleman and pure hearted. He is honestand thats something admirable in a time like ours. Saifsvision was to turn Libya into a modern society and he didthe best within his power to help the Libyan people. Hebrought reforms to his country and had so many more


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ideas of reforms to bring about. Saif had an agenda forpromoting human rights not only in his country but inthe international community as well. He worked on aroadmap for peace in Kashmir, amongst other humanrights projects and charities he was involved in. He wasthe one to convince his father to give up his program forweapons of mass destruction.

Saif has always been very popular amongst thepeople of his country, and especially loved by theyounger generation there. He used to meet with the

people directly in the city square every week and talkto them without the protection of any guards. He wasalways challenging and even openly criticizing hisfathers regime. He even set up a free media organizationthat his father kept shutting down, so he had to keeprelocating it, from Libya, to Jordan, to London, etc.

He was also popular outside his country; he wasthe one connecting Libya to the west in his effortsto open his country to the world and bring balance andpeace to his region. He had a good relationship withthe west, especially England, to the extent that he wastitled Europes darling, before the west (mainly the US,France and the UK) decided to invade his country forcorporate profit. Then, all of a sudden, they started toportray him very differently, in order to manipulate publicopinion to legitimize their acts.

The accusations made against him sound evenmore unbelievable, when you consider he wasnteven a part of the regime, he had no political or militaryposition in the time of the war. If there were any concreteevidence against him- be sure we would be bombardedwith it, brainwashed with it in the mainstream media.Its very convenient for the west to leave him there tosilence the facts & hide the evidence. The sad truth isthat they turned their back on him once they had taken

over the country and its resources and they dont needhim anymore.

Question: Please explain the Petition you are pushing andwhy you feel Saif must to be removed from Libya in order toachieve a fair trial?

Firstly, the underlying meaning of this petition, or everyother petition, really, is the peoples understandingthat we need to empower ourselves, unite and takeresponsibility for the affairs of our world, because justicewill not be served by the powers that be. I think thereis a growing understanding that we cant let the superpowers lead our world anymore, as we found they are

immoral in their deeds. Using the peoples ignoranceto fool them with cheap propaganda, the powers thatbe allow themselves, on our behalf (the internationalcommunity), to harm the innocent & portray their victimsas evil.

Specifically, the same Security Council that hadpassed a resolution allowing the NATO forcesto intervene in the Libya conflict has also passed aresolution giving the International Criminal Court ajurisdiction over crimes committed during the conflict.It is obvious that the so-called justice system of thecurrent Libyan administration is unable to conduct afair trial which will ensure basic human rights and dueprocess.

Therefore, in accordance with its resolution & theimportance of true justice, the security council

& every member state within it has a moral interest,responsibility, and obligation to bring Saif to justicebefore the ICC, where he can receive a fair trial beforea competent court. Moreover, the fact that Saif wascaptured during an armed conflict makes him a prisonerof war, and therefore he is entitled to the full legalprotection declared by the Geneva Convention, whichincludes visits from the Red Cross or the Red Crescentrepresentatives, but he has been held incommunicadoand no information about his captive conditions or hishealth condition has been provided.

We cant go on looking the other way or shuttingour mouths about these violations of humanrights sponsored by USA, France, England and theircorporations. Somebody must be gaining something outof all of this... and those ones should be the ones to beput on trial.

Question: Do you feel Tony Blair is avoiding interventiondue to his need to preserve his political persona? If you hadanything to say to him directly, in person, what would it be?

Its no secret that Saif and Mr. Blair were good friends,have worked together and Mr. Blair has even helpedSaif with his PHD. I do believe Mr. Blair is not doing orsaying anything not because he thinks Saif deservesanything hes been going through, or that he shouldhave an unfair trial before an incompetent court. But thathis silence and his inactivity about the injustice that Saifis dealing with comes from fear of losing his own positionand more than that, he is probably threatened that ifhe says or does anything about the matter, he will bepunished by people and entities that dont want anythingdone to change this horrible policy of silencing the truthabout western corporate crime in the international arena.

Mr. Blair and other high-profile influential politiciansand corporate businessmen that were good friendswith Saif, have now renounced him as its no longerin their interest, they now have free access to all theyneeded from him. If I was to meet Mr. Blair, I would askhim if everything that he has, position-wise, materialistic-wise, is worth giving up the values of being human, andthat means being loyal to your friends, not letting thembe victims of propaganda intended to wash off otherpeoples sins. As a Christian man he should help hisfriend and speak the truth.

Tony Blair


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All we have in our lives is our word, and a man whodoesnt live telling the truth, speaking out what heknows, has nothing, for our property in this life is nothing.Not even our bodies. When we leave this world we takenothing with us, and the only thing that will be left of us isour good words, good deeds and the influence they willkeep on making long after we are gone.

Question: In the course of this mission you have reachedout to The Zeitgeist Movement, a Global SustainabilityAdvocacy group interested in declaring all the worldsresources as common heritage for all the worlds peopleand works with new economic ideas to unify humanity andimprove conditions. Why do you feel this audience mightwell understand your circumstance? Do you identify withsuch broad cultural changes?

Of course. The people who are now in control of theworlds wealth, and therefore control the rest of the

population (through the use of the monetary system andthe state system) are being cruel & thoughtless in theiractions, seeing the entire world as their own playground/back yard. They do not show any regard to the way oureconomy is destroying our planet, as if we have morethan one, or as if there would be no one left to live hereafter them. However, I do not accuse them of being evilbut I see them as victims of their own disproportionatepower.

I agree with The Zeitgeist Movements understandingthat a new system that will allow us a more open-source, flat way of managing our affairs on this

planet, is the only way to build a more humane andenvironmentally responsible society, and I think thatnow, for the first time in history, we have the technologythat can enable us to do just that.

HopeIn many ways, what is done is done and Libya willnever be the same. We can speculate upon its futureand even try to be optimistic that it will recover andmaybe even progress to a level never known before.However, that doesnt change history and the means

never justify the end. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is still inprison and awaiting a trial that may decide if he isto live or die. He also sits in a symbolic position inmany ways as the corruption inherent to the Libyan

invasion has yet to find an end and the outcome ofSaif sets the tone for what we as a people are willingto tolerate within the criminal meltdown of powerabuse so common on the tragic global stage today.

Orly Weinermans plead works on many levels.We cant return the many lives taken when NATOblanketed Libya with bombs, nor can we bringColonel Muammar Gaddafi back so he can face atrial to determine the legitimacy of the accusations

against him. However, we can reduce ourselves tothe recognition of one shared mortal reality and that isthat we are all human and our personal relationshipscan transcend the circumstantial baggage andcultural victimizations that seem to divide us in thebroad view. The saving of just one life in this playmight be the key to shift it from tragedy to redemption.

What if we as a species were able elevate ourselvesoutside of the ongoing Tragedy of Circumstancethrough which we all too often find our values andloyalties? What if we were to show compassion fora man who just might have been trying to changean out-dated regime from the inside, but was notgiven enough time to do so and was taken downprematurely by a criminal mafia that has no concernfor the wellbeing of the state of Libya?

What if our loyalist illusions of peace keeping,protecting civilians, and other clearly hypocriticaland false claims used to justify the overtaking ofother societies recently by the Western powers, wereseen for what they were? How would that affect yoursense of responsibility?

And most broadly, what if our loyalty to retributionand the reciprocated hatred of each othersmisdeeds was relinquished and replaced by a morerational understanding of how we are all Victims ofCircumstance - Victims of Culture - involved in aseemingly never-ending play of tragic proportionswhere we harm those who harm us or our loyalties alljustified under the guise of an ideological perversionof justice itself?

All human actions are consequences of conditions,past or present, and it is only when we shed theprimitive, narrow loyalties to our ancient traditions of

nation, religion, race and circumstance that we willlikely see that the only loyalty we can possibly haveis to truth and each other - as one species, sharingone habitat.

If you wish to support Ms. Weinermans mission

to protect another human being from this Trag-

edy of Circumstance, creating instead a Triumph

of Dignity, here is her petition:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/surrender-sai-al-islam-gaddaf-to-the-icc

References


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DEBUNK I N G T H E

V EN U S PROJ ECTBy David Zwolski

INFOARTICLE

What you are reading here is not just anyrebuttal written by some teenage schmuckwho has just seen The Venus Project website.I am neither a disgruntled former VenusProject fanatic nor a troll, and I am certainlynot a neoclassical economist who is outragedby what he has seen of the Venus Projectproposals and out to debunk any non-conventional economic thought. What you willread here is a rebuttal from a former memberof The Venus Project and not just an ordinaryone.

I have spoken for the Venus Project on TripleM radio and I have spoken against VenusProject critics on Skid Row Radio. I havegiven speeches and lectures to audiences ofvarying sizes and backgrounds about whatthe Venus Project proposes. I am a formerdevoted member of the Venus Project, andhave met and spoken with its founder andGuru Jacque Fresco. In 2010 I organized,

with the help of a team of fellow supporters, anational tour for the Venus Project in Australiathat spanned 4 major cities. I was responsiblefor organising the campaign, graphics andwebpage development, as well as recruitingvolunteers in Sydney and other 3 cities for thetour. The event campaign was a huge successthat sold out all 1,500 tickets in all 4 citeswith enough requests to repeat the event inMelbourne. I continued to advocate the VenusProject until about January this year, and Iam well, shall I say, qualified, if you will, tocomment on its flaws.

A little backgroundinfoFirst let me explain what the Venus Projectis in their own words:

The Venus Project proposes a systemcalled a Resource-Based Economy, in

which automation and technology would beintelligently integrated into an overall holistic socio-economic design where the primary function wouldbe to maximize the quality of life rather than profits.This project also introduces a set of workable andpractical values.

This is in perfect accord with the spiritualaspects and ideals found in most religionsthroughout the world. What sets the Venus

Project apart, however, is that it proposes totranslate these ideals into a working reality.

Simply put, the Venus Project aims to bringabout a peaceful moneyless society in which


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the scientific method of inquiry is applied to everyaspect of life including governance, economics,and culture. A moneyless society is deemedequitable in its facilitation of access to the worldsresources, which are held to be the common heritageof all humanity. Technological automation is believedto be the best method for bringing about such asociety because it facilitates a level of efficiencythat reduces the material throughput of naturalresources, whilst generating abundance for social

stability. Cybernation is to be employed whereverpossible for decision-making, with the assumptionthat automated technologies are not fallible in theway that humans are, thus avoiding the all-too humanerrors of the political system.

To achieve this, the Venus Project has a 3 stageplan. The first stage to build their research centre is complete. The second step is to release amajor motion picture that would reveal how theVenus Project would work. The third and final stageincludes building a test-city with a theme parkattached. Initially the building of the theme park wasslated as stage 4 in the plan, but just a few monthsago this plan was merged with stage 3[1] the testcity. The initial plan to build a theme park aftercompleting the construction of a test-city, and all thesubsequent research, seemed somewhat odd asone would naturally expect the next stage to involveimplementation of what has been learned. Keep thispoint in the back of your mind as implementationstill does not feature in the plan, and a theme parkis now merged into the test-city stage, blurring theboundaries.

The Venus Project has been in existence for over37 years. The project has produced large numbersof very attractive models and concepts of how thefuture may look, as well as drawings and much,

much more media, including films, documentaries,audio-lectures, books etc. Some of these productsare available free of charge, and many of theseproducts can be bought in their online store; you caneven buy your very own I love TVP coffee mug.

Relationship to the

Zeitgeist Movement

The Venus Project was featured heavilyin film-maker Peter Josephs secondand third documentary movies, Zeitgeist

Addendum and Zeitgeist Moving Forward. TheZeitgeist Movement an organisation founded byPeter Joseph following the success of ZeitgeistAddendum in 2008 and subsequent calls for aglobal peoples movement quickly allied withthe Venus Project as the projects activist arm.That union did not last long, to the detriment of the

Zeitgeist Movement.Soon after Josephs third film Zeitgeist MovingForward was released in which there was a full 30


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minute section dedicated to the Venus Project Frescos co-founder Roxanne Meadowsannounced their intention to terminate theprojects affiliation with the Zeitgeist Movement,and that they were thankful for all the help thatZeitgeist Movement volunteers had providedto further their cause. This action placed theZeitgeist Movement in limbo-land the positionof advocating an organization that they wereno longer affiliated with was one irreconcilablefor many volunteers, particularly as Peter

Josephs documentary films, heavily relianton Venus Project material, were the mainstayof the Movements educational materials. WithJosephs films freely available online via multiplesources there was no easy way of updating thematerial in order to avoid misunderstandingsregarding the relationship between the ZeitgeistMovement and the Venus Project.

Thus the Zeitgeist Movement and Peter Josephwere forced into the position of continuingto provide free publicity for an organizationthat had utilized their human resources for aperiod, gained a great deal of exposure via thesuccess of the Movement, and even gathereddonations via the Movements supporters then gone on to denounce both the Movementand its founder.

The approach of aone-man think-tank

The Venus Project has some great ideasoverall, and it definitely enhanced my

understanding of potential solutions tothe worlds issues. But, to put it hypothetically,if had the choice, I would not vote for theVenus Project based just on what they say in

the same way that I agree to a large extent witha lot what Barack Obama promised during his2008 presidential campaign. Words alone arenot sufficient evidence of intentions.

Unfortunately there is very little that the VenusProject does aside from talk. Their work solelyrevolves around producing materials that furtherthe ideas of the Venus Project. You wont hearof the Venus Project partnering with any causeor organization that feeds or educates people,

or that develops technologies that solve humanproblems. You wont see any of the own life-saving solutions and designs they claim to haveproduced released under a not-for-profit licencesuch as Creative Commons so that they couldbe utilized by humanitarian organizations. TheVenus Project have even tried to copyright thephrase Resource-Based Economy in an effortto prohibit the use of the phrase by anyone notfully aligned with the Projects understandingof it. Thankfully the attempt was unsuccessful,meaning that other organizations making use ofthe phrase are able to continue their work withouthaving to re-brand their identity and amend all oftheir literature.

Jacque Fresco is the one-man think-tank forthe Venus Project. The designs, drawings, andall of the proposed ideas are his alone, whichrenders him somewhat of a cyber-guru. Manyother wise people have left an enduring legacyof their work, only some of whom have becomefamous because of it, such as Stephen Hawking,Albert Einstein, and Marie Curie, to throw out afew household names. What separates Fresco

from this eminent group is that he does not citescientific sources to support his conclusions. Hehas not produced a single study of his own toback up his futuristic ideas for humanity. Despitehis claims that a full-scale survey of the Earthsresources is a vital first step toward a Resource-Based Economy Fresco has made no stepstoward establishing a task-force for this purposewhile rejecting already existing surveys data.Proposals for the development of technologiessuch as space-shuttle personal vehicles,buildings build from memory-metal, volcanicheat harnessed as a thermal-power plant, full-automation of all labour, cybernated decisionmaking, etc, have all remained unresearched,while new designs with the embedded


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assumption that these technologies are possiblecontinue to be produced by the Project. It is simplyhypocritical for anyone who advocates science asa way of life to fail to apply the scientific method ofinquiry to their proposals.

After 37 years of existence a think-tank cited bymany as ingenious may reasonably be expected toyield results a little more scientifically convincing thattheir output of a single unreferenced book, a novel, 2

feature movies and merchandise bearing the sloganI love TVP. Fresco is undoubtedly wise, but itrequires a significant imbalance of ego to claim howthe future will look, and how it could or should work,without a shred of empirical evidence generated bythe Project itself to support its own projections.

A theme-park for thehungry

The growth paradigm makes an unsettling

appearance in much of Frescos work, withdesigns for building cities in the sea orunderwater, even in the sky there are seeminglyno limits to his imagination being posited as waysto accommodate an ever-growing population. Aslovely as these ideas may sound, a painful parallelis clearly drawn between the projection of the VenusProject and our current economic growth paradigm,unsustainable to its core. Fresco is bold in statingthat the earth can sustain double the populationwe have at present provided we manage ourresources wisely and apply the most advancedtechnologies. Unfortunately studies conducted so

far illustrate a far grimmer future for us. One of the

more positive studies[2] predicts thatthe whole planet will have to shiftto a strict vegetarian diet in orderto sustain its projected populationof 9 billion by 2050. While I am allfor managing our resources wiselyand applying our latest sustainabletechnology who wouldnt be? thefirst thing that should be done, froman ethical standpoint, is to find ways

to feed and clothe the poorest, mostdisadvantaged people in the worldat present. Once a feasible plan toescape poverty is in existence, thenwe may be able to talk seriouslyabout sustaining further populationincreases.

However, the Venus Project arguesthat the first step in bringing abouta peaceful world free from sufferingis the concept of a Resource-Based

Economy, and that we should firstconcern ourselves with its designby supporting their 3 step plan(including the theme park, but absentplans for implementation). Im surethe 10,000 children who die fromstarvation each day would be veryhappy to hear that the Venus Projecthas built them a theme park... whilethey are starving.

I am not saying that the VenusProject first needs to send food-aid

packages to Sudan before they evenconsider some of their very ambitiousideas; my criticism is directed at theirorder of priorities. If the Venus Projectwere to behave empathically towardall the people of the world, withethics-based priorities, somewherein the plan would surely be includedthe engineering of (perhaps evencybernated) food production,water-filtration technologies, or theprovision of basic healthcare andeducation. Not a theme park.


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TechnologicalCornucopia

Whilst a member, I assumed thatmany of the Venus Projectsideas were possible because

I had heard about them from a personwho seemed so smart and so wise, to theextent that he is certainly a man beforehis time. This appeal to authority fallacy[4]

is something that many Venus Projectsupporters suffer from, subtle in that no onescreams and shouts when someone startsto question these things, yet once such achallenge to authority arises it is usuallygreeted with the response that one day itwill be technologically possible to do X;which is, more or less, how Fresco himselfresponds to such questioning This leadsus to a very important part of the VenusProject belief system a TechnologicalCornucopia.

Technological Cornucopia is the belief thattechnology can provide for all our needs,and solve... well... everything from climatechange to peak oil to infinitely substitutingfinite resources. The TechnologicalCornucopian concept is to the VenusProject as the virgin birth is to Christianity you have to believe it, otherwise the wholething just does not make sense. WhatTechnological Cornucopians hold is a set ofbeliefs, not a scientific position.

Technotopiandreams

One very impressive idea forhumankind is to build buildingswith memory-metal, or shape-

memory alloy[5] a compound materialwhich could theoretically enable peopleto buy a new home from a supermarket

in the form of a metal cubicle say 10cubic meters and, once delivered,and a little bit of heat applies, the housewould unpack from the cubicle into its

full-size. Great idea. But memory-metal is madeof titanium, and currently there is only 690 milion[6]tons of titanium left vastly less than would beneeded to serve the needs of a country, much lessthe whole planet. On top of that we currently use6 million tons of titanium per year as it is mainlyfor paints and electronic gadgets. Building housesout of titanium would be like building houses out ofsilver a bizarrely extravagant waste of a rare non-renewable resource.

Fresco envisions a world of abundance for everyone,and of everything. That sounds very lovely, and if itwere possible I have no doubt that it would solvea lot of social problems. Im quite sure that Frescodoes not mean that the finite resources existing onour planet can be somehow made abundant, but hedoes speak of creating an abundance of resourcesfor all human needs. What, then, are those needs?Thats a hard question to answer, but as a formermember I can say that the Venus Project does notthink of human needs in the sense of Maslows

Pyramid, but in the context of current standards ofliving. Can the needs of our current standard ofliving be provided in abundance? In a word: no.

You cant talk about the notion of abundance withoutmaking reference to Jevons paradox[6]. In a nutshell,Jevons observed that rate at which resources areconsumed increases with the level of availability. Thismeans that in making a process more efficient onemakes its product more available, hence increasingthe rate of material throughput and consumption.Increased production and efficiency bears theunfortunate side-effect of overuse an abuse of

the abundance generated leading to more rapiddepletion of finite resources, and depletion ofrenewable resources at a rate higher than the rateof renewal. This is an important point to consider,since in Frescos visions for the future, everythingwill be supplied in abundance, and standards ofliving will be so much better that even the ultra-richwill be compelled to transition to a Resource-BasedEconomy. Thus, if you take into consideration Jevonsparadox, and the notion of abundance Frescosvision is stuck in a catch-22 scenario in which thenotion of abundance, touted as humanitys saviour,

may turn out to precipitate its more rapid demise.Although living standards do not only concern mattersof energy usage, it is beyond the scope of this articleto give attention to the full range; therefore attentionwill be given to our populations energy needs, a majorfactor in standard of living fundamental to the levelof technological progress we have thus far attained.The Jevons Paradox is not where the energy problemends. 86.4% of the worlds energy comes from non-renewable resources, the three major sources beingcoal, oil and natural gas. All three of these resourcesentail difficult extraction processes which are prone

to accidents that can lead to catastrophic damage,not to mention the production and usage thatcauses high levels of pollution and greenhouse gasemissions. There are two reasons why we use them:


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they are cheap;and there is noeasily availablea l t e r n a t i v efor which wecurrently havethe technologyto power theplanet withneeds definedas they are atpresent. TheVenus Projectssolution tot r a n s i t i o n

to 100%r e n e w a b l eenergy is spoton who intheir right mindcould disagreewith this? Thereis a catchthough theVenus Projectdoes notexplain how weare supposedto transitionto the use of

100% renewable energy sources globally. With alack of viable transition plan being a key reason whywe are stuck with 86.4% non-renewables in the firstplace and the Venus Project failing to provide such aplan, there is a clear absence of evidence to supportFrescos assertions.

Organizations such as Beyond Zero Emissions do,however, attempt to present a 100% renewabletransition plan, begging the question: why not simply

partner up with Beyond Zero Emissions, pool skillsand resources, and promote the concept in a similarmanner. As the trajectory of our energy consumptionindicates, our energy requirements double every 35

years[7] rendering the transition to 100% renewablesno easy feat. With this in mind it is difficult to havefaith that any plan presented based on current needsprojection will be sufficient.

Vague Venus

The Venus Project does not explain in detailhow their proposals are supposed toactually work. You will never hear Fresco

explain how waste management works in his Venuscities, or how healthcare is provided, or the basison which absolutely scarce resources such asrare earth metals would be allocated. This is apoint for which the Venus Project was criticizedduring their world lecture tour; Fresco was unableprovide a straight answer on these matters. InsteadFresco encourages his audience to rely on a faithin a Technological Cornucopia. This pattern ismimicked to perfection by other Venus Projectrepresentatives, who are not engaged in research ordesign, but in promotion of the Projects assertions.

The new Dr Octopus?

Dr Octavius Octopus a cartoon figurefrom Marvel comics is presented as asympathetic and caring scientist who,

through his research, has found a way to createan abundance of fusion-based energy. His effortto harness the energy has spiralled out of controland, in effect, catastrophically failed, yet Octaviuspresses on though criminal means to rebuild andrefinance his mad experiment.

As psychologist and engineer Jack Catran notes[8]:

There are many futurists, geniuses, and self-styledseers in our midst who, upon careful examination, turn

out to be disappointingly commercial and exploitive.

Unfortunately The Venus Project is no different here.


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The most recent example of their exploitationof their supporters was their pocketingof 113 thousand dollars of donations thatwere donated to further step 2 of theirflawless plan the release of a majormotion picture[9]. The money was originallyintended for a professional scriptwriter forthis movie, and donations were solicitedunder this pretext. Initially the target was setat one million dollars, and later reduced to$100,000. Despite going significantly abovetarget in donations received, the VenusProject then announced that they nowplan write the script themselves. To makea fair comparison, this is akin to donating$100,000 to a specific charity campaign,and then seeing the money diverted fromthat campaign the reason you saw merit inmaking the donation in the first place intoan unknown and unannounced alternativeventure.

Another one of the Venus Projects amazingfinancial stunts was the world tour whichI organized, as an unpaid volunteer, theAustralian leg. I was pleasantly surprisedwhen the Venus Project insisted onlowering the ticket price to $30 fromproposed $40, and the Australian tour soldout in the 4 major cities, netting upwardsof $30,000 after expenses, of which only1 thousand was given to the Australianchapter in order to further promote theVenus Project. The Venus Project Tour tookplace in 18 countries, totalling more than 20presentations[10]. I do not know the total netearnings, but soon after the world tour, theVenus Project decided to take their propertyin Venus, Florida a property comprising10 buildings in which only Jaque Frescoand Roxanne Meadows live; the propertywhich doubles as their research centre off the market. This action indicates thatthe Project was no longer in the financialtrouble that they had been in prior to 2010,and, as my partial intention in hosting the

Venus Project in Australia was to providesome assistance for the Project to continue,I saw this as a positive result.

The Venus Project encourages people to visit them inVenus, Florida, a tour in which anyone can participate as long as they can afford the $200 fee, a somewhatironically high fee for an organization that promotesa non-monetary economy. There is also the shop ontheir website through which the Project generatesincome a standard for any major non-profit thesedays.

While everyone understands that you cant do muchcompletely without money these days, there areorganizations that do their best to minimize expensesin order to use money as little as possible such asthe Post Growth Institutes global Free Money Dayevent, held for only $100[11].

Of course any organisation will need to employpaid staff if they are expected to work full-time forthe cause. The Venus Project, however, is in a muchmore advantageous position than most non-profits.They own their land which serves as a researchcentre, home, and generator of revenue. I amconfident that, considering the money that they aremaking, the Venus Project can lower at least theircost of living to close to zero by well... walkingtheir self-sustainable non-monetary talk.

For the money earned from the global lecture tour,or pocketed from the movie, it would be possible topower their whole research centre with solar panels,eliminating dependence on external power suppliesand exiting the billing cycle. It would also be possibleto grow at least some of their food the land they own,jazzing up the garden with high-tech gadgets that fit

their proposals perhaps functioning to test someof their theories. They could even afford to buy anelectric car and reduce their level of emissions,never needing to rely on petrol from the pump again,powering all necessary journeys from their self-sufficient solar set-up[12]. By doing all of these things well within the reach of their budget the VenusProject could lower their expenses to a little casualsupermarket shopping and land rates, leaving therest for testing their theories.

If they were to do all of the above, wouldnt theybe a step closer to their proposed moneyless

solution? Wouldnt the Venus Project research centrethen be more than just a place with fancy Jetsonsdomes, but also a working blueprint for how yourlife and home can be converted to the ideals of a


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Resource-Based Economy? Wouldnt it be the firstcommunity that functions as both a non-monetarymicrocosm of society and as a testing bed for theirproposals? Wouldnt this appear to be a minimumlevel of commitment for anyone expecting to betaken seriously for their grand plans to fundamentallyalter the way the word works? Likely many people including ardent supporters think that this is exactlyhow the Venus Project does function.

The Venus Projectrevised:

Imust admit that when I met Roxanne MeadowsI met an unusually shy and loving personality,someone who does truly care about people and

believes in what she does. She and Jacque Frescoare very giving and very approachable people. Incontrast to the impression that this article may give

you, Fresco really does seem to believe in whathe does. In his mind is not a scammer; he is anobjective scientific mind, and would immediatelycounter the notion that his work revolves arounda set of beliefs rather than scientifically-gleanedunderstandings. He sees himself as an aging manon a tireless and unending quest that just mayresult in ultimately saving our species.

However, if you were to ask me now what theVenus Project is, my answer would be as follows:

T

he Venus Project is a theme park that serves as a

home for its founders, Jacque Fresco and RoxanneMeadows. The theme park is their sole means ofgenerating income, and has attracted a religious-likefollowing and unquestioned funding from its followers dueto the Project advocating nothing less than redesigningsociety. That proposed new society is based on rationaland sensible ideas that have evolved to utopianproportions, rationalized by a belief in a TechnologicalCornucopia. Unwittingly and unconsciously, JacqueFresco has become the monetary-motivated villain thathe and his fans truly believe he advocates against.

There arent any bad people in this world.Every villain and every hero do what theydo because they think it is the right thingto do. And its hard to tell one from theother if you base your judgement of anindividual solely on what that personsays. But rest well-assured that a persondoes mean business if they embody thechange they wish to see.

So what is yoursolution?Venus Project fans, if presented withevidence against the Venus Project, or ifthey simply cannot argue against the pointpresented, may reply condescendinglywith something to the effect of: So what isyour solution? So let me answer exactly

that question in brief:Well, to the surprise of the reader I stilladvocate a Resource-Based Economy with specific emphasis on the notion thatthe scientific method of inquiry should beat the forefront of decision-making. Thedifference for me now is that I actuallywant to apply the scientific method tomy own thinking, instead of drawingconclusions and then aiming to validatethem.

Previous TVP 4 stage plan - http://web.archive.org/web/20110103001425/

Current TVP plan - www.thevenusproject.com/the-venus-project-introduction/aims-proposals

Food and population growth study - http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/aug/26/food-shortages-world-vegetarianism

Appeal To Authority - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_authority

Memory Metal Reference - http://en.wikipedia.org/

wiki/Shape-memory_alloy

World mineral Survey - http://minerals.usgs.gov/min-erals/pubs/commodity/titanium/mcs-2012-timin.pdf

Jevons Paradox - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Je-vons_paradox

Energy Consumption predictions study - http://time-forchange.org/prediction-of-energy-consumption

TVP pockets donations - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/zmglobal/2012/10/03/tzm-global-radio-3rd-oct-2012--host-bakari-pace

Electric motorcycles - http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/

Useful links


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Page 26Spirit of the Times Magazine - Nov Issue 2012

THE FLAWED PARADIGMSOF ECONOMICS & SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENTBy Richard Sanders

Adapted from Sanders. R., 2012, The Flawed Paradigms of Economics and Sustainable

Development, World Economics Association Conference: Sustainability - Missing points in

the development dialogue Sept-Oct 2012.

INFOA

RTICLE

The sustainable developmentparadigm has failed. Twointernationally agreed

criteria for a sustainable humanpresence on the planet wereproclaimed by the WorldCommission on Environment andDevelopment in 1987, yet wehave still not taken sufficient stepsto meet them. The first criterion,of intergenerational equity which requires humanity to livewithin safe ecological limits hasbeen consistently breached bythe acceleration of ecologicalovershoot. The second criterion,

of intra-generational equityis made a mockery of by theever-widening gap between thewealthy and the poverty-stricken.

Despite these failures thesustainable developmentparadigm remains humanitysonly response to the rapidlyconverging global crises thatthreaten the very survival ofhuman civilization. Climate

change; sea level rise;acidification; the sixth majorextinction event; the peaking ofoil and other key resources; lossof soils, fresh water supplies,forests and fisheries; ongoingpoverty and inequity; and, mostrecently, the global financial crisis all of these threats result largelyfrom our development paradigmin which humanity is running theplanet as if it were a business inliquidation.


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The Fatal Flaw

The fatal flaw with thesustainable developmentparadigm is the failure to

understand the fundamentalcontradiction betweenecological and economicimperatives. Instead, it

has been argued that itis possible to live withinecological limits while relyingon economic growth to propeldevelopment objectives; thusthe sustainability discoursehas been largely subsumedinto the economic paradigmthrough the sustainabledevelopment construct.

Despite the promise ofeconomics to allocate

scarce resources in orderto maximise the welfare ofsociety the evidence indicatesthat economics has failed itspromise to humanity in at leasttwo ways:As if we needed

to make matters worse theglobal financial system is ina precarious state with thepotential collapse likely topropel the world into a stateof chaos in which supply linesof essentials cease to flowalmost immediately, leadingto potentially life-threatening

consequences for much ofhumanity.

Understanding and addressingthis failure of economics isarguably the most importantproblem that humanity hasto solve if economic, socialand ecological collapse is tobe avoided, and the humanenterprise is to be viable intothe indefinite future.

How theWorld WorksEcologically

The natural order of theuniverse has it thatenergy and matter

dissipate, run down, breakdown or cool down of their ownaccord. This fundamental law

of the universe is known as the2nd Law of Thermodynamics from order into chaos, andthe entropy, or disorder, of theuniverse is understood to beincreasing.

About 3.8 billion years agosomething remarkablehappened on Earth: A self-catalyzing loop of chemicalreactions started somewherein the ocean, drawingenergy and matter from thesurrounding environment tobecome the first spark of life.This spark was the distantancestor of every speciesof living thing that has everexisted and evolved into theweb of life on Earth.

Life appeared to reverse theentropic flow of the universe,thus breaking the 2nd Law

of Thermodynamics, bycreating order out of chaos taking dissipatedmatter and energyfrom the environment,and concentrating,organizing andstructuring it into livingorganisms. But life doesnot actually defy the 2ndLaw. What happens isthat a localized poolof order is created

with the side-effect ofeven greater disorderin the surroundingenvironment, meaning

that the systemas a wholemoves to an

overall state ofincreased disorder.

T h r o u g hthe eons of time thisreversed entropicflow has created thecomplex dynamicworld that we know

today, including itsatmosphere, soils and

the web of life. Solar energy

is captured by plants anda fraction of that energycascades into the herbivoresthat eat the plants, and inturn a fraction of that energycascades into the carnivoresthat eat the herbivores. Woventogether, these organismsmake up ecosystems that aremaintained by the solar energycascading and dissipatingthough them.

Without life, the Earth wouldbe much like Mars. Life hastransformed the Earths earlyatmosphere of methane,ammonia and water vapourto the current mix of nitrogenand oxygen with traces ofgreenhouse gases that keepthe planet some 30 degreeswarmer than it would otherwisebe. Billions of tons of matter thatmake up the biogeochemical

cycles of the planet continuallyflow through the web of life and

1. Our planets scarceresources are massivelyover-allocated to theglobal growth economy,

resulting in ecologicalovershoot.

2. Planetary resourcesare massively under-allocated to the vastmajority of humanitywho live in poverty, yetmassively over-allocatedto the wealthy minority of

humanity.


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keep it going. However, thereis a safe operating space thatthis system operates within,and recent research shows thathumanity is exceeding someof the biophysical boundariesthat define this space.

Economics How SocietiesOrganise toObtain LowEntropy

Inorder to survive, each animalspecies o

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