0:00:04.556,0:00:07.946 My name is Henry Brade and I am from The Zeitgeist Movement in Finland. 0:00:08.253,0:00:11.695 I am from Helsinki, the capital of Finland. 0:00:11.695,0:00:15.173 I'm a co-founder of the movement in Finland. 0:00:38.283,0:00:43.103 I heard about the movement first time when I saw Peter Joseph's Zeitgeist:Addendum 0:00:43.103,0:00:46.590 In the end was a text suggesting to go to 0:00:46.590,0:00:48.998 www.TheZeitgeistMovement.com 0:00:48.998,0:00:52.190 I went there and there was a Finnish community 0:00:52.790,0:00:55.378 There was a forum in Finnish already 0:00:55.854,0:01:01.853 There I got to know other Finns who were excited about the idea. 0:01:02.514,0:01:09.868 Then we met and founded the movement in Finland. 0:01:09.868,0:01:13.096 That's how it started. 0:01:23.787,0:01:26.359 The reason why I joined is that 0:01:26.359,0:01:29.797 I've been generally interested in societal matters even before these 0:01:29.797,0:01:32.241 Zeitgeist films. 0:01:32.241,0:01:34.791 The Zeitgeist:Addendum was something that 0:01:34.791,0:01:37.297 somehow connected the dots 0:01:37.297,0:01:40.330 and gave reasons behind the 0:01:40.330,0:01:43.990 world gone mad. 0:01:43.990,0:01:47.201 That sunk in really nicely. 0:02:12.035,0:02:14.419 The awesome thing about the resource based 0:02:14.419,0:02:19.753 economy is that it's thinking outside the box. 0:02:20.814,0:02:25.395 I've been generally interested in political issues before this movement and 0:02:25.734,0:02:30.781 somehow the proposals that the politicians are suggesting as solutions 0:02:30.981,0:02:37.635 are ridiculously narrow and something that are not going to inflict real change 0:02:37.635,0:02:42.496 They focus on symptoms rather than causes of problems. 0:02:43.311,0:02:49.921 This resource based economy focuses namely on the root problems. 0:02:49.921,0:02:52.889 That's the starting point. 0:02:54.443,0:03:01.089 I find it wonderful that the starting point is human needs and well-being of the environment. 0:03:01.089,0:03:03.940 This kind of real and meaningful matters, 0:03:03.940,0:03:07.731 unlike in market economy 0:03:07.731,0:03:17.600 where we just follow the circulation of money and that kind of things. Human needs are disregarded. 0:03:17.600,0:03:22.949 Wants are more in the focus: how can we create new wants? 0:03:23.549,0:03:28.242 This doesn't exist in resource based economy. 0:04:01.153,0:04:09.292 The Finnish Zeitgeist Movement started a couple of months after Zeitgeist:Addendum was released. 0:04:09.292,0:04:11.783 It was January 2009. 0:04:13.920,0:04:16.330 It started from Helsinki. 0:04:16.330,0:04:18.240 We were about 15 people 0:04:18.240,0:04:22.124 and it spread out really quickly 0:04:22.124,0:04:23.468 The whole Southern Finland was covered 0:04:23.468,0:04:26.622 and even Oulu joined later. 0:04:26.622,0:04:31.307 We've had activities in more than 10 cities. 0:04:33.477,0:04:35.487 A big challenge has been 0:04:35.487,0:04:37.169 to figure out how to maintain the activities 0:04:37.169,0:04:39.694 while everyone is doing this on voluntary basis, 0:04:39.694,0:04:43.131 voluntary cooperation. 0:04:43.131,0:04:46.854 The work that people do for The Zeitgeist Movement 0:04:46.854,0:04:51.866 competes with rest of the life. 0:04:51.866,0:04:55.154 There might be a paid job, family life and the like, 0:04:55.154,0:05:02.290 which get prioritized, when for instance livelihood is needed. 0:05:02.290,0:05:06.731 There's a tiny motivation problem: 0:05:06.731,0:05:11.295 How to keep the people active? 0:05:11.295,0:05:19.172 It feels like old members are resigning at the same rate as 0:05:19.172,0:05:21.688 the new members join. 0:05:21.688,0:05:27.124 The net growth in the movement is fairly small. 0:05:27.924,0:05:30.869 That has been problematic. 0:05:30.869,0:05:35.840 On the other hand we've achieved a lot here in Finland. 0:05:35.840,0:05:40.668 We've had a lot of events. 0:05:40.668,0:05:42.774 We've had stunts on the street. 0:05:42.774,0:05:45.587 We have made a Finnish 0:05:45.587,0:05:47.781 Zeitgeist film and now 0:05:47.781,0:05:50.634 a Finnish Zeitgeist book came out. 0:05:50.634,0:05:56.292 So, in that sense, this has expanded and grown a lot. 0:05:57.384,0:06:05.157 So, all in all, during these past [br]few years we've developed quite a bit. 0:07:37.193,0:07:40.263 We had the fourth annual meeting of 0:07:40.263,0:07:45.311 The Zeitgeist Movement in Finland[br]and it went pretty well. 0:07:45.311,0:07:48.475 For the first time it was in the capital, in Helsinki. 0:07:48.475,0:07:50.729 Previously it has taken place in Tampere. 0:07:51.713,0:07:54.140 It was really well organized event. 0:07:54.140,0:07:59.823 There were all sorts of lectures, covering many topics and not much repetition. 0:08:00.746,0:08:04.713 All practicalities, such as catering, functioned perfectly. 0:08:06.051,0:08:08.873 Very nice event indeed. 0:08:08.873,0:08:11.953 These national meetings in general have been something that 0:08:11.953,0:08:15.549 brings together ther whole Zeitgeist Movement in Finland. 0:08:15.549,0:08:21.314 People come hundreds of kilometers, all over Finland, to meet others 0:08:21.314,0:08:23.619 who support the movement. 0:08:23.650,0:08:27.010 It has been just awesome. 0:08:43.980,0:08:46.897 These lectures were really well planned 0:08:46.897,0:08:48.909 in a sense that they brought up 0:08:48.909,0:08:51.462 many highly interesting topics. 0:08:52.077,0:08:56.664 For instance, we talked about time banks which is a very interesting topic 0:08:56.664,0:09:01.519 and food: the quality of contemporary food and organic food 0:09:01.519,0:09:04.324 this kind of things. 0:09:04.324,0:09:09.457 And one lecture addressed the power of the media 0:09:09.457,0:09:15.332 the way the agenda of the media guides people's opinions. 0:09:15.332,0:09:19.486 Then there was a really good lecture about communality and 0:09:20.286,0:09:23.476 of course I held one lecture 0:09:24.583,0:09:29.337 about the thoughts and solutions suggested by[br]The Zeitgeist Movement. 0:09:30.199,0:09:32.514 Very diverse and 0:09:32.514,0:09:34.844 interesting lectures. 0:09:35.582,0:09:39.334 As for the participants: 0:09:39.334,0:09:44.054 we had - like in all national events - people from all over Finland. 0:09:44.054,0:09:51.883 We had one person from all the way in Rovaniemi and a bigger bunch from Oulu. 0:09:52.990,0:09:56.586 Most were from Southern Finland though. 0:09:56.586,0:10:00.466 The movement is focused in the cities in Southern Finland, 0:10:00.466,0:10:04.114 but it's good that we had people from the North as well. 0:10:04.114,0:10:06.046 The fact that they care to come all the way to Helsinki 0:10:06.046,0:10:09.120 is of course really nice. 0:11:59.744,0:12:02.235 We have had all kinds of meetings in 0:12:02.235,0:12:04.140 The Zeitgeist Movement in Finland. 0:12:04.140,0:12:06.789 Apart from the official national meetings 0:12:06.789,0:12:08.806 we've had more informal 0:12:09.513,0:12:12.254 get-together weekends. 0:12:13.023,0:12:21.065 For instance two summers ago we spent the whole weekend together on a cottage. 0:12:21.065,0:12:23.476 We were some 10-15 people there 0:12:23.476,0:12:27.036 convened in Central Finland from all over the country. 0:12:27.036,0:12:29.678 It was a very interesting weekend. 0:12:29.678,0:12:32.729 It was mainly getting to know each other and spending time together. 0:12:32.729,0:12:38.181 Then we had this extempore idea to go and spread out flyers and DVDs in 0:12:38.181,0:12:40.692 the centre of the small town. 0:12:40.692,0:12:43.663 It was really fun and nice, 0:12:43.663,0:12:46.313 we chatted with people and it was 0:12:46.313,0:12:49.388 more like physical contact and communication, 0:12:49.388,0:12:53.303 rather than just internet activism. 0:12:55.948,0:12:59.604 Last summer we visited an ecovillage. 0:12:59.604,0:13:02.187 We spent the whole weekend in the only 0:13:02.187,0:13:04.826 ecovillage in Finland 0:13:04.826,0:13:07.838 where they wish to live sustainably 0:13:07.838,0:13:09.695 It's a lifestyle there: 0:13:09.695,0:13:14.199 all the people long for more sustainable way of life. 0:13:14.199,0:13:16.386 In that sense our values were really close to one another and 0:13:17.355,0:13:23.621 they also digged the thoughts of The Zeitgeist Movement a lot. 0:14:27.841,0:14:30.829 The most rewarding thing in this activism is 0:14:30.829,0:14:34.110 probably the fact that you meet like-minded people 0:14:35.248,0:14:40.111 and you can have discussions at the same wawelength. 0:14:40.111,0:14:46.260 You don't have to talk about superficialities. 0:14:47.229,0:14:54.271 It's rare to have shallow discussions with the people from The Zeitgeist Movement. 0:14:54.271,0:14:57.069 It's good contrast to 0:14:57.069,0:15:04.184 every-day conversations that I have with my other friends. 0:15:04.184,0:15:09.525 You can go really deep in the conversations with these people. 0:15:09.525,0:15:11.495 That has been really rewarding 0:15:11.495,0:15:15.402 and also the fact that you see new people awaken to reality and 0:15:15.402,0:15:20.527 see that due to your work in the movement new people spring up and they say: 0:15:21.927,0:15:26.221 "Your work enabled me to even find out about the movement" 0:15:26.221,0:15:28.635 For sure that's rewarding. 0:15:28.635,0:15:31.002 It's great. 0:15:31.433,0:15:40.788 Probably the most challenging thing in the movement is to get people do things proactively. 0:15:42.572,0:15:46.390 We have tried to function so that 0:15:46.390,0:15:50.969 people would do everything on their own 0:15:50.969,0:15:55.548 but we've had to acknowledge the fact that in practice 0:15:55.548,0:16:00.127 people do need, not necessarily leading, but some sort of guidance 0:16:01.203,0:16:06.116 Some people are proactive and do things on their own and 0:16:06.116,0:16:11.245 some people won't do anything unless there is someone guiding them. 0:16:11.706,0:16:15.129 In the Finnish activities we have learned this the hard way: 0:16:15.129,0:16:19.361 we do need more guidance. 0:16:19.361,0:16:23.365 Many people who are more active might get frustrated 0:16:23.365,0:16:27.417 in the whole thing if it looks like that people are not 0:16:27.417,0:16:30.636 doing anything if you are not holding their hand. 0:16:30.636,0:16:33.579 It requires right kind of approach, 0:16:33.579,0:16:35.154 right methods, 0:16:35.154,0:16:38.233 to make it function properly. 0:17:45.577,0:17:51.663 Finland is, per capita, one of the most active Zeitgeist chapters 0:17:51.663,0:17:56.830 We have a big bunch of people taking into consideration how small the country is. 0:18:08.152,0:18:12.341 One reason for achievements like the film and the book is 0:18:12.341,0:18:16.214 that we have a lot of active people 0:18:16.214,0:18:20.524 who are both proactive and competent. 0:18:20.524,0:18:23.879 Ajan Henki (Spirit of the Times) film came about just because 0:18:23.879,0:18:28.296 The Finnish Zeitgeist Movement had a lot of competent 0:18:28.296,0:18:30.209 people in the field: 0:18:30.209,0:18:31.735 we found an editor 0:18:31.735,0:18:33.325 we found a director 0:18:33.325,0:18:35.528 we found the cameraman 0:18:35.528,0:18:37.802 Of course we couldn't find some things 0:18:37.802,0:18:39.444 for instance a script writer 0:18:39.444,0:18:42.716 so we had to learn it on our own. 0:18:42.716,0:18:46.457 But filmmaking is not rocket science. Not at all. 0:18:47.257,0:18:52.794 I hope that Ajan Henki film functions as a role model to other countries, 0:18:52.794,0:18:54.485 so they could do something similar. 0:18:55.208,0:18:57.249 It's completely possible. 0:18:57.249,0:18:58.732 It doesn't have to be that 0:18:58.732,0:19:00.228 everyone is a professional. 0:19:00.228,0:19:03.368 It only takes a bit of motivation and interest 0:19:03.368,0:19:08.455 to learn all the things that filmmaking requires. 0:19:09.024,0:19:12.874 Of course it helps if you have a few professionals in the crew. 0:19:12.874,0:19:14.666 Then this Zeitgeist book... 0:19:15.589,0:19:19.868 That is largely an individual triumph of the writer. 0:19:20.914,0:19:23.870 In reality there was no one else involved 0:19:23.870,0:19:25.950 apart from the author Jani Laasonen. 0:19:26.688,0:19:29.973 That's how it started. 0:19:29.973,0:19:34.299 It seems that the Finnish movement has a lot of people who are able to do things on their own. 0:19:34.299,0:19:39.286 Even if we've had troubles in organizing the work 0:19:39.286,0:19:43.485 I have to admit that we've had these great accomplishments as well. 0:19:43.485,0:19:49.235 In that sense I think we've done a pretty good job in the end. 0:21:16.517,0:21:20.618 This film process took about 0:21:20.618,0:21:23.472 half a year all in all, 0:21:23.472,0:21:25.921 to make the actual film. 0:21:25.921,0:21:30.543 We had planned this kind of video project for a long time already 0:21:30.543,0:21:32.676 It started out with the idea to make a 20-minute 0:21:32.676,0:21:35.358 introductory video of The Zeitgeist Movement 0:21:35.358,0:21:38.816 and then the whole thing just got out of hand. 0:21:38.816,0:21:42.158 It turned out that we are making a full-length feature film and 0:21:42.158,0:21:45.497 then it turned out that we are making a little bit too long full-length feature film 0:21:46.573,0:21:49.878 and the end result was a humongous 3-hour piece. 0:21:49.878,0:21:52.689 Indeed, it took us half a year. 0:21:54.550,0:21:58.394 We first structured the whole thing on a large flip chart. 0:21:58.394,0:22:00.193 That took us a few days. 0:22:01.362,0:22:04.057 It set the script writing in motion and 0:22:04.057,0:22:07.239 finding and contacting all the interviewees followed. 0:22:07.239,0:22:09.788 That sort of thing. 0:22:09.788,0:22:11.494 That took a long time. 0:22:11.494,0:22:13.254 Then we got to carry out the interviews, 0:22:13.254,0:22:15.811 while we were writing the script on the go. 0:22:15.811,0:22:16.997 Once that was done 0:22:16.997,0:22:20.721 - it took about 3-4 months - 0:22:20.721,0:22:25.084 we still had to use a couple more months only for editing 0:22:25.084,0:22:27.573 That was a big process: 0:22:27.573,0:22:30.586 editing, music, mixing, all these 0:22:30.586,0:22:36.321 It took us almost as long as the rest of the film 0:22:36.321,0:22:41.164 After all, we had tens of hours of material from the interviews 0:22:41.456,0:22:46.511 and we had to fit the film in three hours 0:22:46.511,0:22:48.921 or rather less. 0:22:48.921,0:22:50.656 That took a while. 0:22:50.656,0:22:54.100 We had seven people in our team. 0:22:54.100,0:22:57.730 We had a couple of editors, one cameraman, 0:22:57.730,0:22:59.849 a few scriptwriters, 0:22:59.880,0:23:04.425 one who kind of took the role of a director. 0:23:04.425,0:23:06.058 We all had our own roles, 0:23:06.058,0:23:08.118 but we all did pretty much everything. 0:23:08.118,0:23:11.152 Even if I was the main responsible for the script 0:23:11.152,0:23:14.835 I was also being interviewed and interviewing 0:23:14.835,0:23:17.466 as well as partly doing the editing. 0:23:17.466,0:23:19.468 I helped in that as well. 0:23:19.468,0:23:23.454 It wasn't just one person doing one thing but 0:23:23.454,0:23:25.276 everyone doing everything. 0:24:04.709,0:24:08.311 One of the problems with Ajan Henki was that 0:24:08.311,0:24:10.773 it took us ages to get it translated. 0:24:10.773,0:24:13.168 We had to get it translated into English 0:24:13.168,0:24:15.675 but the process was super slow. 0:24:15.675,0:24:17.869 Our translation tools were perhaps ill-equipped 0:24:17.869,0:24:21.399 and we didn't have enough people to do it. 0:24:21.399,0:24:23.518 It came as a bit of a surprise. 0:24:23.518,0:24:27.123 For two months nothing much happened. 0:24:27.123,0:24:29.999 We couldn't even get the transcription done. 0:24:29.999,0:24:33.791 Once it was transcribed it came to a halt again. 0:24:33.791,0:24:35.445 Two months later one of the 0:24:35.445,0:24:38.609 Ajan Henki team members wrote a pretty 0:24:38.609,0:24:41.334 nasty message in Facebook: 0:24:41.334,0:24:45.033 "Isn't this movement capable of doing ONE translation?" 0:24:45.033,0:24:48.870 That woke people up and they were like:[br]"We can do this." 0:24:48.870,0:24:52.223 It took like couple of weeks to get the whole translation done. 0:24:52.223,0:24:56.301 People just needed a bit of guidance and encouragement 0:24:56.301,0:24:58.379 and that led to action. 0:24:58.379,0:25:00.013 That's a great example of the fact that sometimes 0:25:00.013,0:25:05.701 you need to offer guidance to people before they get anything done. 0:26:18.644,0:26:20.921 We always talk about critical mass: 0:26:20.921,0:26:25.119 How can this movement reach a critical mass? 0:26:25.119,0:26:28.709 How do we get enough people along to inflict real change? 0:26:28.709,0:26:31.055 That's really challenging. 0:26:31.055,0:26:34.890 I do see a bright future for The Zeitgeist Movement 0:26:34.890,0:26:38.121 but the growth is not going to be anything close to exponential 0:26:38.121,0:26:41.034 but what happens in the real world 0:26:41.034,0:26:43.795 largely dictates 0:26:43.795,0:26:46.320 how we can grow. 0:26:46.320,0:26:48.359 And of course the media attention we attract: 0:26:48.359,0:26:49.872 that also plays a significant role. 0:26:49.872,0:26:54.341 We have had some major media hype lately and 0:26:54.341,0:26:59.620 there have been for instance actors who've come out of the closet and said 0:26:59.620,0:27:01.900 "I support The Zeitgeist Movement". 0:27:01.900,0:27:03.995 That has been remarkable. 0:27:03.995,0:27:06.931 Then again, the way we've been portrayed 0:27:06.931,0:27:08.549 in the media is in the large part 0:27:08.549,0:27:12.272 that we are a cult of some sort 0:27:12.272,0:27:15.058 and we haven't been taken very seriously up till now. 0:27:15.058,0:27:20.623 Then we've had a few articles that do take it more seriously but 0:27:20.623,0:27:23.796 even those most people receive with suspicion: 0:27:23.796,0:27:26.571 that it's too futuristic or something. 0:27:26.571,0:27:29.636 Yet the issues that The Zeitgeist Movement deals with 0:27:29.636,0:27:31.445 are not going to go anywhere. 0:27:31.445,0:27:36.981 We talk about energy crises, technological unemployment, inequality 0:27:36.981,0:27:39.236 and environmental problems. 0:27:39.236,0:27:41.943 As long as these are in a 0:27:41.943,0:27:46.035 near-crisis or even crisis state 0:27:46.035,0:27:49.972 The Zeitgeist Movement will be in demand. 0:27:49.972,0:27:52.025 I see that it has to grow. 0:27:52.532,0:27:55.397 Of course what we internally do in the movement 0:27:55.397,0:28:00.105 and how we portray ourselves externally dictates 0:28:00.105,0:28:03.294 our possibilities for growth. 0:28:03.294,0:28:05.486 And there are quite a few other movements 0:28:05.486,0:28:08.481 who are concerned about similar topics. 0:28:08.865,0:28:11.576 Are all people going to join this very movement? 0:28:11.576,0:28:13.688 That I don't know. 0:28:13.688,0:28:17.757 That's why I'm really fond of for instance The Occupy Movement. 0:28:18.433,0:28:21.056 The Occupy Movement has been in the forefront also in Finland and 0:28:21.056,0:28:25.007 it could function, in a way, as a top-level organization for the smaller 0:28:25.007,0:28:27.262 organizaitons such as The Zeigeist Movement and 0:28:27.262,0:28:32.420 all sorts of movements could gather under its 0:28:32.420,0:28:37.174 umbrella and together drive the change forward. 0:28:37.174,0:28:40.454 That, in my mind, is one potential direction for development right at the moment. 0:29:30.630,0:29:31.921 The transition phase poses a problem: 0:29:31.921,0:29:35.610 If you think about what motivates people 0:29:35.610,0:29:37.722 to change the system 0:29:37.722,0:29:42.269 then one could say that Finnish people are too well off. 0:29:42.269,0:29:44.876 They don't want to change things. 0:29:44.876,0:29:47.738 My view is that as long as capitalism 0:29:47.738,0:29:50.971 works, to an extent, for the Finnish people 0:29:50.971,0:29:53.302 - as it seems to work currently, 0:29:53.302,0:29:56.127 most people here are not facing dire adversity - 0:29:56.127,0:30:01.714 so as long as it works it's hard to see that people would radically want to change it. 0:30:01.714,0:30:06.404 That's why, to encourage a system-level change 0:30:06.404,0:30:09.084 here in the Nordic countries 0:30:09.084,0:30:10.378 it does require a certain drop 0:30:10.378,0:30:13.108 that shit first hits the fan. 0:30:13.108,0:30:15.136 We can advance to an extent via 0:30:15.136,0:30:17.214 the harder situation. 0:30:17.214,0:30:20.543 How hard should it get? 0:30:20.543,0:30:23.382 What is too hard? 0:30:23.382,0:30:26.594 I don't think anyone wants that the 0:30:26.594,0:30:28.812 situation becomes really bad. 0:30:28.812,0:30:31.321 Where does the line go? 0:30:31.997,0:30:35.379 But some sort of disaster is needed 0:30:35.379,0:30:37.378 so that people want to have a change. 0:30:37.378,0:30:39.570 As for the time scale 0:30:39.570,0:30:46.002 I've figured that in 50-100 years 0:30:46.002,0:30:50.902 it would make sense to think about resource based economy, the global kind. 0:30:50.902,0:30:54.702 Perhaps the transition phase means that 0:30:54.702,0:30:57.383 we start implementing those thoughts: 0:30:57.383,0:30:59.339 resource-based thinking, 0:30:59.339,0:31:00.837 self-sufficiency, caring 0:31:00.837,0:31:02.685 and communality. 0:31:02.685,0:31:05.630 We begin to make it happen on a smaller scale and start networking. 0:31:08.076,0:31:14.224 If we think of it as some sort of global system that replaces exchange 0:31:14.224,0:31:17.303 and free trade globally 0:31:17.380,0:31:19.778 then we are talking about quite long-term transition. 0:31:19.778,0:31:25.836 But there are no obstacles for us to start implementing 0:31:25.836,0:31:28.882 that line of thinking on a smaller scale, right now. 0:31:28.882,0:31:31.869 It can start from here and slowly expand. 0:31:31.869,0:31:33.806 And once the value set changes 0:31:33.806,0:31:38.859 - once people start valuing different aspects than nowadays - 0:31:38.859,0:31:45.384 then even a larger system-level change becomes possible. 0:31:45.384,0:31:47.693 But the whole thing starts from 0:31:47.693,0:31:50.234 people's values. 0:35:54.355,0:35:55.805 The time has passed 0:35:55.805,0:35:57.936 when we look up to a leader 0:35:57.936,0:36:00.039 and listen obediently what media tells us. 0:36:00.039,0:36:02.743 We now have to take responsibility of 0:36:02.743,0:36:06.314 our own lives and lead the change through that. 0:36:49.525,0:36:51.307 We have been accustomed to 0:36:51.307,0:36:52.724 follow political leaders 0:36:52.724,0:36:55.074 and media and so foth 0:36:55.074,0:36:57.045 but now that time has passed. 0:36:57.045,0:36:59.148 It's time to take responsibility 0:36:59.148,0:37:01.300 of our lives and lead the change 0:37:01.300,0:37:03.398 through that.