Response to the attacks on free culture and free knowledge on the Internet - TZM Spain

Internet is the most powerful means of communication that human beings have created, and one of those that has had more social impact. It is an instrument capable of uniting the world's societies and providing access to knowledge.

Sharing art and knowledge is a powerful means of cultural evolution. It is in our nature to grow by sharing in an appropriate environment.

"He who receives an idea from me receives [it] without lessening [me], as he who lights his [candle] at mine receives light without darkening me."

In recent times, there is an ongoing attempt to end free speech and free culture. If we do not defend the Internet we run the risk of seeing how the largest library in history is destroyed, as happened with the library of Alexandria. Do not let the same thing happen again.

We witness the consequences of both the current industry of culture and information and the obsolete socio-economic model in general, which do not fit the current state of science and technology. Instead we see that they aim to adapt science and technology to their model in the name of laws that, in some cases, claim to defend intellectual property.

We also witness alleged actions in defense of intellectual property that really hide retaliation against large sectors of society that have been demanding a change for a long time.

What is the strategy used to outlaw something that much of the population does? Now the strategy of fear comes on stage. Traditional institutions use such strategies by giving maximum media coverage for events that scare people and criminalize something that has been happening for years in the most natural way. Given such a strategy of fear we should not react with fear but with courage.

The defense of free communication on the Internet should not be based on mere protest or violence that can be used as a justification for even tougher restrictions on individual and collective liberties. On the contrary it should be based on building something new that transcends the outdated current system. Moreover, given the state of technology, it is possible to create our own alternatives to the current communication networks. These networks can be built by the users and they are not under the technical control of anyone in particular. A good example of this may be the guifi.net network (http://guifi.net/es).

"You never change something by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." - Buckminster Fuller

It's time to examine the role of traditional media as defenders of the status quo as opposed to the new paradigm created by the Internet. It is also time to take responsibility for our actions as citizens of the world, and to consider seriously whether it is right to purchase products subject to copyright or whose production and distribution involves exploitation of human beings or environmental damage.

Let's build an alternative. The system we propose is called Resource-Based Economy, and it is a very different way of understanding society and economy. It focuses on meeting people's needs and solving problems at the root causes. The monetary system is based on the scarcity of all kinds of goods and services, but this shortage is artificially created by money, i.e., fictitious. We have the technology and have the resources to create something new that would be able to benefit everyone on this planet. Why don't we do it? We do not deserve anything less than the best we can imagine: open source, free knowledge and free culture.

"In the long run, hierarchical society was only possible on a basis of poverty and ignorance." - "1984" - George Orwell

The Zeitgeist Movement Spain - http://movimientozeitgeist.org