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Zippie is a term used to describe a person who does something for nothing, i.e. zip. Any supporter of free culture, free food, free books, free software is a zippie.^[1]

Zippies reached international prominence during the American 1972 Democratic National Convention and 1972 Republican National Convention, held in Miami Beach, Florida, when the term was silk-screened on t-shirts and worn by counter-culture activists and groups working to end the US involvement in the Vietnam War.

The origin of the word is an evolution of the term yippie, which was coined by the Youth International Party in the 1960s. In subsequent years, Zippie became a term used to describe a 1990s technoperson, in contradiction to yuppie. The modern incarnation of Zippies were an attempt by Fraser Clark and others, to create a unique subculture that combined the 1990s techno hemisphere with the 1960s earth person. The result was not always what one would expect. Various incarnations of Zippies exist, usually armed with smiley badges and outspokenly anti-Yuppie. They are mainly found in China and Japan, where various youth groups have taken up the banner left behind by the earlier groupings. They listen mainly to dance music, hang-out at clubs and drink smart drinks and fruit juice. Every now and then they come across other Zippie Tribes from across the planet and exchange music samples and leaflets.

[edit] UK/US (1994)

In May 1994 Wired Magazine published an article titled "Here Come the Zippies!". The cover of the magazine featured a psychedelic image of a smiling young man with wild hair, a funny hat, and crazy eyeglasses. Written by Jules Marshall, the article announced an organized cultural response to Thatcherism in the British Isles.

"There's a new and rapidly spreading cultural virus ripping through the British Isles. The symptoms of those infected include attacks of optimism, strong feelings of community, and lowered stress levels. Will their gathering in August at the Grand Canyon be the Woodstock of the '90s?

The article describes Zippies, according to 50-year-old Fraser Clark, as "Zen-Inspired Professional Pagans", or "hippies with zip". Apparently well known in the UK where the media had tried to pin various labels on them such as cyber-crusties, techno-hippies, and post-ravers, the Zippies leader Fraser Clark intended to bring a Pronoia (psychology) attitude to the United States. This effort was dubbed the Zippy Pronoia Tour to US.

In his book "The World is Flat", Thomas L. Friedman describe Zippie as "huge cohort of Indian youth who are first to come of the age since India shifted away from socialism and dived headfirst into global trade and information revolution by turning itself into world's service center".

These Zippies were a new-age kind of hippie who embraced modern paganism, trance music, rave, cyber-tech and entrepreneurism in an effort to bring about a better world.

[edit] See also

• Club Kids
• Counterculture
• Rave
• Subculture

[edit] References

• Marshall, Jules, "Zippies!", Wired Magazine, issue 2.05, May 1994
• Friedman, Thomas, "Meet the Zippies", New York Times (Op-Ed), February 22, 2004