Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
Claim
Tony Nader-led Global Country of World Peace is a borderless Hindu country that has its own currency “Raam,” featuring image of Lord Ram. It is accepted in the US and Europe.
Fact
Global Country of World Peace, founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, is a consortium of educational organisations and not a country. They have issued “Raam currency” in early 2000s, but has not been accepted as a legal tender in the States or the European countries.
A video detailing a “borderless Hindu country” called the “Global Country of World Peace” is going viral on social media platforms. The video claims that the “GCWP” is located in Iowa, US, and is currently led by a “distinguished neuroscientist and researcher, Tony Nader.” The viral footage further alleges that the “country” has its own currency, “Raam,” which is accepted in the US and Europe.
The 55-second-long-clip is doing the rounds on Twitter and Facebook alike
Such posts can be seen here, here, here, and here.
Newschecker also received the viral video on our WhatsApp tipline (+91-9999499044) requesting to be fact checked.
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Notably, the video was initially posted on a YouTube channel called Curious Plus, whose watermark can be seen in the viral clip, on April 3, 2023. The video titled ‘The BORDERLESS Hindu Country,’ has around 148K views so far.
Fact Check/Verification
We began our investigation by ascertaining the whereabouts of the Global Country of World Peace, and looked up the same on Google. This led us to the official website of GCWP “www.globalcountry.org.” According to its website, “The Global Country of World Peace was founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as a consortium of educational organisations in more than 100 countries working to create a new era of peace, progress and prosperity in our world family.”
The “Contact Us” section of the website lists “6063 NP Vlodrop, Netherlands” as the “International Headquarters of the Global Country of World Peace.”
Notably, the website does feature Dr Tony Nader as the current leader of the organisation, as claimed in the viral video. It states, “The Global Country of World Peace is led by Dr. Tony Nader, medical doctor, scientist, author, and educator. Dr. Nader received his M.D. degree from the American University of Beirut. His Ph.D. is in the area of Brain and Cognitive Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and he completed postdoctoral work as a Clinical and Research Fellow in Neurology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School.”
The viral video further mentioned the name of John Hagelin, who is a professor of physics at Maharishi International University. Notably, the University, located in Fairfield, Iowa, was founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1971.
The website of the University also lists Hagelin as the “Minister of Science and Technology, Global Country of World Peace.”
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Newschecker continued our investigation to know more about the “Raam currency” allegedly issued by the GCWP that the video claims is accepted in the US and the Netherlands.
A report by BBC, dated February 5, 2003 stated that the Global Country of World Peace founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had issued “the brightly coloured notes of one, five and 10 “raam” last October.” Adding, “since then, more than 100 Dutch shops, some of them part of big department store chains, in 30 villages and cities have accepted the notes.”
The report further quoted a spokesman for the Dutch Central Bank as saying, “The Raam can be used as long as the notes are not used as legal tender and it stays within a closed-off circuit of users.”
Another report by BBC Hindi, dated December 3, 2018, clarified that the viral claims on “Raam” being an official currency in the US and Netherlands were not correct. It further added that around one lakh “Raam currency” was printed by the Maharishi Vedic City (a part of the GCWP organisation) in Iowa state of the US in 2002. However, it was never declared a legal tender.
It further stated that as per the organisation’s website, the Vedic city started the distribution of “Raam currency” on February 24, 2002. The city council had accepted the circulation of “Raam currency” for the economic development and promotion of local business, and added that the value of one “Raam currency” was fixed at USD 10.
The report further added that the Raam currency is used only within the Ashram or among the people associated with it.
A report by Zee News Hindi also clarified that “Raam currency” was never given the status of legal tender either in the States or the Netherlands.
While the United States Dollar (USD) is the official currency of the US, the Netherlands had accepted the Euro as their legal currency in 1999. Prior to the Euro, the Guilder was the official currency of the Netherlands.
We did not find any other credible reports suggesting that “Raam currency” has been accepted as a legal tender in any other country.
Notably, Newschecker Hindi team had fact checked such claims about the “Raam currency” when they had initially gone viral in 2022. The same can be seen here.
Conclusion
We could thus conclude that the claims made about the Global Country of World Peace in the viral video are not entirely correct.
Result: Partly False
Sources
Official Website Of Global Country Of World Peace
Official Website Of Maharishi International University
Report By BBC, Dated February 5, 2003
Report By BBC Hindi, Dated December 3, 2018
Report By Zee News Hindi, Dated August 1, 2021
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Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
