Editing Modern flat Earth beliefs (section)

==By country==
===Canada===
Flat Earth Society of Canada was established on 8 November 1970 by philosopher [[Leo Ferrari]], writer [[Raymond Fraser]] and poet [[Alden Nowlan]];<ref name=nbl-encyclopedia>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Leo Charles Ferrari|url=http://w3.stu.ca/stu/sites/nble/f/ferrari_leo_charles.html|encyclopedia=New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia|publisher=St. Thomas University|access-date=16 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202160147/http://w3.stu.ca/stu/sites/nble/f/ferrari_leo_charles.html|archive-date=2 February 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> and was active until 1984.<ref name=ferrari-fond-series2>{{cite web|title=Series No. 2 The Flat Earth Society of Canada|url=http://www.lib.unb.ca/archives/finding/ferrari/s2.html|work=Leo C. Ferrari Fonds|publisher=UNB Archives and Special Collections|access-date=16 March 2013}}</ref> Its archives are held at the University of New Brunswick.<ref name="cbc.ca">{{cite news|last1=Bird|first1=Lindsay|title=Museum of the Flat Earth opens on (where else?) Fogo Island|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/museum-of-the-flat-earth-opens-on-fogo-island-1.3590896|access-date=8 May 2017|publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|date=20 May 2016}}</ref>

Calling themselves "planoterrestrialists",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hieronymopolis.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/dr-ferrari-and-the-flat-earth-society-by-alden-nowlan-2/|title=Dr. Ferrari and the Flat Earth Society by Alden Nowlan|access-date=7 February 2013|date=3 December 2012}}</ref> their aims were quite different from other flat Earth societies. They claimed a prevailing problem of the new technological age was the willingness of people to accept theories "on blind faith and to reject the evidence of their own senses."<ref name=ferrari-fond-series2/> The parodic intention of the Society appeared in the writings of Ferrari, as he attributed everything from gender to racial inequality on the globularist and the [[spherical Earth]] model.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ferrari|first=Leo Charles|year=1975|title=Feminism and education in a Flat Earth perspective|url=http://mje.mcgill.ca/index.php/MJE/article/download/7006/4948|journal=McGill Journal of Education|volume=X|issue=1|pages=77–81}}</ref> Ferrari also claimed to have nearly fallen off "the Edge" of the Earth at Brimstone Head on [[Fogo Island, Newfoundland and Labrador|Fogo Island]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Colombo|first=John R|title=Canadian Literary Landmarks|date=1984|publisher=Dundurn|isbn=978-0888820730|page=19}}</ref>

Ferrari was interviewed as an "expert" in the 1990 flat Earth [[mockumentary]] ''In Search of the Edge'' by Pancake Productions (a reference to the expression "as flat as a pancake").<ref name="Barrie 2005">{{cite AV media| people = Barrie, Scott (Director); Marsh, Robert (Narrator)| date = 2005| title = In search of the edge : an inquiry into the shape of the earth and the disappearance of Andrea Barns| medium = DVD| url = http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/search.html| publisher = Pancake Productions| location = Toronto, Ontario| isbn = 9781594582295| oclc = 81094526}}</ref> In the accompanying study guide, Ferrari is outed as a "globularist", a [[nonce word]] for someone who believes the Earth is spherical.<ref>Barrie, Scott (Director); Marsh, Robert (Narrator) (2005). In search of the edge : an inquiry into the shape of the earth and the disappearance of Andrea Barns (DVD). Toronto, Ontario: Pancake Productions. {{ISBN|9781594582295}}. OCLC 810945</ref> The real intent of the film, which was part-funded by the [[Ontario Arts Council]] and [[National Film Board of Canada]],<ref name="Barrie 2005"/> was to promote schoolchildren's [[critical thinking]] and [[media literacy]] by "[attempting] to prove in convincing fashion, something everyone knew to be false."<ref>{{cite web|title=In Search of the Edge An Inquiry into the Shape of the Earth and the Disappearance of Andrea Barns|url=http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/search.html|website=Bullfrog Films|access-date=8 May 2017}}</ref>

====Relaunch====
Multi-media artist [[Kay Burns]] re-created the Flat Earth Society of Canada as an art project with her [[alter ego]] Iris Taylor<ref name="cbc.ca"/> as its president.<ref>{{cite web|title=Flat Earth Society|url=http://www.itaylorresearch.com/|website=Iris Taylor Research|access-date=8 May 2017}}</ref> Burns created an installation entitled the Museum of the Flat Earth, which included some artefacts from the 1970 group. It was exhibited in 2016 at the Flat Earth Outpost Café in [[Shoal Bay (Newfoundland and Labrador)|Shoal Bay]], Newfoundland.<ref name="cbc.ca"/>

===Italy===
In Italy, there are no centralised societies on flat Earth. However, since the 2010s, small groups of conspiracy theorists, who carry out meetings, started to emerge and to spread flat Earth theories. Among these are Calogero Greco, Albino Galuppini and Agostino Favari, who in 2018–2019 organised several meetings in [[Palermo]], [[Sicily]], with an entry price of [[Euro|€]]20.<ref name=ItalyFE>{{cite web|language=it|title=Terrapiattisti a Palermo: "Lo sbarco sulla luna è una invenzione" (Flat Earth in Palermo: "Moon landing is fiction")|date=11 May 2019|access-date=22 July 2019|website=[[Adnkronos]]|url=https://www.adnkronos.com/fatti/cronaca/2019/05/11/terrapiattisti-palermo-sbarco-sulla-luna-una-invenzione_qp89IcCYJyNifqCYnb9HQK.html?refresh_ce}}</ref><ref name=ItalyFE2>{{cite web|language=it|url=https://www.ilmessaggero.it/scienza/terrapiattisti_convegno_palermo_ultime_notizie_oggi_12_maggio_2019-4486635.html|date=12 May 2019|access-date=22 July 2019|title=Terrapiattisti a Palermo, ma Beppe Grillo non c'è. "La Nasa? È come Disneyland" (Flat Earth in Palermo, but Beppe Grillo is not there. "NASA? It's like Disneyland")|website=[[Il Messaggero]]}}</ref>

Among their claims, some include:
* NASA is similar to [[Disneyland]] and that [[astronaut]]s are actors.<ref name=ItalyFE/><ref name=ItalyFE2/>
* The April 2019 photo of the [[supermassive black hole]] at the core of the [[Type-cD galaxy|supergiant]] [[elliptical galaxy]] [[Messier 87]] is fake.<ref name=ItalyFE2/>
* The proof Earth is flat can be demonstrated with a filled bottle where, if placed horizontally, water never curves.<ref name=ItalyFE/><ref name=ItalyFE2/>

In addition to these, it is their common belief that the United States has a plan to create in Europe a new America [[Free migration|open to everyone]], where the only value is [[consumerism]] and that [[George Soros]] commands a [[Satanism|satanic]] [[Globalism|globalist]] conspiracy.<ref name=ItalyFE/><ref name=ItalyFE2/> They reject the past existence of dinosaurs, the [[Charles Darwin|Darwinian]] [[evolution|theory of evolution]], and the authority of the [[scientific community]], claiming scientists are [[Freemasonry|Freemasons]].<ref>{{cite magazine|language=it|title=Il terrapiattismo italiano in 10 punti (Italian flat Earth in 10 points)|date=29 November 2018|access-date=22 July 2019|magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]|url=https://www.wired.it/attualita/media/2018/11/29/terrapiattismo-italiano/}}</ref>

Former [[List of leaders of the Five Star Movement|leader of the Five Star Movement]] political party [[Beppe Grillo]] showed interest in the group, admitting to admiring their [[Freedom of speech|free speech]] spirit and to wanting to participate at the May 2019 conference.<ref>{{cite web|language=it|title=BEPPE GRILLO: "VADO AL CONGRESSO DEI TERRAPIATTISTI"|trans-title=BEPPE GRILLO: "I'LL PARTICIPATE FLAT EARTH CONFERENCE"|website=digitale.it|date=29 April 2019|access-date=22 July 2019|url=https://www.ildigitale.it/beppe-grillo-vado-al-congresso-dei-terrapiattisti/}}</ref> However, Grillo did not appear.<ref name=ItalyFE2/>