[Peace-discuss] Fwd: The last - oldstyle - ZNet Update

[Morton K. Brussel]

I forward this believing that ZNet has been the best source of  
political commentary on the internet, and that they need our support.  
Michael Albert sends along this long message, which I hope you will  
read and sympathize with. Note Noam Chomsky's message and the remarks  
of so many others on the left side of the fence. --mkb


Begin forwarded message:

> From: Michael Albert <sysop at zmail.zmag.org>
> Date: February 13, 2008 4:45:26 PM CST
> To: <znetupdates at zmail.zmag.org>
> Subject: The last - oldstyle - ZNet Update
> Reply-To: sysop at zmail.zmag.org
>
> Hello,
>
> This is, we believe, the last message we will send to ZNet Members  
> via the tried and true mailing procedure that we have used since  
> ZNet's birth over a decade ago. Goodbye to that.
>
> The good news is, this is not because ZNet is no longer breathing.  
> It is because ZNet has new lungs - in the shape of a new email  
> server and online system - and because you will shortly begin  
> getting email communications from us by that new channel.
>
> As someone on our large mailing list from the old ZNet site, by now  
> you have undoubtedly discovered and begun using the new site -  
> http://www.zcommunications,org
>
> But you may not, as yet, have logged in to see your account page.  
> And you may not, as yet, have upped your free account to a  
> sustainer account. And that is why we are writing you. Because we  
> need you to take those steps.
>
> When you go to www.zcommunications.org - in the upper right on the  
> splash page - and other pages too - you will see two little fill in  
> areas. One is for your email address and the other is for your  
> password. As a free member in the old system - and if you haven't  
> already joined the new system as a sustainer - you can enter your  
> email address in the first field and you can enter the generic  
> password 12345 in the second field. Once you do that, you can  
> change your password, and you can also work with your account.
>
> The old system was pretty good. We delivered fine content,  
> consistently, and we provided an occassional mailing to free  
> members and a nightly commentary to sustainers as well. There was  
> an old fashioned forum system and a struggling blog area which  
> worked, however, for only a few writers. There was no commenting on  
> the site. There was little multimedia on the site. Navigation was,  
> let's say, suboptimal. The design harked backward, not forward. And  
> there was no infrastructure for contined growth.
>
> The new system is very different. It still offers the same  
> editorial attitudes and priorities, of course, and the same  
> incredible collection of core writers, always enlarging, as well.  
> But now the site is also full of graphics and, beyond that, has  
> major and growing audio and video content. The site has commenting  
> throughout. The site has databases devoted to user content -  
> preferences, poetry, quotes, lyrics, articles, and even a massive  
> system of user blog content. Core and also peripheral writers have  
> way more range of content and partiicpation as well. Navigation is  
> modern and refined.
>
> Without itemizing a list of new features, which would be way too  
> long for an email, the new ZSpace has the potential to be a vehicle  
> not only for far greater intercommunication among our users and  
> writers than we have before enjoyed, but for socializing and  
> activist work too. Already it has friends facilities and RSS feeds,  
> where the latter are incredibly powerful including allowing users  
> to create customized content for themselves.
>
> So what are we trying to say?
>
> Do you remember the old line - if we build it, they will come?
>
> Yes, we know that it was from a Hollywood movie, Kevin Costner,  
> Field of Dreams, blah blah - and we know that ZCom is not baseball,  
> not a movie, and not fiction. But, nonetheless, that Hollywood tag  
> line pretty accurately summarizes how we feel. At no small  
> financial and psychological cost - we have built it. Now, you need  
> to please come use it. You need to please make it fly. We  
> constructed the skeleton and wired the nervous system. Will you set  
> the blood flowing? Will you grow the brain?
>
> This message is going to roughly 100,000 people - and we hope each  
> of you will send it on to others, too. Most of you frequented the  
> old site and utilized it in diverse ways. Now ZCom offers you much  
> more. Now, indeed, ZCom can offer a whole lot beyond even what is  
> already in place, if you will only please add your insights and  
> energy.
>
> You can become a Z sustainer for as little as $1 a month. The  
> premiums you receive even at that low donor level are extensive and  
> worth many times the donation amount. But mostly, by becoming a  
> sustainer you will help make the site something more than it would  
> otherwise be.
>
> Here is a message from Noam Chomsky expressing his view regarding  
> supporting Z:
>
>      A Personal Message
>      From Noam Chomsky
>
>      We live in an era of media concentration, vast efforts on many  
> fronts
>      (political, economic, military, ideological) to insulate state  
> and private
>      power from critical discussion or even popular awareness, and  
> to reduce
>      citizens to isolated atomized creatures restricted to  
> satisfying personal
>      'created wants.' This massive and coordinated campaign has been
>      partially successful, but only in a limited way.
>
>      The range and scope and dedication of popular activism has  
> also increased,
>      all over the world, reaching a level of international  
> solidarity and mutual
>      support that has never been seen before. The basic conflicts  
> are very old,
>      but they have taken quite dramatic and significant new forms,  
> and the stakes
>      are far higher than ever before. It is, regrettably, no  
> exaggeration to say
>      that the survival of the species is at risk -- and many others  
> with it.
>      We all know why.
>
>      The popular movements are the hope for a decent future. They  
> of course
>      have to have access to information and modes of interaction.  
> In addition
>      to alternative print and video, to a very large extent they  
> have relied on the
>      internet, which allows people to escape from the constraints  
> of the doctrinal
>      systems, to explore and investigate and discuss crucial issues  
> with one another,
>      to plan and organize.
>
>      Z Magazine and ZNet have played a crucial role in serving all  
> of these functions.
>      I see that every day. I travel and speak constantly, in the  
> U.S. and abroad,
>      and spend many hours a day just responding to inquiries and  
> comments.
>      I constantly discover that the people and organizations I come  
> in contact with are
>      relying very substantially on Z projects for information,  
> discussion, and opportunities
>      for interaction and organizing, to an extent that is quite  
> remarkable.
>
>      Z is also an invaluable resource for me personally, in all of  
> these respects,
>      and also in my case for providing a forum for intense and very  
> constructive discussion,
>      the only one I regularly participate in. And for posting  
> articles, interviews, commentaries,
>      etc., of mine. I know that many others have very much the same  
> experience.
>
>      It is of inestimable importance, in my judgment, that Z and  
> ZNet, now composing
>      the new ZCom with their various other projects such as their  
> growing video efforts
>      and incomparable summer school, arguably the most exciting and  
> instructive
>      I have ever encountered.
>
>      Again, I do not think it is possible to exaggerate the stakes.  
> I hope that all of
>      us who are committed to resisting and reversing the powerful  
> currents of
>      reaction and oppression and violence, and showing that another  
> world is
>      indeed possible, will contribute as best we can to ensure that  
> the remarkable
>      achievements of Z and ZNet will be carried forward.
>
>      Noam Chomsky
>      U.S.
>
>
> Let us be blunt about this.
>
> There are many of you who cannot afford even $1 a month. We know  
> that. We don't even want you to try. The idea is not to extract  
> your needed funds. We hope you will give us some time, instead,  
> some writing, instead, some word of mouth, instead. That would be  
> incredibly valuable!
>
> There are tens of thousands of you, however, for whom $1 a month,  
> and in fact $3, $5, or even $10 a month, would not even be noticed,  
> financially. And the truth is, we also want your time, writing, and  
> word of mouth, but, beyond that, your money is the money we want.
>
> Is that blunt enough? Will you give it?
>
> A lot of people think donating is for others to do. They think  
> donating is geeky or naive, or doomed, or whatever. What a load of  
> nonsense that is. We don't take ads - which means we don't sell you  
> to corporate profiteers. As a result, our funds must come from you.  
> Donating isn't geeky, naive, or doomed - it is what keeps us going.  
> The truth is, we'd like to ask for what justice and social struggle  
> deserve - but in the contemporary world, it would sound crazy. So  
> we will restrain ourselves and ask, instead, for whatever anyone  
> wants to give, starting at $1 a month, and we hope for the best!
>
> ZCom is now an incredibly complex and massive operation - and there  
> are virtually no limits on further growth, assuming you step up to  
> help. Are you going to use ZCom? To really use it? We very much  
> hope so. That is why we built it. But, are you going to also  
> contribute to it, with a little of your insight and also a little  
> of your money? Again, we hope so. That is why we built it. That is  
> why it awaits you at http://www.zcommunications,org
>
>
> So come on... all the accomplished international writers, quoted  
> below, just can't be wrong - can they? And if they are right, then  
> surely Z is worth your involvement, your support!
>
>
> Howard Zinn, from the U.S., says, "The many Z projects have played  
> an enormously important role in connecting thousands of people  
> outside the traditional channels of communication, bypassing the  
> major media. and introducing into the marketplace of ideas original  
> and provocative ideas and significant information that otherwise  
> would be lost. It has always struggled financially, as befits a  
> bold and dissident organization, and so deserves all the help we  
> can possibly give it. I hope people will come through at this  
> critical time, when Z's work is especially crucial to the nation."
>
> John Pilger, from Australia, says, "I hesitate to call ZCom/ZNet  
> one of the leading samidzat of our age, because it is also one of  
> the great newspapers of the internet. Turn to ZNet and you get more  
> in one visit than hours of thumbing through voluminous newspapers  
> that are little more than voices of rapacious power. The range of  
> good journalism, good writing and good scholarship on Z is  
> astonishing: from the pen of the well-known to the raw, eyewitness  
> reporting of 'citizen journalists'. Please do support Z; we need  
> it; you need it."
>
> Cynthia Peters, from the U.S., says, "The entire Z communications  
> enterprise not only provides information and analysis to already  
> existing social change organizations, it also helps launch new  
> endeavors. Countless activists have joined political struggles,  
> started new organizations, and brought new vision and strategy into  
> their already existing efforts because of Z. Using few resources, Z  
> reaches people all over the world and provides a forum for  
> communication and debate. We should commit ourselves to Z by  
> supporting it with cash. Dollar for dollar, you won't find an  
> organization more capable of consistently (relentlessly!) providing  
> accessible analysis of current events, explaining the workings and  
> interconnectedness of systemic oppressions, and making it possible  
> to seriously address questions of vision and strategy. Support  
> activist-oriented alternative media! Support Z!"
>
> Vijay Prashad, from India, says, "ZNet is my ZNN -- I get my dose  
> of global reality from it. It keeps me in touch with developments  
> around the planet, including my own back yard. The debates and the  
> commentaries provide a lively community, a vital institution of the  
> global left. ZCom/ZNet must stay alive."
>
> Ezequiel Adamovsky, from Argentina, says, "I can confidently say  
> that the array of resources that the Z community offers -the  
> prodigious ZNet website, the excellent monthly Z Magazine, the Z  
> Video production and distribution, the school of alternative  
> journalism Z Media Institute- is unique in its diversity of  
> viewpoints, plurality of voices, depth and reliability. No other  
> independent media undertaking that I know has been so successful in  
> offering good up-to-date information, deep political analysis, and  
> new radical visions, in sharing skills and resources with like- 
> minded groups and social movements, and in helping people to come  
> together at the global level. Z is fundamental for the community of  
> people and collectives that are trying to build another world."
>
> Sonia Shah, from Australia, says, "I tell all my friends in  
> Australia to check out ZCom/ZNet if they want to learn about  
> progressive movements around the world; Z Net has always been my  
> first source for left commentary and reportage. It's huge, vital,  
> unique and necessary."
>
> Patrick Bond, from South Africa, says, "Amongst other sites of  
> struggle for justice, Johannesburg is in continual need of  
> international networking. No service is as good as ZNet, and the  
> comrades - from social movements to trade unions to NGOs to  
> academics like myself - cite Z repeatedly."
>
> Bob McChesney, from the U.S., says, "I spend a good deal of my time  
> nowadays struggling for a media system that does not so readily  
> dispense corporate and militarist propaganda and masquerade it as  
> news. ZNet is one of the main alternatives to the status quo that  
> points to a caliber of media that we so desperately need. I read it  
> nearly every day and find it of tremendous value. I strongly urge  
> people to support the new ZCom including ZNet and Z Magazine to the  
> fullest extent that they can."
>
> Tim Wise, from the U.S., says, "In a media world saturated by the  
> fog of mediocrity and too often devoid of truly radical,  
> transformative analysis, Z is like a beacon of light. The  
> commentaries provided by the many writers for Z not only point out  
> the problems with current power structures and institutions, but  
> even more, examine alternative futures. In my own work, Z is  
> indispensable, and I have heard the same from literally thousands  
> of people I've met around the country: folks who are thirsty for  
> knowledge, and whose thirst is regularly quenched by Z."
>
> Betsy Hartman, from the U.S., says, "Progressive activists the  
> world over rely on Z Communicatons not only for coverage of  
> breaking events, but for deeper analysis of the challenges facing  
> diverse social movements and successful strategies to overcome  
> them. Z Communications is boldly visionary at a time when the Left  
> needs new non-sectarian vision. It is a force for change -- and for  
> hope. It is important that to the extent they are able, people who  
> use it support it"
>
> Andrej Grubacic, from the Balkans, says, "As one of the editors of  
> the Z Magazine for the Balkans, I can attest to the curious  
> attraction and power that the politics of "Z" has in this neo- 
> colonized part of the "not quite European" world. The first issue  
> of the Balkan Z magazine was financed by Serbian workers in  
> struggle. It can be found on every news kiosk in Serbia. The  
> internationalist-indeed, global- political message of "Z" has been  
> successfully translated into the language of the local struggles.  
> By helping Z you will also be helping us to continue to struggle,  
> and to continue to promote the values of a non-hierarchical,  
> participatory society, in Serbia, ex-Yugoslavia and the Balkans"
>
> Nicos Raptis, from Greece, says, "Greek journalists have been using  
> the material found in ZNet and Z Magazine for years. They know that  
> these are sources for honest information and deep analysis of what  
> is going on in the world. Personally I have been contributing  
> articles based on these sources to the Greek print media for many  
> years. The Greeks as most peoples in the world base their hopes for  
> a better world on a future moral reaction of an informed American  
> people. ZNet and Z Magazine offer valuable help to this end."
>
> Justin Podur, from Canada, says, "The past few years, I've traveled  
> to various parts of the world that are directly affected by US  
> foreign policy and capitalist globalization. People often ask me  
> there, `Don't North Americans care? Don't they know?' If the  
> mainstream media were to have its way, the answer to these  
> questions would be a clear `No.' Z tries to change that answer.  
> It's not just a repository of information or analysis: it has  
> tried, and to some extent succeeded, in becoming a real space of  
> exchange and dialogue, where individuals and movements can feel a  
> sense of community, break sieges and isolation, hear others, and  
> make their voices heard. That is what ZCom promises, if we help."
>
> America Vera Zavala, from Sweden, says, "Every morning when I open  
> my mail I have a new window to the world. ZNet Commentaries brings  
> me a story and a thought in a world with so much information that  
> you don't stop and think. ZNet makes me stop and think; I feel as  
> part of something bigger. Even though I'm in Sweden I feel  
> connected to other struggles that I don't share in day to day work.  
> ZCom/ZNet is a tool for sharing visions and goals. "
>
> C.P. Pandya, from India, says, "What truly sets Z apart from other  
> news and analysis providers, independent and otherwise, are its  
> unrelenting commitment to including diverse voices in the struggle  
> for social justice and its accessibility to writers and activists.  
> As a young journalist of color looking for both safe spaces to  
> write and reliable sources of information to cite - there is no  
> organization comparable to Z. It is made up of a global community  
> of people who - without pretentiousness or condescension - are  
> providing a uniquely fair and just alternative to the status quo.  
> It must continue on."
>
> George Monbiot, from England, says, "Whenever people ask me where  
> they should go to find out what's really happening in the world, I  
> direct them to ZNet. For me it's the starting point in the great  
> global conversation which the internet permits. The only hope we  
> have of countering the 24-hour propaganda produced by people such  
> as Fox News and Clear Channel is to develop our own media, and Z  
> Communications does it better than anyone else. I would be  
> devastated if Z went down."
>
> Brian Tokar, from the U.S., says, "After 15 years, Z remains the  
> most thorough, in-depth source of truly radical news analysis and  
> commentary. It is one of the only outlets in the US that remains  
> fully unencumbered by the strictures, the fashions, and the  
> foolishness of mainstream media. It's a vital resource in troubling  
> times--please support them in this time of need!"
>
> Marta Russell, from the U.S., says, "Z is the first left zine to  
> acknowledge the view of disability as a social, political and  
> economic creation. Including disability as one of the social  
> movements forging changes in society, it has garnered a wealth of  
> information on disablement. Click on the "Disability Rights Watch"  
> section on the home page of the web site for reference and  
> commentaries too. Check it out and stay tuned. Z must go on. We  
> cannot lose such a monumental source of information on topics  
> covering all areas of social justice."
>
> David Edwards, from England, says, "Z is one of the great resources  
> and bastions of dissent - an authentic flagship of internet-based  
> activism. Much of our work has been inspired by the example of Z,  
> and much of our output has been enhanced by resources accessed via  
> Z. I would view it as a genuine disaster directly impacting our  
> work if Z was to disappear. That can't be allowed to happen. I  
> strongly urge everyone who cares about rational, compassionate  
> analysis and activism to do everything they can to support Z."
>
> Edward S. Herman, from the U.S., says, "Z Magazine and ZNet have  
> been my primary vehicles for communicating messages to a sizable  
> audience for more than a decade. I consider the Z family a model of  
> an open and democratic media. We should do all we can not only to  
> help them survive but also to expand. Their growth and that of  
> others of similar openness may be a matter of life or death."
>
> Joanne Landy, from the U.S. says, "If the Left is going to survive  
> in these grim times, it's going to need its own media to keep its  
> message and its spirit alive. Z is one of the most valuable of  
> these alternative media outlets. It deserves our enthusiastic  
> support."
>
> Stephen Shalom, from the U.S., says, "I have always considered ZNet  
> and Z Magazine tremendously valuable resources for progressives --  
> which is why I have been happy to write for them and work with  
> them. But I also find Z and ZNet wonderful resources for my own  
> learning, with articles on a vast array of topics, often making  
> valuable contributions to significant controversies on the Left. Z  
> and ZNet understand that the Left isn't advanced by putting forward  
> "the official line," but by encouraging vigorous discussion and  
> debate within the progressive movements. One other part of Z  
> Communications -- the Z Media Institute -- is one of the U.S.  
> Left's most important educational projects.  Hundreds of the  
> sharpest and most promising media activists in the country (and in  
> Canada) today are graduates of ZMI. We're in this for the long  
> haul, and ZMI and the other components of Z Communications -- the  
> magazine, the web, the videos -- provide essential support for our  
> efforts and, hopefully, will continue to do so long into the future."
>
> Paul Street, from the U.S., says, "Z is unmatched as an accessible  
> and sophisticated source of radically useful information, analysis,  
> debate, and inspiration. It is to those who believe in the need for  
> a reasonably informed citizenry and who reject the reactionary  
> filters and messages of  corporate media.  It is a vital antidote  
> to the incessant soul- deadening propaganda of concentrated wealth  
> and power.  It brilliantly rides the latest wave in the  
> communications revolution to advance the common good and to update  
> and sustain the noble dream and vision of a world turned upside  
> down.  I refuse to imagine a world without Z."
>
> David Cromwell, from England, says, "Z Communications is quite  
> simply one of the best resources in the world for anyone concerned  
> about justice, peace, compassion, the environment and humanity.  
> Educate and empower yourself, counter state-government propaganda,  
> join with others and become part of a revolution in grassroots  
> awareness and activism. Please support ZNet wholeheartedly!"
>
> Milan Rai, from Britain, says, 'People struggling for a better  
> world need a way to cut through the lies and distortion created by  
> the Western mass media. Z Communications is a crucial part of that  
> effort. The dynamic projects that spring out of Z, and the  
> extraordinary evolution of ZNet, express and reinforce the vitality  
> of our movements for change.'
>
> John Hepburn, from Greenpeace Australia, says, ZCom is for people  
> who dare to imagine that another world is actually possible. It has  
> been a melting pot of ideas for the global justice movement over  
> the past decade - a kind of radical, online university for social  
> change.  More than ever, we need vision, we need strategies for how  
> to get there, and we need independent media that cuts through the  
> crap. We need znet, and znet needs you. So put your money where  
> your vision is - become a znet sustainer."
>
>
>
> Thank You.
> Michael Albert for ZNet
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

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