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Status Report
By Michael Albert at Sep 05, 2012 |
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Isn't "Status Report" pretty much what folks call an update about what you are doing at the moment, on Facebook? I think so. So why not use a ZBlog for one? Here is what I happen to be up to - which, at the moment, may be of interest to Z users.
First, I am readying, with our programmers, ZSocial. We hope to be testing it with a couple of hundred friends within a week. Then we will invite ZSustainers, and IOPS members as well, to begin using it. After fixing problems that surface with that early use, we will open ZSocial to still wider circles of users.
Everyone who signs up to try it is going to get thirty days free use. We hope that, as a result, everyone will give it a go. Indeed, I sincerely hope you are waiting on pins and needles for the opportunity to try ZSocial - unable to sleep with the excitement of anticipation - but also that you will keep in mind that we are competing with operations worth billions... who have a substantial headstart - having a mere 900 million users - and that we are nonetheless hoping to deliver better than they do, at least for activist and political uses. We will likely need some patience and certainly lots of participation to make that happen.
Everyone who signs up to try it is going to get thirty days free use. We hope that, as a result, everyone will give it a go. Indeed, I sincerely hope you are waiting on pins and needles for the opportunity to try ZSocial - unable to sleep with the excitement of anticipation - but also that you will keep in mind that we are competing with operations worth billions... who have a substantial headstart - having a mere 900 million users - and that we are nonetheless hoping to deliver better than they do, at least for activist and political uses. We will likely need some patience and certainly lots of participation to make that happen.
Second, I have been working hard to finalize three versions of each of three books, and we have put up on ZNet means to order and some information about the three books that are together called Fanfare for the Future. They are Occupy Theory by myself and Mandisi Majavu, Occupy Vision by myself and Mark Evans, and Occupy Strategy by myself, Jessica Azulay, and David Marty.
These books are, I believe, and I think the other four authors would concur, about the best we can do at presenting theory, vision, and strategy bearing on winning social change - all in an accessible, succinct, and also pretty comprehensive way.
The impetus for undertaking this project was initially and remains trying to provide a useful touchstone for discussion and then for elaboration by activists and indeed all people eager for a better world. The authors are from the U.S., UK, South Africa, and Spain.
As a result of our feelings about these books - and yes, the effort involved - we authors all hope everyone who relates to ZNet will give us the benefit of the doubt and read our work - assess it - and then engage with us and others about the included ideas.
These are not books about just one more familiar topic - another crisis, another historical evaluation, another uncovering of some horror. Together they instead are books that provide a basis for such studies, and also for determining what we want and how to seek it. In that respect they are not for people primarily concerned about immigration only, or primarily concerned about income distribution only, or war only, or climate only - in fact, they are for all such folks, with those concerns and really with any other concerns that have to do with society's and history's underlying structures and patterns, and attaining something better. They are for you.
These are not books about just one more familiar topic - another crisis, another historical evaluation, another uncovering of some horror. Together they instead are books that provide a basis for such studies, and also for determining what we want and how to seek it. In that respect they are not for people primarily concerned about immigration only, or primarily concerned about income distribution only, or war only, or climate only - in fact, they are for all such folks, with those concerns and really with any other concerns that have to do with society's and history's underlying structures and patterns, and attaining something better. They are for you.
You can get copies of one or more of the books via the Fanfare Page which has links for the Kindle version in place ($3 per book) and will soon have links for the IPad version (also $3 per book). The page also has links to the ZStore for the print version which is $15 per book, but if you get all three books, it is just $30 - or one free if you buy two.
I won't clutter this "status report" with summaries, excerpts, etc. Instead, please visit the Fanfare Page, and please seriously consider giving these books some of your time! To keep the prices down, they won't be available in usual bookstores. You can only get them in ebook format, or in print via the ZStore.
And then, what all the authors really hope for is that you will write your thoughts on what you read, here, in blog posts, or elsewhere, in blogs or reviews, or whatever form you choose. In short, let's use these works as a jumping off platform for a wide and deep discussion of concepts, vision, and strategy suitable for winning a new world, fueled not only by the three books, but your added insights as well.
And then, what all the authors really hope for is that you will write your thoughts on what you read, here, in blog posts, or elsewhere, in blogs or reviews, or whatever form you choose. In short, let's use these works as a jumping off platform for a wide and deep discussion of concepts, vision, and strategy suitable for winning a new world, fueled not only by the three books, but your added insights as well.
