Z Sessions

T he purpose of this staff-generated “Journal” is to update readers on news from behind the scenes at Z’s workplace. 

First, a little background: Z is incorporated as a non-profit, tax exempt organization under the Institute for Social and Cultural Communications (Z Communications, for short). Z Magazine printed its first issue in January 1988. Since then, in addition to the print magazine, we have expanded to include ZNet, Z Media Institute, Z Video Productions, and Z Magazine Online.  

In creating Z Communications we hoped to accomplish three overarching goals: (1) to publish critical information about U.S. institutions (information often suppressed by mainstream media); (2) to publish media that would reflect the diversity and breadth of left politics and movements worldwide; (3) to publish material that would assist activists in developing vision and strategy for radical social change. 

Of those three goals, the third has been the hardest to accomplish. We’ve tried to include vision and strategy in Z Magazine , on ZNet, in Z videos, and at Z Media Institute. We even started a quarterly on vision and strategy called Z Papers , but had to stop publication for lack of  innovative, inclusive material. 

Another effort to provide some answers to the question “What do we want?” was attempted at the World Social Forum 2003 in Porto Allegre—at WSF organizers’ request. ZNet staffer, Michael Albert, organized 65 speakers for a series on “Life After Capitalism” (LAC). Although the series was well done, the Forum undercut the effort by failing to advertise LAC events and by scheduling many of the talks at an impossible-to-find resort miles from the main event.  

International Project for a Participatory Society 

U ndaunted, this year Z Communications (inititated by Albert) organized Z Sessions on Vision and Strategy (ZSVS) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts from June 1-6.  The goals of this event were to “explore ideas about long-term visions; to reach agreements and clarify persisting differences; to facilitate joint projects; to consider continuing and enlarging group connections.” The event was attended by 33 activists and writers from around the world. Among those, 14 presented papers on various aspects of vision and strategy—economy, politics, kinship, culture, and so forth. The event was filmed with the goal of turning the sessions into a book and DVD series. 

During the final two days, the discussion turned to “considering continuing and enlarging group connections.” To organizers delight, the group was enthusiastic about continuing and voted to create the International Project for a Participatory Society (IPPS), which we defined as “a group of activists, writers, and media producers committed to the basic principles of self-management, equity, diversity, and solidarity. Our mandate is to generate, promote, and support vision and strategy for a participatory society.” 

Along with this mandate, we set up a structure and process to assist in creating and soliciting content, support and work together on material, prepare a budget, and create a website, which should be in place by September. We also plan to have a program on vision and strategy ready to present in a series of sessions at the U.S. Social Forum in Atlanta, 2007. 

While we are still getting organized around set-up and future expansion, IPPS is accepting all manner of submissions on vision and strategy for all aspects of a “participatory society”—education, law, entertainment, etc., etc. These submissions on vision and strategy could be in essay or interview format and include descriptions of existing projects that are attempting to incorporate some or all of the principles of a participatory society listed above.