next message in archive
no next message in thread
previous message in archive
Index of Subjects
I signed up for the ZNet Commentaries before they started March 1, 1999,
and I've been sharing some of the best items with the sfp listserver
readers, which from time to time includes INES members. BUT you miss so
much, since I can only forward a small fraction of the wonderful stuff
that I get from ZNet.
You may well be reluctant to PAY for MORE email. I sympathise, but:
a] so much email is junk, just like regular mail, but you pay for to
quality alternative paper-media to keep well informed [my personal
selection includes Canadian Forum, This Magazine, Peace Mag and for
international news The Guardian Weekly, and its new supplement -
translated Le Monde Diplomatique], so why not quality email too?
b] also there's the ZNet Commentary Forum system, which I've still not had
time to use, but just looking at the website tells me of great future
opportunities for discussion;
c] I'll be away for most of June, and on other occasions when the sfp
listservers are non-functional for whatever reason you'll be cut off even
from my selection of the ZNet Commentaries;
d] just regard it as your charitable contribution [of course you don't get
a tax receipt, but that system is a strategem to exclude really radical
programs like this] to participatory democracy; the mainstream media have
abandoned their role as the fourth estate to serve mammon instead of
democracy - we desperately need alternative media sources!
!!!ACT NOW!!! Eric Fawcett
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Michael Albert <sysop@zmag.org>
This message is ONLY ABOUT SIGNING up for the ZNet Commentary Program
(www.zmag.org/commentaries/donorform.htm) via a special one-time offer good
only until June 1. Therefore, if you are already a Commentary recipient
there is no need to read on. Or if you are absolutely sure that you aren't
interested in signing up for the Commentary Program under any terms at all,
again, there is no need to read on. But, for the rest of you...
The usual condition for joining the program is that you donate $10 a month
(or $5 a month low income) [I pleaded "low-income" because of the sad
state of the Canadian Dollar, but that's up to you C$10 per month seems a
reasonable compromise] to Z/ZNet by submitting credit card information
for a bulk donation or for monthly installment donations (or by sending in a
bulk check donation). As a premium you receive the daily commentaries as
well as access to the new ZNet Commentary Forum System.
BUT, ONLY BETWEEN NOW AND JUNE 1, we are going to try something special,
this one time, to see the impact and hopefully jumpstart our program to a
new and even higher level of membership.
Thus, just for this brief time, you can EITHER send back this email with
your
full name:
your email address for the commentaries to go to:
your Visa or Mastercard number:
and your Card expiration date:
including as well an indication that we can charge you, ALL AT ONCE, for
a full year of commentaries (either the reduced rate of (at least) $75 full
price or the reduced (at least) $40 low income rate). That is, you donate
one time only at least $40 or at least $75 and you get the commentaries
daily (with one or two days off each month) for a whole year, plus
membership in the ZNet Commentaries Forum System for the same period.
OR, if you prefer,
you can instead send your full name, your email address, and an
appropriate check by slow mail to the ZNet Commentary Program, 18 Millfield
St, Woods Hole, MA 02543 (but we need to get it donating for the full year
by June 5th, latest, and it needs to note that it is responding to this
special email offer).
BUT WHY should you bother to sign up, you may naturally wonder, even at a
temporarily special donor rate?
Well, there are two broad reasons.
First, the program provides donation support for Z and ZNet. So, even if the
commentaries and commentary forum system didn't exist, for many of you
donating would be an excellent way to support Z and ZNet, particularly to
ensure the latter's growth and diversification.
Second, the commentaries and commentary forum system do exist. And for your
donation you receive the former daily, each AM, and you get access to the
latter universally, all the time.
And the Commentaries are really quite remarkable, we believe, in their own
right. They cover a truly wide range of focuses, are all succinct and to the
point, and come each morning to you from some of the most accomplished
writers and activists in the U.S. and around the world, including, so far,
from England, Argentina, Greece, England, France, Australia.
Also, the included forum system makes it easy to discuss these commentaries
not only with the other commentary recipients, but also in many instances
with the authors of the commentaries themselves, many of whom (including
chomsky, zinn, bernard, albert, ehrenreich, wise, cagan, shalom, and others)
host their own forums. Access to this closed system only for Commentary
Program Participants is by a powerful browser interface, by a news reader,
or even through your email with no need for any extra connecting at all.
(And the system is up and running now!)
I know I have told you about this project before. And I know this is an
unabashed promotional message and that some of you are going to resent that.
But the simple fact is that what we are promoting is truly unusual -- the
possibility to join 950 other folks supporting Z/ZNet and simultaneously
molding together into an interactive community of give and take of ideas,
information, and agenda-setting among themselves and with the involved
writers. And supporting this project is, as well, what makes the rest of
ZNet possible and ensures its steady improvement.
So please, read more about the project at
www.zmag.org/commentaries/donorform.htm and either use the form you will
find there to join in the usual manner, or, if you prefer, reply to this
message for the special rates available only until June 1.
After all, is there any other way to get direct to your email each morning
350 commentaries a year from such an accomplished group as: Michael Albert,
Ramzy Baroud, Elaine Bernard, Peter Bohmer, Jeremy Brecher, Michael Bronski,
Denis Brutis, Scott Burchill, Leslie Cagan, Sandy Carter, Noam Chomsky, Ward
Churchill, Brian Dominick, Barbara Ehrenreich, Sean Gonsalves, Robin Hahnel,
Edward Herman, Jim Hightower, Clarence Lusane, Manning Marable, Elizabeth
Martinez, Sam Mchombo, Cynthia Peters, Pablo Pozzi, Nikos Raptis, Margaret
Randell, Tanya Reinhart, Don Rojas, Lydia Sargent, Danny Schecter, Sonia
Shah, Vandana Shiva, Norman Solomon, Steven Shalom, Brian Tokar, Mark
Weisbrot, Tim Wise, Robert Weissman/Tim Mokhiber, and Howard Zinn?
Thank you for your time...and I apologize if you found this intrusive.
Sincerely,
Michael Albert
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
P.S.
PLEASE NOTE: Folks who are now donating monthly CANNOT and please do not try
to switch to this new option...the paperwork alone would crush me like a bug
under a big time boot...and the loss in revenues would undercut the whole
operation anyhow.
Yes, we know that this is a lower rate than you signed up for, but: (1) it
is a special limited offer, and (2) it is meant mostly for people who felt
that they could not affort the high donation levels or didn't want to pay
monthly or by credit card, and (3) if this works everyone is going to
benefit greatly from the increased size and scope of the program, the larger
base of users for the forums, and the wider distribution of the
commentaries, and your on-going higher level of donation support is what
makes it all possible and, more, if enough people sign up this way, that
will drop too, next year.
next message in archive
no next message in thread
previous message in archive
Index of Subjects