ZComunications is a massive site with many components. You can access various parts from here, via the links below, that include brief descriptions. In general, however, you will want to bookmark some part of the site, probably either ZNet or ZMag, and enter that part directly rather than via this introductory splash page. From any part, you can get to the rest.
ZNet has tens of thousands of files and diverse facilities. The top page, linked from here, highlights the newest content and sometimes content of special current interest. Subsites focus on particular places in the world, such as Iraq and Venezuela, and on particular topics, such as International Relations and Ecology - as well as on Debates, Interviews, Books, and Vision and Strategy, particularly Participatory Economics, or Parecon for short. Volunteers have translated ZNet articles into many languages including Spanish, Italian, Slovak, Turkish/Kurdish, German, Hindi, and more. ZNet's Instructionals and ZSchool, and its blogs, coments, uploaded graphics, pictures, audio, video, and personal preference pages round out a selection of its features.
Z Magazine is a radical print and online periodical dedicated to resisting injustice, eliminating repression, and creating liberty. It addresses international relations, ecology, economics, gender, race, culture, politics, etc. ZMag is twenty seven years year in print and it also appears online for Z Sustainers. The name, Z, was inspired by the movie Z, directed by Costa-Gavras, that tells the story of repression and resistance in Greece. Comrade Z has been assassinated and his killers, including the chief of police, are indicted. The prosecutor disappears and a right-wing military junta takes over. Security police set out to prevent "a mildew of the mind" and infiltration of "isms." As the closing credits roll, the filmmakers list the things banned by the junta. They include: peace movements, labor unions, long hair on men, Sophocles, Tolstoy, strikes, the Beatles, Chekhov, Mark Twain, the bar association, sociology, Becket, the free press, the new math, and the letter Z, scrawled on a sidewalk as the film's final image, symbolizing "the spirit of resistance lives."
ZBlogs is an extensive system of writers' and sustainers' offerings. Each regular ZCom writer gets his or her own blog system. Each ZSustainer does too. All posts are linked from the writer's and Sustainer's pages and of course in the overall blog system. There is thus a compendium blog of all writers, one of all Sustainers, and one that encompasses both. There are blog sub systems by topic and place, linked from throughout ZCom. All together, ZBlogs includes contributions from thousands of people, accessible by person, topic, place, and type, with commenting throughout.
ZVideo, founded in 2000 as a way to distribute talks and classes from Z Media Institute, ZVideo has expanded to include important talks from other venues as well as documentaries and interviews. We now have more than 60 titles on DVD, including talks by Noam Chomsky, Michael Albert, Howard Zinn, Arundhati Roy, Hugo Chavez, and many more. Viewer comments indicate that the videos have been a very effective medium for understanding many of the topics found in Z Magazine and on ZNet. In some respects they have proven more accessible — for example, Noam Chomsky's humor and casual speaking style, the dynamism of Hugo Chavez, and the atmosphere of an evening session at the World Social Forum in Mumbai, India.
ZSustainers are users of ZCom who decide to donate to help us maintain and expand the operations. Sustainers donate amounts they choose, on a schedule they choose, by means they choose. Sustainers are what makes Z's work possible. Sustainers receive, as a sign of our appreciation, various benefits such as a nightly commentary email, access to Z Magazine online, uploading abilities for their graphics, articles, and even their videos, their own blog, commenting on articles, blogs, and reviews throughout the site, receipt of rss feeds, and even discounts on Z subscriptions, ZVideos, and other store items. We hope regular users of our site and projects will help us keep growing so as to better meet the community needs of our users.
Z's History - South End Press (1978) was founded to raise consciousness about class, gender, race, and power and to provide information, analysis, and vision to help activism. Z Magazine (1987) aimed to bring more diverse information more often and to increase the visibility of writers and illustrators. In ZCom, we added ZNet and ZTranslations, ZMI, ZVideo, ZBlogs and ZForums. Z Magazine was founded by Michael Albert and Lydia Sargent. Lydia in turn initiated ZVideo and works overwhelmingly on ZMag and ZVideo. Michael initiated ZNet and works overwhelmingly on web operations. Eric Sargent joined in the late 1980s and works on Z Magazine and ZVideo.