I don’t quite know how to write this message, I can barely fathom it myself, so I will simply relay the facts as I currently know them.

We have an internet provider out in Washington State. They are very congenial and nice people who have worked very hard for us during the lifetime of our operations.

They report being very hard hit by yesterday’s virus attack. They report that of 200 machines in one of their buildings, ZNet’s was by far the hardest hit, they think because of its very high use level at the time.

The technicians have been unable to get our ZNet machine back on line, even to get it to boot up, even to get it to allow any functionality at all. They have prepared a new server for our operations, but when they tried to insert the old hard drive and read the data from our prior hard drive onto the new server, (thousands upon thousands of files), they were unable to do so. Without getting technical, at the moment they simply cannot access the data from our old drive or even see it, and they don’t really know, in fact, whether the data is intact or not.

You might wonder, why worry? Why not just restore your backup data to the new server, and if you lose a day or two days of data that wasn’t backed up, and if it takes another day or so for the provider to get operations fully up to speed, that’s all very annoying, of course, but it’s certainly not a catastrophe. Just get back online as soon as you can, and then reconstruct the site from there. Hundreds of thousands of users who have been accessing ZNet from all over the world, particularly in this difficult time, are waiting to regain access.

Well, that’s our attitude as well, and it would be our agenda except that our provider reports that they have no backup of our data.

If you find this last fact incredible, so do I. But that’s the condition they report to us.

I can’t answer how it could be, I don’t know. But the conclusion is that at this moment I don’t know when we will be back online - even assuming they can access the old data at all - much less if they cannot access it.

We could be back online with no losses tomorrow. On the other hand, it could be a week including huge losses of web site content, the loss of our sustainer and other databases, the loss of our forum archives, etc.

PLEASE do not write to tell me you commiserate or to suggest options. I know that you do. and I thank you, but I can’t handle the mail.

I will continue to send anti-war and related materials by email to our free update list, as with the Chomsky interview and the call to action below both included below, at least during this crisis, particularly since I can’t place materials on line.

Hopefully we will retreive our data and be back in web space shortly. If we can’t retreive the data, then I may have to ask you all for help. . . but that’s later. For now, we all have to go on out there and stop the war machine. We’ll try to do our part as best we can, alongside you all. . .

Sincerely and with solidarity,

Michael Albert
for ZNet

A CALL TO ACTION FOR PEACE

Our government has stolen from us the time to grieve.

They have made it clear they want war – on anyone, at any price, with seemingly no thought for the consequences.

Government officials speak openly of going after “high-value” targets such as capital cities in countries that “harbor” terrorists. There are calls for carpet-bombing a country of 25 million people. In a world where no objections are raised in the halls of power to such plans, our task is clear:

We must fight for the soul of our nation. We have no choice but to begin speaking out and organizing for peace as we grieve. The best way we can honor those who have died is to make sure no more innocents are killed, here or abroad.

If we win, there is the possibility of a new movement for peace, a new hope for justice. If we lose, the escalating cycle of hatred may usher in a new era of unending war.

Officials think they have the support of an angry, blood-thirsty public, and many in the United States are calling for vengeance. But there is also great fear, not just for our own safety but for what such a war will unleash in the world.

Military actions that kill civilians will also multiply tenfold the number of people willing to die to wreak havoc on the United States. We have already paid a terrible price. What will happen when we arouse further anger with a blatantly unjust and destructive retaliation?

Many, even in the peace movement, are saying,“Now is not the time to talk politics; the country needs time to heal.”

Just the reverse is true: Now is the time, before it is too late.

We, the undersigned organizations, are calling for Sunday, September 23, to be a National Day of Action for Peace with Justice. We will call for a peace based not on terror and death but on recognition of our common humanity. In each locality, people concerned about the drive to destruction should gather in public, as close to 2 p. m. as possible.

We will gather – in churches and in parks, in homes and universities, public squares, streets and living rooms – with banners and signs, with black armbands and candles, in fear and in hope.

While a single gathering will not itself change policy, it signals the mood of the public and will help build a movement. September 23 will be not the end, but the beginning of more vigorous organizing for peace and a just world.

We have already seen spontaneous demonstrations of thousands of people across the country. There is new interest in the consequences of our foreign policy. People are listening.

Now is the time: For action. For organization. For change.

Organizations that want to sign onto this call should write to worker-nowar@lists.tao.ca

In Solidarity,

The Nowar Collective
www.nowarcollective.com