"I am hoping that people who were moved by Alex’s life will help meet his challenge"

I was very saddened to hear about the death of Alejandro del Fuego. I know that many of you share this sadness. Words cannot express this loss. Alejandro was somebody who deeply cared and loved the people. In a time when many young people are taught to give up on any dreams or hopes of a better world, Alejandro got into the revolution. He was so young, and revolutionaries, especially revolutionary youth, are so precious. I had the pleasure of meeting Alex and I was moved by his determination to put revolution and Bob Avakian on the map. For a person of his age, he had deep clarity about what was needed and what was possible in the world that we live in. Alex had so much more to give to the world. And we must bring forward many more like him.

As he said, so poignantly expressed in his video in which he challenged people to meet the $200 Challenge for BAsics, "All the teens and 20-somethings who are desperately searching for something more meaningful in their lives than another hazy, chaotic, and forgotten weekend—they need to know about Bob Avakian and the party he leads. The youth in high school—from those who have never been given the opportunity to dream, to those even in the most elite institutions who see the futility and apathy of a school system designed to socialize and confine, rather than educate and liberate their minds—they need to know about Bob Avakian. For those of us in my generation who are already in and around this, it’s our responsibility to let them know about BA, the BAsics, and to bring them in to changing the world." (Read his full statement at revcom.us/a/237/Alejandro-en.html.)

It is in this spirit of honoring what Alex’s life was about that I am raising money to meet Alex’s $200 Challenge. I already pledged to sustain Revolution newspaper but, after hearing of Alex’s death and reading his challenge, I have decided to contribute another $20 to BAsics. I do not have enough money to meet the $200 challenge on my own. I am hoping that people who were moved by Alex’s life will help meet his challenge. Will you donate whatever you can to help meet this challenge and to help bring forward a radically different world? What could be a more powerful way to remember what Alex’s life was about?

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