Revolution #251, November 27, 2011
THE NEXT SIX WEEKS...
having an impact, growing the movement, building up our muscles.
Coming out of these conferences through the New Year, we’re going to get off to an exciting start to this campaign to raise big money to get BA’s vision and works into every corner of society. We’ll learn as we go... building up experience, forging a community, getting the word out in important ways, and raising funds to make important things happen.
Our focus will be on raising the funds to get 1,500 copies of BAsics to prisoners, making a splash with BAsics with people giving it as a gift for the holidays, raising $23,000 to fund the production and release of the film that will be made about an incredible cultural event last spring inspired by BAsics, and kicking off the fundraising for a BA bus tour in 2012. Meeting these goals will be the first phase of this campaign to raise major funds. The idea here is for each of these to accomplish three things: spread the word about BA; raise the needed money; and involve more and more people in this movement. So each focused effort should put us in a stronger place than before, with more capacity… and taken together, these should help lay the basis to really come out roaring when the new year begins.
These efforts will have THREE major nodal points where people all over the country will be acting together:
1. Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Through the Thanksgiving holiday, share what’s on the DVD video kit with your family and friends with a particular emphasis on raising money for copies of BAsics to prisoners. Show the dramatic reading of prisoner letters responding to a quote from Avakian on living a life of meaning (the rough cut is on your DVD and the short film will be posted online before Thanksgiving). Let people appreciate and help realize the potential of BAsics to impact on those locked behind the walls. It costs $10 to send one book to a prisoner and the goal is to send 1,500 books by the end of the year which will require $15,000.
Then on Black Friday and that whole weekend after Thanksgiving, people can make plans together to go out with gift tables selling copies of BAsics to send to prisoners and BAsics for the holidays. Make a big sign to display: “Want the alternative to capitalism?! Get the BAsics.” This should have a lot of pizzazz and even be newsworthy so everyone should also be developing press plans. Get a lot of copies of the BAsics special issue (Revolution #244) out and sign up people who are interested in getting involved.
2. The weekend of December 10 and 11. Imagine all kinds of people, all over the country, doing different things to meet that goal. There are big parties, with food donated from local restaurants, in the projects and on campuses. Car washes, bake sales, and yard sales are organized and publicized. In another part of town, there’s a big cultural benefit. A fundraising salon is held among wealthier sections of people. Maybe someone with more resources publicly pledges to match whatever is raised by a big group of people in a housing project. Everyone participating in something that is bigger than their individual efforts while at the same time, their individual efforts have a decisive effect as part of that.
December 10/11 will be our first all-together-out weekend like this where we’ll raise money for the production of the film, Occasioned by the Publication of BAsics: A Celebration of Revolution and the Vision of A New World. The ongoing online drive will end on December 12.
We should also be spreading this online now, coming right off this conference... encouraging our friends to give, emailing the film trailer out to everyone we know, send via Facebook and Twitter..., and then the organized activity on December 10/11 will be to make that final major push to fulfill the goal.
3. Finally, we’ll end the year right with year end or New Year’s parties to fund the kickoff for the BA Bus Tour in 2012. Come together to celebrate the debate and engagement we’re getting going with a radically different and far better vision of how the world could be... come together to celebrate the coming together from different perspectives and different walks of life... to really do something meaningful in the world. And raise funds while doing so. Ask a DJ or a band to play, get a space... a rec room, community center or church... or there may be someone who wants to open up their home. Local businesses or artists might volunteer door prizes which can be raffled off at the party and ask for a $10 contribution for tickets. These will happen nationally all on the same week from 12.26 – 12.31 so whatever is raised from one party contributes to the whole effort.
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