Revolution #254, December 25, 2011
Supporting the BA Everywhere Campaign: A Reflection and a Challenge
Posted December 26, 2011
I'm writing to tell you about my enormous enthusiasm, excitement and hope for the new campaign: "BA Everywhere...Imagine the Difference It Could Make!" In particular, I wanted to write about one major initiative being launched as part of this: the BA Bus Tour. As written in Revolution: "Imagine buses with eye-catching decorations touring the nation, spreading revolution and BA's voice to those hungry for it in outlying areas.'' When I first heard about this, I thought: "This is exactly what we need!"
I recently had the privilege of talking with some people who have been part of the Occupy movement in one of the bigger cities. In addition to really uniting with them when they expressed their horror about the realities facing the masses of people, and their excitement for wrangling with what it would take to forge a whole new society, one of the things that really struck me was their descriptions of their lives before Occupy. Many, if not all, in the group said they felt a huge amount of isolation and even loneliness before coming to the encampment. These folks were from various parts of the country, including some rural areas, and they said they felt as if they had no one they could connect with about these big questions. I started to imagine what must be the hundreds of thousands of youth who are feeling this same isolation, loneliness and anger, and what the BA Bus Tour could mean for them.
Imagine what it would be like for a 15-year-old girl in a small Nebraska town who has been trained to act and think like a sex object, before she really fully understands what that means. And even when she does all that, she gets ridiculed and is called a "slut" for maybe "crossing the line" one day or even daring to express her own sexual desire. Imagine her seeing the BA bus rolling into town and a revolutionary youth jumping out, handing her a copy of BAsics and reading from the quote that begins "Look at all these beautiful children who are female in the world..." (BAsics 1:10)
Imagine a young black youth living in the projects in Philadelphia, and every day he wakes up is a day he could be harassed and brutalized by the police, or even killed. Then one day when he wakes up and walks to school, he passes by a large projection of Avakian's Revolution talk and hears Avakian's voice in loud defiance: "No more generations of our youth, here and all around the world, whose life is over, whose fate has been sealed..." (BAsics 1:13)
Think about the Tyler Clementis, the young men and women who will be bullied, tormented and terrorized simply for love that doesn't fit some Christian Fascist's view of what is acceptable. [Tyler Clementi was a Rutgers University freshman who committed suicide after a secretly recorded video of him kissing another man was posted on YouTube.—Eds] Think about the children of immigrants who live with the stigma of being an "illegal" human being, and what it would mean for them to hear a leader who will get to the heart of why people really do come here from all over the world. And imagine all the youth everywhere getting into BAsics, the Revolution DVD, BA's memoir, the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America (Draft Proposal) and more, having their creativity and critical thinking unleashed for the first time around what it would mean to live in a whole new radically different world and diving into Bob Avakian's new synthesis which makes that all possible.
When I imagine all these things, I can't help but feel an overwhelming sense of joy for what this BA Bus Tour can make possible, and also a tremendous responsibility to do everything I can to help make this happen. This is why I'm donating $400 to support the bus tour. And in the spirit of the BAsics Challenge that was issued earlier this year, I am challenging 10 more donations to match mine! And remember, you can match this $400 in a variety of ways: Hold a bake sale or a fund-raising party, get a group of 10 people together who can each make a $40 donation, or just write your check and mail it today. Either way, let's usher in 2012 with all the hope this BA bus tour will bring!
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