Scenes from BA Everywhere

Week of January 9

By Name | January 13, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

“Scenes from BA Everywhere” is a feature that gives our readers an ongoing picture of this multi-faceted campaign, and the variety of ways that funds are being raised, and the whole BA vision and framework is being brought into all corners of society. Revolution newspaper is at the hub of the BA Everywhere effort—publishing reports from those taking up the campaign. Revolution plays a pivotal role in building an organized network of people across the country coming together to make BA a household word. We urge all our readers to send us timely correspondence on what you are doing as part of this campaign.

End of Year Fundraising Events—Looking to 2013

In the last few weeks of 2012, BA Everywhere holiday fundraising parties, dinners, and other activities were held in cities across the country—raising several thousand dollars and helping to forge a community of people working together in this campaign. Last year saw the birth of the movement to raise big money to get BA’s vision and works everywhere. But as the special pullout on BA Everywhere in the last issue of Revolution (#290) noted, “this was just the beginning”—and the year-end fundraising events and activities were important in moving forward to new breakthroughs in the new year.

The parties and dinners brought together people from different backgrounds, nationalities and generations—people who have been involved in BA Everywhere in various ways over the past year, as well those who were more recently introduced to what BA and this campaign are about. Aside from direct donations, people contributed to the events in various ways. For example, a report from Houston said, “Several people had donated hand-made jewelry, pottery, baked goods and other items which were sold as holiday gifts. One of these items was created by the husband of a woman who supports Revolution newspaper, after she introduced him to the Revolution website. As she donated, she noted, ‘now we have joined the revolution.’”

In Chicago, “Volunteers reached out to store owners for donations for the silent auction, to shops and cafes asking for donations of food or other party essentials, and to friends in the revolution to send dishes to the party.” And the hall where the party was held was donated for the evening by business owners in the heart of the Puerto Rican community.

Poets, rappers, and musicians contributed their talents to the events in some cities, giving life to the BAsics 2:8 quote that speaks to the need for a whole different culture in opposition to the putrid culture dominant in this society. In Cleveland, “Besides world music playing, Art Blakey III played electric guitar and Ronnie B of 10:08 Vision rapped ‘Windows of Pain,’ exposing the horrors of mass incarceration.” One of the performers at the Seattle fundraiser was a young man who runs a poetry magazine that features LGBTQ poets. The participating artists in the Houston “Night of Revolutionary Culture” included a clarinet, guitar and violin trio playing klezmer music—a genre associated with East European Jews and their resistance to the Nazis. In one piece, the trio improvised a chorus in between verses, chanting “BA Everywhere!”

Aside from good food, music, poetry, and much fun, these festivities included discussion, presentations, and videos around the BA Everywhere campaign—what’s been achieved, and the potential to really spread BA’s voice and works with an impact like never before. At the L.A. party, Michael Slate announced the January 11 start of the new five-part interview he did with BA—a 10-foot banner was also unfurled with this announcement.

Holiday Party Favors - Seattle

“It was a very good night,” wrote a reader from Seattle, “that really gave a sense of what we are all about and what BA Everywhere is setting out to do in a living way, while at the same time giving room for people to relate to this in their own way and from their own aspirations and desires.” In Cleveland, a woman new to this movement told everyone, “I didn’t know what communism is—now I see it as a viable solution, and Bob Avakian puts out a scientific way of looking at the solution. I kept looking for answers, and they are here.”

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Various other fundraising activities took place during the holiday period, including people getting together to make and sell tamales and baked treats. Members of the Revolution Club in the ’hood in one city decided to take on a special project to raise money for sending BAsics to prisoners. On several weekends in December, people made tamales, churros, and brownies that were taken out (with BAsics palm cards and Revolution) to various places—laundromats, markets, and elsewhere in the ’hood. Although it wasn’t part of the original plan, Revolution Club members in another area of the city decided to take this up, and “soon some college students and others were taking orders and still others were collecting funds.” In one weekend alone, over $330 was raised through the sales and donations in that city.  

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