Going to Wealthy People with Bob Avakian's Vision of a Whole Different World—And Raising Really Large Funds
November 11, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
From a reader:
I want to start a conversation with all who have dreamed of a whole different world, with everyone who has begun to get familiar with Bob Avakian and the new synthesis of communism and is beginning to imagine how this could change society if BA's vision and work were to be known everywhere: on the campuses, in the housing projects, artists, intellectuals, professionals—people from all strata—including the very wealthy—who aspire to and desire a better world for all.
There is a very present need to get way, way out in society with BA. People need to know that Bob Avakian has forged a new framework, vision and strategy for a radically better way the world could be through revolution. How he breaks down the complexity of the world we live in showing why anything less than a thoroughgoing revolution can't solve the systemic crises confronting humanity, and why and how revolution is possible. For this to be a seen as a viable alternative to the present, it needs to be contending throughout society.
Once you start to think about what it will take to impact all society, you confront the need to raise really large funds. Where are those funds going to come from? While funds must be raised among all sections of the people, we cannot raise the amount of money needed without substantial donations from wealthy people. There is basis to do this.
There are people from all strata including among the very wealthy who have tremendous outrage over the way people are forced to live in today's world. There is conflict and turmoil over what to do about making meaningful change within the spheres of philanthropy and charity. There is a section of philanthropists wrestling with the great suffering and destruction of people and the planet and the actual impact and effect of their giving.
For example, recently Peter Buffett stirred up controversy with an op-ed piece in the New York Times, "The Charitable Industrial Complex." Peter Buffett is the son of Warren Buffett and co-chair of the NoVo Foundation, which has a mission "to foster transformation from a world of domination and exploitation to one of collaboration and partnership," with the goal of ending violence against girls and women. It is worth reading his whole op-ed and thinking seriously about what he is saying and why he is saying it now. His piece has caused ripples and responses among people involved in NGO's, philanthro-capitalism, effective altruism, educators, and people who work in the non-profit organizations.
In the op-ed he touches on many things. One, is the way philanthropy has become a big business and is run like one—including pointing to how it functions to a great degree as a safety valve for the very function of the system. He writes: "You witness heads of state meeting with investment managers and corporate leaders. All are searching for answers with their right hand to problems that others in the room have created with their left."
He points to a sharp contradiction with important implications:
"As more lives and communities are destroyed by the system that creates vast amounts of wealth for the few, the more heroic it sounds to 'give back.' It's what I would call 'conscience laundering'—feeling better about accumulating more than any one person could possibly need to live on by sprinkling a little around as an act of charity."
"But this just keeps the existing structure of inequality in place. The rich sleep better at night, while others get just enough to keep the pot from boiling over. Nearly every time someone feels better by doing good, on the other side of the world (or street), someone else is further locked into a system that will not allow the true flourishing of his or her nature or the opportunity to live a joyful and fulfilled life."
Peter Buffett—and, I am sure many others in this strata—agonize over the reality that millions of children slave away mining coltan for cell phones or are brutalized in brothels all over the world, with 100's of millions barely surviving in squatter slums. Buffett opened up a huge and glaring contradiction that philanthropy's best and most generous efforts at charity to redress these huge global problems actually serve to reinforce the structures and wellsprings of the very inequality they seek to redress.
Acknowledging the systemic implications of this, Buffett writes: "I'm not really calling for an end to capitalism. I'm calling for humanism.... My wife and I don't have the answers, but we do know how to listen. As we learn, we will continue to support conditions for systemic change." With this, he has opened up one of the biggest questions confronting humanity … can we do better than capitalism?
Isn't this a big opening to go out to people in this strata with what is the solution to the horrors of this world, concentrated in the vision and framework for a radically better world in the new synthesis of communism developed by BA? Inviting people everywhere to engage BA's analysis of the underlying problem that we face—that the capitalist system can only generate and regenerate the most horrific exploitation and oppression; and, even more important, the solution—why nothing less than revolution to bring about a new economic and political system can really change this. And, how if BA and what he has brought forward were known throughout society, even as some people agree while others disagree, but all were grappling with the questions of "whither humanity and the planet," how this would change all the terms in which the acute social problems of the world are even looked at. How this would rekindle and inspire dreams of a whole different world anew.
At a time when the future offered by capitalism is increasingly bleak, when the heartless machinery of empire crushes people all over the world, when the political institutions have no answers, and the "solutions" they provide only lead to more grotesque and horrific outrages, there is an acute need and basis to bring the vision and work of BA to people who have accumulated great wealth and who want to do something beneficial for the world. There is a need for struggle over what difference this would make—showing why contributing to BA Everywhere is the thing that could make all the difference in changing the world. Entering into the controversy that Peter Buffett's op-ed reveals, it will matter if debate and dialogue are carved open with those who fund the massive global charity machine over fundamental questions of problem and solution. We can make the case that why BA and the new synthesis of communism concentrate the only viable future for humanity and that as they and people more broadly engage and sort through their thinking about that, this will breathe a fresh wind of radical possibility for the emancipation of humanity, for a viable, sustainable future for the planet.
First, there is reality. To take just one example: The planet faces a global water crisis, 780 million people lack access to clean water. 2.5 billion people on the planet have no access to a toilet. The capitalist economies, driven to accumulate more and more wealth and beat out the competition have generated more cell phones in the world than toilets. This is because the logic that drives development and production under the capitalist system is not meeting societal need but is instead the competition and drive for the highest profit.
There really is no way to solve this within the confines of global system of competition over ever more ruthless exploitation of people and resources. But, the most important part of reality is that in BA and what he has brought forward there is a vision and practicable plan for a new socialist society that is overcoming all the inequalities of this epoch that is organized to meet the overall needs of humanity, including as a core principle protecting and preserving and enhancing the ecosystems and bio diversity of the planet for current and future generations. This would make possible the access to clean water for everyone as part of a process to emancipate all humanity. This is brought to life in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America (Draft Proposal), which is based on the new synthesis of communism developed by Bob Avakian.
Many well-intentioned people are contributing large sums of money to projects that actually do great harm—institutionalizing dependency, building up ruling forces and state structures that oppress the people, and fostering widespread illusions about solutions that are anything but. Others are contributing to alleviate the suffering of some people in one corner of the world or another while leaving the very cause of the suffering of billions more to continue crushing lives and spirits every day.
There are many people from these strata who would want to contribute to a world where humanity and the planet could thrive, overcoming millennia of oppressive societies, but who are mentally trapped within the framework of this system because of the distortions and lies of the actual experience of the first socialist revolutions and what communism actually is, and because millions of people don't even know that there is a new synthesis of communism based on the liberating achievements of these revolutions as well as their shortcomings—as they developed in a capitalist world, and even in conception. This leaves people with no options and no way to see beyond the current framework of trying to just do some good for a few people within the confines of the whole horrific setup.
So, let's go out and find everyone who sees the need for big and fundamental change. As we call on people with great financial resources to donate significant funds to BA Everywhere, let's challenge them with the reality that trying to repair or salve a little piece of this system just leaves the whole thing continually destroying lives. Let's bring to them BA's visionary model for a society that is in transition to a world without class distinctions or oppressive social relations or antagonisms, a viable vision for the emancipation of all humanity. Bring to them the vision of a new socialist state that unleashes and relies on the formerly exploited to be a driving force in taking up the big questions confronting the society to move it forward, while encouraging ferment and dissent among all strata, a society that does not plunder the planet or its people, that instead strives to be a caretaker of the environment for future generations, and that works to be a base area for that revolution all over the world. And, that there is a strategy and leadership in the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA to get there.
Once again, let's give people of great wealth the opportunity to be a part of this great endeavour—to use their resources to make the greatest difference there could be. Let's struggle with them about what kind of world humanity is capable of. Introduce them to BA through the new film, Stepping Into the Future: On the Occasion of the Publication of Basics: A Celebration of Revolution and the Vision of a New World . Get them a copy of BA Speaks: REVOLUTION NOTHING LESS! Bob Avakian Live and encourage them to read the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic of North America (Draft Proposal) so they see a blueprint for a new society based on BA's new synthesis. And while they are beginning to get into BA, persevere and fight for them to donate the large sums of money needed so that BA Everywhere can truly have societal impact.
These are times that demand radical thinking and radical solutions. Peter Buffett's op-ed in the New York Times gives voice to this. Are we going to do anything less than fight for people to have a chance to contribute to a whole new world?
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