From readers:
A Response to: “I’m interested.... but I need to know more before I can make a donation”
March 21, 2016 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
In the course of building for the upcoming dinner and raising funds for the BA Everywhere campaign, we’ve been encountering a common response, especially with people we meet on the street who are just learning about Bob Avakian (BA) and the new synthesis of communism. This has been so widespread, we assume people in other parts of the country are encountering this as well, and we wanted to share how we’ve been speaking to it.
After substantive, if initial, discussions we’ve been having on the street, letting people know who BA is, getting directly into his work (through BAsics, audio and video clips, or the Six Resolutions of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA), we’ve talked with people about coming to the fundraising dinner, encouraging them to buy a ticket or make a donation on the spot; and to find other ways to get involved in this campaign to make Bob Avakian’s work known throughout society. An incredibly common response to the invitation for people to get with this concretely and on the spot has been: “OK, I’m interested but I need to know more before I commit to getting involved, getting a ticket, contributing funds, etc.”
Given the real-time urgency to this campaign, we don’t just want to “get back to people later” in a way that conveys the opposite of what we want to convey, which is the urgency in making Avakian’s work known, and that we can have a major impact on society right now by making him known... and by getting organized through raising the funds necessary for this to reach everywhere.
So the response we’ve developed goes like this: First, we acknowledge that they do need to know more... and that’s a big part of the whole point. We encourage them to get Revolution newspaper, get a sub to revcom.us on the spot and to get one of BA’s works right then and there. We also ask if there’s something specifically they want to ask about or understand. This way, we’ve learned more what their questions or differences are... and what they’ve gotten from the discussion we’ve had up to that point.
But whatever their particular question, we’ve come back to this essential point: “Look, you’re absolutely right to want to dig into this, that’s essential and you DO have to know more. But even just off this brief discussion, you know enough to know others need to know about BA... and that we should come together to raise the kind of funds to make that possible. Have you ever before now raised your sights to the actual possibility of a whole different world... a whole different system and society... one that is actually about real human emancipation? When was the last time you even CONSIDERED that possibility, and isn’t this something that millions need to have the opportunity to encounter? The fact that you’re running into this by accident is a real problem. And yes, you’re just hearing about something very big and very serious and probably aren’t sure yet what all you think. That’s an important part of the process but, again, shouldn’t others have the opportunity to know there’s a way out for humanity?”
This has then provided a different foundation to get more deeply into the world historic significance of BA and what difference it would make if his work, and the awareness of his leadership, really were everywhere. When we got into things this way, some folks did contribute or buy tickets to the dinner. We also noticed in our follow-up, calling them back within two days of these conversations, the content of those engagements were very different because the initial discussions set more serious terms.
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