“These ‘Attentions’ Make You Think Differently, That Maybe It Is Possible for the World to Be Different”

September 19, 2019 | revcom.us

 

A report on a conversation from a member of the Revolution Tour

I wanted to share a recent experience that shows the power of the Six Points of Attention of the Revolution Club and how this is actually a “way in” for many different kinds of people.

I was sitting with a woman who has been very helpful with some extremely important logistical needs of the Revolution Tour. I had brought some materials regarding the Revolution Tour for her, and she picked up a laminated card with the Points of Attention printed on it and began reading them. 

When she was finished reading, I asked her what she thought of the Points of Attention. She said they were beautiful. She said “the attentions” are about so much of what we face today… she said, like the first one, Trump is all about personal gain, and so many people are—they don’t think about or care about humanity. She said we should make a large banner of each of “the attentions” and march around the White House with them. Maybe it would cause people to think differently. Like it did to her—these “attentions” make you think differently, think that maybe it is possible for it to be different.

She spoke about each of the Points of Attention… the way women are treated in society, Trump being elected despite his pussy grabbing comment, how do mothers and their daughters deal with that, why was that tolerated? It should not be tolerated, as the attention says.

On number three, she spoke about how immigrants are being demonized now. She told the story of one mother from a Central American country who was raped and her family was threatened, they had no way to live there, so they risked their lives on the difficult journey to come to the U.S. just for a way to live. Too many people have the wrong impression about why people come to the U.S.—people are just desperate for a way to live. They should be welcomed, not treated as enemies.

She loved number four—standing with the oppressed and their potential to emancipate humanity. It was uplifting to think of the oppressed this way, not demonized as they usually are. She brought up a lot of examples of revenge that leads to horrors—everything from a friend of hers recently who wouldn’t confront a situation because it would have brought revenge on her, to examples of one section of people seeking revenge on another. She said Trump is the master of revenge—him and his people seeking revenge on others who they feel privilege over, who they feel are beneath them or not loyal to him.

She spoke about the violence among the people, and how she feels it must be unbearable to lose a child that way. She hopes we make a lot of progress getting people out of that. She thinks we need a different system, a different way of doing things, but I don’t actually know what she thinks revolution means—the actual overthrow of this system.

After talking about this, I showed her the “What If” video from Bob Avakian. She was very moved by it, really liked what BA was saying. She said she would love it if more people were like this. I told her who BA is, and connected all this to what the National Revolution Tour is doing, what it is out to change. In retrospect, I wish I had done more to draw her into how to bring others into this. But this is not the last time I will be talking with her as she is taking responsibility for supporting the work of the Tour in very important ways.

What If the World Doesn't Have To Be This Way?