Revolution #259, February 12, 2012
"Let's Go"—Report from the BAsics Bus Tour
“Let’s Go” was the spirit of the first hours of the BAsics Bus Tour two-week pilot project. The atmosphere changed as the 30-foot RV rolled out, covered from top to bottom with huge front and back covers of the book BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian—in Spanish and English—you can’t change the world if you don’t know the BAsics—with the Revolution talk, the online speech by Bob Avakian, on the top of the cab for all oncoming traffic to see....pumping music from a special on-the-road mix CD and “All Played Out” and other audio pieces by BA....and most important, inside were people, of all ages, with the ability to reach out in Spanish and English, filled with the desire to change the world and seeing that getting this book into the hands of many, many people and BA known by thousands more being key to that...and, yes, filled with boxes of the book BAsics and the ability to set up an on-the-spot showing of the film Revolution: Why It’s Necessary, Why It’s Possible, What It’s All About.
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| February 7, Pico Union, BAsics Bus Tour |
The bus’s first destination was the area of Pico Union in Los Angeles, the most densely populated neighborhood of immigrants in the city and the scene last year of days of mass resistance in response to the murder of Manuel Jaminez by the LAPD. As we traveled through the neighborhood, heads turned and people took copies of the special BAsics issue (Revolution #244) and BAsics was sold. On the ground a lot was learned and the whole pilot project nature of this tour—the learning and transforming hourly and daily—took off as people got ready for the next neighborhood, around Revolution Books, which led up to the launch celebration.
At noon, people gathered to launch the tour at Revolution Books. Displays with quotes from BAsics—in Spanish and English—lined the sidewalk and music filled the air. Michael Slate, correspondent for Revolution newspaper and host of the Michael Slate Show on KPFK radio, mc’d a program that featured statements by supporters and people who had decided to ride the bus. People heard a description of the many important destinations along the route: rural areas of the state where there is literal starvation and extreme poverty in the midst of the richest farmlands in the country, in the Central Valley of California; college campuses in outlying areas—UC Davis and UC Riverside where the student movement and Occupy were met with extreme brutality by the state, with Riverside being the “diversity” campus for a rapidly disappearing minority student body in the UC system, a campus situated in one of the most economically devastated counties in California; and Orange County, that quintessential symbol of “suburbia” in this country, where a young man was brutally beaten to death by the police and where the community responded with daily demonstrations.
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| February 7, Watts, BAsics Bus Tour |
Statements of support (see below) were read. And there were statements made by three people who will be on the bus. A young woman talked about the BAsics quote that inspired her...where BA talks about his friend who dedicated his life to finding a cure for cancer...and in that quote he talks about joys in taking on the responsibility of changing the world (6:18). An incredible skit was performed, based on BA’s spoken-word piece “All Played Out.” And the program ended with comments by Clyde Young of the Revolutionary Communist Party, who talked about the difference it would make for BA to be known everywhere, for BA to become a household word and a point of reference for people looking to how to change the world. Achieving this goal means raising money to project BA’s vision and works into all corners of society.
The program ended with the words “Let’s Go”... Spirits and resolve were high as the bus hit the road... Next stop: Watts....then out of the city...
The BAsics Bus Tour urges Revolution readers to follow the tour on basicsbustour.tumblr.com, and on Facebook (friend Basics Bus Tour.) Get your audio downloads, video and blog entries at basicsbustour.tumblr.com.
And call to find out the many, many ways you can contribute and join the tour at 323-463-3500.
Statements of Support
Alan Diamante, Attorney, Immigration and Nationality Law
There are many revolutions; they are natural occurrences in the history of mankind, a transitional stage in cultural and socio-political systems. BAsics is a compilation of generations of scholarly thought on revolutions; it is thought-provoking and a standard for anyone interested in social change. I support the book tour since BAsics is a fundamental intellectual tool for anyone that wants to be politically and socially active. Moreover, BAsics is a contemporary aid for anyone that wants to read in between the lines of the mainstream media and political rhetoric. In our modern global society, every person should be aware of the history and impact of imperialism and the disparity of social classes. I support the pilot tour and dissemination of BAsics because the empowerment of the public requires basic information.
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Statement from Dr. Dennis Loo on the launching of the BAsics bus tour – February 5, 2012.
I was speaking recently with a friend who is close to my age and who is a supporter of the RCP. She pointed out that we were both raised on what Marxism, revolution, socialism, and communism are through Bob Avakian’s influence.
She is right about that.
Let me give you an analogy. When I traveled to the South of France on a train a number of years ago and looked out into the countryside, I could not see its gorgeous sun-bathed fields with their fantastic sunflowers without seeing them through the eyes of my favorite artist, Vincent Van Gogh. How we see the world is affected by what we have been exposed to previously. Likewise, I cannot look out into the world in general without being significantly influenced by the insights and philosophical breakthroughs of Bob Avakian. I would not be the person I am today as an intellectual and an activist without his influence.
The world today aches for change, real change, and there are literally billions of people who want to see a different world than this, but who do not know how or even that such a change is even possible. Because of the tyranny of authorities over us collectively, both over our minds and our very physical beings, even imagining a different world is hard for most people in this country and the world today.
Avakian’s thorough reading of the experience of people trying to understand and change the world throughout history and specifically his close study of the revolutionary movements of the past and the present are an extraordinary tool in the fight to change the world. I urge you to dig deeply into his works. When you do you will see what I mean.
Dr. Dennis Loo is a Professor of Sociology at Cal Poly Pomona and an honors graduate from Harvard. He has received national awards in three separate categories: as a journalist, as a scholar, and as an activist. He is the author of Globalization and the Demolition of Society and sits on the Steering Committee of the World Can’t Wait.
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Paul Von Blum, Senior Lecturer, African American Studies, UCLA
The BAsics Bus Tour adds an important dimension to the national and international mobilization that the Occupy Movement has inspired. In these times of increasing and outrageous disparities of wealth and power, it is vital that all progressive voices are heard. This tour represents a crucial part of the continuing dialogue about the need for truly structural change in America and throughout the world.
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