Sights and Sounds from BA Everywhere:
Fundraising Events and Outings Begin Summer Plans
June 30, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
As spring drew to a close, there were get-togethers and outings to neighborhoods in various cities to start off the exciting and ambitious summer 2013 plans for BA Everywhere, a multifaceted fundraising campaign to project Bob Avakian—BA—his voice and his work way out into society, far beyond what it is today. (For more on the plans, see “Summer 2013 BA Everywhere Campaign: Making a Difference,” online at revcom.us.)
In New York City, more than $270 was raised in two days toward a very large poster with Bob Avakian’s BAsics 1:13 quote on it that could be held up by people—a “human billboard”—outside the courthouse in Sanford, Florida, for the opening of the trial of George Zimmerman, the racist vigilante who killed Trayvon Martin. When the trial opened and jury selection began on June 10, revolutionaries were there to demand justice for Trayvon and to speak out against the whole system behind Trayvon’s murder—and the big poster with BAsics 1:13 was seen in news coverage around the country. A few days later, someone with more resources pledged to donate $3 for every $1 raised in Harlem on Saturday, June 15. This challenge was taken out to the people, and with the matching funds, more than $1,150 was raised in that one day. (See fuller report online at revcom.us, “Grasping the ‘moment’ to have a national and international impact with Bob Avakian’s message: ‘No more...’—BAsics 1:13.”) At a June 16 barbecue/picnic in Harlem, there was swirling discussion in English and Spanish—among people already active as well those new to the movement for revolution—about BA and the summer plans for fundraising.
In Oakland, California, people gathered in a vintage-car and art gallery showroom in the middle of the city’s art scene. Several people made pledges to raise hundreds of dollars for BA Everywhere. Tickets sold at the door and donations in response to the fund pitch amounted to more than $600. A group of people reported on their fundraising projects which brought in more than $900 through picnics, penny jar collections, tamale sales, and a flea market.
On a weekend in Houston, people got together for a celebratory BA Everywhere luncheon on Saturday; small teams then went out to various parts of the city to get word out about BA and the movement for revolution; and then on Sunday, there was an evening of music and art.
The following are excerpts from a report from readers on a fundraising picnic in South Central Los Angeles. (See the fuller report online at revcom.us, “BA Everywhere Picnic in South Central: Building Community and Raising Funds.”)
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In a South Central park this past Saturday, amidst the trees and grass, the playing children, and the intense soccer players, some new buds of the movement for revolution started peeking out. Through a fundraising picnic for BA Everywhere, individuals who have been checking out and/or getting involved in the movement for revolution in different ways and on different levels began to forge community in doing this—sharing food and laughs and big questions of changing the world with a fascinating mix of people interacting. About 40 people came through at one time or another, almost half were from the immediate neighborhood, and after covering some of the costs of doing the picnic, we raised $140 for the BA Everywhere campaign.
The picnic was organized by a small committee of people from the neighborhood and other parts of South Central who were taking new responsibility, together with experienced revolutionaries. One of the women in the committee talked about why she decided to do this: “It’s the first philosophy that I’ve run across that’s being extremely honest, straightforward, and has to see a vision of a formula of how we can come up out of under this oppressive system. As we can observe around us every day, the system that we have is not working. I would say there’s probably a very high percentage at the top and then millions upon billions of people are left in poverty. The earth is being practically desecrated, children are being killed, and no one seems to want to do anything about it. We want to change the world to a better system, a better government, and what way to do it than from the ground up through revolution. So this is why I’m with Bob Avakian’s... party.”
People from the picnic committee met people from the citywide Revolution Club and worked to get the canopies up and the food organized. At the beginning, people were a little shy, but as they worked and ate and talked and played together, some of the barriers broke down. One high school student who had been to a neighborhood showing of the film BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! and liked it but also has been conflicted because of controversy at school and unsure feelings of being involved with atheists and white people, arrived at the picnic early on, but said he didn’t want to meet anyone because he didn’t think he would be able to relate to people there. By the time he left, after talking with some people and playing basketball with a talented ball player from the Revolution Club, he made a point of going up to one of the organizers to say, “Everyone here is really nice.”
Some of the youth who came had been part of wearing and distributing stickers saying, “We are all Trayvon! The whole damn system is guilty!” Students from two different high schools in the area said they had run into revolutionaries before in front of their schools. Several Black skaters from the nearby skate park joined in the picnic. The diversity of the picnic, the different nationalities, ages, and backgrounds hanging out together without conflict or degrading bullshit was a big part of its attractiveness.
A short program halfway through opened with one of the young boys with a beautiful voice singing Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb,” as he shyly held onto his friends for moral support, and receiving resounding applause. The revolutionary emcee welcomed everyone and said a few words about Bob Avakian and the BA Everywhere campaign, putting the campaign and this fundraising picnic in the context of the editorial in Revolution newspaper about a summer of big challenges and intense struggle. She brought up a couple of members of the Revolution Club who read quotes from BAsics they had picked out, then went on to say a little more about Fight the Power, and Transform the People, for Revolution. She encouraged everyone there to find out what Bob Avakian is about by watching a portion of his talk, BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! in the canopy set up for that purpose.
There were at least two different showings of that same clip to different groups of people during the picnic, and each resulted in very engaged discussions afterwards. In one discussion some of the skater youth were wrestling with questions of what kind of world is possible and what is true, including questions of religion and science. A young college student spoke very passionately, saying that what he likes about Bob Avakian is that he’s not just complaining, he has solutions and a movement behind him.
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