Going Forward, Lessons Learned from Spreading the Talk by Bob Avakian:

THE TRUMP/PENCE REGIME MUST GO!
In The Name of Humanity, We REFUSE To Accept a Fascist America
A Better World IS Possible

March 12, 2018 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

As the fascist regime continues to move with ferocity, there is a great need, and real potential, for mass impact with the talk from Bob Avakian (BA), THE TRUMP/PENCE REGIME MUST GO! In The Name of Humanity, We REFUSE To Accept a Fascist America, A Better World IS Possible.

There are millions agonizing about what the Trump/Pence regime is doing... they are inspired when people speak the truth about this regime, stand up and protest... they are horrified at the actions of the fascist stormtroopers that have been unleashed by the regime... but the vast majority of them, on their own, are not putting the pieces together about what we’re facing, are not looking beyond the day-to-day “chaos” and are gravitating toward partial or wrong ways to resolve this.

This talk from BA, and the Q&As that follow, deal with these urgent questions: Can fascism really happen here? What are the roots of this regime? What must be done to stop it? Is a better world possible?

If even some of the millions now agonizing over these questions could be exposed to this talk, if even thousands could grapple with it deeply, it would make a huge difference in how people understand what they face in this regime, and in the kinds of possibilities that they could become alive to. It could begin to change the whole equation.

This talk is an introduction and entry point into BA and his work as a whole... an entry point to the game-changer that is the new communism, and the architect of the framework in Bob Avakian, the most radical revolutionary on the planet.

We are continuing to report today with vignettes from New York and Los Angeles of responses from people watching clips and excerpts of the film and Q&A—collectively and individually. Some lessons learned in the course of doing this the past weeks:

* Struggle for deeper engagement―An Invitation: Even while not enough, lots of people have watched clips and excerpts, and their reactions and responses have been very rich, being introduced to a whole other way to approach the world and what this regime represents. At the same time, it is necessary to struggle for a deeper engagement—online and in person—for people to follow through on their initial interest and provocation, to watch the full film, and the Q&As, to “go there” and be challenged, to follow through on their convictions.

There is a comprehensive argument made for what this regime represents and what is to be done, taking on obstacles in people’s thinking and wrong modes of thought. If possible, watch with them, and watch collectively—for this helps provoke a different level of engagement and action—see “Digging in, Deep and Wide, in an Immigrant Community”—with a sense of mission, and not feeling alone in their thinking, but more of a sense of beginning collectivities with possibilities. It is remarkable how many people have said they feel “alone” in their thinking about the dangers of this regime, a product not only of this society in general, but the normalization of fascism that is prevalent. In key “ecosystems,” like campuses, this dynamic is especially critical to forging critical masses of students, of faculty and others around what is needed—that could be catalytic in setting off a geometric progression of people engaging this film.

One of the strengths that we can build on: There are people who are not students, who are partisan to BA and this revolution, who have also resonated with this talk. This includes people with a lot of experience catching hell under this system, experience that students might not be familiar with and should learn about. Students can learn a lot from their stories, and it can have a special impact and effect if they share their thinking on the importance of BA and this film with students. We should talk with them about being part of outings on campus, why it matters, and the role they could play—and organize such outings, collective showings, “crossing the tracks” for both sections of people.

* Things for People to Do, Getting Organized!: People watching the film have often been provoked to learn more about BA and his work, getting copies of THE NEW COMMUNISM and other books and films, some learning about The Bob Avakian Institute in this process. This should be further encouraged, to continue and multiply, with the timeline and memoir available to people to learn more about BA, the person, and his works including the film BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!, and BAsics, the handbook of the revolution. The interview with Ardea Skybreak, Science and Revolution, provides a great invitation into BA and what he’s all about. Many are being provoked at this time to check out Revolution Clubs and Revolution Books. All of this is part of getting organized for an actual revolution.

Given an overall climate among progressives that is often anti-science and sometimes unprincipled, it is also helpful to get people “BA: A Contended Question” so they can correctly and scientifically assess and process what they often run into: “pushback” from supposedly progressive people who nevertheless feel their worldview challenged and even threatened by what BA represents.

At the same time, there is real urgency to act now; to oust this fascist regime—with the mass political action of millions. History is full of such examples—where has anything ever fundamentally changed for the better without the actions of masses of people, in the streets? And there is an organization and vehicle for this in Refuse Fascism, which exists for this singular goal—and to which people must be invited and organized. The talk by BA is a major political intervention towards people grasping the necessity to act commensurate with the need, to organize to drive out this regime at the soonest possible time. This is the main dimension of what is needed right now.

A point of crucial orientation: We have to make—and continue to make—a case for the NECESSITY to oust this regime. When people understand this and become convinced, all sorts of things become possible with people doing all kinds of things, taking initiative, with creativity and defiance... grasping the necessity to oust this regime is the key link in ideological struggle in this realm.

This film makes this case—and people getting involved in spreading the film is a crucial need and contribution.

* Opening discussions on frameworks, epistemology and science, over modes of thought: What has been striking is how people are provoked by watching the film—and its excerpts—to think further about the history of this country, and the nature of this system.

These can and do open up real opportunities to go further with people on questions of epistemology—that is, people’s way of understanding the world, the framework or prism through which they view and evaluate reality. This helps in both struggling with them to confront the depth of the situation, and in examining and transforming what we are facing in the broader society—on wrong modes of thought, wrong methods and approaches to the world. There is a lot of anti-science dominant in society, in the form of religious thought, of relativism—either as denial of objective reality or privileging personal experience in identity and intersectional politics as the only valid epistemology, populist epistemology—that what people in their majority believe constitutes truth, or sheer empiricism, looking at the surface level of observable phenomena, not going to underlying drivers. Without science, and leadership based on the science, there is no getting free. This is a simple fact, yet hidden from billions—and it is our responsibility to bring this to people. BAsics 4:10 and 4:11 are great entry points for such discussion. There is a lot of American chauvinism, often in unexamined forms, and with unquestioned assumptions—and clips like the one on the GTF (the “Great Tautological Fallacy”) have people spinning their heads—questioning assumptions taken for granted and pumped out in society to great harm.

There is a lot modeled in BA on taking on such frameworks and modes of thought, and there is a lot to learn from his method. Ardea Skybreak models some of this struggle in her interview as well.

***

The last weeks have been wild and dangerous.

Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, gave a bloodthirsty speech, attacking California and suing the state for its “sanctuary” provisions on undocumented immigrants. The regime’s program of ethnic cleansing continues apace. The situation with North Korea is in flux, even as there continues to be great danger for the people of the world.

There has also been an escalation in repression—against the people broadly, against immigrants, and against Revolution Clubs, Revolution Books, and RefuseFascism.org―and resistance in its wake.

All this has called forward the outrage and support of many, even while it needs to grow, and be linked to the struggle to drive out the regime the only way this can happen: through mass, sustained, determined, nonviolent protest in the streets, acting first in thousands, hundreds of thousands, and ultimately millions until our single demand is met: This Nightmare Must End! The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go!

All those inspired by the Refuse Fascism protesters in DC and UCLA, and furious at how they’ve been treated... all those stepping forward to support Revolution Books in Berkeley... all those inspired to be active in the struggle against this fascist regime in ways big and small... we invite them to find out about, and seriously engage, the analysis and understanding in this film. Let’s go!

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