Revolution #269, May 20, 2012
The BAsics Bus Tour:
Be Part of Taking It Higher
First thing, I am only not part of this BAsics Bus Tour because my health issues will not allow it. Otherwise, I would have my seat reserved on the bus. I hate that I am going to miss this, because when I think about it, it reminds me about the beginning of the Black Panther Party. The enthusiasm and determination of being a significant part of a great movement to change things in this country. Participating in and being a significant part of change is addictive—once you have experienced it, you’ll do anything to get that feeling again—because it is not an irrelevant act. It is being part of a conscious movement to make change—and when you do that it develops you as a human being and a true fighter for the rights of all people. I won’t be there physically but my revolutionary spirit travels with the tour. All Power to the People!
—Richard Brown, Former Black Panther
Join with thousands across the country—and go all-out to make this tour everything it can be. As this bus takes off and travels into the South taking the word of Bob Avakian and the new synthesis of communism he’s brought forward, the strategy for revolution he’s developed, the leadership that he’s providing to the movement for revolution, everyone everywhere can be finding the ways to do the same, to spread the word and build support and involving people in this in all kinds of ways.
The BAsics Bus Tour is a way for thousands of people all across the country to be part of this campaign to get BA Everywhere out into society. It is a moment and an opportunity not only to expand the reach of BA Everywhere, but for the movement to make significant advances and take real leaps in every area of this country—and in the country as a whole. This tour will be a catalyst in lofting this whole campaign to raise big money to get BA Everywhere to a new level—and it will be a big step in building the movement for revolution everywhere.
Check out what people are saying about this tour at basicsbustour.tumblr.com. This is tapping into something very significant—a desire to change the atmosphere in society, for bringing something new and very radical into the equation, a real appreciation for the difference it could make to project BA’s vision and works all over... and a particular desire for that to reach where, as BA himself has said, “The ‘Bible Belt’ in the U.S. is also the Lynching Belt.” This BAsics Bus Tour—venturing boldly into the South—can open up a great deal. And we all have a stake in continuing to build support for and maximize its impact where the bus goes and wherever we are.
No matter where you live, you can follow the tour online at basicsbustour.tumblr.com. The crew riding the bus will regularly report, with photos and video from the tour. More than that, you can become part of this movement and contribute in meaningful ways to making the impact of this tour felt throughout every corner of society. There are so many ways that people can contribute to the success of this bus tour, and on that basis the movement to get BA Everywhere can take a leap.
We urge all our readers to take to heart and learn from the article in Revolution #268, “The BAsics Bus Tour: Next Stop—Atlanta and Beyond.” (May 13, 2012)
As “On the Strategy for Revolution” from the Revolutionary Communist Party says:
“For those who have hungered for, who have dreamed of, a whole different world, without the madness and torment of what this system brings every day...those who have dared to hope that such a world could be possible...and even those who, up to now, would like to see this, but have accepted that this could never happen...there is a place and a role, a need and a means, for thousands now and ultimately millions to contribute to building this movement for revolution, in many different ways, big and small—with ideas and with practical involvement, with support, and with questions and criticisms.” (emphasis added)
Here’s what you can do:
Contribute to the BAsics Bus Tour. It will not happen without financial support. (See boxes on BA Everywhere page for where and how to donate.) Tell your friends about this tour—ask them to contribute, post around their reports, videos and photos via email, Twitter or other social networks. Even more important, pull together a group of your friends or colleagues and find creative ways to raise money for this tour.
In areas all across the country, people who are saying to themselves “those are my people down there” can join together to contribute to making this tour a success. Now is a moment when BA Everywhere can expand its reach and build up its organized strength, not only in the places where the bus tour stops, but in the places where the readers of this paper live and work. Now is the time to get with many, many people where they live, work and congregate... to talk with them on street corners. And to join and bring people into the movement who are captivated by this bold tour in many different ways. Let’s broadly publicize this tour and as we do work together with others to distribute thousands and thousands of palm cards promoting BAsics. Leave them on bus seats, in coffee shops and laundromats and observe the response of those who pick them up. The focal point of this tour is BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian—a work of quotations and short essays that concentrates over 30 years of BA’s work on everything that stands between humanity and its emancipation. Isn’t this tour a moment to be selling hundreds of BAsics, and finding diverse ways to show BA’s Revolution talk and to encourage people to get this talk themselves and watch it? And shouldn’t this also be the occasion to put into the hands of thousands the flier “Twelve Ways That YOU Can Be Part of Building the Movement for Revolution—Right Now” (Revolution #267, May 1, 2012)
Fundraising is both essential to raise the money that is needed to reach into every corner of society and at the same time it brings together a community of people to engage with the work and vision of Bob Avakian. Wherever you live, this is a moment to build up the organized strength of this movement for revolution, in small ways and large.
Make banners with BAsics 1:13—“No more generations of our youth, here and all around the world, whose life is over, whose fate has been sealed, who have been condemned to an early death or a life of misery and brutality, whom the system has destined for oppression and oblivion even before they are born. I say no more of that.”—and circulate them for signatures. Get a crew together in a neighborhood, work with artists if you can and make a big day out of it, fundraising as you go. Have people paint the banner, or get a vinyl one produced, and then have people all over send their message of support bouncing off this quote to the people in the South that this tour will be meeting. Take pictures of the banners... take pictures of a bunch of people in hoodies who signed the banner—and send these photos to baeverywhere@gmail.com.
Send your own or a group message of support to the bus tour and to the people the tour will be meeting... send your thoughts in writing or video (throw on dark glasses and a hoodie in support of the struggle for justice for Trayvon Martin... so you and others can remain anonymous), email baeverywhere@gmail.com.
Volunteer in other ways! Write to baeverywhere@gmail.com if you can help with media work (including research) and video editing or have ideas on other ways you want to contribute.
Looking Ahead
Friday, May 18... Plan a celebration in unity with the kickoff event in Atlanta. Have a fundraising open house at Revolution Books or a house party. Invite all the people you have met in spreading the word about the BAsics Bus Tour.
Tuesday, May 22... A video statement from the tour will be released online. Pull together friends and tune in for a very special opportunity to hear first-hand about the progress of the tour thus far, what the volunteers on the tour are learning and what the response has been up to that point. Invite people to your home for this, have a special gathering in a community center, church, neighborhood barber shop or restaurant. Coming together in this way, people will also be given another opportunity to contribute... this time to the next leg of the tour, which those on the tour will also be fundraising for. Stay tuned to basicsbustour.tumblr.com for details.
Memorial Day Weekend... Have a picnic or join with others at their picnics... help the bus tour meet its final goals of selling BAsics...set goals and develop ways to raise funds for the next leg of the tour... hear from the crew on the tour as this leg of the tour comes to a close. For those already planning family picnics, ask if the revolutionaries can come through and do a fund pitch or sell raffle tickets. Head out to the parks with BAsics, clips from Avakian’s Revolution talk, Revolution newspaper, and video clips from the bus tour’s travels.
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