Revolution #275, July 22, 2012
Send-off for Volunteers for the BAsics Bus Tour
A group of us got together for a festive send-off for volunteers to the BAsics Bus Tour. We enjoyed wine and some kick-ass spicy chocolate cookies made by a teenager to help raise money for the bus tour. People from Occupy, activists, and revolutionaries came together to express their support for the volunteers and shared their thoughts about the bus tour and Bob Avakian’s quotes that are the theme of this third leg of the tour.
As we were talking about the bus tour, several people wrote down their comments about the quotes. We pinned them, along with other statements we had collected earlier, to a poster board with the centerfold poster from Revolution. One of the statements, comparing the U.S. to a spoiled child, was written by a middle school educator who is deeply disturbed about how kids are conditioned to think in this society. She was moved by the bus tour video and said she is happy to donate to an effort that poses a visionary alternative to the current situation that can broaden people’s outlook.
The view that people all over the world are all important was spoken to in many ways in the statements, and it drew out people to talk more about their sentiments and personal experiences. One person recounted how, while working a day labor job, he put his life in danger by challenging the chauvinistic rants of his redneck employer/driver, who threw him out of the truck when he refused to back down.
Woven into the evening with this spirit of internationalism and resistance was also a sense of the joy that comes with taking on the powers-that-be as people shared lessons from their experiences.
We had a good time, raised some money, and our volunteers left for New York City with a warm bon voyage.
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