BA Everywhere Summer 2013: Making a Difference, Changing the World!
Revolution – Nothing Less! Van Tours
Updated August 26, 2 pm EDT
The BA Speaks: Revolution—Nothing Less! Van Tours hit the streets in New York and Chicago starting Monday, August 12, 2013; and then in Los Angeles and San Francisco the following week. Volunteers of all ages and different nationalities will be going out for a week, or for a day, in vans with striking revolutionary decorations, bringing to people that there is a way out of the madness and vicious brutality that this system and country rains down on the people here and around the world. Read more
Some Vignettes from the Van Tour
August 26—Volunteers on the Van Tour
report from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and the San
Francisco Bay Area...
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Two Vignettes from the Chicago BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! Van Tour
August 19—The Chicago BA Speaks:
REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! Van Tour began at the
main Transit Hub on Chicago's Black Southside. Regular
vendors there advised the Van Tour to pull right up on
the sidewalk where people are going to and from the
buses to the El train...
The Van Tour next went to a family park where young men
play basketball and many young parents bring their
children together to play...
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NYC: It Is Quite a Scene When the Van Tour Rolls Up
August 19—It is quite a scene when the van
tour rolls up: A large colorful banner with the full
film title, BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! Bob
Avakian Live on a stand-alone frame; A big-screen
TV with loud sound and chairs for watching. An almost
life-size enlargement of the "Three Strikes—That's IT
for This System!" poster and stacks of smaller sizes for
people to take. An agitator with "This is one part of
this intolerable situation most of humanity is in, there
is a way to solve this, stop and get into the film
playing on that TV: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!"...
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New York Van Tour Snapshot: Conversations with People After Watching BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! Bob Avakian Live
August 19—After a discussion of a piece on
revcom.us on “Two Different Epistemologies,” our team
stepped out on Day 2 of the van tour differently. The
question posed was how much are we going to people to
seek validation for “our” ideas versus how much are we
going to them with the need to not just look at their
ideas on why things are so fucked up in the world, but
also how they are thinking—by what method are they
looking at the world?...
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In mid-July, BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! Van Tours hit the streets for a week in four areas simultaneously—New York, Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Los Angeles. The Van Tours' objective: spreading the revolutionary vision concentrated in the work of Bob Avakian more widely and deeply among all strata in society, and involving people in the activity of raising really big money over the summer and into the fall so that BA truly becomes known everywhere. Read more
Day Three in South Central, Los Angeles
July 17—The Van Tour headed into a South
Central neighborhood for the third day – driving thru
with the van and showing clips of BA Speaks:
Revolution – Nothing Less! Bob Avakian Live on a
flat screen TV from the back of a pickup truck...
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A snapshot from a mid-Van Tour gathering at Revolution Books, LA
July 15—On Monday after the Zimmerman verdict,
the BA Speaks: REVOLUTION – NOTHING LESS! L.A. Van Tour
stopped off at Revolution Books for a mid-Tour gathering
in the midst of a pivotal moment where people are in the
streets against the legal lynching of Trayvon Martin,
refusing to let it go down, sending a different message:
NOT ACCEPTABLE! The L.A. Van Tour has been focusing on
building for a major showing of the film BA Speaks:
REVOLUTION – NOTHING LESS! at the downtown L.A. Central
Library this Saturday, July 20th, in the context of
building a movement for revolution – fighting the power,
and transforming the people, for revolution – and making
adjustments as events have been unfolding.
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Snapshot of two days of the Los Angeles Tour
July 13—The jury was still deliberating on the
Zimmerman trial and we stayed tense to developments of
the decision (throughout the day). We canvassed a
progressive wealthy neighborhood (door-to-door),
bringing BA to people in the midst of the intense
situation in the world and calling on them to be part of
getting this everywhere (particularly by donating
towards the $20,000 needed by July 15th) to really make
a difference this summer...
July 15—We began our South Central leg of the
tour in the Crenshaw neighborhood. Considering the
outpouring of anger and marches from Saturday through
Sunday, mainly in this neighborhood, but also national
news like taking over the 10 Freeway, we were entering a
different scene where the “normal functioning” of things
creates a situation were people are searching for
answers and open to considering radical change...
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Bringing Revolution – Nothing Less! to the “Malecon” on the Hudson
July 17—It was a brutally hot day in NYC,
affecting everyone, including those on the Van Tour. We
decided to take the van to a park along the river, an
area popular among Dominican people in Washington
Heights (north of Harlem), reminding many of the scene
along the “Malecon” seaside highway in Santo Domingo
where thousands of Dominicans hang out on hot evenings
in the summer.
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A Whole Scene of People of All Ages Watching Revolution – Nothing Less!
July 15—In the midst of the outrage and
resistance in response to the murder of Trayvon Martin,
the BA Speaks: Revolution – Nothing Less! Van
Tour arrived in Harlem. Just the night before, 200
people were out on 125th street in Harlem in response to
the not guilty verdict of Trayvon Martin's killer George
Zimmerman.
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West Side Story … Trayvon Martin … And BA Everywhere!
July 13—The NYC BA Everywhere Van Tour spent
the evening at an outdoor screening of the digitally
remastered version of the film of the Broadway musical West
Side
Story with live accompaniment from the Boston
Symphony Orchestra. The venue holds 17,000 and thousands
of people come hours before the show to gather on the
lawn.
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SF Bay Revolution – Nothing Less! Van Tour, Day 6
July 20— The Van Tour joined hundreds of
people at the Oakland rally for Trayvon Martin at the
Federal Building. This event, called for by Al Sharpton,
brought out a crowd that was filled with anger and
outrage at the Zimmerman verdict. This was expressed by
many speakers: two young Black boys, who told of now
being scared to walk out on the streets, a mother who
cried as she talked about the target that is now on the
backs of Black youth, young women, Stop Mass
Incarceration Network speakers, and many others. People
from the van tour fanned out with the BA Speaks:
Revolution -- Nothing Less! DVDs, palm cards and
the new piece, “They Must Not— They Will Not— Get Away
With This!!!”
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SF Bay Revolution – Nothing Less! Van Tour, Day 7 – Visiting a Resort Area
July 21— We found this scenic and tranquil
river town to be full of sharp contradictions and very
polarized especially around Trayvon Martin. About 1½
hrs. away from the S.F. fog and cold, it is a resort
area for the gay community, a destination for tourists,
and a place for summer days suntanning, kayaking and
swimming. From the first moments we arrived, those
contradictions jumped out.
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