BAsics Bus Tour

*During this “election season,” the title of this article keeps coming to mind.

by Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA

Reposted from Revolution #194, March 7, 2010

Editors’ Note: The following are points made by Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, in a recent exchange with other comrades. This has been edited for publication here.

One of the more important statements in the Manifesto from our Party (Communism: The Beginning of a New Stage) is the quote from Marx: “Once the inner connection is grasped, all theoretical belief in the permanent necessity of existing conditions breaks down before their collapse in practice.” This is not just a matter of abstract theory—it has a broader effect. That belief weighs heavily on people who don’t like the way things are—they are weighed down by a belief in the “permanent necessity of existing conditions.” Over and over we are confronted by the fact that people can’t see beyond the way things are now.

This has to do with the importance of constantly wrangling with what a revolutionary situation would look like and how a revolution could actually be made. There is a point in “Out Into the World—As A Vanguard of the Future” on grappling with what a revolutionary situation would look like.¹ We need to give people a really living sense of what we mean by “hastening while awaiting” the emergence of a revolutionary situation. And this is linked to the point that what we’re doing is building a movement for revolution and letting people know what we think that revolution would look like.

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From a Revolution newspaper reader in Harlem about why he signed the NDAA statement and why BA should be defended:

“They poison us with the TV and the media.  They lie about everything. Every time I watch Bob Avakian on that DVD [Revolution—Why It’s Necessary, Why It’s Possible, What It’s All About] I learn something new… He is giving you a way to go… an alley, a doorway.  Everybody else is working through this fucked up system.  I got so much I want to say.”

The administration of Barack Obama, which had promised to put an end to torture and other outrages committed by the Bush Administration, is in fact putting into place a dangerous system of repression and control. This is a serious assault on fundamental rights, and it must be answered not with silence and complicity but with heightened awareness and more determined opposition.

The record of the Obama Administration is a chilling one. President Obama has preserved Bush’s rendition program, which relies upon torture, and has extended the Patriot Act. His Administration has adopted a quasi-official assassination policy, complete with secret “kill lists” reviewed by the President, which Attorney General Holder has brazenly asserted meets Constitutional standards of due process. In the 2010 case of Holder v HLP [Humanitarian Law Project], the Obama administration successfully argued before the courts that the “crime” of “material support” to “terrorists” be broadened to include merely speaking with and advising (even on some legal matters) any group designated by the government as terrorist. The ruling has already been applied to pro-Palestinian activists and endangers many others, including prominent public intellectuals, as well as groups upholding or advocating fundamental social change.

The most recent expansion of dangerous and illegitimate government authority is the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This law grants to any U.S. president the power to detain any person, including U.S. citizens, indefinitely and without charge or trial, for the alleged crime of associating with a broad and vague category of people, which could include people who have nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks or with terrorism in general.

Read and sign the call here.

Reposting from Revolution #249, November 6, 2011

Reposting the editorial announcing this campaign. Check out this blog for the difference this campaign has made and going forward… IMAGINE THE DIFFERENCE IT COULD MAKE SOCIETY WIDE!

Announcing: A Mass Campaign to Raise Big Money to Get BA’s Vision and Works Into Every Corner of Society

“I hope he gets number one Amazon.com. We need to get this kind of word, this kind of conversation out—it needs to be disseminated, it needs to be in the mainstream more. We got to stop thinking that this kind of stuff just belongs at the very, very fringe of society…”—journalist and writer

“I wish I had a copy of BAsics in high school so that I could counter the bullshit being taught to me. I didn’t have that opportunity, but there are millions of students today who need to hear the voice of Bob Avakian so they can join the fight. BAsics presents an essential challenge to all that is oppressive and intolerant. It paints not only a picture of a new world, but it leaves room for innovation and growth, as a communist future will have, as Bob Avakian says, ‘a solid core with a lot of elasticity.’”—student from the Midwest

“I want to urge everybody out there to get their hands on this book and to help get it into the hands of others, not just prisoners, but into the hands of youth who are in danger of becoming prisoners themselves. … Help them unlock their potential and give them a sense of purpose that doesn’t involve killing each other. Give them an alternative to the criminal lifestyle that doesn’t involve conforming to this horrid system. That is what they need, that is what they ache for. They want to rebel, they just have to be introduced to the correct way to do so. Put them on the path to becoming communists…”—a prisoner from California

These are things people have written us after reading BAsics, a book of quotations and short essays from Bob Avakian. They feel the need for more people to know about Bob Avakian—his vision and works. And so do we.

To do just that, we are launching today a major, multi-faceted fundraising campaign to project BA, his voice and his work way out into society—far beyond what it is today. A fundraising campaign that will raise the necessary major money to make this possible. A fundraising campaign that unleashes and develops imagination, defiance, and community in everything it does.

Imagine what we could change… and imagine how we could change it.

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The administration of Barack Obama, which had promised to put an end to torture and other outrages committed by the Bush Administration, is in fact putting into place a dangerous system of repression and control. This is a serious assault on fundamental rights, and it must be answered not with silence and complicity but with heightened awareness and more determined opposition.

The record of the Obama Administration is a chilling one. President Obama has preserved Bush’s rendition program, which relies upon torture, and has extended the Patriot Act. His Administration has adopted a quasi-official assassination policy, complete with secret “kill lists” reviewed by the President, which Attorney General Holder has brazenly asserted meets Constitutional standards of due process. In the 2010 case of Holder v HLP [Humanitarian Law Project], the Obama administration successfully argued before the courts that the “crime” of “material support” to “terrorists” be broadened to include merely speaking with and advising (even on some legal matters) any group designated by the government as terrorist. The ruling has already been applied to pro-Palestinian activists and endangers many others, including prominent public intellectuals, as well as groups upholding or advocating fundamental social change.

The most recent expansion of dangerous and illegitimate government authority is the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This law grants to any U.S. president the power to detain any person, including U.S. citizens, indefinitely and without charge or trial, for the alleged crime of associating with a broad and vague category of people, which could include people who have nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks or with terrorism in general.

The pattern is disturbingly clear: not just a continuation but a further leap in the draconian measures taken by the Bush administration—under the pretext of the open-ended, so-called War on Terror—to detain, torture, and assassinate… not just a continuation but a further leap in measures to restrict and criminalize dissent and opposition to the status quo.

This must not go unanswered—nor be allowed to continue to grow increasingly worse. In opposing these repressive moves, it is imperative that people not allow anyone, or any one group, to be singled out or targeted for repression. In this regard, the lawsuit Hedges et al. v Obama et al. that is challenging ominous provisions of the NDAA is quite salient. On May 16, a federal district court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and issued a temporary injunction blocking the government from implementing Section 1021 of this law. But insinuated into this mainly positive ruling is a reference to the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA and its Chairman Bob Avakian which is an erroneous and potentially harmful characterization that could be used as a pretext to criminalize what is constitutionally protected freedom of speech and association and potentially sweep the RCP and its Chairman into a category of organizations identified by the government as terrorist.

Those of us signing this statement cannot speak for the RCP and indeed have various levels of familiarity with and a variety of views on its philosophical and political principles and objectives. But we do not countenance—and recognize as very dangerous—the designation by the powers-that-be of groups as politically “acceptable” and “unacceptable.” History teaches, by negative and positive example, that we must stand against attempts to divide progressive, radical, and revolutionary forces along any such lines.

In this there are very important lessons to be drawn from the self-critical summation by Pastor Martin Niemoeller of his experience when confronted with the heightening repression carried out by the Nazi regime in Germany during the 1930s:

“First they came for the communists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak out because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak out for me.”

The signatories of this statement call on people to step forward and stand together to oppose the assault on dissent and the moves to restrict and criminalize oppositional speech, association, and political activity, which are being carried out by the Obama Administration and which continue and expand dangerous precedents and mechanisms which can also be utilized by any future Administration.

Go to the statement’s web site to sign the call: http://opposerepressionndaa.net/OpposeRepressionNDAA/OpposeRepressionNDAA.html

We received this prisoner letter from the Prisoners Revolutionary Literature Fund (PRLF):

I received the BAsics, thank you! I just want you all to know that some of the readers of theRevolution has started our version of BA everywhere in this warehouse. Some subjects such as “mass incarceration” is welcome, others like “war on women” not such a warm welcome. Being in prison where pornography material is actively sought out, to speak out about it, is like I am a saint or something. Well, those who know me, know that if anything, I am more a demon! Regardless, reading Rev. #263 “Fierce, Bold, Rude, and Unapologetic” how can you not rally to support those Sisters of Struggle? I always been pro-choice, but I must admit that I, too, once look at women as only here to please, and cater to my needs, wants, etc. But, now looking back on my past ideas, I feel like an reformed neanderthal! Still, better late then never. I just want you all, at PRLF, all the volunteers, all those who donate to help indigent prisoners, such as myself, your efforts, and monies are appreciated. And we, in these warehouses, may not be able to send money, but we are propelling the struggle onwards! As you all Struggle in the outside world, we Struggle in this inside world, please don’t forget us!

And, I, also, make a promise to my Sisters of Struggle to not stop until never again is women demeaned, degraded, enslaved, disrespected, spit upon, set on fire, beaten, raped, humiliated, mocked, tortured, stalked, devalued, or dismissed simply because they are female… That is my promise, and that is my word.

Struggle On!

A couple of us went back to a Middle Eastern community where the BAsics Bus Tour had visited last month. It was the middle of Ramadan and it was striking how few women were out, the streets and shops were 95% men. And here we were giving special prominence to the quote from BAsics:

“You cannot break all the chains, except one. You cannot say you want to be free of exploitation and oppression, except you want to keep the oppression of women by men. You can’t say you want to liberate humanity yet keep one half of the people enslaved to the other half. The oppression of women is completely bound up with the division of society into masters and slaves, exploiters and exploited, and the ending of all such conditions is impossible without the complete liberation of women. All this is why women have a tremendous role to play not only in making revolution but in making sure there is all-the-way revolution. The fury of women can and must be fully unleashed as a mighty force for proletarian revolution.”

We went into a barber shop where on previous visits there was wild debate, as described in a previous blog entry – and not surprisingly, this quote sparked even sharper and very raw controversy, all packed into a few minutes. Here is a rough summary of what happened:

After passing out the cards, we asked for people’s comments. One barber said, “I don’t agree with this. Women have too much power already.” And others chimed in. I posed the question – if women have so much power in this society as you say, how come the most dangerous place for a women, the place a woman is most likely to get beaten or killed, is in her own home, by a boy friend or husband? This really startled the person, and had him stop to think. He said that is really horrible.

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The happening opened up with a volunteer, Ben, telling all kinds of experiences on the BAsics Bus Tour volunteer team in New York. He started by describing the fascist weight of the police there, he saw that in the Bronx. He said how there were phalanxes of police on both sides of the street so when people crossed the street they were degraded, put down and intimidated. He told how the crew handed out whistles so that when there is “stop and frisk” happening people would blow their whistle. There were some people saying that will only bring on more heat from the police. Some mothers saw their child get a whistle and one said “Oh no, give me that whistle.”  A volunteer talked about how when we take the whistles, the police might come after you but the point of it is that we are taking responsibility for stopping the stop and frisk and part of something bigger than you. Ben said how the a group in the Bronx united with the whistle and distributed them. Ben spoke about how religion was a contradiction with people. One youth said he was not interested because he was into Jesus; he walked away. People got into what BA says in Basics about religion and the next day the youth came back and said,”I thought about it and I want a stack of 12 Ways cards.” [12 Ways to be Part of the Revolution cards] He went off with a stack. Ben brought to life over and over again how the tour made such an impact on people, including people who disagree strongly with communism but see that life is a horror and we need  something different and when introduced to revolution and BA’s reenvisioned communism, that became in a beginning way that “something.” Then the floor was open to questions. Someone said how many people don’t even know they are oppressed and cannot see the distinction between oppression and the solution through communism, that they see communism as just more oppression. Ben spoke about how the different questions people had were taken up by people on the team, that Raymond Lotta took up and answered the issue of freedom under communism. The youth in the room didn’t have any questions but they were glued to the discussion. When it came to taking out the 3:22 palm cards and really pushing out BA everywhere they had lots of ideas. One youth goes to a elite Catholic high school in an area where lots of homeless are. He wants to take out the palm cards to the homeless as well as to the students when school starts up. A couple of the youth are going to make a banner for a festival in the Black community with 1:13 on it and get it signed and sent off to Anaheim. A Black musician and follower of BA said, “Let’s get some noise out there Saturday, bring drums and guitar and let’s get revolution in the air.”  A youth said, “You know all I think about is revolution, that’s all I think about.”  As people were leaving there was excitement in the air, thinking about and talking about how they were going to get revolution and BA’s reenvisioned communism out in all kinds of ways, ways that were not even mentioned but swirling in the minds of the people there.

Announcing: the NY BAsics campus tour!

Starting this Saturday August 25th: be part of taking BAsics and the revolution to NYC campuses – reach out to the new generation of students confronting a world of horrors and connect them with BA’s leadership and the movement for revolution that can change everything.

Join teams aiming to mix up veteran revolutionaries, folks new to the movement for revolution from high school students to people from the ground zero areas of stop and frisk in NYC, and people of all ages and walks of life. During the summer the BAsics Bus Tour hit in the South, from Georgia to Sanford, FL and in New York City – Brooklyn and Bronx, the locked-down epicenters of the new Jim Crow [see interviews and video at http://www.basicsbustour.tumblr.com/ ]. Something new is coming into being – people on the bottom of society learning about and getting connected with this movement for revolution and the leader of the revolution, Bob Avakian. Now – take all this onto the campuses and take it further!

Visit classes, stir up cafeteria and outdoor debate and discussion about the world as it is and how it could be because we have BA’s work and leadership for this liberating revolution. With the BAsics and the Constitution for a New Socialist Republic in North America (Draft) – the handbook for a new generation of revolutionaries together with the grounded and inspiring vision of the new society starting Day One after the revolution… with postcards of BAsics quote 3:22, on the spot showings of excerpts from the Revolution video talk and more. With immediate ways that people will get involved from on the spot debate and discussion of 3:22, the elections, the way out … to people exchanging messages and responses to 3:22 and new quotes, from Harlem to the campuses and from the campuses to the people on the bottom of society … building Revolution Clubs with people crossing tracks and learning about what the students and intellectuals have to do with radically changing everything through revolution and communism … bringing students into volunteering and interning at Revolution Books, contributing to, enriching and learning from being part of the life of RB at the center of this movement for revolution. Involve people in defending young revolutionary Noche and going together to his trial on September 5; build for “Blow the Whistle on Stop & Frisk” on campuses and in the communities on 9.13.

If you find the current state of the world intolerable … if you yearn for a better future …
there is a movement for revolution with a place for you. Be part of the BAsics campus tour in NYC.

Beginning schedule – more to come! RSVP to Revolution Books 212-691-3345 or to your BAsics or Revolution Newspaper distributor or Revolution Club organizer.

SATURDAY Aug. 25 OUT TO HARLEM
Meet 11AM at McDonalds, 125th & Broadway (#1 train 125 St. Stop)
For outing 12-4PM in Harlem
Take the revolution and BA out in Harlem. Organize people in Harlem to be part of the BAsics campus tour, to send messages to the campuses, to support the BAsics campus tour in many ways. Be part of tabling, get out postcards, take testimony and responses to BAsics quote 3:22, or just observe.

Sunday Aug. 26 Pack materials & prepare at Revolution Books for the BAsics Campus tour.
Come any time from 12-5PM. RSVP to Revolution Books 212-691-3345.

WEEK ONE: NYU first-year orientation and one major day at Hunter.

Harlem Revolution Club will meet and go together to Hunter College on Tuesday and NYU on other days. Contact your Revolution Club organizer for more information.

Monday Aug. 27. BASICS CAMPUS TOUR at NYU FIRST-YEAR STUDENT ORIENTATION WEEK. 4-7PM Washington Square Park.

TUESDAY Aug. 28. BAsics CAMPUS TOUR AT HUNTER COLLEGE, 68th & Lexington (#6 train 68th St. stop). Be part of the BAsics bus tour visiting classes, doing street theater, organizing students into the movement for revolution at Hunter College. Plan to spend an hour, the afternoon, the whole day. Volunteers will visit classes from noon til 7PM and then have open-air discussion in the plaza 7-8PM.

Wednesday Aug. 28. NYU first-year student orientation week. 4-7PM Washington Square Park.

Thursday Aug. 28. NYU first-year student orientation week. 4-7PM Washington Square Park.

WEEKEND Contact Revolution Books 212-691-3345, or your Revolution newspaper or BAsics distributor for more information.

Saturday Sept. 1: Join BAsics team at ROCK THE BELLS concert in NJ.

Sunday Sept. 2: PREPARE MATERIALS and PLANS at Revolution Books for West Indian Day Parade on Monday.

Monday Sept. 3: Join BAsics team at West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn.

WEEK TWO: First day of classes at NYU, trial of Noche Diaz, and returning to NYU and Hunter.

TUESDAY Sept. 4: BAsics CAMPUS TOUR at FIRST DAY OF CLASSES @NYU.

WEDNESDAY Sept. 5: Trial of Noche Diaz @100 Centre Street, Manhattan. Young revolutionary leader of the fight against Stop & Frisk. Organize groups from NYU and Hunter and the neighborhoods to attend the trial together. Noche should do no time, Stop and Frisk is the crime!

Thursday Sept. 6 afternoon: BAsics Campus Tour at Hunter and NYU both.

If you find the current state of the world intolerable … if you yearn for a better future …
there is a movement for revolution with a place for you. Be part of the BAsics campus tour in NYC.

Beginning schedule – more to come! RSVP to Revolution Books 212-691-3345 or to your BAsics or Revolution Newspaper distributor or Revolution Club organizer.

Reposted from Revolution #278, August 19, 2012

by Michael Slate

Michael Slate is a revolutionary communist and host of The Michael Slate Show which airs weekly on KPFA every Friday at 10am Pacific time and is rebroadcast on a number of stations around the country at different times throughout the week. Here’s a transcript from his August 3, 2012 show. You can listen to his show online.

I first met Nicky in a Harlem park where the BAsics Bus Tour volunteers were having a send-off breakfast on the first day of the “New York and Beyond” leg of the tour. We all chowed down on food and drink donated by people in the projects in Harlem and other parts of the city. A supporter who had helped organize people in the ‘hood to support the tour talked movingly about how street corner tables were set and that as people learned about the tour and what it’s doing, they gave with all their heart. Now these are people who don’t generally have a whole lot of anything extra hanging loosely and pockets that have little more than holes in them. But they gave with their hearts and their brains. They dug deep and gave what they could and went to their neighbors and friends, to their churches, tenants’ associations, schools and buildings, to do the same. All told, $450 and a whole lot of food was contributed to the tour in a neighborhood where people often have to choose which meals they need to skip in order to stretch the food out to the end of the month. These were people who were eager to be part of this movement for revolution in whatever way they could.

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Reposted from Revolution #277, August 12, 2012

Revolution: I’m trying to get a sense of the diversity of experiences and people who are part of this tour. If you wanted to just talk a little bit about how you first met this movement for revolution, and what brought you on this BAsics Bus Tour?

E: When I was first introduced to this party [the Revolutionary Communist Party], I was like doing a lot around prison reform and like the juvenile justice system. And it was actually my younger brother who found out about this party before me. And the way I used to view it, I was like, “Damn, my younger brother’s getting into a fucking cult and following this white leader, Bob Avakian. I have to go to these meetings!” And I first started coming to the meetings just to argue against him, just to show him, “Well no, you’re leading down the wrong thing,” but as I started to get deeper into this and coming to the meetings, I started realizing I agreed with a lot of what they were talking about. You know, I had a lot of contradictions around religion at that time, but that’s when I first started getting involved.

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