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

BA Everywhere in the Warehouse

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!

Reposted from Revolution #279, September 2, 2012 BA Everywhere at Rock the Bells from a reader We connected a huge crowd with BA and his works at the Rock the Bells (RTB) hip-hop festival. The crowd was very diverse ethnically, mainly 20s, though with lots of people of different ages. We had displays featuring the 3 Strikes quote from BA, which got a lot of attention especially from Black people; the internationalism quotes (BAsics 5:7 and 5:8); and a big banner with “stories from the war zone” featuring the centerfold from the paper containing the “You cannot break all the chains, except one” quote (3:22) and comments from people off of the “10 days” actions in NY against porn and patriarchy. This attracted a lot of attention especially, but not only, from women. We also had displays about democracy = imperialism and the USA as the number one terrorist. [[MORE]] We got out approximately 3K BAsics quote cards—the overwhelming majority were the ones with the 3:22 quote though we also got out a lot of the cards with the “no more generations” (1:13) quote on back. Mainly we engaged people around BAsics and sold 25 BAsics and 1 Lo BAsico by the middle of the second day… We got about $60 in donation for the BAsics Bus Tour and $20 for PRLF to get BAsics into the prisons. Many of the people who came to RTB came for both days, and by the second day we were getting responses from many people that they had gotten one or more cards. (One person kept a regular display of cards in the men’s bathrooms throughout the complex both days of the event and had even put them edgeways in the cracks between the wood paneling at the entrances so people walking in and out could actually read the card sticking face out to them from the wall. We got many responses to this, including from a couple of security guys who said, “We saw your cards” and then added, “not that we’re complaining.” Also, a couple of women told us that they had seen them in their bathrooms.) Our focus was on the fact that the world was a horror and we were building a movement for revolution right now with the leadership of BA who had re-envisioned communism and charted the strategy for revolution right here. We engaged people on the spot using the cards and BAsics (and the banner) to get some responses and challenging them to plug into the movement by getting cards, writing their comments, and in other ways… One Black man who saw the 3 Strikes quote and then the quote about slavery (1:1) immediately bought BAsics and then, when we pointed out BA on the cover of his memoir, got that as well, saying he wanted to check out how this young white guy became the man who was writing these quotes. He said, “This quote [3 strikes] just says it all!” A number of women were amazed that a man had said something like this [3:22]. One woman said that it raised her spirits that a man could know how something as “normal” as the way women were put down was so fucked up and write something like that. In different ways this kind of sentiment was echoed by women who checked out the 3:22 quote and stories on the banner. Several women wrote comments on colored paper that we brought… I got into a conversation with a woman who took a stack of 3:22 cards—she said that it gave her hope that maybe there could be a radically different world for her 15-year-old daughter if BA was leading a revolution which was about sweeping away something as deeply ingrained as women’s oppression and saying “no more” to the misery of future generations. The quote and banner also had a big impact on men. Two young guys from Canada walked along the whole banner, carefully reading all the comments, and then said that they had no idea that all this violence and degradation was happening to women… We also used a number of other quotes from the book throughout the two days, including 1:1 and 1:24 when we talked to people especially in the wake of the police bust that went down on the paraphernalia booth just down the way from us; 3:3 on the strategy for revolution—especially for those asking about it or saying they “were down for revolution”; as well as 6:18, and 6:19 in putting the challenge for people to throw down into the movement for revolution, in addition to the quotes featured on the cards. While getting into BAsics with people, we talked to many people about the BAsics Bus Tour as part of getting out BA Everywhere—how people all over the country from NY to the deep South were responding to the fact that there was a leader like this and supporting this movement for revolution in all kinds of different ways. People also got stacks of cards that we had rubber-banded in various amounts to build this movement by acquainting people with this leader and this book. We got out cards to many very far-flung places. People had come from both coasts of Canada—from BC to Montreal and Toronto—specifically for this RTB. We met people from Oklahoma, Texas, Washington, DC, and even from England and Norway. Some of these people, like the Norwegians, who came back to the booth on the second day, got BAsics with the understanding that they were bringing a radically different new synthesis of communism into a place where very few people had knowledge of it—and that this could be significant.
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Reposted from Revolution #279, September 2, 2012

BA Everywhere at Rock the Bells

from a reader

We connected a huge crowd with BA and his works at the Rock the Bells (RTB) hip-hop festival. The crowd was very diverse ethnically, mainly 20s, though with lots of people of different ages. We had displays featuring the 3 Strikes quote from BA, which got a lot of attention especially from Black people; the internationalism quotes (BAsics 5:7 and 5:8); and a big banner with “stories from the war zone” featuring the centerfold from the paper containing the “You cannot break all the chains, except one” quote (3:22) and comments from people off of the “10 days” actions in NY against porn and patriarchy. This attracted a lot of attention especially, but not only, from women. We also had displays about democracy = imperialism and the USA as the number one terrorist.

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The “voting trap” under capitalism - clip from “Revolution: Why It’s Necessary, Why It’s Possible, What It’s All About, a film of a talk by Bob Avakian” given in 2003 in the United States. Bob Avakian is the Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. This talk, followed by questions and answers, is a wide-ranging revolutionary journey, covering many topics. It breaks down the very nature of the society we live in and how humanity has come to a time where a radically different society is possible. It is full of heart and soul, humor and seriousness; it will challenge you and set your heart and mind to flight. Watch the entire film online at www.revolutiontalk.net

A sign to put on tables to let people know about the BA Everywhere… Imagine the Difference It Could Make! Campaign and our twitter account @BAeverywhere.
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A sign to put on tables to let people know about the BA Everywhere… Imagine the Difference It Could Make! Campaign and our twitter account @BAeverywhere.

Part II: We made a binder at Revolution Books inviting people to give their comments to BAsics quotes. Here's two responses from people who came by. On hearing the quote, “You can’t break all the chains except one…” from BAsics, by Bob Avakian, 3:22.

  • "This makes me think of a recent comment by Paul Ryan where he said that rape is a form of conception. Many are up in arms and outraged by him saying this. But the trouble is, regardless of his intent behind the comment, that it is a horrible truth. Women all over the world have husbands and partners who use rape as a method of conception to keep their women in bondage or because they want heirs. In order to fight this we cannot deny that it exists because it isn't pretty."
  • "Women are treated badly in the world today. It is sad, because women are the single most important people in this world, the single most important entity to everything good that we are. All of us have mothers, and must respect, understand and treat women like the greatness that they are."
  • "Women, do have a tremendous role to play in insuring all the way revolution, however men have just a big of a role as the women, since they are the half that oppress women. Some women do help keep this bias oppression, which needs to end. We all must come together and fight against this oppression. It all must first start with knowing, and learning the history. Patriarchy is so embedded into the minds of both sexes, of mostly all cultures in their own ways that this needs to be realized and once that realization is accomplished then the fight will be more clear and better fought. Years and years of patriarchal power is in our past, and present. Whether we keep it for our future is up to everyone, women, men, and children.
Reposted from Revolution #279, September 2, 2012 Getting the Whistles Ready in the Bronx It’s Whistle Time! The following is from an interview with “Noche” Diaz, a young revolutionary who is facing unjust charges and faces years in jail if convicted. Noche has been arrested five times since October 2011 and has had 11 charges piled on him in four New York City boroughs, all for observing and protesting the illegitimate actions of the NYPD. Noche was one of the first members of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network and helped organize protests that kicked off a citywide struggle against stop-and-frisk. He is well known to the people—and to the NYPD—for being a member of the People’s Neighborhood Patrol of Harlem. One late afternoon, me and a comrade went to the Bronx to follow up at a playground where a lot of youth play basketball and skate. It’s a half-court and skating area they’re allowed to use because the janitor who is supposed to keep it locked up leaves it open for them. He’s a very cool guy. We had done some work up there with the BAsics Bus Tour and were following up. [Photo by Li Onesto/Revolution, Noche Diaz on left.] [[MORE]] We knew that some of the youth hang out there, so we went with Bob Avakian’s Revolution talk, whistles, STOP Stop and Frisk buttons. We didn’t even have fliers for the whistle day yet. We went there cold, and sat down on a bench and took out the DVD player. One of the youth recognized us and said hello, and we started playing the Revolution talk. Some youth gathered around. We played the clip about how the police are the enforcers of all this. BA gets into what a system is. He gets into the history of police murders, and we were right in the neighborhood of one of the murders BA talks about, where Amadou Diallo was killed by police. It’s also right where the viejos are playing dominoes, which BA is also describing, and right where the kids are playing basketball, just like he talks about in the Revolution talk (Revolution: Why It’s Necessary, Why It’s Possible, What It’s All About) in terms of the rules of the game. So it’s a very interesting scene. We played that part where he gets into “it’s a system.” A lot of the young people were talking about, even when we got there they were stepping to us with like, what do you think about the police? They were testing us about it. A lot of them have some bitter experience. There was one guy who when he was 15 he caught a case for assault. He’s 16 now, and dealing with his legal case. There was a fight that happened, and because he was friends with the kids fighting, now he’s got charges. It was a fight—I’m not saying kids should be fighting—but it was a kids’ fight. So now he has a case open. They have a lot of visceral experience. So they were listening to that part of the talk, and that part was more like confirming what they already know a lot of. Then we showed them the part on how the youth deserve a better future, where BA talks about, yes, this is a horror—but no more of this, we’re trying to get to a whole other place. That was cool, there was conversation about that. We said, “What about the fact they set up all these prisons? And the schools are built like prisons.” We’re at a school that looks like a penitentiary. It was so literal, at the same time, artful. So we’re talking to them about how we’re coming into this fight against stop-and-frisk from this standpoint. We think this whole system has no future for youth and we need a revolution to get rid of the whole thing. But as part of making that rev, we see the importance of people getting together from different understandings, to lift their heads, and look at the whole world. So we’re part of building for this whistle day coming on September 13. And some of them knew about it because people had been out there. They would come up asking for a whistle, and we’d say, “You have to know what it’s about.” So they would recite, “The whistles are for when you see the police, and when people aren’t doing anything wrong, and the police are just messing with them, you blow the whistle.” It became a thing they all knew. It was pretty cool. They’re young; some are seven, and some are 20. We only had 10 whistles that day. Every time a patrol car would pass through the playground, everyone would kind of play the whistles, but it was sporadic. There was one point where this large police van comes through, and this 8- to 10-year-old on a scooter rides through the playground and yells, “Alright everybody, it’s whistle time!” And the people who are taking their basketball shots on the court, the guys doing their skating thing, everyone kind of stopped what they were doing. They all started blowing their whistles in harmony. I’m sure it sounds cool, but when you were there it was electrifying. It lifted you up and straightened out your back. Pretty intense. It brought them all together. They were all spread out, but they were acting and working together, and communicating with each other. It was a very cool scene.
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Reposted from Revolution #279, September 2, 2012

Getting the Whistles Ready in the Bronx

It’s Whistle Time!

The following is from an interview with “Noche” Diaz, a young revolutionary who is facing unjust charges and faces years in jail if convicted. Noche has been arrested five times since October 2011 and has had 11 charges piled on him in four New York City boroughs, all for observing and protesting the illegitimate actions of the NYPD. Noche was one of the first members of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network and helped organize protests that kicked off a citywide struggle against stop-and-frisk. He is well known to the people—and to the NYPD—for being a member of the People’s Neighborhood Patrol of Harlem.

One late afternoon, me and a comrade went to the Bronx to follow up at a playground where a lot of youth play basketball and skate. It’s a half-court and skating area they’re allowed to use because the janitor who is supposed to keep it locked up leaves it open for them. He’s a very cool guy. We had done some work up there with the BAsics Bus Tour and were following up.

[Photo by Li Onesto/Revolution, Noche Diaz on left.]

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Barbershop debate of “Can’t Break All the Chains Except One…” quote in Middle Eastern community

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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Reposted from revcom.us: Take Out BAsics 1:3 Challenge the Elections Assault with Truth About This System “The essence of what exists in the U.S. is not democracy but capitalism-imperialism and political structures to enforce that capitalism-imperialism. What the U.S. spreads around the world is not democracy, but imperialism and political structures to enforce that imperialism.” BAsics 1:3  As we go into September, it’s time to make plans to get this month’s quote from BAsics, 1:3, out onto campuses and broadly into society. Get together with others to think about and discuss this quote—and make plans to put it into the hands of many, many people. [[MORE]] The message of this quote goes right up in the face of the massive efforts by those in power who will be hitting people from every direction this “election season”—to corral people into choosing one or another top representative of this capitalist-imperialist system, which exploits and oppresses people here and around the world, causing much death and suffering. BAsics 1:3 lays bare the essence of the nature of this society…and the reality of what the U.S. does all over the world. It can be the focus of broad debate and wrangling of people in the neighborhoods, on campuses and wherever people are gathering over the Labor Day weekend. Especially look to distributing tens of thousands of BAsics 1:3 palm cards, along with many copies of BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian, at events like the Caribbean Day Parade in NYC and major September 16 Mexican Independence Day festivals and independence day festivals by Central Americans, which draw large numbers of people. Each month the BA Everywhere campaign has featured a quote from BAsics. These quotes have touched and connected with people far and wide; many people have found their way into this campaign and the movement for revolution by engaging with the quotes and being part of spreading the quotes to others. Very importantly, fundraising should run through all these efforts. The aim of the BA Everywhere campaign is to raise big money to get BA’s vision and works into all corners of society. A national movement is being born—as it grows, both the need and potential to raise money pose themselves in new ways. September should see new leaps in fundraising—ranging from those with little resources and means, to those with more ability to contribute. Let’s get out there in a big way and talk to people we know and those we’ve never met before. Let’s talk to people about the difference getting BA Everywhere can make in the whole social and political culture of this society.
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Reposted from revcom.us: Take Out BAsics 1:3

Challenge the Elections Assault with Truth About This System

“The essence of what exists in the U.S. is not democracy but capitalism-imperialism and political structures to enforce that capitalism-imperialism. What the U.S. spreads around the world is not democracy, but imperialism and political structures to enforce that imperialism.”

BAsics 1:3 

As we go into September, it’s time to make plans to get this month’s quote from BAsics, 1:3, out onto campuses and broadly into society. Get together with others to think about and discuss this quote—and make plans to put it into the hands of many, many people.

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We need a revolution! Watch Bob Avakian imagine a viable and vibrant new society in which people will be able to carry the revolution forward to emancipate all humanity — in this 5-video YouTube playlist, “Imagine a New Socialist Society in North America.”

These are excerpts from Bob Avakian’s Revolution talk. Avakian is a visionary communist thinker and revolutionary leader. He is the author of many books and articles. He is the leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. And he is more than that: he’s an innovative and critical thinker who has taken Marxism to a new place; he’s a provocative commentator on everything from basketball to religion, doo-wop music to science; and he’s a pit-bull fighter against oppression who’s kept both his solemn sense of purpose and his irrepressible sense of humor.

Watch the full talk at revolutiontalk.net. Participate in the BA Everywhere campaign at basicsbustour.tumblr.com.