Seattle Gay Pride   A group of us hit the streets one evening during gay Pride weekend to spread BA Everywhere and raise money for the next leg of the BA Bus Tour. It had been raining all day and was forecast to rain again that evening, but we had our chance when the clouds cleared for only a few hours! We brought the banner with the BAsics 1:13 quote already surrounded by signatures and messages of support from people young and old and passed out the palm cards, some pinned with purple ribbons for people to wear in protest of the culture of anti-gay bullying that’s fueling the suicide and murder of gay youth around the country. Understanding that the BAsics Bus Tour and spreading BA everywhere is one way to make real the pledge of “No more generations of our youth, no more Trayvon Martins, no more Tyler Clementis…,” our goal was to make a leap in raising a significant amount of money through small donations over the limited time of 2 hours. We raised 45 dollars, mostly from people who donated one dollar. Many people stopped and asked us about the banner, or would read it and sign it, which was one way conversations got started. We found that when we described the vision and reality of the bus tour, the types of places it was going and how we are organizing people into a movement for revolution and introducing people to the leadership of Bob Avakian as partly embodied in BAsics 1:13, people were inspired and motivated to donate on the spot. We asked everyone to donate. It also made a difference to let people know this was national, that people all over the country were doing this and donating this weekend, that we had raised over 30,000 for the first leg and were now on our way to raising 50,000 for the next leg and TWO buses. People donated for a variety of reasons, some because they thought it was a good cause and wanted to contribute to something positive, others because of deep concern for the future of the youth. One person donated because he appreciated that the New York leg was going into immigrant communities and involving them in the movement for revolution. A few people expressed delight that we went to the deep south, venturing out from the more progressive cities.
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Seattle Gay Pride
 
A group of us hit the streets one evening during gay Pride weekend to spread BA Everywhere and raise money for the next leg of the BA Bus Tour. It had been raining all day and was forecast to rain again that evening, but we had our chance when the clouds cleared for only a few hours! We brought the banner with the BAsics 1:13 quote already surrounded by signatures and messages of support from people young and old and passed out the palm cards, some pinned with purple ribbons for people to wear in protest of the culture of anti-gay bullying that’s fueling the suicide and murder of gay youth around the country. Understanding that the BAsics Bus Tour and spreading BA everywhere is one way to make real the pledge of “No more generations of our youth, no more Trayvon Martins, no more Tyler Clementis…,” our goal was to make a leap in raising a significant amount of money through small donations over the limited time of 2 hours. We raised 45 dollars, mostly from people who donated one dollar. Many people stopped and asked us about the banner, or would read it and sign it, which was one way conversations got started. We found that when we described the vision and reality of the bus tour, the types of places it was going and how we are organizing people into a movement for revolution and introducing people to the leadership of Bob Avakian as partly embodied in BAsics 1:13, people were inspired and motivated to donate on the spot. We asked everyone to donate. It also made a difference to let people know this was national, that people all over the country were doing this and donating this weekend, that we had raised over 30,000 for the first leg and were now on our way to raising 50,000 for the next leg and TWO buses. People donated for a variety of reasons, some because they thought it was a good cause and wanted to contribute to something positive, others because of deep concern for the future of the youth. One person donated because he appreciated that the New York leg was going into immigrant communities and involving them in the movement for revolution. A few people expressed delight that we went to the deep south, venturing out from the more progressive cities.

It was a gorgeous day and a team from Revolution Books in Honolulu set up a booth at the June 4th Gay Pride Festival at a local beach park. The Pride Parade had just ended, and the atmosphere was festive. Most of the people with booths were selling clothing, jewelry, and health products. A few promoted political candidates and some represented GLBT organizations. Our tent was decorated with red stars and mobiles with the cover of BAsics, from the Talks and Writings of Bob Avakian mounted on silver posterboard that caught the sun as they turned.  We brought a banner BAsics 1:13, the “No more generations…” quote from the book, and laid it down inside the booth and displayed copies of BAsics next to it. People were immediately drawn to the banner, in the pictures above. We’ve had tables at Pride events in the past, but this was the best ever!       

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