For the Organizers of T-shirt Day on August 22:

Coming onto the Stage—Powerfully Representing for Revolution

August 3, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

As we approach the one-year anniversary of the police murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, it is worth reflecting on the past year—of rebellion, of youth the system has cast out defiantly and courageously facing down the machine of the system, of big questions and ferment on the nature of America and the role of Black people, of a defiant mood among sections of people, even while this system comes back, continuing to murder our people, especially our youth, with Sandra Bland and Sam DuBose, the latest names to join the list of stolen lives, sparking anger and even more questioning and ferment, as millions view the videos of their fatal encounters with the system's thugs—even if all this rage against the machine has not boiled over yet— onto the streets.

Imagine a growing social force stepping onto the stage, a force from below, announcing themselves with the message BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! As we said in the opening editorial for this initiative, this puts forth a "radically different answer to what is needed right now, Revolution—Nothing Less!, and the leadership for this revolution in Bob Avakian, BA.

"Not only do these T-shirts speak to and resonate with the sentiment of the moment, but in fundamental terms, BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! represents the real and scientific answer to these horrors—of why the police keep murdering our youth, why there is no justice and the murdering cops get away—and most important, what it will take to get beyond not only police terror and the oppression of Black people, but all of the myriad horrors, madness, and needless suffering that stem from this capitalist-imperialist system, its wars of empire, its criminalization of immigrants, its wanton destruction of the environment, and the horrendous attacks on and degradation of women around the world."

This is what we aim to manifest in a powerful way on August 22, a significantly more advanced and coherent expression than has been visible before. In this context, three brief points for the organizers and volunteers in this initiative across the country:

* The content and substance of realizing this goal—of advanced and coherent expressions—the actual engagement with BA, Bob Avakian, and the revolution he is leading, a basic sense among those who wear this T-shirt of what it is they are representing for when they put it on, of who BA is and what this revolution is about. This is why, as we get out the T-shirts, in the projects and on the street, at the protests and the concerts, with the statement ("When you put on this T-shirt, you step into the revolution"), explaining what this is about, and to unleash and lead a process of further engagement with BA, collectively and individually, through the film, REVOLUTION AND RELIGION: The Fight for Emancipation and the Role of Religion; A Dialogue Between CORNEL WEST & BOB AVAKIAN, the film of the same name, REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!, and BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian.

Revolutionaries and the Revolution Clubs have also been making widespread use of BA's New Year's Statement, in audio and printed form, especially among the youth—and also reading aloud BA's recent statement:

There is the potential for something of unprecedented beauty to arise out of unspeakable ugliness: Black people playing a crucial role in putting an end, at long last, to this system which has, for so long, not just exploited but dehumanized, terrorized and tormented them in a thousand ways—putting an end to this in the only way it can be done—by fighting to emancipate humanity, to put an end to the long night in which human society has been divided into masters and slaves, and the masses of humanity have been lashed, beaten, raped, slaughtered, shackled and shrouded in ignorance and misery.

* The manifestations themselves, on August 22, should transcend the divides the system forces us into, whether of adversarial gangs or different nationalities, should be transformative, collectively and individually, rising above the muck and mire of this system and pre-figuring (giving glimpses of) the society we want to bring into being through this revolution, and give a sense of the emerging social force on the scene—a revolutionary pole of attraction with a force from different sections of society cohering around it.

In some cities, for example, organizers are working towards having critical masses of people, even if not large, from "rival blocks" of the neighborhoods of the oppressed come together in some form that would be "locally meaningful" and assume greater significance as part of the national collage. In advance of the day, they are also working with people from the neighborhoods to massively saturate with the poster of people wearing the T-shirts—giving people a vision of what it is they are doing and achieving—as part of something bigger. In other cities, current proposals involve more mass manifestations of youth and others late Saturday night, in places where youth gather—the parks, the waterfronts, or central landmarks—including with nighttime viewings in parks and other outdoor spaces of the film BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!. Other proposals include marking the spots where the police killed our youth with vibrant manifestations of people in T-shirts, reading aloud from BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian, including 1:13:

No more generations of our youth, here and all around the world, whose life is over, whose fate has been sealed, who have been condemned to an early death or a life of misery and brutality, whom the system has destined for oppression and oblivion even before they are born. I say no more of that.

All of these should be captured in photos, videos, and social media (including with "selfies" of people wearing the shirt, turning around the content of a form that is otherwise obnoxiously about ''me, me, me'' to something that is about the world and a radically different future for humanity)—reported near "real time" to revcom.us for an emerging national picture. These are some sketches of ideas to spark people's imagination on what these manifestations could be, and we would like to hear other ideas to share—and the final plans for the 22nd that you would like to publicly announce so we can let our readers know and invite them to join up with these.

* There are nearly three weeks remaining and there is every basis in society and what this T-shirt and content represent to make these manifestations truly powerful, the beginnings of something new, a social force Coming Onto the Stage—Powerfully Representing for Revolution. Let's fight like hell to do this, for it matters. BA does have and represents a way out—getting rid of this system, with its murderous horrors and its soul-crushing nature, through Revolution—Nothing Less! People urgently need to know this, and see a force visibly manifesting this. We have the ways and means, and the tools to realize this goal—in the T-shirt itself and the sentiment it evokes and conveys, in the poster collage of people wearing the T-shirt giving a sense of the vision of what this could achieve and represent, and most fundamentally, in the works of BA, including in his Dialogue with Cornel West, which should be viewed thousands of times across the country in the next three weeks, with people in their living rooms, on the street, and in the parks.

The poster collage of people wearing the T-shirt is very powerful, and along with building for the day itself, should be used widely for fundraising—from the dollar bills to the thousands of dollars. Massive funds are needed —not only for subsidizing the T-shirts for those who cannot afford it, along with DVDs of the films and the book BAsics—but more fundamentally to project this growing social force onto a bigger stage, to further crack open societal discourse with BA and his work, to achieve BA Everywhere. Even while people are engaging BA, provoked and challenged, agreeing whole-heartedly with some things he says and disagreeing vehemently with other things, many sincere people can be won to want to see BA and this radically different alternative, the revolution, made available to the youth—in the face of what this system has to offer them. Therefore, we should struggle with people, winning them to donate substantially to this initiative, as part of the campaign to make BA and his work a societal reference point. Let's go!

 

 

 

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