November and December
The Time to Raise Big Funds for BA Everywhere
October 28, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
Announcing: two months of major fundraising for BA Everywhere... Imagine the Difference It Could Make—aiming now through the end of the year to begin to raise funds on a level that can begin to get BA Everywhere—for real.
Making Bob Avakian and his work known in every corner of society requires going to work to raise major funds from every section of people—and especially right now making a breakthrough in raising serious funds from among those with serious resources who are concerned about the world. Half of donations to causes are made in November and December, and people with means are considering at this moment how their resources can make a difference.
"There are people today in every strata, including the very wealthiest, that are looking out into the world, seeing the horrors and wondering, as BA poses in the film BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! "How long?" How long will this nightmare continue for humanity?....
"[T]he biggest contradiction here lies in the fact that these same people don't yet know about Bob Avakian, and so they don't yet know that the world could be a radically better place. And this is our responsibility....
"When you open up the possibility of a radically different world for people, the terms of what people want in their lives and what they want their lives to be about can become very different. And when we bring to people the understanding that BA has brought forward, it will influence what they see as right and wrong and what they want their money to support." (From a recent letter to Revolution, "Will People Go for Something That Will Disrupt Their Whole Lives?," online at revcom.us)
Think about the significance of these recent news items: Pierre Omidyar, the founder and chairman of eBay, is funding an enterprise to support the kind of journalism that released the proof of American war crimes and massive repression revealed by Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning (formerly Bradley Manning). Peter Buffett, the son of super-wealthy Warren Buffett, wrote in the New York Times about how the "philanthropy-industrial complex" is worsening the huge income disparity in the world. The British comedian and actor Russell Brand has guest-edited a "revolution"-themed issue of the New Statesman with his own editorial calling on people to reject voting and the system ways of thinking—causing an uproar and now being read by millions around the world.
There are people with substantial financial capacity and/or media reach who are seriously upset with the way the world is, trying to understand why it is this way, and looking for a way out. Yet, without BA's leadership and new synthesis of communism being known, discussed, and debated widely, there is no contending viable vision and plan up against the killing program and oppressive reality of life for most people in the world. Money and heart is poured into NGO band-aids and the ruling Democratic Party, legitimizing war crimes, torture, mass incarceration, and repression in the name of holding off the genocidal forces of the right.
We need revolution, nothing less, to get out of this nightmare for humanity and bring in a society in which people could flourish and social resources would be put to reversing the planetary ecological disaster. Right now, in these two months, beginning to raise really big funds for the mission of making BA a household word requires building on the base of support and the people that BA Everywhere has brought forward—and really busting out of a mode of focusing on first popularizing and engaging with BA's work and putting fundraising off for later... and for smaller projects. Going to people right from the beginning with the great need for big funds conveys the seriousness and the stakes of this campaign.
The next two months should see major, mass fundraising among every layer of people. Cores of people in the ghettos and barrios donating $5 or $10 to BA Everywhere every month, bringing forward bedrock support among those who catch hell every day are essential to a serious movement for revolution. And we should be reaching out to many more professionals and those in the middle class with resources who can make a real difference and who often have wide opinion-creating impact. The voices of these donors should speak to each other and challenge those with more resources through the pages of Revolution newspaper and on revcom.us.
The key and dynamic factor right now, in being serious about BA really becoming a household name, is going to those who can contribute on a very serious level and telling them straight-up what difference their contributions will make. And this is not just for a few people to work on! Whether you are a first-time or a longtime reader of Revolution newspaper/revcom.us, in prison or school, or in a Revolution Books store, or at a shit job—you are needed to be part of tackling how to raise the serious funds to have huge impact with BA Everywhere, in this "giving" season, at this moment.
Here are some ideas for how to go at this. The holiday season is upon us now.
**This week, begin making appointments with people you know who have supported important causes in the past or observed the movement for revolution from a distance for a while—especially those who have funds and perhaps you haven't been back to in a while.
**At the same time as we start—now—going out to the people we already know, start reaching out much more widely to break new ground with people we don't yet know. This week, find at least one event where wealthy people who care about the world will be, and take a BA Everywhere team there to meet people who can donate substantially. And this week, start learning—quickly—about the wealthy individuals who are speaking out and concerned about events.
Who are these people? This might include academics, authors, and artists, but go beyond those circles. Art and performances, lectures, conferences, history and science exhibits that address world-shaking problems are often funded by wealthy people who are not artists or political activists. This is generally public information and you can often easily reach out to these people.
**Find the events, conferences, benefits, performances, seminars where wealthy people who are concerned about the world will be. Develop creative ways for BA Everywhere to be at these events and scenes, to be a point of attraction and controversy, with certitude (and yes, sometimes humor!) about BA's work and vision and what it means for bringing about a whole different world. Raise money to pay the ticket price so you can be talking to and meeting people inside the event. Let's break way out of having some good broad impact to the point where people feel when they find out about BA that they have met the revolution; that they are compelled to learn more about it; and that they should consider supporting the effort for BA's work to be known widely.
Break down your goals: How many potential $10,000 donations are within reach, and from whom? How many $5,000 donations, how many $1,000 donations? How many $100 donations? Then, regularly evaluate what is being accomplished, what questions you are encountering, how you might be getting stuck, what ways you are coming up with to break through. Write to revcom.us to share and exchange experience.
If you can, team up experienced people and new people to break this new ground. If you don't have a lot of resources yourself but want to help raise the funds to get BA really EVERYWHERE, be part of teams working to break through to raise very significant funds in these next two months. For many people, this might mean going among sections of people where you have been told you don't "belong." Actually, as BA says, the people who have been most cast off by this system don't know the profound effect they have on other sections of people when they stand up to find another way. Mixing up different kinds of people to reach out among those with means can bring alive how knowing and engaging with BA starts to change the ways people think and relate together.
To tell people why it's important to meet about BA Everywhere and why their donations will matter, use the basic materials of The Bob Avakian Institute (TBAI), which describe the objectives of spreading BA's work. The Mission Statement of the Bob Avakian Institute is "to preserve, project, and promote the works and vision of Bob Avakian with the aim of reaching the broadest possible audience," and among its undertakings are to: "educate the public about the path-breaking and provocative philosophical and political synthesis that Bob Avakian has developed over the past few decades; ... develop advertising campaigns and strategies, and produce a wide variety of promotional materials; develop and carry out multiple forms of broad public outreach in all sectors of society..." and much more. (See thebobavakianinstitute.org for the TBAI's mission statement and a short introduction to the work and vision of Bob Avakian.)
Along with the BA Institute cards, the 20-minute audio interview by Cornel West of Bob Avakian that aired on NPR in Fall 2012 (available online at revcom.us) is a lively engagement over the biggest questions many people have: religion, the possibility of a leap to a fascist form of government and what to do about that, and what it means to have revolutionary love for the people.
And that's not all. Very soon, the film STEPPING INTO THE FUTURE: On the Occasion of the Publication of BAsics: A Celebration of Revolution and the Vision of a New World will come out in pre-release, with major showings to be organized in early December in Los Angeles and New York City. Stepping Into the Future is the documentary of the celebration on April 11, 2011, of the publication of the book BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian at Harlem Stage in New York City. Musicians, dancers, poets, actors, visual artists, came together with revolutionaries and activists from the 1960s and an audience of hundreds from diverse backgrounds, ages and political viewpoints—all lifted off their feet and touched to their core. And all of it woven together with deep revolutionary insight from archival film of Bob Avakian, readings from BAsics, and voices of those on the front lines for decades.
Through performance footage and narration by the organizers, presenters, and artists, the film gives a glimpse of the kind of culture, the kind of revolution, and the kind of world BA's vision can inspire and lead. Stepping Into the Future should have special reach and impact among artists; and it should be one important factor generating major donations for BA Everywhere. Seeing it, people should be compelled to get into BA and his work: especially the book BAsics and the film BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! Bob Avakian Live, both of which are now in their second releases. The film Stepping Into the Future will be part of a holiday sale promotion together with these foundational materials to spread and contribute to funding BA Everywhere.
Revolution Books and/or BA Everywhere Committees will sponsor dinners or other gatherings in early November to show Stepping Into the Future, to plan for its major opening events and for the major fundraising for BA Everywhere laid out here. (For more information, see "Stepping Into the Future: New Documentary Film and Big Plans for BA Everywhere" in Revolution #320, October 20, 2013.)
Again: start now to be out among those with resources, and start now to make appointments to sit down with people—schedules for the next several weeks will be filling up fast. With BA Everywhere we are giving people from all walks of life the chance to make the biggest difference that could be. This is about changing the face of everything. There is nothing more ambitious and nothing more vital—if you want a world that is fit for humanity and all the other species that live on it—than making BA and his work REAL and PRESENT in the world, now, today. Let's get to it.
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