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Get BA’s Speech Inside Prison Walls

April 23, 2018 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

"If you don't have a poetic spirit—or at least a poetic side—it is very dangerous for you to lead a Marxist movement or be the leader of a socialist state."
– Bob Avakian

Read: Bob Avakian (BA) - Official Biography

Prisoner reading book

Prisoners Write on Bob Avakian and the Emancipation of Humanity

April 23, 2018

An Appeal to Those
the System Has Cast Off

Here I am speaking not only to prisoners but to those whose life is lived on the desperate edge, whether or not they find some work; to those without work or even homes; to all those the system and its enforcers treat as so much human waste material.

Raise your sights above the degradation and madness, the muck and demoralization, above the individual battle to survive and to “be somebody” on the terms of the imperialists—of fouler, more monstrous criminals than mythology has ever invented or jails ever held. Become a part of the human saviors of humanity: the gravediggers of this system and the bearers of the future communist society.

This is not just talk or an attempt to make poetry here: there are great tasks to be fulfilled, great struggles to be carried out, and yes great sacrifices to be made to accomplish all this. But there is a world to save—and to win—and in that process those the system has counted as nothing can count for a great deal. They represent a great reserve force that must become an active force for the proletarian revolution.

Bob Avakian, BAsics 3:16

Here’s a big challenge, right now, to everyone reading this call. People locked up in America’s dungeons urgently need to engage with Bob Avakian’s speech THE TRUMP/PENCE REGIME MUST GO! In the Name of Humanity, We REFUSE to Accept a Fascist America. A Better World IS Possible—but they can’t watch it online.

Revcom is printing a special issue, in English and Spanish editions, featuring the full text of the speech by Bob Avakian (BA). It will get to hundreds of prisoners and Spanish-speaking people across the country.

Funds—at least $2,000—are urgently needed to get the speech into the hands of as many imprisoned people as possible. And you need to be part of raising those funds.

Prisoners can, should, and must play a dynamic, inspiring and instructive role in the whole process of making a big societal impact with this speech. They can contribute to involving growing thousands of people in the streets “in defiant mass struggle” against the fascist Trump/Pence regime.”

Provoking, Inspiring, Transforming

Nothing comes close to BA’s speech in laying bare the roots and dynamics of the Trumpite fascism moving to consolidate power in this country—and the deep need to drive it out, for the future of humanity and the planet itself. Nothing comes close to BA’s uncompromising internationalism, his liberating methodology, the enormous heart that he brings to addressing the most pressing problems confronting humanity, from a sweeping, strategic vantage point.

Think of the difference it will make as copies of BA’s speech pass from cell to cell through some of the most notorious hellholes in this country; as prisoners of different nationalities and backgrounds discuss the significance of the “Great Tautological Fallacy”; as they grapple with and learn from the scientific method and approach BA uses to develop his analysis. Think what it will mean as people cast off and locked up by this heartless, racist system read and engage with BA’s searing exposure of this country’s bloody history of slavery and genocide, and how that legacy endures and is expressed today.

One prisoner described some of his own transformation as he grappled with the works of BA: “Prisoners can set an example that people can change. If you can change, who else can change? I was talking about my circumstances and everything that I changed about myself, about my outlook and the way I live my life. That wasn't easy. That took struggle. There were times when I was considered the scum of the earth, an irredeemable monster—and there were times that even I believed it. But you could change. You could change all that by taking this up. BA says ‘Never underestimate the great importance of ideology.’”

People who come to Revcom.us are always provoked and stimulated by letters prisoners write to the site, and the way they transform through their engagement with BA. These prisoners are a challenge to people inside and outside the prisons to themselves take up and spread BA’s works. Prisoners locked away in savagely repressive conditions bring substantial, insightful contributions to the broader engagement with the new communism. Stories about copies of Revolution and works of BA being passed along prison grapevines inspire.

Help raise the funds so that prisoners will not only be able to read, study and spread BA’s speech inside the walls—they will also write to Revolution, encourage others outside to get into, spread, and take up the film themselves. This will contribute to a powerful dynamic between many of the millions of people locked up, and the “outside world”—loved ones, families, friends and former schoolmates learning of and themselves getting acquainted with the emancipatory outlook and scientific method of BA.

Contribute, Raise Funds for Getting BA’s Speech into Prisons

Donate as much as you can yourself. Get contributions from friends, family, co-workers, people you know who have loved ones incarcerated, people you know who yearn for a better world. Reach out to community organizations, prisoner support groups, student groups, and others to raise money. Correspond to us about your experience so others can learn from your experience and approach.

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