Raising Funds for BA Everywhere from Recent Donors to the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride
January 9, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
From a reader:
I recently met with two strong supporters of Stop Patriarchy and the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride that took place this summer. We had already been planning to meet to talk about the Freedom Ride report summing up what was accomplished and learned on the ride, so I contacted them and asked that we get together to do that soon and said I also wanted to talk with them about BA Everywhere and ask for a contribution. I explained that I’d like our conversation to get into the relationship between the Mass Initiative to End Pornography & Patriarchy: The Enslavement & Degradation of Women and BA Everywhere. They said that sounded good and agreed to meet.
I started by thanking them for meeting with me and restating the dual and related reason for the meeting. They have donated to BA Everywhere before and know a lot about the campaign because they read Revolution newspaper and come to discussions at Revolution Books. I let them know that we’re approaching people like them, longtime supporters, but also approaching people we’ve never met before and trying to get with wealthy people, basically situating this as a national campaign aimed at making a big leap. Then we started with following up on the impact of the donation they made to Stop Patriarchy. I asked them if they’d read the Freedom Ride report and what thoughts or questions they had. One of them had just finished reading it. She jumped right in with her main question, “Will it really make a difference?” She then went on to express that while she had doubts, she had hope that it would make a difference because what she got from the report is that what Stop Patriarchy is doing is a totally new approach, breaking with the losing strategy of relying on the Democrats. Now, she said, she could see how the dynamic of things could change with this kind of unapologetic approach of calling for Abortion on Demand & Without Apology—how this is attracting people on a better political basis.
I responded that she was basically answering her own question and everything she’s saying is true and is what we are seeing in a beginning way—and that one of the main things those of us working with Stop Patriarchy are grappling with now is how to go from being a small group of people who travel to confront different abortion rights emergencies with the support of people like them donating, to a truly mass organization with people from around the country taking these politics up as their own. From there, I shared and we talked about some of Stop Patriarchy’s experiences, painting a picture in broad strokes, of forging new connections and a new chapter in one area based on not just engaging people around what’s a correct strategy and stand in relation to defeating the attacks on abortion, but by getting into the need for revolution and introducing them to the leadership of Bob Avakian. Along the rides, it was very much the case that those most desiring real change and wanting to understand why things are the way they are and how they can be STOPPED—those were the people who were also open, or became open, to exploring their questions about communism and engaging Bob Avakian’s new synthesis of revolution. Not only did we do outreach together and protest side-by-side, we got together to watch and talk about BA Speaks: Revolution--Nothing Less! and Stepping into the Future. People started reading BAsics, from the Talks and Writings of Bob Avakian after they heard BA quoted on different occasions and realized how what was being said resonated with them even though they didn’t consider themselves communists. Some local activists braved anti-communist controversy to follow their own convictions in working with Stop Patriarchy and checking out the movement for revolution. It was on this basis that people’s sights about what kind of world is possible were raised and unity was forged. All of this was explained in the context of how this relationship between BA Everywhere and the mass initiatives is WHY Stop Patriarchy will make a difference—because the fight for abortion rights is connected to a movement for revolution based on Bob Avakian’s new synthesis and only this can uproot the oppression of women and change the whole world.
Both of them expressed thinking all this was really cool and they seemed inspired and maybe a little surprised that Stop Patriarchy was also spreading BA Everywhere in these ways. Earlier they had mentioned how much they were planning to donate and it was less than I was planning to ask for. At this point, I told them that we really appreciated their large donation to Stop Patriarchy, and that I understood why they would be considering a smaller amount so soon afterwards, but I also let them know that I had come to the meeting planning to ask them for the same amount they had donated to Stop Patriarchy because I didn’t want to communicate that BA Everywhere was less important or needed than Stop Patriarchy—that in fact this was even more important when it comes down to whether the mass initiatives can ultimately impact society in a fundamental way. Based on agreeing with this, they decided that since this was a one-time donation, they wanted to and could donate the larger amount I requested. One of them followed up by saying that he was not fully in agreement with BA’s new synthesis but he wants it to be out there as part of what people are reading, considering and debating. He also expressed appreciation for the Revolution special issue on the history of communism. Afterwards, they helped us connect with an activist leader they knew who then met with one of them and a bookstore volunteer about BA Everywhere.
I think there are a couple things to sum up or remind ourselves of off of this meeting. First, it was correct to not take a stagist approach of thinking that first I needed to meet with them about Stop Patriarchy and then I could follow up with a separate meeting about BA Everywhere. Everything in the movement for revolution is connected and flows from the leadership of BA. This is not something we ever hide, but I learned a lot about the power of leveraging this understanding and not assuming that people "get it." It’s an approach that breaks from a history of revisionism in the communist movement so it has to be explicitly stated and fought for. Drawing out the interconnections between something they had expressed full unity with and something they actually expressed having less unity with allowed them to see that they had more unity with getting BA Everywhere than they originally thought. Second, wanting to hear and see BA Everywhere IS the unity of the BA Everywhere campaign, and people don’t have to have unity with every view of BA or the RCP to donate generously.
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