Letters in Support of Bob Avakian in response to attacks on BA, the Revcoms and Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights
Updated October 30, 2022
We received the following statements courtesy of revcom.us. These statements are especially timely and needed in the face of slanderous lies and attacks launched by various opportunist forces and media outlets against Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights, on the role of the Revcoms and Sunsara Taylor in it—and especially targeted against Bob Avakian with unprincipled slander and dangerous lies.
The BAsics, by JP and Shonuff from the Revolution Club, Chicago
Why I Love Bob Avakian
“…When I read the new draft Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America [authored by Bob Avakian-ed.] for the first time years ago, I was floored and exhilarated. No death penalty. No “The ends justify the means.” A society of vigorous debate and contention of the road forward, a society any thinking, feeling person would long to be a part of…. And I love—yes, love—Bob Avakian and what he has created for humanity and the possibility of forging a whole new world. Read more
Formerly incarcerated revolutionary and supporter of Bob Avakian
New York City
September 2022
….I have never seen anybody to apply science to understand the world and the problems of humanity and break it down like Bob Avakian. Read more
Rev. Frank Wulf
I have followed with dismay the attacks on Rise Up for Abortion Rights coming from a variety of progressive groups also engaged in the struggle to ensure that people in the United States have free and unrestricted access to reproductive and abortion care. Read more
Prof. Rafael C. Angulo
I write not as a communist but as a left-leaning progressive who respects the remarkable sort of social analysis that Bob Avakian has engaged in for decades. Read more
Young organizer with Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights, Bay Area
I didn’t start learning about revolutionary communism from a principled standpoint, but rather from a personal place. After being caught up in identity politics, criticizing the revcoms for following one leader, disregarding revolutionary ideas for over 5 years as unrealistic, after looking at communists as nothing more than idealistic dreamers, I happened to stumble upon an old recording of a speech by a very young revcom…. Read more
Denis Mueller, filmmaker
I am a documentary filmmaker who has made several films including about Howard Zinn and author Nelson Algren. I taught at several universities. I am not a fan of The Intercept. My view is that Bob Avakian’s POV (Point of View) is a very well-thought-out condemnation of a broken system…. Read more
Jimmi Y., Boise, Idaho
This movement is not about a cult. It is not about brainwashing. In fact it’s the polar opposite…. If you do your research, you’ll learn that Bob’s movement is about as altruistic as one can be. He’s spent his life on this. Not for himself, but for all of us. Read more
From two Iranian women, supporters of the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners NOW
We come from a theocratic fascist country and have experienced living under such a regime, with our own flesh, skin, and eyes. We have been able to escape from that hell, to another. As women who have been fighting for the rights of women in Iran and around the world, we strongly condemn these horrific and vicious attacks against Rise Up, Revcoms and Sunsara Taylor and specifically Bob Avakian. Read more
Anahita Rahmani, ex-political prisoner in Iran and supporter of the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners NOW
“…The contribution of RCP and Bob Avakian cannot be even touched upon in these few lines, but I, as one of the communists who is dedicating herself to a world without exploitation and oppression, a classless world of communism, will always appreciate the contribution by Bob Avakian in wrestling with the most difficult contradictions of the revolution. In these difficult times particularly in the current crazy situation where all kinds of revisionist, reformist, social democratic, parliamentarians, and other post-modernists and identity politics and views are suffocating the air, I cherish the principled revolutionary approach of RCP and particularly Bob Avakian.” Read more
From a long-time civil rights activist
“…This is just another slanderous accusation. We cannot allow falsehoods and “Big Lies” to run rampant and go unchallenged.” Read more
From a student of Bob Avakian and the R.C.P., active with World Can’t Wait
“More dastardly deeds of the ruling class.” by someone who understands the RCP. Read more
From A.J.
“…During the last 4 decades whatever I have heard and learned from BA has been nothing but standing with the oppressed and working men and women all over the world. I think it is his internationalism that makes some chauvinists incensed. Bob Avakian is not only defending the masses of the world but feels responsibility to lead people out of this mess and towards a better future.” Read more
Scott Gilbert, a conscious, proud follower of Bob Avakian, acting accordingly
Why I support Bob Avakian and the Revcoms
“…I challenge anyone, anywhere on the planet, to demonstrate that BA’s analyses are not both prescient and correct. And, I say this in a comradely way. Please, please come forward if you have ideas and analyses that are different and reflect both the way the world is and how we can fundamentally change it to move all of humanity forward. I challenge anyone to do this. Not because we need to have petty disagreements, but because we want to figure out the best ways to end the oppression and exploitation of most of humanity. What exists today is truly horrifying, and becoming worse. Bob Avakian has a blueprint for how to change all this: Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America. How uplifting and liberating!” Read more
Reposted from Counterpunch:
Why is “the Left” Red-Baiting Rise Up for Abortion Rights on the Eve of Fascist Destruction?
by Paul Street
This article by Paul Street, historian and author, originally appeared at Counterpunch.org, August 1.
“…[I]t’s bracing and a little bizarre in 2022 to see an anti-Communist jihad launched from “the left” (see below) against an organization that has been fighting to defend something commonly identified with mainstream liberalism: the right to an abortion.
“I am referring to recent attacks directed at Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights (RU4AR), the organization that has led the struggle against the Christian Fascist war on women’s right to control their own reproductive lives….” Read more
Coco Das, Texas
The attacks on Bob Avakian, Sunsara Taylor, the revcoms, and Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights are dangerous and extremely damaging to the fight against fascism and any movement for justice. Read more
John Hedlund, sociology instructor and graduate student
I want to specifically talk about BA’s overall method and approach. As a sociologist (which is a type of social scientist), I find BA’s call for and application of a thorough, rigorous, scientific approach to analyzing both the natural AND (very importantly) the social world to be incredibly inspiring. Simply put, there is no one else who is doing this with the same degree of conviction—of fearlessness, of following the truth wherever it leads you—as BA. Read more
From a Revcom
I met Bob Avakian (BA) through his memoir and writings during my third prison term. I was caught up in a lot of bad shit, ways of thinking and acting that were really harmful and ran counter to what BA stands for and fights for. I started to follow BA and break with what I had become because I engaged and came to agree with what BA had to say about the need and the possibility for a real revolution, a communist revolution where the whole of humanity could get beyond all forms of exploitation and oppression. Read more
Isabel Cardenas, Salvadoran-American activist since 1960
Why are you attacking Bob Avakian? Someone who is all about justice and making things better for all the people. That’s his goal. That’s how I see Bob Avakian. Read more
From D. Ocean, Health Care Practitioner
“When Bob Avakian and the RevCom’s take a principled position and cut through the bullshit, when they show this attack on women and the overturning of Roe v. Wade is a fascist attack, when they show how the Democratic Party is conciliatory with these fascists (refusing to mobilize the people), when in contrast to giving in and capitulating RU4AR mobilizes thousands of young women… it is at this point these forces go after Bob Avakian because he is telling people what is behind the curtain.” Read more
From Gloria Pinex—fighter for justice and mother of Darius Pinex, killed by Chicago police
I know BA personally. The first time I heard him speak I fell in love with him. And I don’t know why someone wouldn’t want to hear from someone who gets down to earth with things. I don’t know who wouldn’t want the truth. Anything having to do with oppression he touches on it. He touches bases on Police Brutality, oppressed women—yeah—he does a lot. All that gibberish they are talking is absolutely absurd. It’s not Bobby—it’s not his character.
Roosevelt—member of the Chicago Revolution Club
Over the years I’ve seen and heard many leaders who have tried to diagnosis the many issues plaguing the Poor community’s . Since 1999 one in particular showed up on my radar, Bob Avakian has been more in tune and aware of the true solutions that’s needed to overcome these issues which existed for far too long! Others have came up with their ideas of fitting inside of the same dam System that’s caused pain and suffering all over this planet! Sounds crazy but it’s true. Read more
Aurora Roja, voice of the Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico
This was an introduction to the reposting on the Aurora Roja blog of the revcom.us article “Behind the Week of Internet Attacks on Bob Avakian and the Revcoms: Imperialist Fear Mongers and Their Servants.” The translation from the original Spanish is from revcom.us. Read more
From D., Revolution Club, Bay Area
“…So when so-called “progressive” haters (coordinating with major media outlets) throw around accusations of “cult” in order to isolate BA and invite repression against him, not only do I find it intellectually dishonest, not only does it tell me that these fools haven’t read with an open mind a damn thing written by BA, not only do I question the intent of these blowhard “woke” sleep-walkers… I also take it very personal. Excuse my language, but these assholes haven’t done shit compared to BA’s work over the last 50 years.” Read more
Statement in Support of RU4AR by an educator in California
“My only hope is that these phony accusations backfire and help build the movement into a wave that washes away all exploitation of humanity in general and of women specifically in this time of growing fascist actions against so many sectors of society. Bob Avakian and the RCP, RU4AR and the RNL Show are not only hoping, but working to make this happen through correct analysis of the situation behind the sham accusations and by synthesizing powerful solutions in this current phase of the revolutionary struggle for social justice.” Read more
Original posted at RiseUp4AbortionRights.org
Carol Downer, Executive Director of the Feminist Women’s Health Centers and Life-Long Fierce Advocate for Reproductive Rights
“…Before you seek to defame and cast out Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights on serious (but unproven) charges of being a cult and a pyramid scheme which diverts money from social and racial justice movements, you need to seek out the experiences of non-communist feminists who have worked with the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), such as myself. As an anti-racist activist since 1965, and a feminist pro-abortion activist since 1969, I have first-hand experience with the RCP since the 1970’s which refute these charges….” Read more
Original posted at RiseUp4AbortionRights.org
Jim Fouratt, gay rights activist who participated in the Stonewall Rebellion, actor, and former nightclub impresario
“These attacks on Rise Up are so similar to the attacks that happened in the 60s and 70s under the Cointelpro program by the FBI. And they’re happening today, I believe, because of the success of Sunsara Taylor and the Rise Up movement with the revcoms.” Read more
Brother Raymond, founder of Brothers Standing Together
I’ve worked with the Rev Club over many years and I’ve never heard BA try to mislead or misguide anyone. They don’t like the fact that BA is a thinker. He has a great mind and people want to know what he is thinking. So therefore people misconstrue and try to say that he has a “cult.” He doesn’t have a cult he has a group of thinkers like himself who are organized and strategizing to lead the masses in the rebellion against violence and Police Brutality. So that’s what’s going on and that’s the BA I know. Anything else they said is just bullshit.
A Concerned Activist
I’m someone who got involved in the early days of building up the October 22 Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. The October 22nd Coalition formed in the late 1990s to fight police brutality and many, many different groups and people joined together, building support for and protesting with the families of children whose lives were stolen by police murder—even publishing a book documenting the many cases of people who were killed by police. For over fifteen years, we worked together with O22, making a difference. Read more
From Brother B In The Streets, Educator, California
“There is something called objective truth—and people will be played for fools if they refuse to realize there are people who DO speak the truth (and there will be forces who don’t like that and want to stop it). And that includes the truth about what the problem and what the solution is—no one else, other than Bob Avakian, shouts “Revolution—Nothing Less”—with real substance, and over many decades.” Read more
Original posted at RiseUp4AbortionRights.org
Pam Laskin, poet, author, editor, lecturer at the City College of New York
“As an active member of Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights and admirer of the passion, integrity, hard work and commitment of one of its leaders, Sunsara Taylor, I was appalled to read the recent attack waged against Bob Avakian, the revcoms and–in particular–against an institution, Rise-Up, so committed to securing the health and safety of women’s reproductive freedom.” Read more
Original posted at RiseUp4AbortionRights.org
A medical professional, after reading Sunsara Taylor’s rebuttal to the hit-piece by Robert Mackey at the Intercept
“Detailing the complete lack of journalistic integrity, both by Mackey and by [the Intercept’s] editorial staff, is important. Illustrating the trumpian methods of ‘argument’ he employed to extremely dangerous ends, here directed by ‘progressive’ journalists against some of the only organized forces that mobilized protest and resistance.” Read more
From a photographer who covered the Ferguson uprising, the Stockley verdict and the Black Lives Matter Uprising in 2020
This is something that’s been on my mind anyway. I’ve been having to deal with this since it happened. Me and a few other people—we had to defend the work of the RCP, Ferguson, Refuse Fascism, Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights – we’ve had to defend all of that. And that’s ongoing. Read more
Statement in response to the attacks on Bob Avakian from Freddie J. McGee, father of Freddie Latrice Wilson, shot 18 times by Chicago Police.
Someone trying to volunteer to help you, trying to save you. And you seem like you don’t care. You have to criticize the person trying to help you. If you want to use a recent example there is Martin Luther King, he was for the righteous. He was trying to support the people. He got murdered because he was trying to tell people the truth, he was trying to get people together. And they killed him for it. We still have someone like Bob Avakian risking his life, taking his time trying to help people. Read more
A Supporter of Bob Avakian
We are talking about Leader Bob Avakian, the leader of the RCP. A very charismatic leader. A very forthright leader. He is before his time, dead on point with his analysis born out of the Black Panther Party. Very committed to what he does—and he does it like none other. Read more