Glimpsing a Liberated Future with Chairman Avakian

<p><i>This is an excerpt of an interview conducted with Sunsara Taylor by Luciente Zamora during the week of the Republican National Convention. The full interview can be seen at <a href="http://www.rwteam.blogspot.com">rwteam.blogspot.com</a>.</i></p> <p><b>Luciente:</b><i>Can you speak to the crucial role of revolutionary communists, the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade in taking out and promoting and popularizing our Chairman Bob Avakian?</i></p> <p><b>Sunsara:</b> Let me say this on a personal level, there are a lot of things I hate in this world and that have outraged me over the years and been moved to do something about. But it's a big leap you make when you decide to be a conscious revolutionary communist.</p> <!--break--> p class=&quot;kicker&quot;&gt;Interview with Sunsara Taylor&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;h1&gt;Glimpsing a Liberated Future with Chairman Avakian&lt;/h1&gt;<br />&lt;p class=&quot;byline&quot;&gt;by Luciente Zamora&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p class=&quot;issueinfo&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Revolutionary Worker #1254, October 10s, 2004&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://rwor.org&quot;&gt;posted<br />at http://rwor.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;This is an excerpt of an interview conducted with Sunsara Taylor by<br />Luciente Zamora during the week of the Republican National Convention. The full<br />interview can be seen at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rwteam.blogspot.com&quot;&gt;rwteam.blogspot.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Luciente:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;i&gt;Can you speak to the crucial role of revolutionary<br />communists, the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade in taking out and<br />promoting and popularizing our Chairman Bob Avakian?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sunsara:&lt;/b&gt; Let me say this on a personal level, there are a lot of<br />things I hate in this world and that have outraged me over the years and been<br />moved to do something about. But it's a big leap you make when you decide to be<br />a conscious revolutionary communist.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Our Chairman has said that it's one thing to criticize, it's another thing<br />when you're running society and it's all on you--and all the problems that<br />humanity faces and that we're criticizing today, we're also responsible for<br />solving them.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Somebody told me this when they heard his talk, &lt;i&gt;Revolution, Why it's<br />Necessary, Why it's Possible, What it's all About&lt;/i&gt; . They said, &amp;quot;You<br />think if he's trying to sell you on revolution, he wouldn't make it sound so<br />fucking hard!&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;My friend told this person when we were all talking, &amp;quot;When he tells you<br />all that's involved and all the problems, it actually makes [revolution] sound a<br />lot more possible than you thought before.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;When you hear him talking about how we would run society and how we would<br />handle the contradictions that people face today, in a way that involves people<br />and expands the &amp;quot;we&amp;quot; who is running society and leading society and<br />creating a vibrant society where there is debate and diversity.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;A society where people are discovering themselves and learning how to rule;<br />where people are deciding what direction society should go. When you hear him<br />talk you start to get a taste of that world and you actually feel more<br />passionate to fight today--and this is what I think is something unique about<br />the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade and those of us who are followers of<br />Chairman Avakian--it's not just how horrible the world would be if we don't<br />resist, but it's how things can be beyond the bounds of what we can fathom today<br />and what a liberating world could be like.and that it's actually realizable.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;That's a vision that not enough people have. It's a vision that we need if<br />we're going to bring that world into being. It's a vision that people need if<br />they are going to fight today as seriously as they can--in a way that gets us in<br />a position to really involve people in all the complexity of things.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Luciente:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;i&gt;Can you tell me more about this vision?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sunsara:&lt;/b&gt;Many people have the impression that, and I know because I<br />learned this in school, that communism is a gray and boring world where you're<br />sent to re-education camp if you disagree. You hear all this bullshit about what<br />communism really is.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;First of all, it's not a hellish totalitarianist society and it's not a nice<br />idea that would never work. It's also not that everyone has to share everything<br />including toothbrushes or that you don't have any kind of privacy or<br />diversity.or whatever. All of that is the furthest thing from the truth.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Today we live in a world now where diversity and creativity and languages are<br />being destroyed all over the planet by globalization and imperialism. Whole<br />cultures and languages are being lost. People can't really express themselves.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;In a communist society, there won't be antagonisms between people--but there<br />will be struggle. Our Chairman describes that there will always be struggle for<br />new truths and understanding to be learned about the world. There will be<br />struggle about what we should do with the resources that humanity has produced.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;We will have to struggle against other ideas.. You may have a section of<br />people that will want to build more hospitals and another section of people that<br />want to build more parks.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Some people will want to put out a new form of art production.who knows, but<br />things like that will come up. But in the future, people will be able to share<br />in the production of society and share in producing the things that people need.<br />The people's needs will be met for the first time in history.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;People will have shelter and food and all that we need. But it's not just<br />that. People will have those needs met and they will not be working in<br />sweatshops. Technology that today further enslaves people will be a way to make<br />work easier to liberate people from laboring. People will have more time to<br />participate in running and administering society and working in the realm of<br />ideas.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Today there are so many lives that are scripted before they are even<br />born--they don't even have an option. In the society we're talking about, people<br />will be able to work with ideas and be a part of scientific inquiry and studying<br />things to find out more about the natural environment and the stars and things<br />about nature and reality and creating and producing art. We'll have the biggest<br />flowering of creative _expression--writers and comedians and dancers and<br />painters.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;People will share in a common abundance. In the RCYB we talk about no more<br />men oppressing women, no more white supremacy, no more one class forcing another<br />class to slave for them, no more one country trying to run the globe. Instead<br />you'll have freely associating human beings. It's just so wildly different from<br />what we're used to today.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Luciente:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;i&gt;In your article &amp;quot;The Future is Waiting.&amp;quot; you<br />quote Chairman Avakian when he says that we don't have to hide from the future<br />because the future belongs to us. Can you speak more on that?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sunsara:&lt;/b&gt;Before I was saying that there is a lot of sense of outrage<br />among people about what's happening--globalization, police brutality,<br />militarization of the border, and the criminalization of immigrants in this<br />country, and unending war. There is a lot of outrage and anger about that, but<br />there is not enough sense that the future does belong to us.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;The truth is that if you try to put yourself in the shoes of the ruling class<br />for a minute--imagine if you were trying to run the planet and everybody hates<br />you--and literally people hate what they, the U.S. imperialists, are doing. So<br />they have a certain gangster logic and they have to go pummeling ahead and<br />intimidating everyone--but the truth is, as vicious as they are, they are<br />holding on to a world that is moving past them.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;You see a new world bursting forward in the resistance of people around the<br />planet and in people fighting back. You see it in people refusing to be a broken<br />people. You see it in Palestine. You see it all throughout Latin America. All<br />over the planet you see people fighting back and looking for the ways to fight<br />back.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Let me think, the future belongs to us if we dare to rise up.it's a challenge<br />to us. That's the importance of promoting and popularizing our Chairman.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;When you hear what he's talking about and when you listen to his speeches or<br />read his writings you really get a sense--through everything that he does--that<br />he proceeds from the understanding that a better world really is possible and<br />that's the direction history is tending even if it's going to mean a wrenching<br />struggle. From that perspective he looks at the problems we are facing today and<br />how to solve them.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;When you really understand where you're going and what's in the interests of<br />the masses of people and you can win people to the truth, then you can win<br />people to fight more fiercely and you can help show people the way out. That's<br />what our Chairman is doing.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;When you hear him speak--this is going to be the closest in our lifetime that<br />we're going to taste what a communist world will be like. He has such a love for<br />the people and such an interest in humanity and reality and in the truth.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;He's a real searching person. He always interrogates himself and interrogates<br />others. If he doesn't know something he doesn't pretend to know. He tries to<br />find out and lead others to find out and teaches them about the methods to solve<br />the problems. Part of that is his willingness to take on the most fucked-up<br />empire in history--we need to have strategic contempt for our enemies and know<br />that they are not all-powerful even though they like to pretend that they are,<br />AND strategic confidence in the masses of people.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Luciente:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;i&gt;You're a proud follower of Chairman Avakian and you're<br />also a very creative person and a critical thinker. You write beautiful poetry<br />and your articles in the&lt;/i&gt; Revolutionary Worker &lt;i&gt;are inspiring. How does the<br />leadership of Chairman Avakian unleash such creativity and critical<br />thinking--and unleash people to be revolutionary leaders of the masses?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sunsara:&lt;/b&gt;Now, I've had to go through a lot of struggle around this.<br />I've never done that many interviews before, to be honest. In the past few weeks<br />I've done a lot of interviews and first you're really nervous and trying to<br />remember all your points. But then I started thinking about how the Chairman<br />approaches everything. He approaches things from the standpoint of fulfilling a<br />great need. Not how you do really well yourself . . . it's like he says, you<br />don't go out to make a great work, but to fulfill a great need.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;I started to think about what his whole life's work has been. Like when you<br />recognize a contradiction or a problem--you must lead people to solve it and<br />it's something that you should joyously and willingly and voluntarily and<br />consciously take up. I had to do a shift in my thinking and to think, `How does<br />he do what he does?' I mean he's shouldering so much and it gave me a lot of<br />confidence to say, `Do the masses of people deserve to have their interests<br />expressed?' Well the answer is an undeniable `yes!'&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Because I have followed and studied Chairman Avakian I do have answers and<br />something to say to people!&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;To know that there is somebody that we can have so much confidence in.let me<br />tell you, things can get really crazy in the middle of such an intense struggle.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;We need to shift things--are we going to have Bush all puffed up and ready to<br />rule the planet or are we going to have him with his pants pulled down in front<br />of the world looking humiliated and naked?&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;It's easy to stress out in the middle of all this, but it's important to step<br />back for a minute and see that our Chairman is leading us to solve all these<br />problems. He's somebody who is voluntarily and very eagerly saying that he will<br />give his life to the people.and there's a lot riding on what he does. But he<br />doesn't stop and complain. He solves the problems and he leads people to solve<br />the problems. I try to emulate that and it makes a big difference.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Another thing that stands out in the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade,<br />and those of us who are really trying to embody and take up the way to bring a<br />whole other world into being, is that it's not just about getting work done.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Let me explain. The other night, after this huge protest and after we've<br />busted our asses for weeks and after we'd all lost our voices--we came together<br />at like midnight until the wee hours of the morning to have a party!&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Even in the most intense times we have to have intellectual and artistic<br />ferment and struggle and creative process and exchange. It's not just about<br />getting the work done, but we have to ask ourselves what kind of world we want<br />anyhow. Don't we want a world that gives people the ability to be creative and<br />imaginative and to explore all the things that human beings are capable of?&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;He really gives me the appreciation that all along the way we need to enjoy<br />the struggle--that we must lead people in a way that is consistent with the type<br />of world we want to live in.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;I'll be honest, I quit writing poetry for a while because I was very<br />involved. I think a lot of people do. There are so many demands that the world<br />needs and you're always fighting and fighting and fighting. But he struggles<br />with us and says that the people can't just put their heads down and struggle,<br />but we really have to wrangle with ideas and engage in different spheres and we<br />have to make music and write poetry.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Before we end, I have a few more thoughts.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;I woke up today feeling that the weight of the world is on my shoulders, but<br />then I went through my day and talked to people in the RCYB and different people<br />who have been out at the protests and watched some of the coverage in the media.<br />I was really amazed by people.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;I woke up feeling that there's a lot we need to do. Then I walked through my<br />day and thought how impressed I am by people. I thought how glad I am that we<br />have our Chairman and that we have a lot going for us. I don't think we'd be<br />where we are right now or have a chance to get out of this mess without him.and<br />I feel that the future does belong to us.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;div class=&quot;footer&quot;&gt;<br />  &lt;hr class=&quot;footer&quot;&gt;<br />  This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Online&lt;br&gt;<br />  &lt;a href=&quot;http://rwor.org&quot;&gt;http://rwor.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;<br />  Write: Box 3486, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 60654&lt;br&gt;<br />  Phone: 773-227-4066 Fax: 773-227-4497&lt;br&gt;<br />&lt;/div&gt;<br /><br />&lt;/body&gt;<br /><br />&lt;/html&gt;<br /><!-- END TOC -->

<p><i>This is an excerpt of an interview conducted with Sunsara Taylor by<br /> Luciente Zamora during the week of the Republican National Convention. The full<br /> interview can be seen at <a href="http://www.rwteam.blogspot.com">rwteam.blogspot.com</a>.</i></p> <p><b>Luciente:</b><i>Can you speak to the crucial role of revolutionary<br /> communists, the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade in taking out and<br /> promoting and popularizing our Chairman Bob Avakian?</i></p> <p><b>Sunsara:</b> Let me say this on a personal level, there are a lot of<br /> things I hate in this world and that have outraged me over the years and been<br /> moved to do something about. But it's a big leap you make when you decide to be<br /> a conscious revolutionary communist.</p> <!--break--><p>p class="kicker"&gt;Interview with Sunsara Taylor&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;h1&gt;Glimpsing a Liberated Future with Chairman Avakian&lt;/h1&gt;<br />&lt;p class="byline"&gt;by Luciente Zamora&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p class="issueinfo"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Revolutionary Worker #1254, October 10s, 2004&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;a href="<a href="http://rwor.org&quot;&gt;posted">http://rwor.org"&gt;posted</a><br />at <a href="http://rwor.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;">http://rwor.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</a><br />&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;This is an excerpt of an interview conducted with Sunsara Taylor by<br />Luciente Zamora during the week of the Republican National Convention. The full<br />interview can be seen at &lt;a href="<a href="http://www.rwteam.blogspot.com&quot;&gt;rwteam.blogspot.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;">http://www.rwteam.blogspot.com"&gt;rwteam.blogspot.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</a><br />&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Luciente:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;i&gt;Can you speak to the crucial role of revolutionary<br />communists, the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade in taking out and<br />promoting and popularizing our Chairman Bob Avakian?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sunsara:&lt;/b&gt; Let me say this on a personal level, there are a lot of<br />things I hate in this world and that have outraged me over the years and been<br />moved to do something about. But it's a big leap you make when you decide to be<br />a conscious revolutionary communist.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Our Chairman has said that it's one thing to criticize, it's another thing<br />when you're running society and it's all on you--and all the problems that<br />humanity faces and that we're criticizing today, we're also responsible for<br />solving them.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Somebody told me this when they heard his talk, &lt;i&gt;Revolution, Why it's<br />Necessary, Why it's Possible, What it's all About&lt;/i&gt; . They said, &amp;quot;You<br />think if he's trying to sell you on revolution, he wouldn't make it sound so<br />fucking hard!&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;My friend told this person when we were all talking, &amp;quot;When he tells you<br />all that's involved and all the problems, it actually makes [revolution] sound a<br />lot more possible than you thought before.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;When you hear him talking about how we would run society and how we would<br />handle the contradictions that people face today, in a way that involves people<br />and expands the &amp;quot;we&amp;quot; who is running society and leading society and<br />creating a vibrant society where there is debate and diversity.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;A society where people are discovering themselves and learning how to rule;<br />where people are deciding what direction society should go. When you hear him<br />talk you start to get a taste of that world and you actually feel more<br />passionate to fight today--and this is what I think is something unique about<br />the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade and those of us who are followers of<br />Chairman Avakian--it's not just how horrible the world would be if we don't<br />resist, but it's how things can be beyond the bounds of what we can fathom today<br />and what a liberating world could be like.and that it's actually realizable.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;That's a vision that not enough people have. It's a vision that we need if<br />we're going to bring that world into being. It's a vision that people need if<br />they are going to fight today as seriously as they can--in a way that gets us in<br />a position to really involve people in all the complexity of things.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Luciente:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;i&gt;Can you tell me more about this vision?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sunsara:&lt;/b&gt;Many people have the impression that, and I know because I<br />learned this in school, that communism is a gray and boring world where you're<br />sent to re-education camp if you disagree. You hear all this bullshit about what<br />communism really is.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;First of all, it's not a hellish totalitarianist society and it's not a nice<br />idea that would never work. It's also not that everyone has to share everything<br />including toothbrushes or that you don't have any kind of privacy or<br />diversity.or whatever. All of that is the furthest thing from the truth.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Today we live in a world now where diversity and creativity and languages are<br />being destroyed all over the planet by globalization and imperialism. Whole<br />cultures and languages are being lost. People can't really express themselves.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;In a communist society, there won't be antagonisms between people--but there<br />will be struggle. Our Chairman describes that there will always be struggle for<br />new truths and understanding to be learned about the world. There will be<br />struggle about what we should do with the resources that humanity has produced.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;We will have to struggle against other ideas.. You may have a section of<br />people that will want to build more hospitals and another section of people that<br />want to build more parks.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Some people will want to put out a new form of art production.who knows, but<br />things like that will come up. But in the future, people will be able to share<br />in the production of society and share in producing the things that people need.<br />The people's needs will be met for the first time in history.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;People will have shelter and food and all that we need. But it's not just<br />that. People will have those needs met and they will not be working in<br />sweatshops. Technology that today further enslaves people will be a way to make<br />work easier to liberate people from laboring. People will have more time to<br />participate in running and administering society and working in the realm of<br />ideas.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Today there are so many lives that are scripted before they are even<br />born--they don't even have an option. In the society we're talking about, people<br />will be able to work with ideas and be a part of scientific inquiry and studying<br />things to find out more about the natural environment and the stars and things<br />about nature and reality and creating and producing art. We'll have the biggest<br />flowering of creative _expression--writers and comedians and dancers and<br />painters.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;People will share in a common abundance. In the RCYB we talk about no more<br />men oppressing women, no more white supremacy, no more one class forcing another<br />class to slave for them, no more one country trying to run the globe. Instead<br />you'll have freely associating human beings. It's just so wildly different from<br />what we're used to today.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Luciente:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;i&gt;In your article &amp;quot;The Future is Waiting.&amp;quot; you<br />quote Chairman Avakian when he says that we don't have to hide from the future<br />because the future belongs to us. Can you speak more on that?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sunsara:&lt;/b&gt;Before I was saying that there is a lot of sense of outrage<br />among people about what's happening--globalization, police brutality,<br />militarization of the border, and the criminalization of immigrants in this<br />country, and unending war. There is a lot of outrage and anger about that, but<br />there is not enough sense that the future does belong to us.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;The truth is that if you try to put yourself in the shoes of the ruling class<br />for a minute--imagine if you were trying to run the planet and everybody hates<br />you--and literally people hate what they, the U.S. imperialists, are doing. So<br />they have a certain gangster logic and they have to go pummeling ahead and<br />intimidating everyone--but the truth is, as vicious as they are, they are<br />holding on to a world that is moving past them.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;You see a new world bursting forward in the resistance of people around the<br />planet and in people fighting back. You see it in people refusing to be a broken<br />people. You see it in Palestine. You see it all throughout Latin America. All<br />over the planet you see people fighting back and looking for the ways to fight<br />back.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Let me think, the future belongs to us if we dare to rise up.it's a challenge<br />to us. That's the importance of promoting and popularizing our Chairman.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;When you hear what he's talking about and when you listen to his speeches or<br />read his writings you really get a sense--through everything that he does--that<br />he proceeds from the understanding that a better world really is possible and<br />that's the direction history is tending even if it's going to mean a wrenching<br />struggle. From that perspective he looks at the problems we are facing today and<br />how to solve them.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;When you really understand where you're going and what's in the interests of<br />the masses of people and you can win people to the truth, then you can win<br />people to fight more fiercely and you can help show people the way out. That's<br />what our Chairman is doing.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;When you hear him speak--this is going to be the closest in our lifetime that<br />we're going to taste what a communist world will be like. He has such a love for<br />the people and such an interest in humanity and reality and in the truth.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;He's a real searching person. He always interrogates himself and interrogates<br />others. If he doesn't know something he doesn't pretend to know. He tries to<br />find out and lead others to find out and teaches them about the methods to solve<br />the problems. Part of that is his willingness to take on the most fucked-up<br />empire in history--we need to have strategic contempt for our enemies and know<br />that they are not all-powerful even though they like to pretend that they are,<br />AND strategic confidence in the masses of people.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Luciente:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;i&gt;You're a proud follower of Chairman Avakian and you're<br />also a very creative person and a critical thinker. You write beautiful poetry<br />and your articles in the&lt;/i&gt; Revolutionary Worker &lt;i&gt;are inspiring. How does the<br />leadership of Chairman Avakian unleash such creativity and critical<br />thinking--and unleash people to be revolutionary leaders of the masses?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sunsara:&lt;/b&gt;Now, I've had to go through a lot of struggle around this.<br />I've never done that many interviews before, to be honest. In the past few weeks<br />I've done a lot of interviews and first you're really nervous and trying to<br />remember all your points. But then I started thinking about how the Chairman<br />approaches everything. He approaches things from the standpoint of fulfilling a<br />great need. Not how you do really well yourself . . . it's like he says, you<br />don't go out to make a great work, but to fulfill a great need.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;I started to think about what his whole life's work has been. Like when you<br />recognize a contradiction or a problem--you must lead people to solve it and<br />it's something that you should joyously and willingly and voluntarily and<br />consciously take up. I had to do a shift in my thinking and to think, `How does<br />he do what he does?' I mean he's shouldering so much and it gave me a lot of<br />confidence to say, `Do the masses of people deserve to have their interests<br />expressed?' Well the answer is an undeniable `yes!'&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Because I have followed and studied Chairman Avakian I do have answers and<br />something to say to people!&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;To know that there is somebody that we can have so much confidence in.let me<br />tell you, things can get really crazy in the middle of such an intense struggle.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;We need to shift things--are we going to have Bush all puffed up and ready to<br />rule the planet or are we going to have him with his pants pulled down in front<br />of the world looking humiliated and naked?&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;It's easy to stress out in the middle of all this, but it's important to step<br />back for a minute and see that our Chairman is leading us to solve all these<br />problems. He's somebody who is voluntarily and very eagerly saying that he will<br />give his life to the people.and there's a lot riding on what he does. But he<br />doesn't stop and complain. He solves the problems and he leads people to solve<br />the problems. I try to emulate that and it makes a big difference.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Another thing that stands out in the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade,<br />and those of us who are really trying to embody and take up the way to bring a<br />whole other world into being, is that it's not just about getting work done.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Let me explain. The other night, after this huge protest and after we've<br />busted our asses for weeks and after we'd all lost our voices--we came together<br />at like midnight until the wee hours of the morning to have a party!&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Even in the most intense times we have to have intellectual and artistic<br />ferment and struggle and creative process and exchange. It's not just about<br />getting the work done, but we have to ask ourselves what kind of world we want<br />anyhow. Don't we want a world that gives people the ability to be creative and<br />imaginative and to explore all the things that human beings are capable of?&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;He really gives me the appreciation that all along the way we need to enjoy<br />the struggle--that we must lead people in a way that is consistent with the type<br />of world we want to live in.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;I'll be honest, I quit writing poetry for a while because I was very<br />involved. I think a lot of people do. There are so many demands that the world<br />needs and you're always fighting and fighting and fighting. But he struggles<br />with us and says that the people can't just put their heads down and struggle,<br />but we really have to wrangle with ideas and engage in different spheres and we<br />have to make music and write poetry.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;Before we end, I have a few more thoughts.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;I woke up today feeling that the weight of the world is on my shoulders, but<br />then I went through my day and talked to people in the RCYB and different people<br />who have been out at the protests and watched some of the coverage in the media.<br />I was really amazed by people.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;p&gt;I woke up feeling that there's a lot we need to do. Then I walked through my<br />day and thought how impressed I am by people. I thought how glad I am that we<br />have our Chairman and that we have a lot going for us. I don't think we'd be<br />where we are right now or have a chance to get out of this mess without him.and<br />I feel that the future does belong to us.&lt;/p&gt;<br />&lt;div class="footer"&gt;<br />  &lt;hr class="footer"&gt;<br />  This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Online&lt;br&gt;<br />  &lt;a href="<a href="http://rwor.org&quot;&gt;http://rwor.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;">http://rwor.org"&gt;http://rwor.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;</a><br />  Write: Box 3486, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 60654&lt;br&gt;<br />  Phone: 773-227-4066 Fax: 773-227-4497&lt;br&gt;<br />&lt;/div&gt;</p> <p>&lt;/body&gt;</p> <p>&lt;/html&gt;</p> <!-- END TOC -->