David Zeiger, filmmaker

Revolution: Why did you decide to be a host for this event?

David Zeiger: The best way to put it is because I think that, I have felt for a long time, certainly that first of all, what's left of genuine progressive, radical, or revolutionary thought in this country has become so meaningless, really, with one exception and that's really the work Bob Avakian has done and the direction that he's taking and representing the potential for genuinely, not a return to revolution and socialism and communism, but a whole new way forward. I am kind of, I have some particular feelings about how communism—what it represents in the world today, and the enormous, I think difficulties that are raised by what's happened with the Soviet Union and now with China. And I think one of the things that I feel that he has done is recognized in a way that not too many people have, not just the huge advances that those revolutions were, but the reality of their reversal and the need that that creates to go way beyond what they accomplished. I was thinking about this this morning, I mean, I might get too obsessed by this, but the first great communist revolution became one of the superpowers threatening the world with world war in the 1960s and '70s and '80s, and then the other one [China] has become one of the most exploitative and oppressive societies on the planet. So that's not a small thing. And I think it's created a context where for most people in the world that's what communist revolution turns into, that's how they see it. And if there is ever going to be a new wave, a new upsurge of revolutionary communism, that has to be really confronted and I think that's the hope that I see in the work that Bob Avakian is doing and the contribution he's making.

Revolution: What do you hope the event will accomplish?

Zeiger: I hope it will broaden the realm of people who are looking, really seriously looking at Bob's work—into as many arenas of society as possible.

Revolution: Why should people be there April 11?

Zeiger: For one, it sounds to me like the program is going to be great, the musicians that are in the line-up that I am aware of, are well worth the price of admission just on their own. But I think, it seems to me it's going to present that artistry in a particular context that a lot of people have never experienced and that itself, the newness of, I think is very exciting. I think a lot of people are looking for something new, they're looking for something that represents, that feels like a new and innovative never before approach kind of thing. And I'm hoping that's what people will experience with this event.

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