BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! at Los Angeles Central Library
July 3, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
On Saturday, July 20, Revolution Books LA is hosting a major screening of large parts of the film BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! at Central Library in downtown LA. Pacifica radio station KPFK has signed on as a media sponsor.
This is a very big deal! Bob Avakian has said that "THIS MOVEMENT FOR REVOLUTION MUST NOW BECOME A REAL FORCE, POWERFULLY IMPACTING AND INFLUENCING ALL OF SOCIETY...." "RNL@CL" can make important contributions to this, not only in LA but reverberating around the country and even internationally. But that will happen only if we grab hold of this opening and make the most of it.
Think about all the things going on in the world, from the mass uprisings in Turkey and Brazil (and now new rumblings in Egypt) to the trial of George Zimmerman for murdering Trayvon Martin. The upcoming prisoners' hunger strike in California, and the daring plans to confront the relentless assault on women concentrated right now in wholesale attacks on the right to abortion. All the turmoil kicked up by Edward Snowden's exposure of massive government spying, and growing unease about how the capitalist drive for profit is wreaking havoc on the environment and threatening planetary extinctions on a scale unseen for millions of years.
Now throw in a major showing of BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! at one of the premier public library locations in the country and think what difference it will make for THIS analysis of the SOURCE of these problems and the SOLUTION to them to be in that mix.
The Importance of Central Library
The Central Library is the second-largest public library system west of the Mississippi. It is a respected public cultural institution in Southern California that features important writers, artists, and public thinkers, yet also one where basic people from some of LA's poorest neighborhoods feel welcome. RNL@CL has the potential to reach many, many people who know nothing about BA and this revolution... to give them an opportunity to meet the revolution "up close and personal" ... to take the movement for revolution into a physical and cultural space where Bob Avakian's vision could reach sections of society on a whole other level than it has up to now.
Having the screening at Central Library should also create conditions where different kinds of people can attend the screening: basic people from the neighborhoods... progressive artists and intellectuals... students and academics... people who live and/or work in the downtown LA area, which has become more of a center for them. It can open doors to sections of influential folks in society who see libraries as centers where "outlawed ideas" can get air time, but who have never had the opportunity to engage THESE ideas—or in some cases, frankly, they have heard about BA or the work of the RCP that he leads but have never really felt the need to engage what he has to say, and now might be won to do so because the event is happening at Central Library.
Librarians at LA neighborhood branch libraries have taken notice of RNL@CL, and the Central Library event should make it much more possible for them to do screenings at their own locations. A successful screening could also open the door for showings in other libraries, community centers, and similar places across the country. In real ways, what happens in the LA public library system ripples out to libraries around the country, in cities and towns big and small.
Many people become librarians because they see the importance of places where all kinds of people can go to read about things they might otherwise never know about, to learn about the world, to wrangle with big and controversial ideas. And let's not forget that LA librarians (along with librarians around the country) have taken courageous stands against government snooping, like the American Library Association's opposition to the Patriot Act after 9/11 and their long-standing position that public libraries should not keep records of who uses the library or what they read or research so they cannot turn this over to government spies.
Making This Happen
The opportunities are great, but we have work to do if we want it to happen.
People need to clear their schedules and "save the day" right now. Start talking to friends, family, co-workers—anyone you think needs to be exposed to these ideas and the whole possibility of a radically different and far better world—and get them to commit to be there. Take this into all the protests going on, all the places where people are facing off against the cruel heartlessness of this system, and challenge them to not only fight those battles, but to spend a day exploring a soaring, searing analysis of WHY all the crimes and abuses they hate go on and what we can do to SOLVE this.
If you live in LA or within driving distance, start making plans to attend. If you live somewhere else in the country or the world, contact everyone you know who does live in Southern California and urge them to be there at the screening. Get your hands on stacks of palm cards advertising the screening and get them to coffee shops and newsstands, classrooms and churches, company lunchrooms—wherever you think people need to know about this and could be intrigued enough to attend. Donate urgently needed funds to help get the DVD of BA's talk out all over society.
There's nothing more important you can do on July 20. Don't miss it!
BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!
Saturday, July 20, starting at 12:30 pm
Los Angeles Central Library—Mark Taper Auditorium
630 West 5th Street, downtown Los Angeles
For more info or publicity material, call Revolution Books LA at (323) 463-3500.
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