Special two-part screening of the film BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! Bob Avakian Live

Part 1: Sunday, September 29, 2013, 2-6 p.m.
Part 2: Sunday, October 6, 2013, 2-6 p.m.
Maysles Cinema, Harlem, New York City

September 20, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

Over two Sunday afternoons, September 29 and October 6, the full film BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! Bob Avakian Live is showing in two parts at Maysles Cinema in Harlem, New York City.

Why does it matter that people clear those afternoons to be there? Quite simply: because this film of Bob Avakian’s fall 2012 talk deals with the most important thing there could be—the real possibility of bringing into being a radically different world, where all this madness, all the oppression and injustice, all the abuse and degradation that is so much a part of life now, would be done away with.

This two-part showing can be a tremendous contribution to turning a corner, in this moment, in spreading BA’s work and vision and making the movement for revolution, “a real force, powerfully impacting all of society…” Bob Avakian, May 2013^*.

Think about all that has happened this summer, just since the film premiered in March: the vicious court decisions exonerating the vigilante and cop murders of Trayvon Martin and Ramarley Graham; California prison officials vilifying and torturing heroic prisoners on a hunger strike demanding to be treated as human beings; the accelerating state-by-state stripping away of women's abortion rights; the revelations that the U.S. government is and has been spying on the entire American population and most of the world. And now, American imperialists, the biggest war criminals on the planet, threaten to rain down death and destruction on Syria in the name of protecting children and women from weapons of mass destruction. 

Thousands demonstrated fury over the George Zimmerman verdict; millions have been horrified as they confront, some for the first time, the reality of this country’s brutal repression and dehumanization of Black and brown youth. The devastation so many felt has not gone away. What kind of system is this that says the killing of Trayvon Martin was justified? What kind of system is this that considers lives across the globe to be nothing but meaningless “collateral”? Big questions are posed: what we are up against, what kind of world would be fit for human beings, and where the fight for that needs to go.

Imagine the kind of real talk, the rich debate and discussion that could be fostered if people from different perspectives and backgrounds get into BA's work. In this film BA breaks down answers to these big questions. BA digs into the system that is underneath all this and why it doesn’t have to be this way. He gets into the strategy for how revolution could win when the conditions are right—and he gets into how the revolution could solve these horrors of today’s system and bring about a system that is on the road to liberating all of humanity.

Who needs to be there? People of all nationalities and all ages, from the neighborhoods, the campuses and the suburbs, unemployed, artists, retired people, folks working all kinds of jobs, all genders and orientations. Think especially about young people seeing this film: those who face no future other than the world being set against them, living disrespected and demeaned, tracked from schools that are like prisons into massive incarceration, women beaten or pimped out by their loved ones. People who should be friends too often hating and bullying on each other. Then those who want to be about something positive in the face of this degrading culture are told to make a “personal choice” to do good in this terrible world, and not to even think about bringing about an entirely different, better world.

All this can change. As people watch this film, the urgent need for and real possibility of a radically different world can begin to come into focus. One young Latina who saw the film said: “I think it’s very important for everyone, especially young people from the hood to see this because BA talks about what they go through and he has a solution to all the oppression. And I know for me, when I saw it, it changed the way I looked at everything... music, shows, commercials, ads. I just started seeing all the fucked up shit they promote and it made me want to challenge all that and not go along with any of it.” (Read the whole piece about BA Everywhere, the campaign to raise big funds to spread BA's work and vision all over the country, here.)

The film BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! Bob Avakian Live premiered in March 2013 in LA, San Francisco, Chicago and New York City—including at the AMC Magic Johnson Theater in Harlem. This summer, Revolution—Nothing Less! Van Tours traveled through those cities and surrounding areas showing excerpts of the film to hundreds. A major showing was held at the main LA public library. Many hundreds or more have now seen some part of the film.

Now, imagine a full and diverse house in Maysles, getting into the whole film over two afternoons, finding out that they are not the only ones, being with others hungering to get into the biggest questions involved in getting to a different future and a different world. Because Maysles is an internationally known film center "dedicated to the exhibition and production of documentary films that inspire dialogue and action," the news and impact from the audience that comes together to see this film here can spread very far. 

This is possible and within reach and would make a huge difference—if all of us work together to make it happen. First, clear those afternoons and get your tickets. Talk to your friends, family and coworkers, especially those you talk about serious things with, about getting their tickets and being there. Take this into protests and places where people confront the cruel heartlessness of this system. Take this to where artists and writers and students are thinking and creating in ways that challenge the injustices and horrors of this system. Especially find the ways to get this out among the youth: from those with no future, to those hating being tracked into a future of empty soul-killing privilege. Get this to teachers, to community programs, to organizations where young people can get together and come in groups to this two-part showing.

Tell everyone to be at BOTH parts of the whole film: to hear why we need to not just fight against intolerable injustice, but to spend the time to explore this soaring, searing analysis of WHY these crimes and abuses go on and what we can do to solve this through liberating revolution.

There is nothing more important, nothing more positive, than spending the two afternoons of September 29 and October 6 getting into BA's film about REAL revolution.

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