What People Said After the Los Angeles Central Library Screening of BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!
September 26, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
On July 20, 170 people filled the Mark Taper Forum of the Central Library in Los Angeles to watch the first two discs of the film BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—Nothing Less! Bob Avakian Live. The audience was multinational and of all different ages—people who regularly frequent this or other libraries, people who came from the Trayvon Martin protests taking place just a few blocks away earlier that day, and others who heard about it on KPFK radio, the media sponsor that played a PSA regularly over the preceding days. Others heard about it at Artwalk, a music festival in East LA, or through the work of the revolutionaries in South Central, LA. There were skater youth, a few homeless people, artists, students, professionals, and others.
The showing was a few days after Trayvon Martin's killer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted. In the days before the event, revolutionaries were in the streets with protests against the unjust verdict. And the BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—Nothing Less! Van Tour was rolling through South Central, calling people out of their homes to watch clips of this film, engaging in on-the-spot speak-outs and talking about how they can and need to be part of the movement for revolution. People came to the Central Library with a deep outrage about what is concentrated in the Zimmerman acquittal, saying that pushed them over the edge to want to get more deeply into revolution. One guy said he knew he had to question his own assumptions about communism and wanted to hear more. Another guy came towards the beginning and kept stepping out to call his friends to come down because "there's a film with a guy talking about what we talk about all the time." A group of three young Black women planned their day around going to two Trayvon Martin protests and stopping in to watch about an hour of the film.
The following is from interviews by Revolution reporters of people who came to the showing. The views expressed in these interviews are those of the people who were interviewed, and what was sparked in their thinking, and are not intended to represent the content of the film.
Young Chicano
Q: What do you think of what you just saw?
Powerful. Very, very moving, insightful, very captivating, very awakening, that's for sure; very arousing in regards of awakening the emotions with all the injustices and with regards to what I've seen, it's a very awakening process, just what this man speaks about. It is just to bring you to the conclusion that this world is never what it seems like.
Shakespeare put it that the whole world is a stage and everybody is playing a part and if you are not a part of that part, then you are the one that's basically being thrown to the gutter. You are of little importance as he said, you know that it's sad that this country has so much hypocrisy involved with it and it has so much lies. The sad part about it is that people believe the lies.
You know the even more sadder part about it is that they don't question what is quote unquote, the truth. They don't even question it. They don't even ask whether, "Hey is that fact?" or "Hey, is that actually supposed to be that way?" or "Hey, is that right?" like he said if it is not affecting you, like most people say that is not affecting me. Well, fuck 'em. You know, it is affecting the world. What kind of morals do you have that you don't care that 10 million babies are dying out of starvation, poverty, apartheid. There is no difference to shooting 10 million babies and to not feed them. There is no difference because the end result is the same. They are dying, they are suffering, you know.
So I think that there is this injustice. It's nonsense and people should educate themselves. People should look behind. We need to know that past in order for us to know where we are going in the future, but I think that if you know the past that has been going on in this whole country as a whole then I think you are going to be real angry. You're going to be real angry and you're going to revolt and you're going to believe in the revolution and you're going to believe in change and you're going to want change. Overall, you're going to want change because change is good and this country is bad....
Why can you buy a $5 lottery ticket and then you could win $70 BILLION dollars when there are people STARVING. That makes no sense to me, so and the also surprising thing about it is the whole religious aspect part of it and it is true. I mean, why would a benevolent being or super-being allow such suffering in the whole world? It does not make sense to me and yet we still have people pious enough to drum things like this into little children; that you need to go to church....
Tell us a little about yourself and how you got here.
I'm 19. I'm a proud Chicano, an educated Chicano. I was born a statistic in the ghetto, in the gutter. I have witnessed many, many, many injustices in my walking the face of the earth. I'm a poet. I love literature. I study a lot of different kinds of philosophies in order for me to formulate my own philosophies in regards to the world, the way that it can be and the way that we see the world this day. And I think we need to learn a little about the past because there have been a lot of great thinkers and a lot of those great thinkers have been demonized or they have been thrown in the shadows and now the greatest thinkers that you may perhaps have now are the so-called rap musicians or the so-called TV hosts; whatever. You think that people have no clue that knowledge is power and how much knowledge can help you prevail in this game of life because it is a game and in the end it is going to be Game Over. And if you don't leave your mark in this earth you are just occupying space and you will leave no record of yourself, your thinking, or your philosophy if you don't participate in the revolution and speak your thoughts and act upon them....
What do you think of Avakian now that you have heard him?
I think Avakian is a very smart man, very insightful. He is very passionate about what he feels and that is the most important thing about it; because if you do not believe in what you are trying to preach, it has no currency with the people and I think that it is easier to preach than to be about it, but obviously if you are Avakian you have been about it for decades. So, much love and respect to Mr. Avakian and hopefully he continues to spread the word and hopefully he continues to spread the knowledge, most importantly, but ultimately it will come down to the people if you want to listen or not.
Tell us about your growing up?
I'm self-educated and there are people who hooked me up on this game of life and the whole society and the way it is structured. I was incarcerated and it was a tough thing that I had to overcome in my life. But it was a very educational experience when you are trapped like that in a room full of bricks all you have is your mind; and if you don't know how to travel the many dimensions that your mind possesses, you are really going to go crazy or you are going to be really bored throughout your whole time.
Where were you held?
In many juvenile halls and camps. I was 13 years old when I was first incarcerated; for vandalism; all the way till I was 18.
In and out?
Yes, it is something called recidivism. I'm pretty sure how you have heard that when you are incarcerated and you come out, it is a revolving door. Well, yes, I'm trying to say it is recidivism where it is more likely you are going to go back to jail to come back after your first sentence ONLY because the system implemented that with regards to probation and with regards to parole. They know you are going to come back to jail. They know you are. Either you have to prove them wrong or you just really don't give a crap and you are going to spend the rest of your life in jail . And I don't because I am so much of a genius.
How did you get out of it?
Well, the best way I can put it is that I just got tired. That is not a lifestyle that I would actually make a career out of and you know most of the times I was incarcerated, it was unjustifiable. I am not so comfortable in tapping into the details but I am going to say that I've wasted a lot of my youth incarcerated, but look at me. I have some brains to say "Hey"— you know, I'm going to use this time that I'm incarcerated to open the many doors that I have in this mansion I call my brain and I'm really going to try to find out who I am inside. I'm really going to try and figure out what I'm really passionate about and what moves me to just want to go all the way with what I feel—with what I need to go all the way with.
Man living on Skid Row
I just saw the program here called the BA Revolution. I was not prepared for this. However, it was mind blowing. Thank you.
... The length of the matter is quite exhausting for my level of concentration and one of the reasons I use the word, "mind blowing" is because it started to mention the truth there apparent. When I left the speech he mentioned that we don't want to get into a revolution because we feel comforting. He did not say it that way, but for the capitalist exploitation that is going on and that is mind blowing for me.
Phrases that he used that are, for instance, that I never completed reading Das Kapital but he did...But he did mention all this primitive accumulation of capitalism and also the other part of the parasitic ... or the parasites of society and you do not have to be a part of the ruling class to be that. Ha, Ha. Before I stick my foot into my mouth, I better get going.
...I'm just a poor person. And even if I don't indulge in anything that I enjoy, I'm still going to be poor. I'm not homeless; I have a little room that I stay in. I'm not a homeless or a street person, but I am a skid row person. Thank you.
Junior College student
I'm from Los Angeles. I'm a college student and basically one of my history teachers told me about Bob Avakian and I said "Wow"— that he is the man leading a communist movement here and it sounded pretty... it did not sound right, a person leading a communist movement here in the United States? I did not put too much into it. But, I was at Art Walk one time a couple of weeks back and there was this guy, and we talked and he emphasized that we should watch the film and I thought, "Why not come?"
I read the Communist Manifesto as well a while ago.... I got the Manifesto and started reading it and I thought it made a very good point about that we need class consciousness. Is that right? Of course. I believe that if it is that I have class consciousness that's why I am here.
I watched a little bit of the film. So with men and women conventions where the woman stays at home while the man is out there hunting, so to speak; and nowadays the man is out there working and the woman stays at home and takes care of the children, picks them up from school, whatever. And that's [why] I thought Bob Avakian made a great point about us humans progress and the things that happen through necessity and it was necessity for the woman to do these things and now its convention. I was just like wow, he's absolutely right.
At first in hearing about him is that he is just another person.... Hearing and watching the film, he is very candid. He's very persevering in the cause. I think that is very inspirational. I think that it is very good for all of this to have a person like that...
2 young men; one white (a), one Latino (b)
(a) I found out about this from someone from Revolution Books when I was at an atheist meeting down the road from the bookstore. They told me they were having an event at the bookstore with [Professor] Dennis Loo and Michael Slate, and I thought this is great, so I came down from there and got on the email list and starting getting emails and thought that this would be really a way to get involved. In the past couple of years especially I formulated strong opinions and emotions and definitely want to change things from the way they are now.
I graduated from college a few years ago in Ohio, a small community college in Ohio. I do physical therapy for a living and I've been here in L.A. for about 6 months.
(b) I'm from Sacramento, California. I moved to LA 3 months ago. I've been tagging along with (a) to all these speaking events and all these motivational events and let me tell you, they are very compelling. I've been going with him to the atheist meetings as well... I've just been going to these meetings and have just started to understand; and it's been going great though.
(a) I thought the speech and listening to Bob Avakian speak is wonderful. He is hitting on so many different topics and they are all interrelated and I thought he was right on point with everything he is talking about and it is really, really motivational, and talking about all this stuff because I'm sure he has spent his whole life researching and talking with other professionals and formulating his strong beliefs and opinions, so it is really great to hear someone that really knows what they are talking about and to really get in depth with it.
The thing that surprised me the most was going deep into history when the U.S. was first founded and came across and how things were already starting to be corrupted way back then and it was not something in the recent past, like it was 1,2,3 hundred years. That was the biggest surprise. I could have figured if it was true or false, I could have gotten it right, but you know in being an open-ended answer response; that was interesting.
(b) So this was the first time ever hearing about him. Let me tell you he is quite a speaker, alright.... It was very powerful and somewhat emotional because it is a shame that many people don't know about him and it kind of hit me as well, so hopefully I'll be able to now mention him and get more people involved because we need more people, obviously. Yeh, it was pretty good.
The title is Revolution...Nothing Less! You've only seen a couple hours and there is more to come; but what do you think of that title? What comes across?
(a) Initially, what comes across my mind is that, wow, this is going to be hard initially with the way that the system works and he talked about that and it is not going to be easy it is going to be a struggle and he used that word a lot, so I guess that there are baby steps in a sense of getting the word out and getting more involved and doing events and things like that. I'm interested in learning on how to further educate people and get the revolution going to full strength.
(a) Revolution!!! Yeah....I think that now people are starting to get an idea of what is going on in the world and going out to do the best we can. I'm not very good with these types of things. Yeah... it is mesmerizing, how he is so fluidly....
You mentioned ideas for spreading this.... We have a campaign now to get BA Everywhere and it is mainly a fundraising campaign to be able to amplify this voice, and the ideas you guys have are very important.
(a) The first thing that comes to mind is social media. I'm sure you've heard that all day; especially with the youth. I would say, Facebook comes to mind and I have not done much research and don't know if there is much Revolution, BA Speaks on Facebook, but recruiting people and educating them on how to use these tools. I use them but am not a pro. Getting people involved to spread the word. People who maybe have a marketing background; things like that to really help spread the word will be huge in getting the numbers to grow.
Getting out on the ground is a great way to do it. Recruiting people to go and spread the word, pass out flyers, what have you, other than social media.
Tell me how you think about the Trayvon Martin verdict and what it reveals?
(a) It reveals something that is completely fucked. It is an outrage and in a way you can't believe it and in another way you can completely understand how the verdict came out with the stand your ground laws and the way our society is ran and how Black and Latinos are criminalized and profiled and the whole 9 yards. So it is really saddening and many other adjectives come to mind. It is absolutely horrible.
(b) I feel that many people are not informed and that's how this all works out. To me it is a shock. All he had is Arizona and Skittles and the other guy had a gun. Come on— really? I don't know. Just shocked.
How do you feel about the response, the resistance?
(a) So far it is great; a lot of the protests that broke out. Initially I was at an event for animal rights and a friend texted me of the outcome and of course, I was outraged and I was sure there were going to be protests everywhere. And I said, "You watch" and he said, "Oh no. No there won't." and I said, "You're full of shit. Trust me on that." (Laughter). There have been massive protests and I think that is great. People need to get out there because if everyone is subservient to the laws and the powers that be nothing will change. That's the key and that's why I want to get more involved.
Black woman librarian
I'm a librarian. I work with a special collection in the system dealing with the experiences of Black people. Someone from Revolution Books comes by the library frequently, trying to get us to put the Revolution paper out in the library, so that the library customers can read it. And we have gotten approval to do that; we don't have a subscription but we will be putting it out.
We put the announcement cards about this talk out in the library, quite a few, and lots of customers picked them up. I don't know if they made it down here or not; there's quite a few people who are into it.
I saw about three hours of it. It's very powerful because everything he said that reflects history, particularly the history of Black people in this country is very accurate, right on. And I like how he connects the dots. A lot of people go around pretending that some of what is happening now is like new. It is not. It is all connected and how he goes back in history to the beginning of time of where civilizations evolved and how our government structures evolved. I think it is what people need to know to understand what context they are operating in and to see, hopefully, how they can change things. But that's the tough part. He talks a lot about what is, how it is, why it is, but it is still a little vague about what can we really do to change things.
There are a couple more hours of this talk. We are only showing four hours, but there are three DVDs of the whole thing that you can show to your friends and relatives.
Okay, I'll go ahead and get it for the Resource Center.... There were some elements about things we need to think about—what we need to do, what we can do, but I think a lot of people have a thing about what can I do? Besides, they go down to the Federal Court Building today [Al Sharpton's demo] with the signs, but there are laws that need to be changed. There's structural things that need to be changed, but I think that the average person, like me sometimes are at a loss by how can I really do this?
I don't want to live in the South anymore because of what I experienced growing up in the '50s and '60s, the South like South Carolina. I moved away. I don't want to go back there and have anything to do with that structure, and when I hear about what politicians in South Carolina are doing and their thinking and their tendencies to want to suppress whether voting or whatever. I don't want to go back to any parts of that. It's like, am I supposed to be so responsible that I need to change that structure. How can I do that?
I'm so totally overwhelmed. So when the revolution really comes, could we really win? Okay, I'm going to get it [the full set of the talk.] Talking about Malcolm X; you know ex-gang members come to the library and they are talking about your books that are at our library. And this is what I do as the librarian at the Black Resource Center; I invite authors to give presentations. In fact one is coming in August with other authors who wrote a book about street life and now they are trying to help others.
Well, what you are doing is that you are showing up at all these different venues and doing things like this. You are on the radio. For young people, I don't know how this works any more and for LAUSD (LA Unified School District) on how to get to students anymore...
You know, it would still be controversial [to show it at her library] and there are a lot of people in the community who do not want to hear too much criticism of Obama. You know, whether it is true or not and what Avakian was saying. It does not matter... But yeah, I think it could be something we could do at our library. It is very long; we could do a couple of hours over a couple of weeks... So, I'll be talking about it and I think that a lot of people would approve of having that [BA Speaks] at our library.
Young man, goes to Junior College
I'm 19 years old and found out about this event at my Junior College. I was handed a flyer; then I saw the person who handed it to me and I decided to go up and ask some questions and yes I was invited to this event so I decided to go.
I don't know much [about Avakian] and that is one of the reasons I came here; to learn more about the revolution because I have always been fascinated by this so I decided to come and see what it had to offer....
Well, I'm now thinking about switching my party from Democrat to a third party because it's the kind of thing where there is so much explained and so much to hear that if you missed any of it, you'd get mad at yourself. It was like one of those kinds of films. It is really that I would recommend it. I just think that communism is under-rated. It is under-rated. People don't think. They just look at it in a way and they refuse to open their mind up to see the details of it. I really hope the revolution does start and I think that maybe it will. You know...
The thing is that unfortunately if you want to have any influence, because I love politics and I just think the way I want to do it is that I want to become a politician and the only way to do that is to have influence. Unfortunately the Revolutionary Communist Party is not strong enough to have the influence and I want to become an elected official and then afterwards help the revolution and then go from there....
Personally, what I think is that there has to be a way for example, with Bangladesh and South East Asia where there are all those sweatshops, I just think... I feel that if every woman working in those factories would stand up and refuse to work, there is nothing they could do. The only choice would be to attack them and that is a big no-no because the way the world would respond to that. So, if they refuse to work, the capitalist will have no choice but to conform and listen to us and to start acting right. You know. I do think that there is a big possibility for a revolution.
I have been a huge supporter of Obama and I know that he sort of made it harder for Black people to do well in life but not to that extent. The whole joke about making a drone strike is appalling to me. I never expected him to say anything like that... Avakian? He's a smart dude. (laughs) He's intelligent. He's done his homework. He just knows so much about the issues. It's like a guy who knows the details of one thing, but Avakian knows the details of different things. It is almost as if he specializes in all the issues and that is amazing. He is very good at communicating and that is for sure. I was...it has changed my life.
I'm going to show the whole thing to my mom because she needs to see this. I have to get this video.
Showing it to your mom is a good thing, and let's think about showing it at your junior college...
That's a good idea. I think that is such a very, very good idea, but I've got to look up how to do it, how to get it shown to people. I'll go and explore the internet on how to do it. I should go to the information office or someone working at the school on how to get a video shown at the place.
Black woman
Seems like I should have already known, and if I did, a light bulb went off in my head; oh that's what they're doing; or that's what's really going down. I know that's what's going down, what he's saying; but I didn't know it was like that—the brainwash.
What do you think about Avakian?
I love him. I thought communism was about—always thought about Russia; and he explained it differently than how I really thought. And I tried to get a lot of people even in my family to come; "I'm not with communism, and all of that." And I really wish my brother came.
So, what are you going to say to them now about why they should watch it?
Cause we want change, especially our people. We want change for the world, but there was a revolution in the 60s, I was around. I did see it and if anybody missed it, then they were asleep or weren't born. But there was a revolution. Cause people changed things. Even though things changed, that's why I need to know more about what Bob Avakian was talking about. Because it did change in the 60s, but it's still, it changed for the better, but what happened.
Two young Black men
(a) I'm 19 years old; I'm an L.A. native; I've lived here all my life. I go to school at the moment, at a JC. I found out about this today because my friend called me after he experienced it, so I came from home to check it out.
(b) Me; my dad's very pro Black; and I'm very pro Black; I know some of the original Panthers from back in the day; and I got my own little thing going. I'm not very familiar with downtown; I had got lost and I was looking for somewhere to use the bathroom, and I ran in here and I was reading one of the papers, and one of the guys asked me what I thought of the DVD, and I hadn't seen the DVD yet, so I went inside and watched it, and he (a) called me while I was watching it.
(a) Yeah, well I live in Hollywood so it's like a 10 minute train ride. BA was talking about what's wrong with this country; how to change it. How we need a revolutionary party that is really pushing forward for it, and how to be a part of it; how to inspire other people to do the same thing, because we're tired of living through this.
(b) We're dealing with the police all the time; ... you get five days for nothing.
(a) Literally. A lot of people you hear them say that they went to jail for nothing by the police and people automatically assume you must have done something. No! You don't have to do nothin. You don't have to do anything. These code books are so thick, and they include so many offenses, just so that they can find you on one thing or another. I've had friends go to jail for literally spitting on the sidewalk. And then the officer saying, "Oh, you're disrespecting a peace officer" or something, and go to jail for that.
(b) I got arrested for five days. The charges were dropped. I didn't do anything. They said I was selling weed; I didn't have any weed in my pocket,...
(a) ...which is legal in the state, for medical ...
(b) It ain't just a Black thing; I know someone who went to jail for tossing a cigarette on the ground; that's a regular thing that people do.
(a) They want to keep us in two separate camps, when in reality we can only achieve our goal by being one big tent working for the same thing. And they give us misconceptions about ourselves; they tell white people that Black people are criminals, and they tell Black people that white people are ... so we can never find that middle ground
So tell us your response to this film; what did you think?
(b) It was surprising to me to see a white dude that's standing up for Black people. It's my philosophy and the way I get by, everything in this system is backwards; everything is backwards in this system; if you want to make it you've got to do everything the opposite. For example, you look at 'united we stand, divided we fall.' No; united THEY stand; they divide us, and WE fall. That's how it is. And that's exactly what they do. They divide us by fences, neighborhoods, apartments, nationalities,... everything, and they influence it to the max. They don't promote togetherness. The only united... only the army. What they do is, they divide the country, and they divide the people in their own country, and they conquer them...
What did you think was the most important thing that you saw?
(a) The most important thing that I saw, was that somebody was actually doing that and getting people in; personally I think it's going to take a more multi-faceted approach to really get things done, but I think this is a great start; and I'd really love to be a part of it. There's a lot of truth going on there; and it's the beginning of something great.
What do you mean by "more multi-faceted?"
(a) You can't just attack this problem in this way only. Not only do you have to give seminars like this, not only do you have to be selling merchandise, you have to be doing social media; you have to get lawmakers on your side; you have to find lawyers; doctors; you have to find people that are reputable; police officers; and bring them into it, also. And only then could you really do it.
The most important thing you got from the film?
2) Well it's good to know it ain't just Black people fighting for Blacks; cause I don't usually see that.
What was the most surprising thing?
(a) No police came in, and broke us up, and had us declared a terrorist organization. We didn't get called any terrorists.
(b) The most surprising thing, is they let us hold it, in the first place.
(a) The most surprising thing in the film is that he said "communist" and I didn't have a bad reaction to it. That's the most surprising thing. They program us, "'communist,' that's bad." I didn't have that reaction. I didn't get that vibe; that surprised me.
And what about the title of the talk—Revolution—Nothing Less!
(b) The revolution has already begun. Even before I came here...
(a) You were at the protest in Hollywood too, huh; the one where we shut down the freeway, and marched down Hollywood Blvd., all the way around and Sunset?
(b) I was, but I can't get into no more trouble. I can't get into any more trouble. I'm already caught up, and I can't get into any more trouble, So I didn't go to the march.
There are many different ways that you can contribute to the revolution. That's important to understand. Social media, if you know how to do it. Working in different ways; passing out flyers and posting posters; raising money; studying and learning more...
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