a celebration

The Grand Opening of
REVOLUTION BOOKS
in Harlem

437 Malcolm X Boulevard / Lenox Ave. @ 132nd St.

Sunday, November 15, 2015 • 2 pm

A reading and talk by
the world-renowned Kenyan novelist,
post-colonial theorist, and
former prisoner of conscience

NGŨGĨ WA THIONG'O

Opening remarks from

ANDY ZEE

Spokesperson for Revolution Books, on "Revolution Books and the Emancipation of Humanity"

 

Tickets $30 general/
$10 students/low-income

 

* * *

...also on Sunday, Nov 15
6:30 pm
Special Benefit Dinner
Reading & Talk by
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
Remarks from Andy Zee

Tickets $75 / $125 / $250

Both events on Sunday take place at the new Revolution Books:
437 Malcolm X Blvd. / Lenox Ave. @ 132nd Street
(Take #2/3 to 135th, or A/B/C to 135th – 3 blocks south of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture)

Tickets for both events available soon at:
www.revolutionbooksnyc.org
Call 212.691.3345

Proceeds from both events will benefit the final $35,000 leg of Re-Open Revolution Books Fund Campaign to renovate and open the new Revolution Books.

What will people find at Revolution Books? Books. Films. Talks. Dialogue. An ethos of cooperative relations and community. A movement for revolution and theory that guides it. And, coffee. But more, what makes RB unique? Nothing less than revolution—and an approach to that that lives and breathes with a scientific way to know and change the whole world, an approach that goes hand in hand with a poetic spirit—an appreciation of poetry, literature, and art that inspires the imagination; a critical spirit of inquiry and debate; the liberating joy of struggle and the seriousness of a movement for an actual revolution that could at long last put an end to all forms of oppression and exploitation throughout the world. How rare, how needed is this today?

Most of all, what people find and what is the heartbeat and foundation of it all, is the leadership of Bob Avakian, concentrated in the new synthesis of communism. BA has made a qualitative breakthrough in the science of revolution and communism In a world crying out for fundamental change, and many decades after the previous great social revolutions were defeated, this is a game changer for a new stage of revolution and communism. At Revolution Books, people have the opportunity to discover, to experience, to engage, and to be a part of a movement for an actual revolution that is guided by this scientific method and approach, and the concrete strategy and vision for a new society.

Humanity is up against horrific and complex problems—from devastation of the environment; to the raging endless wars in the Mideast, with no liberatory armies in the field today; to the war on women throughout the world; to the unending terrorizing, incarceration, and murder of Black and Latino people in the U.S. To act on and change this world requires revolutionary theory to comprehend this, to find and see the patterns and pathways to change, and most of all to guide an actual revolution. It requires knowing quite a bit about the world. Thus, the mission of RB. Based on the deepened scientific method and approach of the new synthesis, people can learn from the diversity of experience and imagination in the books, films, and discussions found at RB to discover and understand the underlying dynamics driving the horrors of today’s world and come to see why it is that revolution for a radically new world is necessary and possible. RB is a place of revolution with the wide arms and critical spirit and method to embrace the great breadth of human experience, where people from the projects, students from the universities, people from the neighborhood, artists and intellectuals, people of all nationalities, genders and ages, wrestle with the ideas and what it is going to take for humanity to get free. And it is a place where people can connect with the work of Bob Avakian, and have the opportunity to become a part of the movement for revolution.

The re-opening of RB is cause for celebration and it will be one hell of a celebration. Everyone who cares about the future of the people of the world and the planet itself, all who value and want to fight for a literature and critical thinking that propels history forward, everyone who has dreamed of revolution and those working for revolution today—be a part of making the Grand Opening of Revolution Books commensurate with the great things that lie ahead for the center of the movement for an actual revolution for a world free from all forms of oppression and exploitation.

For more about Revolution Books, and to DONATE, go to www.revolutionbooksnyc.org

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o is beloved around the world for his pathbreaking novels and plays that paint an unsparing picture of life in neo-colonial Kenya where he was raised. He’s broken new ground in bringing the oppressed onto the stage, and his outspoken resistance to imperialist culture is also reflected in his innovative theoretical work on post-colonial literature. In the late 1970s, he began writing novels in Gikuyu, his mother tongue. The first of these, Devil on the Cross, was written in prison on toilet paper. Ngữgῖ’s books have been translated into more than 30 languages. He now lives in exile and is currently Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature and founding director of the International Center for Writing & Translation at the University of California, Irvine.

Andy Zee is the spokesperson for Revolution Books and is an advocate for the new synthesis of communism developed by Bob Avakian. Andy Zee has hosted conversations with Eve Ensler, Edwidge Danticat, Lewis Lapham, Walter Mosley, Arturo O’Farrill, Wallace Shawn, and many more. He has directed and co-produced three major documentary films featuring Bob Avakian, including the film of the November 2014 event, REVOLUTION AND RELIGION: The Fight for Emancipation and the Role of Religion; A Dialogue Between CORNEL WEST & BOB AVAKIAN, at Riverside Church.

Humanity needs revolution
The revolution needs Revolution Books
Revolution Books needs you.