FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: A Dialogue between Cornel West and Bob Avakian on Revolution and Religion: The Fight for Emancipation and the Role of Religion
November 8, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 8, 2014
Press Contact: Larry Everest, 212-691-3345, larryeverest@hotmail.com
A Dialogue between Cornel West and Bob Avakian on Revolution and Religion: The Fight for Emancipation and the Role of Religion
When: Saturday, November 15, 3-7 pm (doors open at 1:30 pm)
Where: The Riverside Church, 490 Riverside Drive, New York City
Why is one of the country's most esteemed, provocative, and deeply religious intellectuals dialoguing with the world's most radical revolutionary and important communist thinker? Why is this being supported by a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, a former U.S. poet laureate, a Grammy award-winning musician, six Columbia professors, well-known theologians, and parents of young people killed by the police? Why are busloads of people coming from Ferguson, Chicago, Atlanta, and Harlem—poor people joined by students, artists and others?
This is a historic dialogue. The revolutionary Christian Dr. Cornel West and the revolutionary communist leader Bob Avakian will be addressing a question of great importance at a dire time in today's world.
"This is not the typical dialogue ... not the typical people. We're in a disastrous situation. We really need to focus on the horrors that are happening... a more radical way of looking at where we're at, where there are no easy remedies. What both Cornel West and Bob Avakian are about is opening up new ground."
Saskia Sassen—Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology, co-chair Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University
"Before we are all covered completely in the blood of other people's children, let us find other ways to be and do. This conversation with brothers West and Avakian will be an opportunity to explore other realms of thought, leading, hopefully, to other possibilities of Direction Change..."
Alice Walker, writer
"This dialogue will help address the neo-McCarthyistic pressure ... aimed at undermining rationality in not only the sciences but also in society in general."
Harold Kroto, 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
"This will be a rare opportunity to see Bob Avakian speak live and in person. Doing so with Cornel West who I've shared a stage and jail cell with... these two visionary thinkers will be addressing a question that affects the lives of billions on this planet at a time when the fate of the planet is in jeopardy, new fronts of war and crisis are roiling. This is truly not to be missed."
Carl Dix, founding member of the Revolutionary Communist Party and co-founder of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network with Cornel West
"...Both men have spent their adult lives working for the emancipation of oppressed peoples. Both have been maligned and ridiculed... Their motivation is similar to the motivation of those dedicated to human emancipation throughout history. Although their understanding of the spiritual may be situated in different spheres, both place their ultimate faith in humanity..."
Ron Jacobs, author, published in Dissident Voice
"The young guys around here—they need to understand that this could be their chance to put their footprint in the sands of history. There are speeches that Malcolm X made, that Martin Luther King made that have gone down in history. This could be like that."
A man who grew up in the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago
"You're going to hear agreement and disagreement. You're going to hear transgression and convergence. But most importantly, you're going to hear two brothers who are for real..."
Cornel West
"Those this system has cast off, those it has treated as less than human, can be the backbone and driving force of a fight not only to end their own oppression, but to finally end all oppression, and emancipate all of humanity."
Bob Avakian, from the film BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!
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Go here to see the prestigious list of Host Committee Members and here for who is available for interview.
Press coverage so far includes:
Bob Avakian, Cornel West to talk revolution and religion
by Garrett Donnelly and Aaron Fisher, Columbia Spectator, November 7, 2014
Revolutionary Emancipation and Religion
by Ron Jacobs, Dissident Voice, November 5, 3014
Religion and Revolution: The Promise of a Fresh Look
by SpearIt, Associate Professor, Texas Southern University—Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Huffington Post, October 20, 2014
Sponsored by: The Bob Avakian Institute and Revolution Books, NY
Media Sponsor: WBAI Radio, New York
Tickets: General $25, Students/youth/unemployed/underemployed $15
Premium Benefit Tickets $100, Premium Benefit Tickets $250
Tickets and information online or at Revolution Books, 146 W. 26 Street, 212.691.3345
#Nov15CornelAndBA * Twitter * Facebook
For more information on the Dialogue and speakers, go to revcom.us.
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