Received from Revolution Books, NYC
CELEBRATE AND SAVE REVOLUTION BOOKS, A Beacon in Dangerous Times
Holiday Party and Open House, Sunday, December 15
| revcom.us
Celebrate Revolution Books in Harlem, New York City, at a time filled with danger for humanity.
If you love books, the life of the mind, and the inspiration of imagination, and agonize about the future, Sunday’s holiday party and open house is for you. When you patronize and support Revolution Books, you contribute to the possibility of a radically different and far better world, and so that we continue...
Place: |
Revolution Books, 437 Malcolm X Blvd |
Time/Date: |
1-7 pm, December 15 |
*1 pm |
Special children's hour with readings and craft-making |
*3:00-5:00 pm |
Poetry & music performers include Bruce Mack, Sparrow and other guests |
*5 pm – 7 pm |
Celebrating & Saving Revolution Books... Toasts to the New Year as we celebrate and support this incredible bookstore. |
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We are in the midst of a major fundraising campaign to save Revolution Books. Andy Zee, the spokesperson, emphasizes, “Revolution Books… is needed more than ever—a moment of stark contrast between our hopes and dreams for the future and the stark reality that great catastrophe looms as fascist regimes take root here and around the world.” This fundraising campaign to raise $50,000—and Sunday’s celebration and open house as part of it—are meant to meet this need, and help save Revolution Books at a time of grave financial risk.
A mental health professional who contributed $1,000 as a matching challenge, “$1000 for a Priceless Gift of Hope on a Scientific Basis This Holiday Season,” gives voice to sentiments and challenges that are much needed in these times:
It is critical that you join me to support Revolution Books. You can give a priceless gift of “hope on a scientific basis” this holiday season, and I will match all donations up to $1,000. These are very dark times. Times that I, as a mental health professional, spend listening to the agony that people feel as they try to cope with depression; anxiety; insomnia and panic…as they watch in horror the brutality of this world....
Revolution Books, however, is a bright star of hope in this sea of darkness. This bookstore is at the heart of people coming together to discuss and struggle over big questions in the world. It is a place where people can engage with the work of Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, a brilliant intellectual and architect of the new synthesis of communism. He is a tireless fighter for revolution. He is committed to bringing forward a world in which people are inspired to be the best of themselves....
BA has allowed me to understand that there is a leader who has such a deep love for humanity—and that this, along with the science of communism that he forges, can help lift a veil of despair. In a recent conference, a group of Black youth sat passively in silence as adults were discussing intergenerational dialogues on race… when they were pushed to give their thoughts, one after the other reported that racism has been so normalized for them that they were hopeless that anything could be different. I did some agitation, straight from a talk by BA discussing what difference it could make to have the youth learn about this system and why the world does not have to be like this—and that Black youth can lift their heads and be a part of something much bigger than fighting over a street corner that they did not control anyway. How they could be a force, fighting for all of humanity. Well, the whole demeanor of the youth group changed... to perk up with awe....
Revolution Books is a place of vibrancy along with this kind of intellectual ferment. It sponsors prominent authors of the day who reveal needed societal truths. Programs have included Colson Whitehead discussing his novel, The Underground Railroad; Mary Schmidt Campbell with her book on artist Romare Bearden; historian David Blight and his biography of Frederick Douglass; and Jason Stanley and his book How Fascism Works. RB sponsors events such as poetry and music from voices that reflect and examine the experiences of those who are not a part of the dominant culture. … RB provides resources for the Revolution Clubs and fosters lively debate; serious problem-solving; and just plain networking, hanging out, and having fun.
We need Revolution Books. We must support this precious and valuable resource. This is a very dangerous moment in which is it more crucial than ever that we have a place where we can come together to understand and process the world and get “woke” and wake others up to what it will really take to change it.…
—Excerpts from “$1,000 Challenge for a Priceless Gift of Hope on a Scientific Basis This Holiday Season”
In the opening section of the book The New Communism (“Introduction and Orientation”) I spoke to the bitter reality that the masses of oppressed people are afraid to hope:
Afraid to hope that maybe the world doesn’t have to be this way, that maybe there is a way out of this. Afraid to hope, because their hopes have been dashed so many times.
This is a significant factor in why so many turn to religion—because there does not seem to be any hope for an end, in this world, to the terrible suffering and degradation to which they are continually subjected, which is imposed on them by the functioning of this system but which is also obscured and covered over by the very way this system operates and the role of its institutions, functionaries and enforcers, which systematically act to mislead people as to why the world is the way it is and whether and how it could really be changed, whether and in what way it is possible to put an end to all this unnecessary suffering.
Here stands out again the great importance of the scientific method and approach of communism, as this has been further developed through the new communism, and the reality and possibility of radical, emancipating change, in this world.
Bob Avakian
Excerpt from Hope For Humanity
On A Scientific Basis, Breaking with Individualism, Parasitism, and American Chauvinism
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