A Celebration of Revolution and the Vision of a New World

Monday, April 11, Harlem Stage

Ensuring BAsics can play the role it needs to: $60,000 goal!

A goal of raising $60,000 has been set to help create a society-wide impact with the new book BAsics, from the Talks and Writings of Bob Avakian. $30,000 is for printing and promotion of the book itself. Another $30,000 is needed for the April 11, 2011 program at the Harlem Stage in New York, "On the Occasion of the Publication of BAsics: A Celebration of Revolution and the Vision of a New World".

Take up the "BAsics Challenge" yourself and get the Challenge and this week's centerfold to others. Write Revolution Newspaper about your ideas for contributing to this goal, and about what happens.

To donate toward the publication of the book, checks or money orders should be made out to RCP Publications, with a notation that they are for "BAsics." Mail them to: RCP Publications, P.O. Box 3486, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 60654.

To donate toward the event "On the Occasion of the Publication of BAsics: A Celebration of Revolution and the Vision of a New World," you can go to the Revolution Books website, and please include a notation that it is for the "BAsics event." If you want to purchase a ticket, please note that clearly. $100 tickets can be reserved now.

BAsics is a book of quotations and short essays from Bob Avakian being released in March 2011. Take a look at the Table of Contents – and think about the great need for this book to get out broadly in society.

Avakian has a unique voice – a rare combination of an unsparing critique of the history and current direction of American society with a sweeping view of world history and the potential for humanity. And Bob Avakian is more than that – he is the leader of a party and a movement aiming to make revolution, actively working today to change the "political terrain," to prepare the sentiments among millions and to organize the forces that could actually lead a revolution, when the possibility opens up. He is someone, in the words of Cornel West, who "is a long distance runner in the freedom struggle against imperialism, racism and capitalism."

All that taken together means that the occasion of the release of this book will be a special and significant opportunity to bring people together from different arenas and perspectives in a cultural celebration of revolution and the vision of a whole new world.

Such an event could change today’s atmosphere, even perhaps dramatically... in an atmosphere that definitely needs changing! We are in a stifling and dark political moment, but at the same time there is a widespread – if latent – desire for another world and another way. This is particularly true for a generation of youth who have no visible options besides criminalization or commodification, many of whom are right now living and dying for bullshit and worse.

BAsics can play a unique role in changing that, inspiring people to lift their heads, look critically at the world around them and live a life of meaning – a life fueled by the hope and daring inspired by engaging real revolutionary ideas and envisioning a new world.

The event on April 11, on the occasion of the release of BAsics, will bring together artists, intellectuals, people from the community and the youth from different perspectives and different strata in a major celebration whose impact could go far beyond the walls of Harlem Stage in New York City. The program will include different kinds of musical performances and poetry readings, along with a visual arts component (either from the stage or an installation in the lobby). There will be readings of letters from prisoners who read Revolution newspaper. These are powerful examples of the transformative impact of people in the darkest dungeons responding to ideas of revolution and the work of Avakian with broadness of mind, heart and passion. These will be interspersed with people’s own reflections (from the stage or via video) of what it means to celebrate revolution and the vision of a new world, and readings of quotes from BAsics.

This is something that can truly puncture the suffocating atmosphere and impact the societal discourse with Avakian’s words, and with a major celebration of revolution and the vision of a new world.

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