From the Revolution Club NYC:

Overflow Crowd for the Harlem Preview Showing

October 1, 2018 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

It was an incredible preview screening of Bob Avakian’s historic speech at Revolution Books in Harlem on Sunday, September 23. There was excitement and anticipation in the air. People came early to get a good seat, and the house was full by the time the film began, with an overflow crowd seated under a canopy outside of the bookstore watching on a TV screen.

People came from all over the city and beyond, and it was a very diverse audience. There were musicians and artists, students and young people, veterans of the ’60s, an attorney and other professionals, and residents from Harlem. Members of the Revolution Club were there, along with activists from Refuse Fascism and supporters of Revolution Books and The Bob Avakian Institute. There were a number of new people who had never been to Revolution Books before. People heard about it through email or saw the film trailer on social media or had gotten a flyer on the street. Others got a phone call or a text message. Some people came by themselves and others came with friends.

People had a lot on their minds, and many had come to engage, to learn, and to look for answers. A young Black college student shared a story as she waited for the film to start of going to a high school in another part of the country and risking getting in trouble for standing up against racism in her school, and said she wanted to see what the film said about all this. A jazz musician in town visiting came and brought a friend to watch the film. A high school student came after learning about this from members of the Revolution Club at the September 15 Refuse Fascism protest against the fascist Trump/Pence regime. An attorney active in the struggle for justice for the people in Puerto Rico came with her husband and said she had shared the trailer of the film on social media. A person who is moving to Delaware came back for the film screening, and several young people visiting from Mexico stopped in to watch it.

Carl Dix did a short introduction, and the film began. The audience was into it, responding at different times throughout the film. You could feel when people really connected with something in the film and you could feel when assumptions and comfort zones were being challenged. Some in the audience took careful notes, and others did not take their eyes off the screen.

After the film ended, MCs from the Revolution Club called on people to become part of the mass movement needed to spread BA’s film everywhere and spoke about why this is important and some of the many ways people can be a part of this. And they were challenged to join, volunteer with, or run with the Revolution Club, Revolution Books, Refuse Fascism, and The Bob Avakian Institute. Artists in the audience were called on to contribute to the creation of a revolutionary culture and to take up the task, as BA has emphasized, of making “a culture of revolt against this revolting culture.” And an invitation was made to everyone to contribute to all this with ideas and suggestions, including ideas on finding the forms for people to become involved together with others. Many signed up to be a part of this, with people taking copies of the film on thumb drives and making plans to organize their own preview screenings with friends, neighbors, and colleagues. And an announcement was made that there would be another preview screening at Revolution Books the next Sunday (the 30th) at 4 pm.

Revolution Books buzzed with excitement long after the film had ended. A group even walked over to a nearby restaurant to continue the discussion. BA’s speech opened up interrogation of how the system of capitalism-imperialism operates, as well as the possibility for things to be different. There were many discussions, including a few heated ones, on the fundamental question of reform or revolution. The film led some of the people we spoke with to begin questioning things they had never questioned before. A high school student really captured it when she said she felt she’s been lied to all her life about many of the things spoken to in the film. Some of the people we spoke to also said they were challenged by a lot of what’s in the second half of the film. Overall, hearing someone put forward and get into the complexity and dynamics of real revolution was challenging for some people and very attractive for others.

The impact that we saw was only the beginning of what this speech on “Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution” can and will open up as more and more people seriously engage it.

 

Home page for the film:

WHY WE NEED AN ACTUAL REVOLUTION AND HOW WE CAN REALLY MAKE REVOLUTION
A speech by Bob Avakian