Guided Tour With Paul von Blum at African American Museum, Sat. 3/31, 1 PM

A bookstore at the center of building a movement for revolution 

We are excited to announce a special  fundraiser for Revolution Books! Guided Tour with Professor Paul von Blum at the California African American Museum Sat., March 31st, 1 PM 600 State Dr., LA  (Exposition Park, near USC) $20/person UCLA Professor Emeritus PAUL  VON BLUM, a long-time friend of  Revolution Books and the co-curator  of the exhibit "PLACES OF  VALIDATION, ART &  PROGRESSION: An Exhibition  Celebrating the History of Black  Artists in Los Angeles During the Second Half of the 20th  Century" will lead a tour that highlights some of his favorite  pieces in this extensive exhibit and will tell us why he chose  these pieces.  He is the author of numerous books, including   "Resistance, Dignity and Pride: African American art in Los  Angeles" and his recent memoir, "A Life at the Margins:  Keeping the Political Vision".  This exhibit is part of the  multi-institution art event Pacific Standard Time:  Art in  L.A. 1945-1980.  Learn more here. Following the tour, at 3 PM we will join the "Validancin'  Party & Reception" which honors this exhibit as it draws to  a close. Contact Revolution Books to RSVP at 323.463.3500.   Don't miss this last chance to see the exhibit, or revisit it  with Prof. Paul von Blum for an enriching tour.

Cheers to Garry Trudeau for his sharp Doonesbury comic strip last week, satirizing the Texas' mandatory transvaginal exams for women seeking an abortion. Jeers to all the newspapers that censored the strip or, like the LA Times, moved it to the Op-Ed page. In case you missed it, here's the first one.  Check out the entire week's series  here and send it out to everyone you know.

Sat., 3/24 - A Talk by Clyde Young: Mass Incarceration + Silence = Genocide

Post on Facebook, Twitter, send to e-lists - Spread the Word!  

Contact us to volunteer. Pick up flyers In English and Spanish at Revolution Books; or download and print the jpeg versions below:

 

Fri., March 16th: The Michael Slate Show, 10 to 11 am, KPFK 90.7 FM Radio

 We recommend:

The Michael Slate Show, Friday, March 16th    

10:00 - 11:00 AM, Pacific Time, KPFK, 90.7 FM Radio

Or Listen Live at www.kpfk.org  

This week's show:

Explosion at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant

JOSEPH MANGANO, co-author of The Dangerous 
Myths of Fukushima, Exposing the "No Harm" Mantra, 
will discuss the devastating effects of what could turn out to be the worst nuclear disaster in history, affecting people not only in Japan, but across the Northern Hemisphere. Joseph Mangano is an epidemiologist and Executive Director of the Radiation and Public Health Project

.

 JESSICA DELBALZO will talk about her article, "I Love Abortion: Implying Otherwise Accomplishes Nothing for 

Women's Rights."  Jessica DelBalzo is an activist writer who blogs at OpenSalon.

 

And RICHARD MONTOYA, author of American Night, the 
Ballad of Juan Jose, the latest Culture Clash extravaganza, 
playing at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

Part 2 Discussion: on The Cultural Revolution in China, Sun., March 18, 3 PM

Join Michael Slate on Sun., March 18th, 3 PM - Part 2 on "The Cultural Revolution in China" How many times have you heard this -  "Communism is a good idea but it  doesn't work and Socialism was a  horror when it did exist." This is just  a lie! Unfortunately, it's a lie that has  a lot of credence in the world today  and one that weighs heavily on what  many people even consider  possible in terms of fundamentally  changing the world. As John Lennon once put it,  "Gimme some Truth!" And that's what we'll be doing on Sunday, March 18, at 3:00 PM,  when Revolution Books/Libros Revolución hosts the second of the wide- ranging and deep 2-part discussion of "The Cultural Revolution in  China...Art and Culture...Dissent and Ferment...and Carrying  Forward the Revolution Toward Communism," an excerpt from  an interview with Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary  Communist Party, by Michael Slate in 2004. This excerpt was recently  transcribed and published in Revolution newspaper.  The truth is that the first stage of Communist revolution, which began with the Paris Commune in 1871, continued with the revolution in Russia in 1917, and ended with the 1976 coup that overthrew Socialism in China, accomplished many remarkable - and previously considered impossible - achievements in the quality of human life and the quest to carry the revolution through to total human emancipation, Communism. Secondarily there were errors, even serious errors, made in these Socialist societies. The Cultural Revolution in China was the high point of revolutionary struggle at that time but it wasn't able to take things as far as they need to go nor was it able to prevent the overthrow of Socialism. And still, the bigger truth remains: humanity needs - now more than ever - Communism. Bob Avakian has studied deeply the experiences of Socialism, positive and negative, and has drawn from a broad embrace of human experience, and out of this has developed a new synthesis of communism that opens the door to making further advances towards a truly emancipated world. This is what is concentrated in this interview segment - an examination of the experience of Socialism, especially the Cultural Revolution, and a concentration of Avakian's New Synthesis. Join us on Sunday, March 18 at 3 PM, after the L.A. Marathon is over. Michael Slate will lead the second of the two-part discussion to dig into this interview. Slate is a writer for Revolution newspaper and host of The Michael Slate Show on KPFK, 90.7 FM .We will be discussing the sections beginning with "Questions of Art and Culture, Matters of  Viewpoint and Method".  (Bob Avakian will not be present.)  Read the nuanced and wide-ranging interview at revcom.us here, or pick up copies at the bookstore.  7 PM - Fundraising Dinner for Revolution Books!  Enjoy   good food and great conversations, and help raise much- needed funds for the rent, and an additional $1,000 for the  Festival of Books booth, our busiest book event of the year.

Received in an email: Multi-Family Yard Sale for BA Everywhere  Campaign, Sat., March 17th, 9 AM - 3 PM Eagle Rock (will postpone if it rains) Thanks to all who donated yard sale items, time and  energy to last month's very successful yard sale!  We  raised over $1,000, and had fun (and yes, got plenty  of exercise). We need lots more donations of appliances, items  for babies, jewelry, etc. to replenish the many things  that were sold.  (We have plenty of clothes for adults  and glassware.)  Contact us if you have items to drop  off or need to be picked up. We also need more volunteers for this busy sale,  especially for 7-9 AM set up, and 3-5 PM clean up,  as well as Friday, March 16th preparation in the  evening.  Contact us if you can spend an hour, a half  day, or a whole day contributing to this vital campaign.   BA Everywhere - Imagine the Difference It Could Make  is a campaign aimed at raising big money to project  Bob Avakian's voice and works throughout society -  to make BA a household word.  The campaign is  reaching out to those who are deeply discontented  with what is going on in the world, and stirring up  discussion and debate about the problem and solution.  It is challenging the conventional wisdom that this  capitalist system is the best humanity can do-and  bringing to life the reality that with the new synthesis  of communism brought forward by BA, there is a  viable vision and strategy for a radically new, and  much better, society and world, and there is the  leadership that is needed for the struggle toward that  goal. Read more here.

Exciting Plans for International Women's Day Protest and Program: Sat., March 10th

End Pornography and Patriarchy: The Enslavement and Degradation of Women! Abortion On Demand and Without Apology! Fight for the Emancipation of Women All  Over the World   [Promotional flyers available below to download, print and distribute. Or pick up copies at Revolution Books.  Spread the word!]   Saturday, March 10th, 12 Noon  Celebrate International Women's Day Protest and Car Caravan throughout Los Angeles    12 Noon - Rally at Her Clinic, 2502 S Figueroa St. (& Adams) Support abortion providers. March 10th is Abortion Provider Appreciation  Day! Oppose the anti-woman, anti-abortion picketers who harass women  at this clinic.  2011 saw the largest spate of legal restrictions on abortion  since Roe v. Wade in 1973. ALL THIS MUST BE STOPPED! Fetuses are  not babies. Women are not incubators. Abortion is not murder. 2 PM -  The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, 3424 Wilshire Blvd. (1 block  east of Normandie)  The Catholic Church's approach to women, gender,  science and sexuality - like that of many religions - is a Dark Ages disaster!  The Pope has condemned condoms (causing millions of HIV/AIDs deaths). The Church condemns homosexuality and insists that "divorce is a sin"  (contributing to women staying in abusive marriages). Recently, Catholic  Bishops urged "non-compliance" with new regulations requiring health  insurance to cover birth control! 4 PM - Hustler Store, 8920 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Stop the brutality against women in the name of free speech! In recent  years, pornography has become increasingly violent, cruel, degrading  towards women; women are referred to as "cumdumpsters" and  "fuckbuckets"; the "money shot" (ejaculation in a woman's face) is  standard; humiliating cruelty-like violent "ass-to-mouth" penetration-is  normalized, and racist bigotry is sexualized. Meanwhile, the broader  culture has been pornified: pole dancing is taught at gyms, "sexting"  is a national phenomenon among teens, and the strip club is the  accepted backdrop to "male bonding." All this is tied in with, and  reinforces, the trafficking of millions of women and girls as literal  chattel in the international sex industry. This is NOT society becoming more comfortable with sex. This is  society becoming saturated with the sexualized degradation of women.  Women are not objects. Women are not things to be used for the  sexual pleasure of men NOR are they breeders of children. WOMEN  ARE HUMAN BEINGS CAPABLE OF FULL EQUALITY IN EVERY  REALM! Read more here. Contact stoppatriarchy@gmail.com  or for local info:  iwdlosangeles@gmail.com Click on the flyers below (front and back pages of protest flyer and flyer on evening event at Revolution Books) to download, print and distribute.  Help spread the word!

And after the protest / car caravan: Saturday, March 10th - 6 PM International Women's Day program and fundraiser at Revolution Books    $10 at the door We are living in a time of great danger-a time  when the lives of women the planet over are  under unrelenting assault. We are also living  at the first time in human history when it is  possible to not only dream but fight to realize  a whole new world where all of humanity can  flourish; to lift, finally and once and for all, the  veil and heavy weight of women's oppression  and bring about a liberating new day, for  people everywhere. We need a revolution! A revolution that takes  the full emancipation of women as a cornerstone. A revolution that  unleashes the fury of women as a mighty force, and that grasps how  central this question is to uprooting and abolishing all exploitation,  oppression and degrading social relations, and the ideas that go along  with them, among human beings as a whole, all over the world. Before the revolutionary society in China was reversed, women held  up half the sky and the world saw the most gender neutrality ever.  Today there is no longer the need for women's role in society to be  dictated by their biological role in childbearing. There is no longer the  need for humanity to be hemmed in by patriarchal traditions and  oppressive religious morality. This is as insane, as it is cruel, as it is  utterly unnecessary. WE DECLARE: NO MORE! From the Constitution for the New  Socialist Republic in North America  (Draft Proposal): Article III, Section  3. Eradicating the Oppression of  Women "...the New Socialist Republic of North  America gives the highest priority not only  to establishing and giving practical effect to  full legal equality for women - and to basic  rights and liberties that are essential for the  emancipation of women, such as reproductive freedom, including the  right to abortion as well as birth control - but also to the increasing,  and increasingly unfettered, involvement of women, equally with men,  in every sphere of society, and to propagating and popularizing the  need for and importance of uprooting and overcoming all remaining  expressions and manifestations of patriarchy and male supremacy,  in the economic and social relations and in the realms of politics,  ideology and culture, and to promote the objective of fully  emancipating women and the pivotal role of the struggle for this  emancipation in the overall transformation  of this society and the world as a whole."    " "You cannot break all the chains, except  one. You cannot say you want to be free  of exploitation and oppression, except  you want to keep the oppression of  women by men. You can't say you want  to liberate humanity yet keep one half  of the people enslaved to the other half.  The oppression of women is completely  bound up with the division of society  into masters and slaves, exploiters and exploited, and the  ending of all such conditions is impossible without the  complete liberation of women. All this is why women have a  tremendous role to play not only in making revolution but in  making sure there is all-the-way revolution. The fury of women  can and must be fully unleashed as a mighty force for proletarian  revolution."     - - BAsics from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian, 3:22

Welcome Back Celebration for the BAsics Bus Tour at Revolution Books

The finale of the BAsics Bus Tour pilot project was warmly celebrated last night,Wed., Feb. 22nd at Revolution Books, in L.A. For two weeks, this pilot bus tour traveled 1400 miles throughout California, reaching tens of thousands of people from diverse areas, and introducing them to the book BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian, a primer for revolution; and brought to life for many the truth that “you can’t change the world if you don’t know the BAsics."

About 40 people came to the celebration, some who had just heard about the tour, as well as many who have been supporting and contributing to its success in a variety of ways. The evening
began with good food and music, and then we welcomed back six of the tour participants, and took the opportunity to recognize those who

made the tour possible, including the person who made the awesome banners for the bus and people who hosted events in their cities and on their campuses. We raised

$165 towards a national BAsics bus tour to begin soon.

The highlight was when those who had gone on the tour recounted the responses of people from diverse places such as Watts and Pico Union in
L.A., to Orange County, U.C. Davis, Berkeley, Oakland and Fresno; from high schools and universities to homeless encampments and to

immigrants who had lost family crossing over to the U.S., finding only unemployment

and vicious repression on this side.

The tour participants talked about how this book BAsics – had a transformative effect in many different ways on so many people – including some who at first dismissed it out of hand, as well as others who
said they had been thinking these things about the system, but had not put it together before, and were deeply moved and excited by discovering this movement for revolution. For instance, in one high school class, debate broke out about whether or not the oppression of women is real, with some serious patriarchal thinking dominating the room. But when they read the quote out loud from BAsics, 1:10, beginning with “Look at all these beautiful children who are female in the world…”, this changed how students were looking at the whole question, with many saying there really is oppression of women that is very bad, wondering how it can end and it opened up whole new questions and thinking.

Tour members recalled how everywhere the tour went, debate and discussion would jump off about the horrors of this system, Avakian’s re-envisioned socialism and communism and the emancipation of humanity, and they were struck by how many people feel this system is not working and are looking for and open to a real alternative.

Three of the tour members performed a skit they did on the tour, which was written by volunteers in L.A. based on the spoken word piece “All Played Out” by Bob Avakian. Outrages of this system were called out, and symbols like the Bible, the American flag, a coat hanger and more were tossed into a garbage can, while the audience joined in with the refrain, “ALL PLAYED OUT!”

As we mingled afterwards, a high school student who didn’t know about this movement before said she didn’t realize it could be so interesting and exciting, and she bought BAsics to get into it. And several people expressed interest in joining and being part of the national tour to be launched in the coming months.