I was distributing papers and talking with students at the University of Calgary when security came over and handed me trespass notice, threatening me with a fine of $10,000 and six months’ prison time if I was found on university property. I am a student at UofC, so security was effectively trying to expel me.
They already had a target on my back based on my role in the Student Strike for Palestine campaign which the RCP launched last fall. It garnered a lot of support, and they repeatedly tried to shut down our organizing. The trespass notice was an escalation of this process of them trying to squash left-wing politics and trample freedom of expression. We knew that they had no right to ban me from the campus where I pay tuition, but they were hoping we’d be intimidated and give up.
Instead, the national leadership mobilized comrades all over the country, and the public, to bombard campus security with emails. We got lots of support from non-party members: you don’t have to be a communist to be against such a blatant crackdown on democratic rights. The whole thing looked terrible for UofC.
The next day, comrades in Calgary went back on campus, furious and more motivated than ever, to continue our agitational work. That day alone, we met 12 people who showed interest in the party and students bought 14 copies of Communist Revolution. People were impressed at our determination to stand up to repression.
An hour before our first public educational event of the fall, I received an email from campus security director Rick Gysen with the subject “Lifting of Trespass Ban.” I read the email out loud at the event and we all celebrated.
The very quick victory electrified the start of our fall recruitment campaign! It showed the power of solidarity, and the power of a centralized and professional revolutionary organisation. It also showed that the best way to defend our democratic rights is to loudly denounce all attempts at repression and to systematically organize widespread mobilization.
However, the email he sent did include a threat. It stated that campus security is now forwarding their “concerns” to the Student Conduct Office. We will have to see what comes of this. But we have beat them before, and now we are even more prepared to beat them again.
-El S., Calgary
