Speech from the meeting of the International Socialist's Organisation (http://www.iso.org.nz), 17 July, 2008
By James Gluck

As many of you might have heard, read, or even seen happen, last Thursday Abe Grey, the leader of NORML and the cannabis law reform movement in Dunedin was arrested, without charge at the time in a brutal display of police repression. He was roughly handled and gained large amounts of bruising to his wrists and arms. He was shoved into a small, dirty cell and kept there for over four hours without food or water.

This is not a one off incident but merely a progression of a tendency that has always been between cops and students. As I have said in a previous speech, Students are a core of activism and usually a centre of protest movements and the like. As such, there has always been a certain amount of antagonism between the state and students, and, as has been seen so many times in the last century, the police find a purpose in strong-arming protesters and preventing any kind of dialog occurring. This trend has flared up again in recent days, but now it's not just the cops.

Cops where booted off campus in the late 90's for their repression of protests against rising university fees. Even though these protests where peaceful, the Police came with force and tried to crush the protests. In the end, it came to be that through simple refusal, the police where forced off campus. This is a key point; a recognition of the ownership of campus by students. The reason this is important in explicitly because of what the police do in society today. As Chris will explain further, it is not to protect us, nor serve us, it is to control us. Thus it should come as no surprise that they are a usual tool of student repression. By kicking them off campus, we asserted our right to protest, to be activists, to try and change the way things are.

However, things have changed in recent year and activism has waned. This has allowed the slow but steady upping of repressive forces in the university. There are three main centres of this force; Campus Cop, Campus Watch, and the Code of Conduct. All of them seem all smiles and good on the outside, but when we examine what they really do, we understand what the university is trying to do. In 2006 Campus Watch was brought in, a team of, according the University website "walking information booths". Their aim, according to the website; The teams have been introduced to maintain and improve the quality of the student experience in the wider campus environment and to assist residents and businesses of North Dunedin with any concerns they may have. Otago's campus and the concentrated nature of student flats are part of what make Otago unique. Campus Watch is focused on how the best aspects of Otago student life can be retained and enhanced by acting as a link between students and residents of North Dunedin."

This would all be very well, a group of people helping to inform students of what is acceptable, while completely unnessercary, do not constitute an attack on student liberties. However, back in either '97, or '05, (the info is sketchy here) Campus Cop was brought in; a police 'representative' on the university campus. His job, according again to the official information on the website is to offer advice on safety/security, as well as taking complaints regarding thefts, lost property etc. In short, to protect students from crime. In fact, when CC was brought onto campus, it was explicitly agreed with OUSA that the position was not in order to 'Police' students by which means making sure they obey every letter of the law, but to protect them from VTV, or Violence, Theft and Vandalism.

Finally, we have this 'Code of Conduct'. Set up supposedly to control student behaviours after the Undie 500 'riots', the document makes for an interesting read. In its preamble, we read; 'The purpose of the Code of Student Conduct is to promote the University's academic aims and a sense of community through the cultivation of mutual respect, tolerance and understanding. To this end, the University expects that students will not engage in conduct that endangers their own or others' safety and well-being.' The point I would like to highlight it the end one; conduct that endangers themselves or others. The way that this is written is deliberately vague, designed so that it can be interpreted very easily in different ways. The other key point in the code is Part One, Article 1, section f, subsection 4 (always wanted to say something like that!) "Students shall not engage in actions that are otherwise unlawful". This may appear to be innocuous and just common sense; don't break the law, however in a deeper sense it means that the university is taking specific action against civil disobedience. It is extending the power of police to effectively being able to remove students from university. I pointed out earlier how important it was that university was separated from the police, that we asserted our own right to discourse.

Dispite all the smiles and fairness that these institutions appear on the surface, their real role is much more sinister, and has been in recent months revealed. The recent events began with the arrest of a young man on university campus effectively by Campus Watch. He was smoking cannabis on campus, quietly on a study break, and was suddenly accosted by campus watch, taken to the proctor's office, and arrested there. This was a deliberate act of campus watch being the police's unofficial eyes and ears on campus. This man was not stealing anything, nor vandalizing anything, nor committing violence. He was doing nothing that endangered him, or others, and so it can be nothing more than a sting attempt through Campus Watch. Not long after this,
NORML and many others from all over campus held a protest, my first protest incidentally, and marched down to the Campus Watch office. Despite the quite clear message of "we're always open, come on in' that they try to perpetrate, the office was empty. The Campus Watch had fled. It wasn't long, before it was noticed that several police officers where observing the protest from on campus, possibly (though I can't be certain) the first time uniformed officers, other than Campus cop had set foot on campus since the late 90's. They refused to engage in dialog with the protesters, and had paddy wagons on adjacent streets ready to arrest students.

The situation escalated again during the mid-year break, with NORML's 4:20 protest raided by undercover cops, and several other students arrested. According to sources, this was actually requested by the university, a deliberate attempt to break a civil disobedience protest that had been happening for several years. Talking to those involved the cops where intimidating, loud and violent. But even this was not the most blatant attempt at breaking NORML and the cannabis law reform movement.

Last Thursday, on July 10th, Abe Grey was arrested by officers while coming out of a lecture. He was grabbed by the arms and started to be dragged off. When he asked what he was being charged with, as is the requirement, he was told "Now you're being arrested for obstructing police". He was thrown into a small cell, covered with 'shit and blood' and kept there for several hours, without food or water. When he was finally released, he had to go to the hospital emergency department to have his wrist checked out. And Abe was not the only one; several other prominent members of NORML were arrested. It is quite clear that this was no normal cannabis arrest; for the simple fact that it was specifically aimed at the leader of NORML in Otago. Abe was singled out because of his activism, and this, ladies and gentlemen is the definition of police repression.

No matter if you think cannabis should be legalized, you will understand the need for freedom to protest, and we are in the middle of a concerted attack on our freedom for that. Campus Watch, Cop, and the Dunedin police force are trying to bring down this movement. If they succeed, there is little to stop them taking down all protest movements; the Free Education campaign, the Free Tibet and anti-free-trade movements, even attacks on our own organization, the International Socialists. This is something that HAS to be fought. Defend Civil Liberties. Cops off Campus. Thank you.