The Revolutionary Communist for the Emancipation of Humanity (RevCom) protested near Tommy Trojan Wednesday demanding that Asna Tabassum, the 2024 USC Valedictorian, be allowed to speak at commencement.
USC announced on Monday that Tabassum would be prohibited from speaking at the ceremony, citing safety concerns.
RevCom is not affiliated with USC.
“We’re here to say very firmly that the cancellation of Asna Tabassum must be reversed,” said Sunsara Taylor, a RevCom worker. “She should be allowed to speak at the USC graduation. The canceling of her speech is part of a national wave of repression against Palestinian voices on college campuses across this country.”
Tabassum had links to pro-Palestinian content on her social media page, which caused backlash from pro-Israel students and people outside of the USC community. The Provost said in the announcement that the decision to prevent her from speaking at commencement “has nothing to do with freedom of speech.”
Carrying signs that read “I stand with Israel equals I stand with genocide,” “Anti-Zionism is not Anti-Semitism” and “Stop the repression of pro-Palestinian voices,” RevCom protestors sparked conversations with people walking by.
“The reason I’m standing here is because I’m speechless at the fact that anti-semitism is constantly happening on our campus, nobody is speaking out against it and that it’s just veiled under the guise of free speech,” said Sabrina Jehan, a senior studying business administration at USC.
Students weren’t the only ones who noticed RevCom’s presence.
“Asna was chosen among thousands to be a voice for the valedictorian address, and rightfully so,” said Brent Blair, a faculty of practice at USC’s School of Dramatic Arts who was protesting independently by Tommy Trojan. “We should give her the benefit of the doubt that her message that she’s going to deliver as an adult will be a message of responsibility and of hope.”
Blair said Tabassum has a right to speak as the valedictorian. He stood in front of the Tommy Trojan statue Wednesday morning holding a sign that read “Jewish faculty in support of Asna Tabassum: Let her speak.”
“She might even hold opinions about the state of Israel that I personally disagree with,” Blair said. “But I would die to defend her right to say that.”
Many were confused by RevCom’s presence as a communist group not affiliated with USC. According to their promotional materials, RevCom follows the ideology of Bob Avakian, a political activist who founded the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. He has been criticized by some as a cult leader.
“Whenever I tried to talk to them and there was a point where they couldn’t answer sufficiently, they gave me this flyer which said to scan a QR code and listen to Bob Avakian,” said Jonathan Silverman, a graduate student studying law at USC Gould.
Silverman said he spoke to a RevCom member to see what their stance on Israel is.
“Their stance was that Israel’s existence is bad. The state should be abolished,” Silverman said.
RevCom is centered around a common goal to eliminate the “capitalism-imperialism” system, according to the flyer.
“We need to get rid of this system,” Taylor said. “Capitalism-imperialism is driving this genocide and requiring the US to back and fund what Israel is doing today and other crimes throughout history.”
RevCom members were handing out two flyers in front of their protest. Bold lettering on top of one of the flyers encourages people to join their “code of the revolution.”
There are six codes listed, one of which begins with, “we are going for an actual overthrow of this system and a whole better way beyond the destructive, vicious conflicts of today between the people.”
Trojans for Palestine, a USC student organization, released a statement saying that they are not affiliated with RevCom.
“This group of people are constantly on USC ground promoting what at first sight might seem as pro-Palestinian/abolitionist ideology, but they in fact hold a cult-like agenda and follow a leader named Bob Avakian,” the statement said.