Shoplifting Latrobe Uni Students

Four editors of the LaTrobe Uni student newspaper Rabelais are facing fines and possible jail each merely for reprinting an article on shoplifting. Using an increasingly used section of the censorship laws,Victorian police - with the full co-operation of the Liberal State government and at the insistence of Simon Crean, then Labour Federal Minister for education - have mounted a vigorous campaign to jail the four editors. This campaign of political censorship is the battering ram of the State Liberal Government moves to shut down student unions, via anti- student union legislation.

According to the police, the article discussing shoplifting is an 'objectionable publication'and therefore breaks the law. Student newspapers, in particular, have a long history of running contraversial articles, from discussion of sexuality to information on drugs. yet police, the Retail Traders Association and the Victorian Attorney General Jan Wade have chosen to persue the Rabelais editors. Regardless of wewther one agrees with the content of the article, it is clear that this is a major threat to free speech, and that people should not be put in jail for expressing their point of view, or indeed in this case, publishing the views of others.

These charges ban the discussion of 'illegal activity'. The same charges could be used against people leafleting in support of picketing or other industrial actions. Any community action defying unjust laws or government power could be censored using such charges.

Four arrested for occupation

Four more students have been arrested for occupying the Uni administration building in 1995 in protest at anti-student union laws. A locked door was damaged during the protest and La Trobe Uni Administrators have used the State police to seek out and arrest students at their homes.

Warrants are also out for another two students, presumably the strategy is to stop any more direct action.

Alas for the Admin, students from across Victorian campuses have come to a rally at La Trobe in May 96 in solidarity and to protest at their own situations where all student papers and unions have been defunded by the State.

Contact:

Defend the Rabelais Editors Campaign,
Student Defence Committe, PO Box 146,
La Trobe Uni Post Office, Bundoora 3083.
Tel: 9479-2976/3550.

Latrobe Anarchist Conference begins on the 8th June until the 10th June. Workshops and discussions will be going all weekend and childcare is provided. There is a discussion about the Anarchist Black Cross at 2.30pm, Main Lecture Theatre, Latrobe Uni. For more details contact (03) 9479-2976. click here to go back to the index