Rebels Attack "Authoritarian Regime"

Prebble's Rebels has expressed disgust at attempts by people associated with Waikato Student Union to censor opposition to the union's compulsory membership campaign.

Rebel President, Clint Heine, said "it's disgraceful that the independent student newspaper Fusion has been told not to criticise the student union or its campaign."

"It seems clear that Waikato Students Association has attempted to censor any dissenting opinions about what is best for students, and to try and gag an independent media outlet from reporting its views."

Mr Heine also criticised staff of Waikato University's official student newspaper Nexus, who reportedly set fire to a bin filled with copies of Fusion.

"Burning books and censoring media are things that happen in authoritarian regimes and closed societies. They are not actions taken by any reasonable, democratic organisation. This sort of mentality is yet another example of why we need to retain voluntary student union membership" Mr Heine said.

ENDS

For more information, contact:
Clint Heine (+64) (021) 122 8544
president@rebels.org.nz
http://www.rebels.org.nz

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