MELBOURNE: The Citizens’ Electoral Council (CEC), a far right extremist group, has succeeded in laying trumped up charges of assault and theft against Nige Peacock, a left wing student at La Trobe University. (See the article on page xx for an expose of the Larouche fascists of the CEC.)
1997 saw the Student Representative Council (SRC) involved in a number of anti-racist and anti-fascist campaigns, including those against the Nazi ‘bookshop’ in Faulkner and the Pauline Hanson travelling circus. In retaliation, the university and especially the SRC became targets for rightwing attacks. There were threatening phone calls and SRC President Nige Peacock’s office was vandalised.
The CEC appeared on campus last year, attempting to build and recruit. Despite the fact that La Trobe University has a policy of barring entry to racist and fascist groups, the CEC were given permission to have a stall on campus. It is doubtful whether they were open about their politics when they received this permission.
Nige has been an activist at La Trobe for the last three years and has been a thorn in the side of the administration at every step. He has been highly influential in the campaign against VSU (the Kennett Government’s Voluntary Student Unionism legislation) as well as in many other areas. Because of this the La Trobe's administrations actions in the CEC matter have been anything but supportive of Nige. In practice they could be seen as siding far more with the far right in this matter.
Nige has mounted a vigorous defence against the CEC’s allegations, and a defence campaign has been launched. To become involved in the campaign contact Militant on (03) 9650 0160.