BY ALEX BAINBRIDGE
HOBART — 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly volunteers have vowed to defy attempts by Hobart City Council to prevent the paper being distributed in the Elizabeth Street Mall. Council officers directed two 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly distributors to leave the mall on February 1 citing a by-law that prevents the "sale or offer for sale" of items without a permit. The following day, council officers called police, who threatened to arrest one of the volunteers if he did not leave the mall.
The right to distribute 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly is an expression of working people's right to free speech. 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ is not a "product" but a campaigning newspaper that exposes the injustices of capitalist society. To restrict its distribution is a restriction on the right of people who hold such views to express them.
91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly is not published to make a profit but to allow views excluded by the capitalist press to gain a hearing. The cover price goes part of the way in covering the cost of its production. Distributors often sell the paper for less than the cover price if a buyer cannot afford it, but it is necessary to ask most buyers to pay the cover price if the paper is to continue to come out.
91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly has been distributed in the mall consistently since the paper was first published in 1991 and the relevant by-laws were amended in 1997. Council officers could give no reason to explain the apparent change of policy.