I've always been aware that political blogging is not without risk. For some reason though, I always thought I ran the greatest risk for my comments on Thailand. After all, Matt once got a warning call, bloggers and forum posters in the past have been arrested, detained, questioned and censored without any public explanation being offered. And just this week, Fah Diew Kan - a political and sociological website - was shut down by MICT without warning (more on this in a moment). So much for Sittichai's promise.
But perhaps I forgot just how pathetic my beloved England has become. Blogger Lionheart has been told he will be arrested for charges of inciting racial hatred through writing when he returns to the UK.
Visit Lionheart's blog and see for yourself if he deserves to go to jail. It's important to understand that you don't have to like him, rate his blog or agree with what he says. You simply have to decide if he deserves to be banged up for writing his blog. And if so, what about this guy or these people? Why not them?
Please support Lionheart and FDK. Visit here to support facthai and oppose all censorship.
I say we stick with these people. If not, it could be us next.
*******************
Sticking with the topic of free speech or lack thereof, it appears another legal coup is in the making. True to my prediction, it appears the Election Commission have become ultra efficient and mature overnight and decided to yellow card or delay approval for 83 politicians who were elected last week. Guess what? sixty five are from PPP! It doesn't stop there either, the Supreme Court are set to hear a case against the PPP bought by Democrat MP Chaiwat Sinsuwong under charges that Samak is a nominee of Thaksin. If found guilty, the entire PPP will be dissolved.
So as an anti-Thaksin, anti-Samak, anti-PPP man I'm happy right? Actually I'm disgusted. The EC is not doing its job, its carrying out a pre-determined, crooked mission on orders from above. The incompetent, boot dragging bunch of pathetic cretins have never been good at their job. If they were, every politician outside the Democrats would have been red carded from day one, so why the blatant bias against the PPP candidates? The same goes for the Supreme Court. We knew from day one Samak was a nominee, hell that was the PPP's one and only policy platform. Why have the powers that be waited until NOW to bring the charges?
As my staunchly Democrat wife said: "If we people are dumb enough to choose PPP, we deserve them".
A lot of people seem to be seeking complex or legal reasons for what is happening. Personally, I just apply Occam's razor and plug for the simple explanation: this is plan B for the elite. They wanted to hold elections in the hope that the Dems would win so they could claim they had returned democracy to the people (although that would still be a lie). But the elite had underestimated the will for Thaksin to return and now they are resorting to plan B: stage a coup through legal channels.
Thai people have chosen PPP. They should have the PPP. They deserve PPP. Until Samak and his sickening cronies are given a chance to show how incompetent and corrupt they are, the people will never learn. By changing the rules every time they lose, the elite (you know who I mean) are dragging Thailand back to the dark ages. I fear Pasuk Pongpaichit's prediction is coming true: violence is looking likely.
Showing posts with label freedom of speech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label freedom of speech. Show all posts
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Friday, November 02, 2007
No free speech from YAF Watch
OK, sorry for this diversion from the usual topic of my blog. What I am about to say has been blocked on other sites, so I will say it here.
Last week, Nick Griffin from the British National Party (BNP) went to the US. As the BNP are a party that dare to cast concerns over Islam and immigration, they are often branded as "nazi" or "racist". This is hysterical, slanderous nonsense. The BNP are nationalists, not racists.Your humble blogger right here has a half Asian son.
Admittedly the BNP do have some murky past and have struggled to shake off members with racist views, and Griffin once (foolishly) cast doubt about the numbers who died in the Holocaust in a magazine article. He has since accepted this was wrong and has categorically stated that the Holocaust happened and that Holocaust deniers are not welcome in the BNP. Indeed, the BNP now has Jewish members. (Note that General Sonthi recently expressed admiration for Mao Ze Tong, and no uproar happened. To me this shows the difference between the Thai and British psyches.)
Under Griffin, the party has become modern and progressive. Their manifesto includes re-introduction of grammar schools, a halt on green area building for houses and economic protectionism. However, left wing groups brand the BNP with hysterical tags such as "hate figure" and "racists" to silence them. By using such slurs, the mainstream parties discourage anyone from considering them as the highly viable choice they are. BNP members have responded with intelligent debate and diligent campaigning.
Back to the issue at hand: Nick was invited to speak at several venues, including Michigan MSU (Michigan State University) by a group called Young Americans for Freedom (YAF). One would think that Americans of all people would welcome free speech, sadly this was not the case.
Before Nick even arrived, far left groups - including some group called "YAF Watch" had designed an pinata of him as a Nazi and publicly destroyed it with a cane. As Nick arrived in the speech hall, the MC said "All we ask is that you show our guest some civility". Instead, Nick was greeted with chants of "f**k you!" amongst other equally witty salutations. (From now on, please remember YAF organised the event, "YAF Watch" are a different group who oppose YAF)
Griffin's response was "I will start with some quotes, I hope that you at least won't howl those down". He was wrong. The students - mostly female for some reason - continued their barrage of cursing and delinquent taunts like "Do we shag now or shag later?". (video link here)
Two other students held signs - both with the "f" word on them - and blocked a fellow student who was simply trying to film the students asking questions for the entire one hour. (see the video link before)
Mr Griffin gave an insightful, logical and informed speech on the threat of Islam to Europe. As usual, he made a point of saying the threat was about Islam, not about race. Some students asked some excellent questions (such as: "What about Muslims who simply want a quiet life and to fit in with their society?") which Nick answered clearly. But it was not enough , the students had already decided that Nick was the villain and they wanted to feel important by doing something oh so rebellious.
At a set time, the students walked out as they chanted about "Nazis and KKK". The funny thing was that despite their walk out, the children still needed attention. They stayed outside and continued to chant so the remaining audience could not hear or talk with Nick. Another student pulled the fire alarm. Although the YAF Watch group say they do not condone this, not a single one of them saw who did it despite the fact the outer building was full of them at that exact time.
Nick barely batted an eyelid as he continued his speech and called students towards him so he could hear them and answer their questions.
After the speech, YAF members were attacked by the far lefties.
Why I am writing this? Well, I sent a message to the YAF Watch blog politely explaining some of my points above, telling them they damaged the reputation of the university and have only proved that they could not win a debate. My comment was not accepted. I sent the main blogger Phil a message politely asking why........no reply.
Click here to see my initial message to YAF Watch. Remember it was rejected but strangely, another comment was accepted by YAF Watch from an anonymous blogger who had just signed up moments after my message was sent. He was referring to the alarm incident and vigorously suggesting it was not the YAF Watch who had done it. It was almost as though someone read my message, was worried that YAF Watch looked dishonest when it claimed not a single one of them saw the alarm get pulled, and decided to reject my message and write their own instead. The brand new messenger also declared reports of attacks on YAF members to be lies. This is serious, since the YAF have filed a police report on that issue.
Remember, YAF Watch is the group declaring that others are fascists.
Well, you might not like it guys but freedom of speech is hard to stop. So I'm telling you Phil Moon (pic here) and the guys at YAF Watch right here and right now that you are a disgrace. You may be young and do dumb stuff, that's what being a student is all about. But you should know better than to use violence, abuse and just downright savage behaviour when defending your cause. In the land of the free, you guys just showed that when you can't win an argument with a sensible , logical debate, you spit your dummy out. I speak for nobody and no group but myself when I say you should be ashamed.
I posted my thoughts on a Michigan MSU facebook section and received gems such as this from Dylan Anderson (note the creative use of grammar):
Apparently the capital 'UM' is because Dylan thought I was a student at the rival Michigan University.
University spokesman Terry Denbow simply said:
Last week, Nick Griffin from the British National Party (BNP) went to the US. As the BNP are a party that dare to cast concerns over Islam and immigration, they are often branded as "nazi" or "racist". This is hysterical, slanderous nonsense. The BNP are nationalists, not racists.Your humble blogger right here has a half Asian son.
Admittedly the BNP do have some murky past and have struggled to shake off members with racist views, and Griffin once (foolishly) cast doubt about the numbers who died in the Holocaust in a magazine article. He has since accepted this was wrong and has categorically stated that the Holocaust happened and that Holocaust deniers are not welcome in the BNP. Indeed, the BNP now has Jewish members. (Note that General Sonthi recently expressed admiration for Mao Ze Tong, and no uproar happened. To me this shows the difference between the Thai and British psyches.)
Under Griffin, the party has become modern and progressive. Their manifesto includes re-introduction of grammar schools, a halt on green area building for houses and economic protectionism. However, left wing groups brand the BNP with hysterical tags such as "hate figure" and "racists" to silence them. By using such slurs, the mainstream parties discourage anyone from considering them as the highly viable choice they are. BNP members have responded with intelligent debate and diligent campaigning.
Back to the issue at hand: Nick was invited to speak at several venues, including Michigan MSU (Michigan State University) by a group called Young Americans for Freedom (YAF). One would think that Americans of all people would welcome free speech, sadly this was not the case.
Before Nick even arrived, far left groups - including some group called "YAF Watch" had designed an pinata of him as a Nazi and publicly destroyed it with a cane. As Nick arrived in the speech hall, the MC said "All we ask is that you show our guest some civility". Instead, Nick was greeted with chants of "f**k you!" amongst other equally witty salutations. (From now on, please remember YAF organised the event, "YAF Watch" are a different group who oppose YAF)
Griffin's response was "I will start with some quotes, I hope that you at least won't howl those down". He was wrong. The students - mostly female for some reason - continued their barrage of cursing and delinquent taunts like "Do we shag now or shag later?". (video link here)
Two other students held signs - both with the "f" word on them - and blocked a fellow student who was simply trying to film the students asking questions for the entire one hour. (see the video link before)
Mr Griffin gave an insightful, logical and informed speech on the threat of Islam to Europe. As usual, he made a point of saying the threat was about Islam, not about race. Some students asked some excellent questions (such as: "What about Muslims who simply want a quiet life and to fit in with their society?") which Nick answered clearly. But it was not enough , the students had already decided that Nick was the villain and they wanted to feel important by doing something oh so rebellious.
At a set time, the students walked out as they chanted about "Nazis and KKK". The funny thing was that despite their walk out, the children still needed attention. They stayed outside and continued to chant so the remaining audience could not hear or talk with Nick. Another student pulled the fire alarm. Although the YAF Watch group say they do not condone this, not a single one of them saw who did it despite the fact the outer building was full of them at that exact time.
Nick barely batted an eyelid as he continued his speech and called students towards him so he could hear them and answer their questions.
After the speech, YAF members were attacked by the far lefties.
Why I am writing this? Well, I sent a message to the YAF Watch blog politely explaining some of my points above, telling them they damaged the reputation of the university and have only proved that they could not win a debate. My comment was not accepted. I sent the main blogger Phil a message politely asking why........no reply.
Click here to see my initial message to YAF Watch. Remember it was rejected but strangely, another comment was accepted by YAF Watch from an anonymous blogger who had just signed up moments after my message was sent. He was referring to the alarm incident and vigorously suggesting it was not the YAF Watch who had done it. It was almost as though someone read my message, was worried that YAF Watch looked dishonest when it claimed not a single one of them saw the alarm get pulled, and decided to reject my message and write their own instead. The brand new messenger also declared reports of attacks on YAF members to be lies. This is serious, since the YAF have filed a police report on that issue.
Remember, YAF Watch is the group declaring that others are fascists.
Well, you might not like it guys but freedom of speech is hard to stop. So I'm telling you Phil Moon (pic here) and the guys at YAF Watch right here and right now that you are a disgrace. You may be young and do dumb stuff, that's what being a student is all about. But you should know better than to use violence, abuse and just downright savage behaviour when defending your cause. In the land of the free, you guys just showed that when you can't win an argument with a sensible , logical debate, you spit your dummy out. I speak for nobody and no group but myself when I say you should be ashamed.
I posted my thoughts on a Michigan MSU facebook section and received gems such as this from Dylan Anderson (note the creative use of grammar):
greg,
who died and made you a fucking intellectual? you obviously have no clue what you are talking about. james madison at MSU is one of the premier colleges in the US for political science. you have no clue what the hell you are talking about. get back to hanging out with your wal mart scUM fans and get the hell out of here.
Apparently the capital 'UM' is because Dylan thought I was a student at the rival Michigan University.
University spokesman Terry Denbow simply said:
“I think the event went off without disruption that would preclude two-way communication.”
“I think the behaviors were appropriate for a heated discussion."
Which makes me wonder what the hell he thinks is inappropriate.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Fight for freedom
For anyone who cares about freedom of speech - especially Thais - I would plead with them to sign the petition discussed below.
From my friends at facthai.wordpress.com
THAILAND: Petition for lecturer accused of insulting monarchy
Asian Human Rights Commission: July 23, 2007
FACT supporters, please sign! http://www.petitiononline.com/4bs2007/petition.html
(Hong Kong, July 23, 2007) An online petition has been launched in support of a Thai lecturer who has been accused of insulting the monarchy through the questions asked in a university examination paper.
Boonsong Chaisinghanon, who teaches philosophy at Silpakorn University, has been asked by its administration to hand copies of his examination papers over to the police “to be used in the preparation of evidence for lèse majesté charges”.
Students had also reportedly been told to hand over their notes from the course, Thai Civilization, without being told how they would be used.
According to the Bangkok-based Prachatai news service, Boonsong has refused to give the papers and has protested that answer papers of students should not have already been sent to the investigators without first consulting him.
The questions over which he is being investigated include, “Do you think the monarchy is necessary for Thai society…? How should it be adapted to a democratic system?” and “How should we combat the culture of militarism and feudalism in Thai society?”
The online petition, launched by members of the Midnight University group, calls the investigation of Boonsong “an unprecedented… threat to academic freedom”.
“Such an action also indicates that attempts to use lèse majesté charge as a tool to impede freedom of expression among Thai people still exist, and now they have encroached into the academic realm,” it reads.
Under the penal code of Thailand, causing insult to the monarchy is a criminal offence carrying a penalty of three to 15 years in jail.
The full text of the petition is given below. It can be signed online at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/4bs2007/petition.html
Basil Fernando, executive director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, expressed his support for the embattled lecturer.
“It appears from this that a good teacher who was simply provoking his students to ask sensible and important questions about their society and form of government has been slapped over the head with an archaic law by persons with exactly the sort of feudal thinking that he was questioning in his classes,” Fernando said.
“It bodes ill for Thailand at a bad time for the country, when there are strenuous efforts to roll back all sorts of modern thinking and institutions in favour of those that serve only the interests of its elite,” he observed.
The head of the Hong-Kong based regional rights group was the 202nd person to add his name to the petition on Monday.
“We are encouraged by Assistant Professor Boonsong’s determination to not be bullied and strongly support calls to end this pointless criminal investigation,” Fernando wrote.
“There are, besides, many other things that the police in Thailand could and should be investigating,” he remarked.
Further details on the case can be found on the Prachatai website: http://www.prachatai.com/english/news.php?id=115
ONLINE PETITION: PLEASE SUPPORT ASST. PROF. BOONSONG CHAISINGHANON, AND OPPOSE THE THREAT TO ACADEMIC FREEDOM
Dear Friends of Thailand,
Asst. Prof. Boonsong Chaisinghanon, a philosophy lecturer of the Faculty of Arts, Silpakorn University is reported to have received a letter from Asst. Prof. Maneepin Promsudhirak, Acting Dean of the Faculty, requesting the answer sheets and score details in Thai Civilization courses that Asst. Prof. Boonsong teaches. The letter reads;
“A request has been made by investigating officers of Muang District Provincial Police Station, Nakhon Pathom, for the answer sheets and scores given to students who sat the examinations for the Thai Civilization courses from the years of 2005 until the present. The documents will be used in the preparation of evidence for lèse majesté charges. Please send the said materials to the Faculty by 20 July 2007 for onward submission to the investigating officers.”
We the undersigned deem the move made by the investigating officers and the university administration an unprecedented gravest threat to academic freedom. Such an action also indicates that attempts to use lèse majesté charge as a tool to impede freedom of expression among Thai people still exist, and now they have encroached into the academic realm.
We the undersigned would like to send our moral support to Asst. Prof. Boonsong Chaisinghanon and demand that all attempts to severe academic freedom be immediately halted.
# # #
About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.
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