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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dear Justin,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Following up on your agreement
that the TLC newsgroup can be a forum for the discussion of the aftermath of the
coup, I am attaching an article from the <EM>Nation</EM> regarding the the
closing of the Midnight University website. This is an action I believe
that we as academics should be very concerned about because of our fundamental
commitment to the free flow of information and knowledge.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> If there are TLC members who
wish to join the protest at this closure, they should send their support of the
petition to <A
href="mailto:midnightuniv@gmail.com">midnightuniv@gmail.com</A>.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Biff (Charles Keyes)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><FONT size=2><STRONG><A
href="http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/10/01/politics/politics_30015088.php">http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/10/01/politics/politics_30015088.php</A></STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<P><STRONG><FONT color=#0435b5>Midnight University website shut down after
protest <BR><IMG src="http://www.nationmultimedia.com/images/space.gif" vspace=2
border=0> <BR></FONT>A website set up by scholars and intellectuals based in
Chiang Mai was shut down after they held a high-profile protest against the
draft interim constitution.</STRONG> <BR></P>
<P>Somkiat Tangnamo, the webmaster and "rector" of Midnight University, said the
shutdown of the website (<A
href="http://www.midnightuniv.org">www.midnightuniv.org</A>) on Friday night led
to the loss of 1,500 scholarly articles provided for free public education.
<P>
<P> "This particular action is a threat against academic freedom, a threat
against press freedom, and a threat against an important public sphere. It in
effect removed the public sphere from the society, which is unacceptable and
cannot be justified," he said.
<P>
<P> Somkiat said his website, which he says receives more than 2.5 million
visits per month from viewers around the world, had been shut down without
official notice or any warning from the Information and Communi-cations
Technology Ministry.
<P>
<P>He said the ministry was authorised by the Council for Democracy Reform (CDR)
to "control, block and destroy" all media coverage - including comment on the
Internet - that would undermine the council.
<P>
<P>Besides providing scholarly articles, the Midnight University website also
"opened space" for the public to discuss social and political issues, Somkiat
said.
<P>
<P>ICT Ministry permanent secretary Kraisorn Pornsuthee said he did not know
about the shutdown of the website and would ask for details from his officials.
<P>
<P>The website was attacked after university scholars led by Somkiat held a
press conference in Chiang Mai on Thursday to voice their disagreement with the
interim constitution being written by the CDR.
<P>
<P>Six scholars at Chiang Mai University and Midnight University -
well-respected historian Nidhi Eawseewong, Worawit Charoenlert, Somchai
Preecha-silpakul, Chatchawan Boonpan, Kriengsak Chetwattanawanich and Somkiat -
launched what they called a symbolic campaign by wearing black shirts and
tearing down a mock-up of the draft interim charter at the press conference.
<P>
<P>Many scholars joined Somkiat in gathering signatures for a campaign to
pressure for the reversal of what they called an unjustifiable violation by the
authorities of the Thai people's right to information and free expression.
<P>
<P> Kasian Tejapira, a political scientist at Thammasat University, said in
an e-mail sent to his academic network worldwide that the Midnight University
website was "the foremost free and critical educational and public intellectual
website in Thailand".
<P>
<P>"This is not only a huge loss to academic and intellectual freedom in Thai
society, but also the closure of a free forum for the contention of ideas so as
to find a peaceful alternative to violent conflict in Thailand," he wrote.
<P>
<P>An online petition opposing the crackdown on the website was being written by
Pitch Pongsawat, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University, and
Thongchai Winichakul, a historian at the University of Wisconsin Madison. </P>
<P>Subhatra Bhumiprabhas
<P>
<P>The Nation </P></BODY></HTML>