Friday, September 24, 2010

Free Speech


During the afternoon of the Sinfonietta concert last Sunday, which happened to occur at the same time as a red shirt rally, I was struck again by how satisfying it is to work with these incredibly smart, enthusiastic, and profoundly musical kids.  It seemed to matter little that the world outside might be collapsing around us.  Well, luckily, it didn't actually collapse.   Mozart was filling my senses.  At that moment, an SMS came from a friend.  "Facebook has been blocked by the government!" it said.  I checked my Facebook on my phone.  It was fine.  My friend's was not, though it shortly came back again.  Why his and not mine?

I wasn't very thrilled that our government recently bowed to pressure from the Vietnamese and prevented a presentation from occurring at the Foreign Correspondence Club ... a place where only weeks before I, Sumet, Senator Kraisak and others had had so delightfully anarchic a free exchange of views.

It seems that on the one hand, free speech has increased to the level that people were allowed to exercise it for months in the most disruptive possible way, by taking over public spaces and setting off explosives ... a level of tolerance of free speech unlikely to be acceptable to the west ... while at the same time, little annoying Big-Brother-like intrusions are occurring, such as websites randomly getting blocked and unblocked, perhaps due to overzealous minor bureaucrats with nothing to do.

Greg Glachant of BK magazine called to ask me whether I would still claim that today, I feel "more free" than I did during the days of the Thaksin administration.  I had to think about that for a while but on the whole, I believe that answer still to be yes ... with several "buts" attached.

The day after tomorrow, Bruce and I will perform another episode of AVATAR - No. VII - at the BACC.  Let's hope the air conditioning stays on.  Meanwhile, Trisdee, having, in his inaugural blog, painted Bundit as the Milli Vanilli of  classical music, leaves behind the devastation in his wake in order to conduct Monteverdi's ORFEO in Amsterdam ... with Pierre Audi directing ... which will definitely be a staggering performance.  Last night, however, he once again played the viola with the kids of the Sinfonietta.  Trisdee's blog was read by over 6,000 people in a single day.

12 comments:

  1. I totally disagree with your statement where it says that it was more free during Taksin govt than PM Abhisit's. Back then there was not either red or yellow shirts. It was totally different circumstances. Though Taksin is no longer in power but look at how many buildings were burnt, stores were looted and what else has been going for sometime now? The bomb's been going off every day. Never mind children go to school, people go to work. Imagine if Taksin was still in power, what would he do to people with different points of his views?

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  2. Did you actually read my blog? I said exactly what you said ... that when asked by Glachant whether I still felt more free now than under Thaksin, I would still say yes. You actually agree with me completely! I even gave the same examples that you gave.

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  3. Alright, sir. My apologie. I guess, I was tired when commenting. However, I'm glad we're at the same page because that is what the truth is. And, I am all for that. Thanks for reading my comments.

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  4. Free speech doesn,t exist in Thailand as long as Bangkok Post and The Nation are censoring letters attacking their columnists.Are they afraid of something?Examples are legio:look at google :thaicommentscensored.

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  5. I agree that there's a LOT of room for improvement. On the other hand I'm an occasionalr columnist in the NATION and they frequently print letters attacking me....

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  6. Because you write reasonably contrary to some other columnists like Clarkson,Titinan or Songkrahn just to mention a few.

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  7. Taksin was bad. He used law suits and threats of financial repercussions to stifle free speech.

    But Abhisit's government is much worse in its sustained and vicious campaign to use laws to instil terror and impose draconian and barbaric punishments. For example, the arrest last week of Prachathai manager Chiranuch Premchaiporn, and the arrest this week of a man selling sandals with the PM's charming face on them.

    PM Abhisit is smooth, educated, seemingly likable, but that pretty boy exterior conceals an active and persistent assault on free speech that Taksin could never match. Taksin could not match it because he did not have the army calling his shots, and Taksin did not have a conveniently imposed state of emergency to use as an excuse, and Taksin could not match Abhisit's violation of the basic human rights of Thai people because perhaps Taksin is actually the more moral man!

    It seems to weird to me after watching the evil excesses of Taksin to have to admit that there could be someone who left him for dead in the immorality and anti-democracy stakes, but Abhisit governments actual acts, as opposed to the bland facade, give solid grounds for thinking that Taksin might actually be the better man, and that's an awful thing to have to admit, or to say of anyone.

    I would love Abhisit to start proving me wrong, but there is no indication whatsoever that he is about to stop his government's policy of censorship to enforce a state of official ignorance on teh Thai people concerning matters that matter very to them.

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  8. With this kind of nonsenses it is impossible to discuss.Completely blinded by his cognitive dissonance.Look at the reasons for Abhisit,s actions ,according the law!Look at the facts,look around you and see all the bomb-attacks.To say it euphemistically:you are unbelievable and one of the reasons our beloved Thailand has all these dire problems.Egon

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  9. To be honest, I think that today's random and confusing attacks on free speech are more to do with the incompetence of middle-level bureaucrats and less to do with a consistent policy, as they clearly were during the Thaksin era.

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  10. No, Abhisit is the PM.
    Were he sincere in favouring free speech over suppression backed up by intimidation, he would stop it; all he need do is issue clear orders and start the process of legislative reform that Thailand needs to protect the right of Thai citizens to peacefully express an honestly held opinion.
    The persecutions are random because that's all that's needed for terror tactics to be effective.

    Abhisit's very first speech after being anointed (not elected) PM, set the tone that he and his oppressive government have followed ever since.

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  11. To be honest, I think not. Abhisit is the PM.
    Were he sincere in favouring free speech over suppression backed up by intimidation, he would stop it.
    The persecutions are random because that's all that's needed for terror tactics to be effective.

    Abhisit's very first speech after being anointed (not elected) PM, set the tone that he and his oppressive government have followed ever since.

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  12. If only Thailand could be half as moral as the US in respecting the basic rights of its citizens.

    See "Hateful protests try American commitment to free speech" on the BBC at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11497828 for proof of the glaring difference that betrays Thailand's gross moral inferiority to the US.

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