UNITED STATES: Left internet site censored

UNITED STATES: Left internet site censored

On May 31, the administration of the University of California, San Diego,
department of communication disconnected Burn! from the internet
and deleted its web and email addresses.

The web site was closed with just 24 hours warning, preventing Burn!
from contacting its users to explain what had happened. When activists
retrieved their computer equipment, they found it inoperable.

The department cited an “unusual increase” in protest calls as the reason
for the closure. Burn! is visited by several thousand international
web surfers each day. Considering the traffic and the partisan nature of
the pages its hosts, and the fact that the movements represented are considered
by the US ruling class to be direct threats to its interests, it is not
surprising that complaints are common.

It is believed the increase in complaints — especially from very senior
figures in the university's hierarchy — was due to Burn!'s solidarity
with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The week before
the disconnection, the director of the department of communication hinted
that the FARC material should be removed from the site. This coincided
with a letter-writing campaign by right-wing groups in Colombia to have
Burn! closed.

Green Left Weekly readers are asked to send letters of protest
at the closure to the director of the department of communications, Carol
Padden, at <cpadden@ucsd.edu>.
Please send copies to <burn-censored@groundwork.ucsd.edu>.

The Groundwork Collective has agreed to host Burn! until its
address is reinstated by the University of California, San Diego. Burn!
can be accessed at <http://groundwork.ucsd.edu/burn>
or <http://www.sindominio.net/burn>.

BY NORM DIXON 

From GLW issue 409