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Re: Protests update
Sulak issues warning
PRAVIT ROJANAPHRUK
THE NATION July 3, 2015
THE police have launched preliminary investigations into a possible lese majeste offence allegedly committed by social critic Sulak Sivaraka.
Sulak, meanwhile, said yesterday that arresting him unfairly would signal the downfall of this government, adding that this move was likely politically motivated. "I have praised [Prime Minister] Prayut [Chan-o-cha] for not having the National Council for Peace and Order [NCPO] summon me earlier. I believe he is patient," Sulak said.
"I understand that hawkish men in his contingent are now telling him to deal with me, much in the manner of slaughtering a chicken to set an example to the monkeys, by using the lese majeste law against me." He was referring to the Thai idiom of punishing someone else to instil fear in others..... (read more)....
http://linkis.com/nationmultimedia.com/JPm5g
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Re: Protests update
Thai PBS stands firm on TV programme about anti-junta activists
Submitted by editor2 on Thu, 02/07/2015
After being summoned by the Thai broadcasting authorities, Thai PBS, a public media company supported by the state, clarified that it was only doing its duty in broadcasting a TV programme about the 14 embattled anti-junta activists.
According to Thai PBS News, Wanchai Tantiwitthayaphithak, Deputy Director of the Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS), on Thursday, 2 July 2015, said that the recent Thai PBS TV programme about the 14 anti-junta activists is not a violation of the 2007 Act to Assign Radio Frequencies and Regulate Broadcasting and Telecommunication Services.
He mentioned that the Thai PBS was only doing its duty as a media outlet in the public interest.
тАЬAs a public media outlet, Thai PBS performs its role strictly in accordance with Article 4 of the Thai PBS Act (governing the Thai PBS code of conduct and operations) to promote media freedom and foster a democratic society in which people can have equal access to information,тАЭ said Wanchai.
On Monday, 29 June 2015, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission of Thailand (NBCT) summoned for discussion the executive board members of Thai PBS over a TV news programme called тАЬthe Analysis of the Movement of the Student Activists under the Governance of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)тАЭ, a TV programme on the 14 anti-junta student activists, which was broadcast on June 28.,..... (read more).....
http://prachatai.org/english/node/5247
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Re: Protests update
Amnesty International pressures Thai govt to release 14 students
Pravit Rojanaphruk
The Nation July 3, 2015
London-based rights group Amnesty international (AI) launched an urgent operation asking its members from around the world to ask for the release of 14 anti-coup students in Bangkok.
Members were asked to write letters in English or any language member uses to Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha demanding immediate and unconditional release of the 14 who are members of New Democracy Movement (NDM). AI said in a statement issued on Thursday that the organization considers the 14 as prisoners of conscience and call for the end of the restriction on the right of freedom of assembly in Thailand. The campaign will run until August 11.
http://linkis.com/nationmultimedia.com/nWcXQ
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Re: Protests update
Hundreds urge students' release
3 Jul 2015
WRITER: ONLINE
Hundreds of people on Friday evening covered a wall in central Bangkok with Post-it notes denouncing the military government and demanding the release of 14 jailed student activists.
The "Post Freedom" activity was staged by the anti-coup Resistant Citizen and New Democracy groups on the BTS Skywalk near the National Stadium station.
Participants wrote messages on colourful Post-it notes for their friends in jail and stuck them on the "Wall of Democracy" erected on the Skywalk near the Bangkok Art and Cultural Centre. Around half of the space on the skywalk was barricaded by police..... (read more)....
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politic ... s-flourish
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Re: Protests update
The myth of ThailandтАЩs bureaucratic state
By
Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang
тАУ 30 June 2015Posted in: Thailand
ThailandтАЩs latest coup was meant to replace greedy, inept politicians with benevolent bureaucrats better able to lead the country. Nothing could be further from the truth.
It is no secret that Thailand has never been short of bad policies.
The administration has often produced policies devastating to peopleтАЩs livelihoods and natural resources. One of the most popular explanations among supporters of the latest coup is the narrative of greedy and incompetent politicians. As uneducated local mafias, politicians are short-sighted because they are too concerned with the next election. That same concern forces politicians to support the wishes of their financial patrons, mostly business corporations, over those of the public.
The effect of this explanation is two-fold. First, it justifies anti-democratic sentiment because it claims that elections are the source of ThailandтАЩs administrative failures. Second, it gives rise to the bureaucratic state because this explanation blames all mistakes on politicians while giving legitimacy to bureaucrats. Thai bureaucrats then portray themselves as benevolent experts who have to succumb to the ill-wishes of their elected superiors. If the assumption that the cause of ThailandтАЩs evil is simply politicians is correct, then the military government of General Prayuth Chan-ocha should have produced numerous smart policies that will help Thailand leap forward..... (read more)....
http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandal ... tic-state/
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Re: Protests update
Court tipped to free protester students
Panadda confident they had no hidden agenda
6 Jul 2015
NEWSPAPER SECTION: NEWS | WRITER: POST REPORTERS
Speculation is mounting the military court will release the 14 arrested students of the New Democracy Movement (NDM) when it decides their fate tomorrow.
The speculation started after positive comments from Prime Minister's Office Minister ML Panadda Diskul on Saturday regarding their arrest.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha also said he has made a suggestion to the "judicial side" on how to handle the issue.
The students were arrested on June 26 following their rally against the military regime....... (read more).....
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politic ... r-students
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Re: Protests update
Junta says Int'l orgs donтАЩt understand the 14 activists' arrests in Thai political context
Submitted by editor2 on Mon, 06/07/2015
International organizations calling for the release of the 14 embattled anti-junta activists do not understand the arrests in the Thai political context, said a junta spokesman.
Maj Gen Weerachon Sukontapatipak, spokesman for the juntaтАЩs National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) stated that the government understands the role of international organizations and do not have a problem with the studentsтАЩ way of thinking.
However, the junta is concerned about certain groups who hope to take advantage of the student activistsтАЩ protests by turning it into a situation similar to the 14 October 1973 Student Uprising, stated Weerachon. Therefore, international organizations pressuring for the activistsтАЩ release must understand the Thai political context and goals of various interest groups first, stated the junta spokesman..... (read more).....
http://prachatai.org/english/node/5263
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Re: Protests update
Thai northerners gather to support the 14 embattled anti-junta activists
Submitted by editor2 on Mon, 06/07/2015
People gathered in the northern province of Chiang Mai, Thailand, to show moral support to the 14 embattled anti-junta activists under tight monitoring of the police and military officers.
On Sunday, 5 July 2015, a crowd gathered in front of Chiang Mai University to hold an event called тАШPost Its for FreedomтАЩ to urge for an immediate release for the 14 embattled anti-junta activists who have been detained since last week, 26 June 2015.
The event was organised under the heavy presence of police and military officers in and out of uniforms, who tightly monitored the event.
The event was similar to the тАШPost Its for FreedomтАЩ in Bangkok on 3 July, where the event participants wrote messages on post its to support the 14 activists, read poetries, and performed live music..... (read more).....
http://prachatai.org/english/node/5266
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Re: Protests update
The demise of the Red Shirts?
July 5, 2015 uglytruththailand
Giles Ji Ungpakorn
The arrest and imprisonment of 14 pro-democracy student activists has exposed the state of the тАЬdemocracy movementтАЭ in Thailand.
In a previous post on this site I explained that the student activists had тАЬthrown down a challengeтАЭ to all of us. That challenge was whether or not people were prepared to rebuild a mass movement to overthrow the dictatorship. Make no mistake, the Prayut dictatorship is planning to cast its ugly shadow on Thai politics well beyond the day that the murderous military gang formally step down from office and allow so-called elections under their deformed rules.
The junta are now jack-booting their way into peoplesтАЩ houses or offices and threatening anyone associated or related to the students. They are telling other activists to stop criticising the junta on social media and they are putting pressure on the media to stop reporting anti-junta activities.
...... .(read more and if you are in Thailand you will need a vpn or dns proxy server)....
https://uglytruththailand.wordpress.com ... ed-shirts/
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Re: Protests update
Military Court Rules to Release 14 Anti-Junta Activists from Prison Tonight
July7, 2015
BANGKOK тАФ Bangkok's military court has ordered to release fourteen anti-junta activists from prison while they await trial on sedition charges for leading a peaceful pro-democracy rally last month.
The fourteen activists - eleven of whom are university students - were ordered to spend 12 days in prison by the court after they were arrested on 26 June for wrapping black banners around Bangkok's Democracy Monument.
They were charged with inciting unrest, which carries up to seven years in prison, and violating the juntaтАЩs ban on public gatherings, which has been in place since the May 2014 coup that overthrew a democratic government...... (read more).....
http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.ph ... 6§ion=