Thousands protest military regime in Thailand
https://themilitant.com/2020/09/26/thousands-protest-military-regime-in-thailand/
BY TERRY EVANS
Vol. 84/No. 39
October 5, 2020
Thousands protest military regime in Thailand
THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN VIA AP IMAGES
Six years ago Thailand’s military rulers “declared war against the
people by staging a coup. Now it is time to declare we are fighting
back,” Parit Chiwarak told the Washington Post Sept. 19, before joining
tens of thousands protesting for greater political rights.
Months of a government-enforced state of emergency have failed to
prevent student-led protests. They are demanding the ouster of Prime
Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, new elections and a halt to the
military-dominated regime’s threats and intimidation against its
opponents. Some also call for curbs on the powers of the country’s king,
the official head of state.
Prayuth, himself a former general, was installed as prime minister by
the military-appointed upper house of parliament, despite his party
losing last year’s election. Prayuth had orchestrated a military-led
coup to topple the elected government in 2014. Protests began after a
February court ruling dissolved opposition party Future Forward and
banned its leaders from political activity for 10 years.
The protests are also fed by the economic and social crush facing
working people in Thailand brought on by the twin crises of the
coronavirus pandemic and falloff in capitalist production and trade.
They have continued to grow in size, gaining some support from the Thai
labor movement, which is sharply restricted by the government.
Some 2.5 million Thais are now out of work, the highest unemployment
rate since the international financial crisis in 2009.
“When you gather in mobs, you are creating an enormous risk of new
infections,” Prime Minister Prayuth said Sept. 17, attacking the
demonstrations. “Your protests delay economic recovery.”
Anusorn Unno, a protester and lecturer at Bangkok’s Thammasat
University, told Reuters, “COVID is the government’s last card, the only
trick left up its sleeve, to undermine the legitimacy of the protests.”
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Robert G. Ingersoll
“Progress is born of doubt and inquiry. The Church never doubts, never
inquires. To doubt is heresy, to inquire is to admit that you do not know—the
Church does neither.”
― Robert G. Ingersoll,
