Thailand: `Red Siam' manifesto
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By Giles Ji Ungpakorn
February 9, 2009 – The enemies of the Thai people and democracy may have their army, courts and prisons. They may have seized and rigged parliament and established the government through crimes like the blockading of the airports and other undemocratic actions by the PAD [Peoples Alliance for Democracy]. Yet those who love democracy, the Redshirts, have strength in numbers and are waking up to political realities. Disorganised and scattered, this movement of ours will be weak, but a party that is organised and self-led can create a democratic fist to smash the dictatorship.
While world leaders such as US President Obama struggle to solve the serious economic crisis, the Democrat Party government in Thailand is allowing thousands of workers to lose their jobs. The government sees its priority only in cracking down on the opposition using les majeste, it has even created a website where citizens can inform on each other. Troops have been sent into communities and villages to stifle dissent.
The enemies of democracy have guns, an army and shadowy bosses in high places. But their weakness is that they are united around an absurd and unscientific ideology: the ideology of the monarchy. This ideology seeks to make Thais into grovelling serfs. They want us to believe that an ordinary human being, just because of an accident of birth, can be transformed into a god, when the true abilities of the king are no different from millions of ordinary engineers, artists, farmers or skilled workers.
The conservative elites want us to believe that the king loves and takes care of the people. But the Thai population are quite capable of looking after themselves. All that is beautiful and honourable about Thai society has been created by working people.
This king:
- grew in stature under the corrupt military dictators: Sarit, Tanom and Prapass;
- allowed innocent people to be executed after they were falsely accused of killing his older brother;
- supported the blood bath at Thammasart University on October 6, 1976, because he felt that Thailand had "too much democracy". He was also the patron of the violent gang that were called the "village scouts";
- allowed the army to stage a coup in September 2006. Furthermore he allowed his name to be used by the army, the PAD protestors and the Democrat Party, in the destruction of democracy;
- has been an advocate of economic views which reveal his opposition to state social welfare for the poor. But what is worse, as one of the richest men in the world, the king has the arrogance to lecture the poor to be sufficient in their poverty (through the notion of the “Sufficiency Economy'');
- finally, this king allows his supporters to proclaim that he is "the father of the nation", and yet his own son is not respected by anyone in Thai society!
The elites in Thailand, who claim legitimacy from the king, are exploiters and blood suckers. They are not the real owners of society. They should remember that their wealth and status is as a result of the hard work of those ordinary citizens whom they despise.
For the millions of Thais who know all this to be true, it is only fear and intimidation that stops us all from speaking this truth out loud.
If we are alone, we will be frightened. If we are together we will have courage. It is time to bring into the open our anger, courage and reason in order to destroy the fear in Thai society and to bring light back to our country. We must all ask questions about the present regime, which after all is nothing other than a dictatorship which shrouds us in darkness. When we all stand up and ask questions, they cannot jail us all.
So long as we crawl before the ideology of the monarchy, we shall remain no better than animals. We must stand up and be humans, citizens in a modern world.
The red, white and blue Thai flag, copied from the West in order to indoctrinate us to be loyal to "Nation, Religion and King", the same slogan which was recently last used by the PAD protesters who blocked the airports. Yet during the French revolution, the red, white and blue meant "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity". This is the slogan we must use to free Thailand from the "New Order" which the PAD and the army have installed.
How can we organise?
Stop dreaming that ex-PM Thaksin will lead the struggle to free society. We cannot rely on the politicians of Pua Thai, either. They will only fight within the confines of present structures of society while thousands of citizens wish to go further. Fighting outside the confines of present-day Thai society does not mean taking up arms. It means arming ourselves and the masses of pro-democracy people with ideas that can lead to freedom. We must set up political education groups and form ourselves into a party. This party must be led from below by people in all communities, workplaces and educational institutions. Yet we must be coordinated. We must be firm and confident that all of us can be empowered take a lead and determine our policies. This will be our strength. Our weapons will be mass demonstrations, strikes and spreading ideas to all sections of society, including the lower ranks of the army.
As a movement for genuine democracy, our party must act openly. But in the face of repression through violence and legal means such as les majeste, we shall also have to organise secretly. They must not be able to destroy our movement by arresting top leaders. This is another reason why we want self-leadership from below.
What should our common platform look like?
It is not for one person to determine the common platform, which must of necessity be a collective decision. But as a staring point I offer the following ideas, the ideas of one red-shirted citizen.
1. We must have freedom of expression and the freedom to choose our own government without repression and fear.
2. We must have equality. We have to abolish the mentality of "big people-little people". We must abolish the practice of crawling to the royal family. Politicians must be accountable to the electorate, not to shadowy conniving figures beyond popular control. We need to build a culture where citizens respect each other. We must have freedom and equality of the sexes and among different ethnicities. We must respect women, gays and lesbians. We must respect Burmese, Laotians, Cambodians and the Muslim Malay people in the south. Women must have the right to choose safe abortions. Refugees should be treated with friendship and dignity as any civilised society would do.
3. Our country must be a welfare state. Taxes must be levied on the rich. The poor are not a burden, but are partners in developing the country. People should have dignity. The present exploitative society stifles individuals and destroys personal creativity.
4. In our country the king should honour his constitutional role and stop intervening in politics. But the ruling class in Thailand gain much from using the monarchy and they will not easily stop doing this. Therefore the best way to solve this problem is to build a republic where all public positions are elected and accountable.
5. For too long Thai society has been under the iron heel of the generals. We must cut the military budget and abolish the influence of the army in society ensuring that it can no long be an obstacle to democracy.
6. We must have justice. The judges should not claim power from the crown in order to stop people criticising their decisions. We must change the way that "contempt of court" laws are used to prevent accountability. We need to reform the justice system root and branch. We need a jury system. The police must serve the population, not extract bribes from the poor.
7. Citizens in towns and communities must take part in the management of all public institutions such as state enterprises, the media, schools and hospitals.
8. Our country must modernise. We need to develop the education system, transport and housing. We should create energy from wind and solar power to protect the environment.
9. Our country must be peace loving, not start disputes with neighbouring countries or support wars.
The dinosaurs of Thai society, the yellow-shirted royalists, will froth at the mouth in anger at this manifesto, but that is merely the symptom of people who carry superstitious beliefs from the past, seeking to cling to their privileges at all costs. Their time is finished. We, the pro-democracy Redshirts, will move forward to build a new society.
The elites have no right to rob the people of their dignity in order to prop up their own status. This sacrifice of the poor for the benefit of the elites must stop.
Those that say that Thailand is "a special case because we have a king" are merely confirming that the special status of Thailand, which they want to protect, is barbarism and dictatorship. Statements about "national security" are only about the security for those who exploit and oppress the rest of us. It is not about peace and security for citizens.
This manifesto is just a proposal for a joint platform among Redshirts. My own view is that our country should move even further to a socialist society, democratic and without class exploitation. But that is a long-term goal.
The ruling class only appears powerful because we are crawling on our knees. What we need to do is to stand up, think and act for ourselves. Then we will see how weak and pathetic they really are!
In the past, whether it was during the 1932 revolution or the 1970s struggles against dictatorship, people dreamt of freedom, democracy and social justice. It is time to turn this dream into reality.
[Giles Ji Ungpakorn works in the faculty of political science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. He is facing charges under Thailand antidemocratic les majeste laws. He is an activist with the socialist Turn Left Thailand group. Visit http://www.pcpthai.org/ and http://wdpress.blog.co.uk/.]
Thai-language version of ‘Red Siam' Manifesto
Bravisismo
I support you with all my strenght and hope to see your dreams come truth soon enough. The Thai people will need a lot more than this though, as much of the THail population will resist seeing HRM the King in the light you present him. I think that it would be wise to channel the brunt of attacks and focus on the military instituion, the true corrupts in this fiasco. They most likely control most of the actions of a fragile king, and one that has been in in their debt since he was put there.
The ruling class, in their symbiotic relationship with the military in order to steal all worth stealing from the massses will provide unlimited funds and will use their powerful media to slander and denounce your words through well placed misrepresentatios of your statements, and for that reason I also think you should concentrate your attacks against them and the military institutions. The monarchy is finished once the current King is dead, I feel that quite strongly, especially if the internal power struggler is to install the prince as his replacement. The Thai popilation does not respect him much at all, and this is something you hear from most Thais without much fear in their voice.
Red Siam Manifest von Giles Ji Ungpakorn (Deutche)
Red Siam Manifest von Giles Ji Ungpakorn
http://www.schoenes-thailand.de/news/weg-zu-wahlen/red-siam-manifest-von-giles-ji-ungpakorn.html
Thai Monarchy is a Devil
Thai Monarchy is a Devil behind the scene..
Excellent Manifesto....
Wait until the King dies then abolish their regime..
RED FIGHTER
Red Siam
What startles me about the yellow shirts is that they honestly believe that each human being is born with a fundamental socioeconomic status that cannot be altared and is unequal.
For this reason, the yellow shirts promote a Thailand that has a largely unelected parliament filled with educational and other elites to shape their form of constitutional monarchy. Such a government does not observe law or share national resources. Historians call this "despotic monarchy" because it holds suspician of an average farmer who they claim doesn't know enough about the political economy's impact on her or his life to choose representation.
Hope for the nation? Constitutional debates in such a climate are counterproductive so long as the "rules" of the yellow shirt/military game remain unchanged. Monarchism ลัทธิกษัตรินิยม has replaced rational law here. Which way, then, Thailand? Thailand's flag waving "Long Live the King" will never be finally be rid of reason or fact: "The King has lived very long." The ancestors are turning over in their own dust in disgust.
Note: Sorry to hear about the censorship problem that forces out people who are trying to consider the philosophical basis and broader sweep of the history of the Thai people in order to help it, not destroy it. May those pursuing you be stricken with illness, hampered by calamity and thrown to the wind.
Index on Censorship interview with Giles Ji Ungpakorn
http://www.indexoncensorship.org/2009/02/09/interview-giles-ji-ungpakorn/
Academic and journalist Giles Ji Ungpakorn fled Thailand last Friday, shortly before he was due to face charges of lèse majesté. Ungpakorn was one of the latest in a series of writers who found themselves prosecuted under the law, including Australian Harry Nicolaides, who is currently serving a three-year jail sentence after being found guilty of insulting the king.
Ungpakorn says he never expected to face lese majeste charges.
‘I wrote my book [A Coup for the Rich], as an academic text, raising questions about the role of the king in the 2006 coup. Everything in the book was common knowledge and fact, reported at the time’ he told Index on Censorship.
‘But when you put everything together, you get to see the big picture. I examined whether the monarchy had done its duty, as it should in a constitutional monarchy, or whether it had been manipulated in to positions by the military.’
The professor, who holds Thai and British citizenship, is scathing of his employer Chulalongkorn University’s role.
‘The university acted disgracefully in terms of academic freedom,’ he says. First, they refused to sell my book in the university bookshop, and then, when the authorities were seeking to prosecute me, they handed it over without question.’
Ungpakorn sees the charges against him as very much a part of a wider crackdown on dissent, led by the military.
‘The military is using the courts as instruments,’he says. ‘They, along with the People’s Alliance for Democracy, are attempting to create a climate of fear. They have set up a website for people to report suspected lèse majesté. They’re also tracking people down via their IP numbers, and then sending soldiers round to intimidate them.’
The current crackdown is a direct result of last year’s quasi-coup by the People’s Alliance for Democracy and its military backers, says Ungpakorn:
‘The military has no legitimacy except through the monarchy. If the king were to die, and be succeeded by the unpopular crown prince, they would be in crisis.’
Ungpakorn is angry at the obsession with pursuing lèse majesté convictions: ‘Huge amounts of government money is being spent on all this, when Thailand is suffering the same economic crisis as the rest of the world. They are wasting money while the Thai people are losing their jobs and their pensions.’
Giles, I am with you
Hi Giles,
I am one of the Thai people who have lived in the U.S. for over 30 years. Recently, I went back to live in Thailand for about 1 year and started to follow Thai politic and really study Thai society again. What I have found out really scared me. I am now back in the U.S. and I feel more at ease about writing again. I agree with what you wrote and I think it's time for Thai people to stand up and tell themselves that they have as much right as the people next to them regardless of the amount of money or the type of work they do. While I was in Thailand I wanted to tell rural people that there is no need for them to "wai" all the bureaucrats or government officers since we are all equal. My wife said that I was crazy, wai is a Thai culture not just showing respect etc. Oh well, I like western culture of shaking hand, a firm hand shake give a firmer level of sincerity than a wai would do.
Keep going Giles, I am with you
Wayne
In Thailand it is "a crime" to sign a petition
In Thailand it is "a crime" to sign a petition
Supporters of the government, the PAD royalists and the military, are waging a witch hunt against Thai citizens who signed a petition for the abolition of the lese majeste law in Thailand. This law is being used by the present regime to silence any opposition. The PAD media outlet, Manager, is encouraging this witch hunt and has previously encouraged the use of violence against opponents. The Thai government is censoring hundreds of website and throwing people into jail for expressing opinions against the destruction of democracy. The excuse is always that these people have "insulted the king".
Associate Professor Somkiat Tangnamo from Chiang Mai University, who is a prominent human rights activist and member of the Midnight University, is currently being witch-hunted by some academic staff. Lets make sure he receives international support.
Giles Ji Ungpakorn
I supported you "Professor
I supported you "Professor Ji" I do understand you, for those Thai, who's not agree because they been thought since they were born to belive what they see and hear only, but it's just a drama, they play for you to belive them. Thai peoples did not see the real picture of Thai monarchy. About time for Thai to open their eyes see of how these people ( Thai royal family ) made from, they just act and they do to keep there family live better life for themself only.
Giles Ji Ungpakorn: Abihisit: Lies, excuses and half-truths
Abihisit in Oxford: Lies, excuses and half-truths
Thai PM Abhisit’s talk about “Democracy” at St John’s College Oxford was full of lies, excuses and half-truths. But despite his arrogance, the majority of Thais and anyone else in the international community with a simple knowledge about Thai politics would not have been taken in. Two exceptions were the Vice Chancellor of Oxford University and the President of St John’s College who, like a couple of bumbling fools, praised Abhisit’s “commitment to Democracy”.
Abhisit claimed that he had been democratically elected and that he was a “guardian of Thai Democracy”. Yet, he fully supported using lese majeste to protect “national security” and agreed that I should face charges for writing an academic book which criticised the 2006 coup. However, he could not remember which in which part of the book I had “insulted the King”. He claimed the lese majeste charges against Chotisak Oonsung had been dropped and that the arrest of Prachatai website manager was a “police mistake”. He said he had “cleared the matter” with a phone call to the Prachatai Manager. He stated that the PAD leaders who seized the airports would “definitely be charged” and that the Generals responsible for the Takbai massacre “would also be charged”. He denied that his foreign Minister was a PAD supporter who took over the airports.Despite accusing me of “running away from Thailand”, he was not brave enough to take up my challenge of a live public debate on Thai TV.
In my view, Abhisit and the King share one thing in common. They are both weak and unprincipled, the real bosses of Thailand being the army and the conservative elites.
At the Redshirt meeting held in Oxford later that day, UK Redshirts affirmed a commitment to democracy and the setting up of regular meetings. We agreed to call for a General Election before the end of 2009, under the rules of the democratic constitution of 1997. We also affirmed that the Monarchy must not intervene in politics, must not be used my others to justify destroying democracy or and must be open to criticism. The meeting also agreed that political reform must be carried out by the mass of the population and not left in the hands of the reactionary Prachatipok Institute.
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Giles Ji Ungpakorn
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