Cover image by Thai Lawyers for Human Rights
KHON KAEN – After a human rights lawyer and a leader of the recent pro-democracy protests were arrested and accused of several charges, Isaan student activists and a group of writers issued statements of solidarity.
Khon Kaen University student activist group “Enough is Enough” and the Ubon Ratchathani-based writers’ group Northeastern Writers for Democracy (NEW4D) issued separate statements on social media on Friday and Saturday.
“[We] are calling on all relevant authorities to immediately release the activists who are being unjustly prosecuted, and to stop harassing people who only express their political opinions,” reads the statement of the student group published on Friday.
The statement of NEW4D calls the arrests a “violation of the freedom of expression which is a basic right of all citizens in a democracy.”
Lawyer Anon Nampa and student leader Panupong Jadnok were arrested on Friday evening and released the next day. They stand accused of several charges, including sedition, violation of the emergency decree, and organizing an assembly intended to commit acts of violence.
The arrests came after a protest on August 3 in which Anon, dressed as Harry Potter, delivered a speech calling for open discussion about and monarchy and reform of the institution. The speech touched on several sensitive issues related to the monarch and the funding of the institution.
“If we don’t talk about this issue, there is no way to solve the problem,” Anon told the crowd at Democracy Monument in Bangkok. “Talking like this is not overthrowing the monarchy, but it is for the monarchy to exist in Thai society with legitimacy in accordance with the democratic system of government with the monarch as head of state.”
“From now on, no one else who speaks about the monarchy should be accused of being mad, of being insane, or carried off to the hospital even though they are speaking the truth,” Anon said, referring to the recent case of a Khon Kaen man who was admitted to a mental hospital after wearing a shirt with the slogan, “I lost faith in the institution of the monarchy.”
However, according to the police the arrests on Friday were not related to the Harry Potter-themed event but to the student movement’s large protest on July 18 in Bangkok.
Meanwhile there have been reports that the authorities are preparing to charge another 29 members of the protest movement including prominent Isaan activist and former lèse majesté prisoner Jatupat Boonpattararaksa.
“We’d like to ask all relevant authorities if people’s freedom of expression is still in place,” the statement of the Khon Kaen student group reads. “Do the people in this country still have the freedom to express their opinions based on facts, or not? Do the police, the military, and the authorities ever consider their role at all?”
The arrests of the two men and the news about more expected charges against members of the pro-democracy movement fueled more protests on Saturday evening in Buriram and at Bangkok’s Siam Skywalk.
The organisation, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), received an Albies award in New York on August 28. Yasothon native Sirikan Charoensiri, representing TLHR, delivered an impassioned speech at the awards ceremony, declaring, “We still have a long way to go toward true democracy.”
Sisters of Isan displays Isan (the northeastern part of Thailand)’s value and their construction at the beginning of the 20th century together with Thailand as a modern state. The book has recorded the stories of two sisters growing up and working from the countryside to Bangkok. At the same time, the book shows the perspectives of Isan people through their belief, lifestyle, culture, social norm, value and fate. This book covers the changes by over 50 years of Isan workers and Thailand. Hence, beyond two sisters who had shifted from rural to urban landscape, the stories inside reflect how Thai society has come. The struggle is not something Isan people choose, whereas, reading this book may imply the answer. Sisters of Isan is not just a book. This infers lives… the Isan’s lives.
The atmosphere of the general election today in the Northeast was bustling. Even in areas where it rained, voters still showed up to exercise their rights.
A team of local artists have proposed a design for a memorial commemorating the “Holy Man Rebellion” in Ubon Ratchathani province. They want to promote the area to become a historical tourist destination and symbolize a kind of a public apology to those slaughtered.
