[Tlc] T-politics

[justinm at ucr.edu]

Forwarded from Dr. Charnvit Kasetsiri.
Thanks,
justin

Fomenting the seeds of change
By prachatai
Created 2009-04-16 06:58
M.L. Nattakorn Devakula
A lot of my friends and colleaques are in agreement that in order to realize the country's true democratic potential, Thailand needs a formal transition towards a truer more 'popular' form of democracy based on the needs and desires of the majority.
 
A double standard judiciary appointed and acting in the name of a supreme leader and tacitly, yet not infrequently, intervened by particular members of the privy council as shown in a string of events over the past 3 years have to become a thing of the past.
 
An armed forces bent on discriminating against its own population based of differing political ideology and out of the fear of 'connected' individuals having influences over them cannot in anyway be accepted in a modern day democracy.
 
The tasks of revolutionarily altering Thailand will involve a lot of work over the next several years to foment the seeds of final change. An oligarchic style of managed governance where compassion and kindness are given only to those wearing the royalists' color is a slap to the face to the majority of the Thai nation who are for the most part already living subordinated lives.
 
This movement for democratic change must begin to sow its preliminary sinews today, while the culmination of its goals will be seen several years down the road.
 
Victory was theirs this time but make no mistake the definitive battlelines of the future have been drawn and the real war is yet to have experienced its days.
 
The reds' defeat on April 14, 2009 from now on serves as a point of origination for what will ultimately become a transitional period out of the Thai oligarchic existence.

    * Article

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______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
3046 INTN
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu