After Mass Rally of Thailand Social Forum

Author/ Choo Chon Kai
Translated by chong

Thailand Social Forum was held in Bangkok during 2006 Oct 21-23. It is just a month after the military coup.

On September 19, the first military coup since 1991 happened in Thailand. The caretaker government of the notorious Prime Minister Thaksin was dissolved. Thailand enters the dark ages of military autocracy again. The Council for Democratic Reform, formed by military and police forces with the support of the King, takes control over the whole country. As soon as the military authority comes to power, it imposes restraint on freedom of assembly and media, and other basic democratic rights. The process of coup looks smooth. But there are many undercurrents below the calm situation.

Some welcome this coup because it forced Thaksin government to step down. But what replaces him is not a force of "democratic reform". Instead it is only a process of interest exchange and reshuffling within the ruling power bloc. Some social movement activists who had opposed to Thaksin accept the nomination by the authority of the military and police. They joined the committee of drafting the "new constitution". From the draft of the constitution of transitional period, one can notice the power will be monopolized by the military elites. If there is no opposition, The Council for Democratic Reform will turn into "Commitee for National Security" which will hold great power to nominate administrative leaders, legislative bodies and members of drafting permanent constitution.

After the coup, the new authority announced to media that this was a "peaceful" event. Yet this is a trick of the state violance apparatus to cover up the oppression of people's democracy. There are still many social activists and progressives protesting against the coup in various ways. However, the former alliance against corruption was manipulated and became fragmented. This resulted in the social movement organizations' failure to react quickly to the coup and the serious split of the alliance. Some waited for "official nomination" to help draft new constitution. Some remained silent to witness the changes. Some left progressives have a clearer mind and stand firm on their political stances. They have opposed to the coup since the beginning of this assasination of people's democratic action.

The original idea of Thailand Social Forum was to enable social movement organizations to evaluate the political situations and plan for future struggles after the anti-Thaksin movement was in decline. But this sudden coup threatens the weak alliance of anti-Thaksin social movement and further splits it. Despite the threat of the temporary restriction on the freedom of assembly, Thailand Social Forum continued as scheduled. In the forum, the future roads of social movement after coup became the focus issue of the hot debate among participants. NGOs, trade unions and leftist political organizations also argued over whether they should form political parties or maintain a loose alliance of social movement.

The mass rally held at the end of the Thailand Social Forum also bcame a controversy among social movement organizations. This was a political mobilization against coup and an expression of their struggles for deomcracy. But the participants of the forum had different opinions on it. People organizations of "stateless person" who were already under government's monitor and harassment did not participate in demonstration. Their decision was understood by most people. However, some use it to prevent other organizations from joining the demonstration. I personally disagree with it. Some argued that demonstration was not good for keeping contact with the military authority. They tried their best to prevent protest activities. On the day before demonstration they even announced the cancellation of demonstration without notifying the forum participants. Finally the Thailand Social Forum participants reached the final resolution that all people who wanted to join the rally should gather in front of the Monument of October 14 on October 23. They would march to the Monument of Democracy at the center of the Avenue of King.

On October 23, about 300 people who could sense danger in every sound gathered at the Monument of October 14 which has deep historical meanings. People marched towards the democratic symbol of the Thai people, a democratic memorial monument without any print of the Thai royal family. I'm glad to be able to join them.

The road of Thai people's struggles for democracy and social justice has been rugged. There was a revolution in 1932. Half million of people marched to the Monument of Democracy in October 1973. Bloody oppression of the leftist student movements happened in October 1976. People's uprising occurred in May 1992. All these incidents demonstrate the strong will and courage of the grassroots to fight for a good society. The coup on September 19 2006 is cold water thrown on the people's revolutionary passion by the ruling class. The purpose of the coup is clear. It reshuffles the ruling class, who got involved in political and economic crisis, in order to restore the domination of the society by the ruling class. Only the grassroot people, the working class and the oppressed people, could end it by resistance and struggles from below. They will terminate the autocracy of typcoons, political elites and military-police groups.

October in Thailand has never been ordinary... ...

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