I quote: “We, ‘the September 19 Network Against Coup D’etat’ and ‘individuals opposing the coup,’ hereby condemn the dictatorial military-police-civilian council that is merely following in the footsteps of former dictator General Sarit Thanarat during the period of the 1950s; and has transformed its course into a so called ‘Thai Democracy’ that has given a new kind of meaning to a dictatorial system and its justification of power transfer to their puppets/proxies.

“We… declared that we will not accept the interim constitution and the permanent constitution that is to be imposed by the council. The prime minister and the cabinet minister and all forms of power from the CNS are illegitimate.”

From a Western point of view, I like what this group and their supporters are saying and I admire their embracing of the notions of democracy and freedom. It is just a shame that they seem to be whistling in the wind. They have some very valid points and their words go some way to suggesting that not every is happy with the coup, as is often suggested in the media, but the impact their word and actions will have remains to be seen.

The Network Against Coup D’etat are a group of people with growing support who reject the idea of ‘Thai democracy.’ They are part of a backlash against the coup that takes in many different people from many different backgrounds. This is not limited to young, human rights activists, but also intellectuals, members of the media, teachers, and so on. Not everyone is happy with the way the events after the bloodless coup have unfolded.

I have received some very interesting emails with regards to the coup. After an I article I wrote was published in Guru this week I received a lot of what you could call ‘hate mail’ because of my anti-coup stance. Amidst this hate mail, however, were some very constructive pieces that I will break down on this blog as soon as I have time.

For now, though, I think it is important to put forward both sides of the story. There are increasing numbers of people arguing that the coup was not necessary and that Thaksin was voted in and he could be voted out. Do not think, however, that these people are pro-Thaksin. They are not. Although they recognize he did serve his 16 million voters to an extent, they understand that he was voted in. If Thailand wants to be truly democratic then it has to acknowledge this fact.

What people seem most angry about is that now people are outlawed from protesting those in control. When Thaksin was in power people could, and did, protest. Some would argue that now there will be no violence this way, but as evil as it is, sometimes violence is a necessary part of democracy. It cannot always be avoided, but it is side product of people’s right to protest.

There is an illegal anti-coup march organized today that I may attend. It could be very interesting.

Techno’ tags: Coup, Constitution, Bangkok, Thailand, Politics, Government