Submitted on Thu, 6 Nov 2014 - 11:36 AM
A countrywide network of young activists denounced the entire coup apparatus and announced that they will not join the junta’s reform. They also voiced support for a group of the North-East based activists, who earlier issued a statement attacking the junta and now face harassment by the military.
Twelve organizations of young activists, including the Southern Thailand Activist Network, Student Volunteers for the Defence of Democracy, and the Human Rights Law Promotion Group for Society (Dao Din Group), on Thursday issued a joint statement against the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) in an open letter called “For…a forceful love”.
The statement was written to support members of NGOs and rights groups based in Thailand’s Northeast who were summoned by the military to attend a ‘perspective changing’ camp. The activists on Sunday issued a courageous statement ‘No Reform under the Boot of the Military’, denouncing the junta’s regime.
In the statement, the young activists stated that the 12 NGOs and rights activists based in Northeastern Thailand refused to participate in the junta’s reform because they love human rights, liberty, and democracy, but not the junta and that they are not supportive of the regime that has taken away power which rightfully belongs to the people.
The group’s requests to the junta are:
- Stop forcing people to love certain institutions and governing systems
- If the NCPO wants to change people’s perspectives, public forums should be held
- Power should return to the people and people’s voices should not be ignored
The group also pointed out that the junta cannot merely use martial law to demand that people ‘love’ the regime because love has to be mutual and that if the junta does not understand this basic principle, it will be impossible to “return happiness” to Thailand as they have repeatedly claimed since the coup d’état in May.
