Prachathai
Bangkok International Airport has now been closed by Fascist thugs from the anti-government PAD. The PAD are demanding that the elected government resigns. This is despite the fact that the government has the backing of the majority of the Thai population and even the majority of Bangkok citizens. This backing has been proven by repeated elections. The PAD want a dictatorship to replace democracy because they deem that the majority of the Thai electorate are too ignorant to deserve the right to vote. How did the PAD thugs manage to seize Bangkok International airport? Airports are supposed to be high security areas. Thai airports are controlled by the Thai military. It is obvious that the Thai military, who staged an illegal coup in 2006, have quietly supported the actions of the PAD. It is obvious that the military is unwilling to provide basic security to air travellers and air crew. But they are happy to rake in huge salaries associated with their control of the Airports Authority. Foreign governments and airlines should reconsider whether the authorities in Thailand are willing to provide international standards of safety and security.
Back in early October, the PAD thugs surrounded parliament to prevent the Prime Minister from making a policy speech. When the police used tear gas to try to disperse the PAD, the police were roundly condemned by the Thai media and most Middle-Class intellectuals. It is no secret that the PAD are armed with guns, bombs, knives and wooden batons. They constantly break the law with impunity. Earlier today PAD thugs were filmed by PBS ThaiTV, shooting at taxi drivers who were trying to defend their pro-democracy community radio station. The PAD thugs were holding up pictures of the King. Yesterday the PAD kicked and punched a senior policeman. The police are powerless to act.
The PAD is a Royalist Fascist mob which has powerful backing. Apart from the army, they are supported by the Queen, the so-called Democrat Party, the Courts, the mainstream media and most university academics. What these people have in common is a total contempt for the Thai electorate who are poor. They are angry that the Thai people voted for a government that gave the poor universal health care and other benefits. They want to turn the clock back to a dictatorship which they call “the New Order”. They are hoping that the Courts will now dissolve the ruling party and that an authoritarian “National Government” will be set up.
It is clear that the PAD, the Military, the Democrat Party and the Conservative Establishment would rather see total chaos in Thailand rather than allow democracy to function. This is despite the fact that we face a serious economic crisis. Interestingly the anti-government groups are extreme neo-liberals with little grasp about how to deal with the economic crisis or how to stimulate the economy. Apart from opposing welfare, they have attacked Keynesian policies of the previous Thaksin government.
I agree with this analysis for the most part. Thaksin had his flaws, but the PAD's end goal is to disenfranchise the poor and take away whatever measly political rights and social benefits that they have. The PAD wants to sustain the Sakdina feudal system with the PAD, the military, the Democrats, the media, and the academy as the Nai class and keep the people in the North and Northeast in a perpetual state of serfdom and poverty in order to exploit them for cheap labor.
In the old days, the phrai and the slaves had no political rights. If they wanted anything from the state, they had to make a request to their nai to have access to the government.
The PAD wants to go back to feudalism, where the farmers and working poor are more or less stateless people whose only rights come from whatever their lords and masters are so graciously willing to give them.
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