Home > South-East Asia >> Thailand

They burn witches in Bangkok

Red Thai Socialist - April 20, 2014

Numnual Yapparat – Major general Rientong Nan-nah, self-appointed Witch-Finder-General and the director of Mongkutwattana General Hospital, has announced that he setting up the "Rubbish collection organisation" to root out all those who dare to criticise the monarchy.

He set up a Facebook page to recruit people to be assistant witch-hunters. Some of their members posted an horrific picture from the violence against students on the 6th of October 1976, saying that they needed to finish the job. These people want to create a climate of fear to intimidate the opposition.

The Witch-Finder-General encourages the yellow shirts to bully the red shirts by offering rewards for any "witches" who are exposed. To get the rewards, the yellow shirts have to collect evidence such as messages posted on Facebook. Then they need to find out where the "witches" live and work and then they will circulate information among their network. They will report people to the police. Their behaviour is fascist witch-hunting, pure and simple.

The mainstream media regard the Rubbish Collection Organisation as a harmless political faction. Pua Thai stays silent as usual.

The practical effect of this witch hunt can be seen already. A mother and father reported their daughter to the police and they wanted to charge their own daughter with lese majeste.

The president of the "Protect the Nation, Religion and Monarchy Network" reported Aum Neko and friends to the police for supposedly "destroying the Buddhist religion".

Aum Neko is Thammasart student and a transgender and pro-democracy activist. They like to dress up and act in provocative ways. However, there are no accusations against Putta-Isara, the Sutrep-Mob monk who has condoned violence against democracy.

Netiwit Chotipaisarn, a famous progressive secondary school student, has asked the director of the National Human Rights Commission what she thinks about the "Rubbish collection organisation". He is still waiting for the answer.

Red shirt activist and anti-lese majeste campaigner Ajarn Suda Rangukan has been victimised by Chulalongkorn University. They are refusing to renew her contract. Meanwhile the deans and vice chancellor of this university actively support Sutep's mob and the destruction of democracy.

We must have zero tolerance for these fascists. But we need to fight back against them collectively, not individually. We need to declare that the witch-hunt is a criminal activity. We need to ask society whether they want the 6th of October to happen again. If not, they need to do something about this problem. We need to say no to the "Rubbish Collection Organisation" and the Witch-Finder-General.

Source: http://redthaisocialist.com/thailand-news-update-in-english/565-they-burn-witches-in-bangkok.html.

See also:


Home | Site Map | Calendar & Events | News Services | Links & Resources | Contact Us