Thailand: Drug war endorser overthrown and followups

[naga_sadu]

Well, we all know of the Thailand coup. While I tend to get nervous seeing guys in military fatigues take over the centrestage, for this one time, I have some vague optimism that this is for the better. Thaksin was fucked up to the point where he ran the country like a corporation. And his drug war was initiated to capture lucrative backsheesh from the US arms mfrs. as well as the pharma corpos.

http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID=2&subID=934&p=2

Unfortunately his drugs policy was waged with real bullets and more than 2,500 petty drug dealers and others were simply wiped out without any legal constraints on the police.

As for corruption, he certainly did nothing to halt that; in fact he was responsible for allowing it to flourish by stacking every institution he could with his own cronies and yes-men.

Not too long back, another endorser of corporatism and all its results (mainly drug wars) was endorsed by Silvio Belrusconi in Italy. But thankfully the Italians showed him the big middle finger. But in Thailand Thaksin effectively dissolved the parliament just to go on w/ running the country in a manner which benefitted him the most, even if it constituted the deaths of some 2,500 people and thousands more incarcerated. And the hypocrite calls his party "Thai rak Thai" Or Thai loves Thai. Well, 2,500 people dead. A bloody drug war waged. The peace processes in the South derailed. Not so much "rak" here...

I feel the Thai king did the right thing removing him from power thru a coup. I feel these are indications as to better times in Thailand. Damn shame ppl like Thaksin came to power in such a wonderful and hospitable place. Also, today, about 4 senior most police officers involved in the heml of the drug war were dismissed. Not surprisingly one of 'em is Thaksin's wife's older bro.

Thaksin's behaviour was similar to a typical corporate capitalist political shotcaller.

Source: Same as link above

But his greatest weakness is arrogance. He refused to listen to advice - who cares if the public are revolting? The only thing he unwaveringly believed in was the polls and they showed him to be winning.

And where's the guy now? Relaxing in London in luxury. He just bought a multi million pound flat for himself as well as for his daughter from the Egyptian born UK tycoon Mohammed Fayed.

I think this would be a good time to call out all pot smokers in the UK and let it be known that your elected reps in whatever way u can that they shoudln't be allowing luxurious holidays to corrupt profiteering murderers. If we want to do some activism, this is the ripe time, in the UK.

A powerful drug warrior has been unseated. If we are to go after them, this is the time. No, I'm not suggesting irresponsible shit like taking a potshot at Thaksin w/ a Durganov sniper rifle, but more along the lines of getting the message out to the public as well as to the elected heads in the UK. The message should be that war criminals who cause hardship and strife for personal profit shoudn't be allowed stay in the UK and should be deported to face trials. For causing a mess in Southern Thailand. For causing a mess with his war on drugs. For selling off te nations telecom networks. And for pocketing $2 billion of the country's money w/o paying taxes.

We should try speak out that murderers deserve to be in the jail cell and not in a luxurious flat. It will be pretty tad irresponsible of us if we just allowed a former unseated drug warrior to life a life of royal comfort, as if he did nothing wrong. Vision of Shiva, you there??? Gangabiss??? This is the opportune time for blue collar activism because the former drug warrior is no longer an infleuncial shotcaller. It will be a shame if he cements a place in the UK w/o any sort of opposition or even a voice. For all you aspiring activists in the UK, this is the right time to out yourselfs!!!!!!

Either ways, the removal of Thaksin is a sign that the future may not be so bleak after all. I'm a bit "iffy" when it comes to coups but a coup is better than Thaksin like regime anyday.

 

[1TWISTEDTRUCKER]

Good read,as usual naga sadu.with any luck the drug war in Thailand will abate as a result of this despot being removed.Time will tell.Heres wishing the best for our thai brothers@sisters.
Oh ya,you don't know where i can lay hands on 1 of those afore mentioned Dragonov sniper rifles,do you? (just kidding)not realy.

 

[naga_sadu]

I really think the King cares tho, tat's one positive thing the Thais have in the midst of all this cosmetically covered corporate money grubbing bullshit. I remember as far as drugs goes, the King was only concerned about Ice and meth. It was Thaksin who blew it outta proportion to include mmj. Drugs war = profit. He did the same in the war on terror too. He blew religious strife way outta proportion in the South by redrawing ethnography along Buddhist/ Islam lines. He massacared lots of innocent Muslim ppls. in the South just to induce an internal crisis so that he'll get more $$$ being a interest holder in US arms mfr. corpos. Crises = more arms.

The King diffused that by putting a Muslim as the head of state for the entire country and all parties have promised to halt attacks and return to the negociating table. Unlike many other monarchs, he runs on popular support instead of electorial support. So, he did the right thing by diffusing that at least. I hope he does the same by diffusing the rabidly lunatic drug war Thaksin started and waged. I hope the message that gets across is that ice and meth use can be curbed greatly if a natural resource such as ganja could be tolerated like the 70s(even if not fully legalised due to UN bullshit).

For starters, all the topshot police chiefs were dismissed. The ones who were in the helm of Thaksin's drug war. I'd say that's a sound start...

Can't wait to see the good ol' sweet smelling Thai sticks back in Thailand of the 70s. And Kao San road clear of those scoundrel cops who snatch over 15000 bhat over a fucking j. Mad positive vibes ur way to all ppls of Thailand. Stay safe ppls. Good luck!!

Iwonder what local have to say of it, tho. WAiting for T_flowers...

 

[Guest]

Damn - I just replied to this thread and hit post reply instead of post quick reply. Doh! Post got eaten up into the abyss.

Oh well - let me try again.

Naga,

I am indeed here and will move to protest if I can. The UK people are a fairly politicised bunch and rest assured there will be protests of one form or another here.(cf. poll tax riots - we go off when pushed far enough!)
Unfortunately, the UK populace is not armed or there would be fear of an armed revolution and the govt. might fear us more than they already do. No Durgatov sniper rifles here man!

Our number one priority is Tony Blair however, and his corporate class cronies, that have moved the only real working mans party so far to the right that the average blue collar guy no longer knows who to vote for. Once we take back control of the Labour Party then maybe we will have a chance to affect real change and not blindly lend support and refuge to dodgy rulers across the globe. We have our own dodgy rulers here...if you get my point.

Democracy is king in the West...or should I say "bourgeois democracy". Political coups, dictatorships etc. are frowned upon as seen as inherently evil.

That's why you hear that famous war cry of "demaaaacracy" coming from the Christian conservative far right in the States - and it ain't that far off here.

We deliver democracy through bombs on these shores. and harbour anyone who agrees with corporatism.

It's a fucked up world mate.

 

[naga_sadu]

Unfortunately, the UK populace is not armed or there would be fear of an armed revolution and the govt. might fear us more than they already do. No Durgatov sniper rifles here man!

I dont think I advocated an armed response because we shouldn't sink to the same lows as the drug warriors. I do understand this isin't a partisan struggle so partisan methods won't work here. Here's my orig. quote tho...

No, I'm not suggesting irresponsible shit like taking a potshot at Thaksin w/ a Durganov sniper rifle, but more along the lines of getting the message out to the public as well as to the elected heads in the UK

I agree and as I said in my orig post armed responses will only backfire in this case. Because armed repsonses in war on terror and war on drugs have backfired...we're not undergoing a partisan struggle either. For our cause in this case, dialog is best.

Anyways, whether we bring in results or not is irrelevant. Our voice must be heard out loud and clear at least, though. Because the bastard did imprison tonnes of mmj users and even authorised the police to kill a 80 yr. old just because she had cannabis...about 10gs on her I think. That's fucked up shit man...

At least the Thai ppls won't have to deal with such bullshit anymore. Protests on this subject matter has a chance of being result yielding because the culprit involved isin't a UK corpo and although corpos work together like parasites, they aren't exactly known for loyalty if the other corpo gets down...

 

[glock23]

damn, hopefully in the next few weeks, we'll hear some news about how the laws n stuff have changed. i'd like to visit bkk next month...

 

[Rosy Cheeks]

I agree a 100%. Thaksin has been stirring around in the Thai pot without concideration to its ancients customs and culture. Cannabis and Opium production was an integrated part in northern Thailand's agriculture, and the livelihood of a vast mosaic of ethnic minorities before his idiotic drug war. It almost ruined my last Thailand vacation, I couldn't find good weed for over two weeks (lol). I remember the good old days, when Thai MP's were on the US blacklist for drug trafficking (anybody remember an incident back in the 90's, when Chat Pattana Party members were accused by the DEA to have smuggled 50 tons of Thai Cannabis into the US?).
Although, I'm not sure about the Military takeover. An Army coup d'etat is never a positive thing in a democratic society, even if it means getting rid of a guy like Thaksin. Let's just hope that in the political thurmoil, there will be more slack towards Thailand's precious Cannabis culture.

 

[Guest]

"50 tons of Thai Cannabis during the 90's." Damn, I don't think I got any of that. I sort of feel...cheated.

I have to agree, a military coup, whether bloodless or not, is still a takeover by force. Definately nothing democratic about that at all. However, the populace seems content and satisfied, so who's to argue what's better? At this point, they could safely in the name of the King, declare what representation they wanted in their new Constitution. However, I think the majority are simply waiting with hopes to see what's going to be drawn for them. This is true with all nations, no matter how democractic they claim to be. Excluding local laws, I don't believe any of us have ever been given a real choice in the matter.

The U.S. and other Western nations are far from being a bourgeois democracy. That actually would be quite a nice change.

 

[Guest]

The U.S. and other Western nations are far from being a bourgeois democracy. That actually would be quite a nice change.

Hey - hang on? So what kind of democracy is it? Do we have rule of the people? I don't think so..?

The fact is that under capitalism (which is usually referred to as "democracy") there is no real democracy. Yes, you can vote every few years in the presidential and congressional elections. But look at who stands in those elections? Only those who have enough money to do so. Who finances their campaigns? The big corporations. So you do not have a REAL choice. In practice, there is democracy only for the rich and powerful - bourgeois democracy.

More important than that, the government which is elected does not really have much choice of what policies to follow. When the 3 richest people in the US have a combined wealth equal to more than 115 million ordinary Americans, they are the ones who really run the country. With their economic decisions they determine the lives of millions of ordinary people, their job prospects, their access to health care, education, etc. When the interests of these big corporations are threatened they use the government to save them. e.g when the democratically elected government of Allende in Chile in 1973 decided to nationalize the copper mines and the telecoms (owned by US companies), these corporations gave millions and the CIA organized a military coup in Chile which replaced the DEMOCRATICALLY elected government of Allende with the military DICTATORSHIP of Pinochet.

So, what kind of democracy do we have..? Bourgeois I think? So no change there then..?

 

[Guest]

I dont think I advocated an armed response because we shouldn't sink to the same lows as the drug warriors. I do understand this isin't a partisan struggle so partisan methods won't work here. Here's my orig. quote tho...

I was just dreaming man. I liked the Durganov idea! There's more chance of seeing a pork pie in a Bahmitzvah than an armed respone to anything over here...that much we all know. The pen is mightier than the sword however and protest stirs 'em up a bit too.

Anyways, whether we bring in results or not is irrelevant. Our voice must be heard out loud and clear at least, though. Because the bastard did imprison tonnes of mmj users and even authorised the police to kill a 80 yr. old just because she had cannabis...about 10gs on her I think. That's fucked up shit man...

I couldn't agree more.

 

[Guest]

Lenin couldn't have said it better. Nevertheless, a proper title to our Western mockery of government wouldn't be Bourgeois. When I think of a Bourgeois Democracy, I try not to be swayed too much by Marx's defination. But rather I consider at least some middle class say in policy if it were truly bourgeois influenced.

Unforturnately, neither bourgeois nor proletarian get a rightful say in any policy. At best, heard but never listened to. The same system is led even in local government. This gives a small sense in a democracy if we ignore the fact - neither candidate we get to choose represents us.

What we have is more of a Capitalist Republic. It is the interest of capitalists that dictate our policies, representatives, and laws. Representatives work on behalf of capitalist interests and supporters. Selection of these representatives in the interest of capital makes this a Capitalist Republic in definition.

 

[Verite]

The dream of the peaceful coup. What a way to go though. Your out of the country on business and you get to watch your office get taken over on the local news.