A few days ago, PPT posted on the case of Ms. Amornwan Charoenkij, the woman flip-flip seller in Ayutthaya who was arrested and whose flip-flop stock was confiscated on Sunday. Her alleged crime? The flip-flops were printed with Abhisit Vejjajiva’s face and had the text “People died at Ratchaprasong.” As PPT commented a few days ago, “No doubt Abhisit feels better and sleeps well at night knowing that he’s had a poor woman, scraping together an income, jailed as a warning to all other poor market vendors who are drawn to the red shirt message.”
Prachatai reported that Paiboon Varahapaitoon, one of the commissioners on the National Human Rights Commission, has claimed that the flip-flops violated Abhisit’s rights and his humanity (ศักดิ์ศรีความเป็นมนุษย์). PPT tries to avoid feeling outraged every moment of every day, but this is often difficult given the current state of affairs in Thailand. Today, this was harder than usual.
So let’s get this straight: It is a violation of Abhisit’s rights and humanity to make a pair of shoes pairing his face along with the statement of fact “People died at Ratchaprasong.” What about the rights and humanity of the people who died at Ratchaprasong?
It was bad enough when Ms. Amornwan Charoenkij was arrested on Sunday. But calling the flip-flops a violation of Abhisit’s rights? Really?
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