There is no freedom
The Red Power magazine has not appeared for two months, and The Nation reports on the reasons for this.
Red Power’s editor is activist Somyos Prueksakasemsuk explains that he has had to have the latest issue of 30,000 copies printed in Cambodia after “12 Thai printing houses turned him down … due to fear of government harassment…”. He adds that “no distributors would carry his publication because they’re ‘afraid’, adding that authorities checked the last distributor’s two years’ worth of tax records.”
Recall that both Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya have claimed that the there is media freedom in the country and that the opposition is able to be active in the media. Kasit even proclaimed that Thailand is open and freedom of the press “is second to none in the world!”
Somyos states: “There is no freedom. There is no space for us to express ourselves even though we chose to fight peacefully…”.
At present, the magazine is stuck in Cambodia as officials won’t let the shipment enter the country.
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