With major updates: Absurdly banning everything red

The Bangkok Post tells us that the creeping Fascism of the Abhisit Vejjajiva regime has reached yet another level of absurd political repression.

The “Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation has banned souvenirs and other materials considered offensive to the monarchy and pandering to disunity which were made available at the red shirt rally in Bangkok on Friday.” Yes, dangerous souvenirs are banned even if they are free!

CRES “issued a number of orders to prohibit the sale or free distribution of rally materials including shirts, photographs, illustrations and printed texts apparently aimed at sparking disunity in society.” Of course the definition of what is unacceptable is left with the uniformed fascists who serve the military-civilian authoritarian regime who could “confiscate those materials and take action against violations of the ban.”

The arch-royalist army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha signed the order that would put “offenders” in jail for two years and a fine of 40,000 baht. As a good royalist and fascist, Prayuth was apparently “upset when he came across T-shirts and sandals carrying photos mocking important figures.”

How shocking! Mocking the higher ups! Ban the lot! PPT is at a loss as to how to describe the revulsion at seeing such authoritarian measures seemingly uncontested by so-called human rights groups.

Special Branch Police reckon about 7,000 people turned up for the red shirt rally – see the Bangkok Post photo here -looks like an under-estimate, as usual.

Truth is under threat in Thailand by the alliance of the military with royalists in a regime of repression that is now only challenged by the red shirts.

Update 1: More details here.

Update 2: The theater of the authoritarian absurd in Abhisit’s Thailand continues, with yet another “dangerous” flip-flop seller arrested. Prachatai tells us that “Police arrested a flip-flop vendor at the red shirt rally at Ratchaprasong intersection, and confiscated about 100 pairs of flip-flops bearing the PM’s face… at 9 pm on 19 Nov…”.

Kornkamon Pornhit “was selling flip-flops printed with the face of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at the red-shirt rally at Ratchaprasong intersection, and confiscated about 100 pairs.  Pol Maj Gen Ronnasilp Pusara, Metropolitan Police commander, said that the police made the arrest to check whether the flip-flops were considered items prohibited by the announcement of the Centre for the Resolution of Emergency Situation (CRES) or not. However, he said that the vendor might probably be fined only for obstructing the footpath.”

Obstructing the footpath!? Seriously? Dear General, take a walk down any street in Bangkok and see where you and your men make much of their illegal wealth by organizing vendors on footpaths.

More seriously, this is yet one more example of the extremist measures being taken to “protect” the royalist hegemony. Earlier posts on similar arrests here and here.

Update 3: The Bangkok Post reports that Abhisit is re-thinking the idea of the CRES banning “items, which include T-shirts and sandals bearing images of prominent people.” Why? Not because the whole idea is absurd but because it might lead to more “disunity.”

Abhisit reveals: “I understand the CRES issued the order because it was concerned about acts which could offend the monarchy…”. In fact, the arrests appear related to his picture. Abhisit calls for arrests and vigilence and says this can be done without the bans.

Remarkably, because they are usually silent on human rights violation by this regime, “Human Rights commissioner Niran Pitakwatchara has also criticised the CRES order. He said it was improper because it breached people’s rights to freedom of speech and did not conform with democracy.”

In fact, “What democracy?” might be the appropriate question. See the Bangkok Post’s editorial, where it also confuses Abhisit’s military-civilian regime of royalists with a democracy. It says: “The ban is problematic for several reasons. To begin with, by what authority does the military, in this case through the CRES, have the power to arbitrarily decide what is lawful and what is not and set penalties?”

Well, Prayuth effectively runs security as a military operation. Civilian politicians barely matter. With the emergency decree, judicial decisions are hardly necessary. This is simply an authoritarian regime. This is what is required to protect royalist rule.

The Post continues: “A second question is why the monarchy was brought into the ban. Clearly materials with photos, graphics or text offensive to the monarchy would already be covered by the nation’s lese majeste laws. No such materials have been reported. This seems to be part of a disturbing trend to equate criticism of the government with criticism of the monarchy.”

Exactly, and that is because the regime is doing nothing but protecting the monarchy.

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