Fear and loathing III

The military dictatorship is fearful that its repression is insufficient to destroy those it loathes.

PPT posted a couple of days ago on the small and quite ludicrous storm over a calendar in Roi-et depicting Yingluck and Thaksin Shinawatra.

Loudmouthed and excitable dictator General Prayuth Chan-ocha could have let the issue pass but, as usual, like a dog with a bone, he has gone off.

Prayuth, who is unable to bring himself to say Thaksin’s name, declared the calendar “inappropriate” because one of the images was of “a person who broke the law,” meaning Thaksin.

In line with Prayuth’s childishness, “[p]olice and soldiers in Khon Kaen also banned distribution of the calendar on Monday, when Ms Yingluck visited the province for a merit-making ceremony and to meet her supporters.” The military thugs also ordered two people “to report for attitude adjustment after finding the two members of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship handing out the calendar during the former prime minister’s visit to Khon Kaen.”

The military thugs determined that “the distribution of the calendar in public was deemed a politically motivated act, which violated an order of the National Council for Peace and Order that prohibits political activity.”

In line with this kind of fearful thuggery, a report at Prachatai tells of another attempt to ban anything the military finds unacceptable, most especially when it involves those deemed political opponents.

Phayao Akkahad, the long-suffering mother of Kamolkate Akkhad, a nurse killed on 19 May 2010 at Wat Pathum Wanaram Temple in the military clearance of red shirt protesters, reports that she is being harassed by the authorities.

The reason for the attention of thugs is that a rally is planned for  6 January:

to call for justice for victims of the April-May 2010 crackdown after the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) last week concluded that Abhisit Vejjajiva, former Democrat Party Prime Minister, Suthep Thaugsuban, his former Deputy, and Gen Anupong Paochinda, the former Army Chief, were not guilty in ordering the 2010 military crackdown.

Despite the implied threats, the rally will go ahead. The military will be worried and aggressive.