Thailand is copying the self serving tactics Mao used to purge his political rivals
Editor | Fifty years since the “Cultural Revolution” and China is still recovering from the damage, while Thailand is copying the mistakes.
Blocking elected governments using vindictive and biased courts, a malicious self serving media, a menacing military, and a street gang that was above the law and hijacked the airports to lead to Abhisit’s artificially installed government, foreshadows the chaos that followed Mao’s revenge. (Editor comment posted 10/26/2008).
Li Qingyou: “Our mentality was that when Chairman Mao waved his hand, we would move, and whatever he said, we would do. We never realized where it would all lead.”
“The movement, which Mao had asserted would ensure permanent revolution, was in fact launched mainly to purge his political rivals. These included Deng Xiaoping (later to become Chinese leader) and the moderate Liu, whose liberal economic policies had undermined Mao’s authority and called into question his ability to run the country day-to-day after his introduction of the catastrophic Great Leap Forward in 1959. » The full Times Online article.
Wang Guangmei and her husband Liu Shaoqi before his fall from grace and her public humiliation by Mao’s Red Guards… In 1966 he was stripped of the presidency, and the following year both were consigned to jail where he was to die, and from which she was not to emerge until 1978… She died on October 13, 2006, aged 85.
- “The Constitution Tribunal is illegitimate and the case is completely political,” said legal expert Kanin Boonsuwan, who helped draft the 1997 (Thai) Constitution. “Judicial powers have gone too far already; the judges are abusing their power and independence. This is not only about dissolution, but the future of democracy in Thailand.”
Many legal experts see the dissolution case as a sham. Indeed, many wonder how a body created by those who overthrew Thaksin has any right to terminate political parties for allegedly attempting to overthrow democracy. And especially to do so for violating a constitution the junta leaders discarded? – The Rise of Thailand’s Third Branch – By Daniel Ten Kate – The Asian Sentenel - June 2010 update:
Ousting Abhisit May Not End Protests Over ‘Autocratic Rulers’
The current constitution, written after the 2006 coup, set up a Senate in which almost half the members are appointed. It also offered amnesty for generals such as Army Chief Anupong Paojinda, who helped oust Thaksin and (was) calling for parliament to be dissolved.
“Abhisit may resign or dissolve parliament, but that doesn’t necessarily get us anywhere,” said Prudhisan Jumbala, a lecturer at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University. “Nobody can implement the rule of law without the cooperation of society, and neither side trusts the authority of the state.”
The conflict underpins a split within Thailand’s 67 million people over the extent to which the country’s leaders should be elected. » The full Bloomberg article – By Daniel Ten Kate.
- World Wise School – Worksheet – Generalizations: How Accurate Are They?
Overview | Students will examine how generalizations can be hurtful and unfair, and they will devise ways to qualify statements so they avoid stereotyping other people. Go to this Building Society Lesson. - A Learning Foundation Lesson - Compare and Contrast –
Mao’s use of power with that in Thailand being used against deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and anyone associated with him. Go to this ESL, Law and Society Lesson.
