Arms Trade Treaty at Last

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4813972.stm

Filed under: Uncategorized

From police state to military state

Are we functioning?

Prachathai reported that during yesterday march armed military officers tried to “invite” people who distribute flyers with content that “violate the current martial law.” The head of the armed military groups was said to order his crew to take photo of those protesters to invite them [for investigation] later.”

Filed under: Free speech

Affrimative Deconstruction or Affirmative and un-deconstruction

When I heard that the displaced Thais went to protest at the British embassy for their lost of official Thainess and citizenship, I felt as if they had also invoked the former British Empire and to accept that the Thai king at that time, even doing his best, could not ace the politic of colonialism.

With the light of post-colonialism as an academic subject and paradigm, many people who suffered from colonialism would not let it rests or died. The more the past were invoked without sufficient critical judgement, i see, in the other the light of uselessness of Thai policies to maintain integrity of the land, at the expenses of those who thought they were Thais. The national history did not tell us that the expenses of dealing with colonialism to maintain integrity of the “kingdom” was paid by people who would have to be foreigners in their own land and I used to hear that because they did not want t give up their properties, they did not return to Thailand in time.

By going to the British embassy and calling for the present British embassy and what it represents to be responsible to their statelessness also make me realized how history had been taught and that the Thai state, despite its claim or survival form colonialism, could not escape colonialism and ace it like I had been taught, at least under these people’s eyes. Thai state failed t o protect them in the past and now, even they blame the British.

At the other borders are greener grass, especially in time of war. Now they do not have their land and property, the only chance is to reidentify with Thainess and come back to Thailand as Thais. The demand for automatically granted Thai nationality with out naturalization from stateless to Thais conform that they think they are Thais and lack of strategy or strong intention to be benefitted from naturalized Thais to gain back their Thainess remind me that there are big different between being Thai by birth or descendant and Thai by naturalization is not the same and it is not only the matter of pride…

Filed under: Uncategorized

Waging Peace and Wars: deconstructed Women in Peace and War

A small disturbing issue at the Thai Social Forum was women and peace program. Yes, I love the idea. I know women, equally or even less trained or “naturally,”would be better negotiators. Women would have to or are made to “negotiate” things in lives, work and family and children and lovers and much more. Ducking and dodging everyday live assault from co-workers, supervisors, family members while maintaining “good” connection with them and trying to achieve the best they can with limited resource.

In work and in daily life, it is harder for many women I know, perhaps with “asian values” to be as out spoken as we wanted to be. Perhaps the price to say “I don’t give a damn. I’d do anything I want” is too much that many of us do not willing to pay. Actually anyone can do that, minus damage. Perhaps we are too caring and too kind so the best option that we like might be substituted by the greater good for almost everybody involved (minus those that we don’t really want to give a fuck.) I personally and gradually learn that from elder friends, sisters, mothers, aunts grand mothers and many women in life. Nevertheless, I still question women’s ways. Was it only anything that women do an women’s ways?

Are women for peace or some of not clearly said voices are caught or engaged actively or subtly in wars.

During the last two years I was reading for my never to be finished dissertation, several ideas came to mind like situatedness and social construction. The ideas remind me the women are becoming “peace wagers” rather than simply natural advocate for peace and the “becoming” is more in their lessons from everyday life that any formal conflict resolution education. This would vary by cultural setting. Since I am not doing any survey in my blog (nah!), I am going to cite example from my own daily life in the following dialogs.

Example 1: Sacrifice
I (about 7 or was playing with something and my brother who is younger by two years grab that stuffs from me. (Notice age factor as well)
Woman 1 (a.k.a. my aunt): Give it to him, you are supposed to sacrifice for your brother.

Example 2: It’s not a girl thing
My male sibling was playing with a tank and plastic M-16 ( PS We are not talking small arms and males now) and a younger girl (not me) want it.
Women 2 (a relative): This is not for girl, why don’t you play with a Barbie doll.

Example 3: State of nature (those we should also question nature and why men have to use force from the start)
Men: Use force
Women: (Who was said to have less force) to confront must rely on something else other than force.

Filed under: Security, Women Studies

Freedom of the Press in National Legislative Assembly

Bangkok Post reported that some will collect petition to withdraw members of the mainstream press in the National Legislative Assembly. The matter fro me was “honest watchdogs” but the watchdogs had been discredited already whether or not they would be withdraw and many does not seem to mind.

Filed under: Free speech

Refugee cut paste

Karen refugees yearn for a normal life

By Aiya Snow, dpa

Naw Yuzana yearns for what most people take for granted. The 20-year-old ethnic Karen hopes to someday go outside her refugee camp in Thailand and get a job.

It is her dream, she told Deutsche Presse-Agentur by telephone.

“I want to support my parents with my own money,” she said from her refugee camp near Mae Sot, 370 kilometres north-west of Bangkok on the Thai-Burma border.

Naw, using an assumed name to protect herself because she wishes to return to Burma, is from a poor family who lived in a small Karen village in Burma, where the Karen have been struggling for decades for autonomy from the government, which is trying to wipe out the Karen rebel movement.

Army troops destroyed Naw’s village and burned her family’s home when she was 13. She and her family fled to the border and were soon living in one of the refugee camps just inside Thailand.

She said living in the camp was like being in jail, and she wanted a permit that would allow her to work outside.

“I want to fly like a bird and want to discover what is life,” she said. But she is only one of many refugees waiting for such a permit.

A Burmese man working with an aid organization helping the refugees said the general feeling in the camps is that there is no chance to get out of the “dark world” and work. He said many are just like Naw, dreaming of earning their own money and flying “like a bird.”

But there is hope. Before he was deposed in a coup last month, Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra had agreed in principle in talks with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to allow Karen refugees to have identification cards that would permit them to work legally.

The Burmese junta, which labels the Karen refugee population as insurgents and illegal immigrants, was not opposed to allowing the Karens ID cards, which are already offered to about 600,000 “legal” Burmese workers in Thailand.

Thaksin was reported to have thought jobless refugees could better serve the Thai economy and themselves if they were allowed to work, but the discussions have been in limbo since the September 19 Thai putsch.

A spokesman for the Karen-founded Karen Refugee Council, however, was philosophical about the change of government in Thailand.

“Nothing special has changed in the camps after the coup,” council spokesman U Saw Khin told dpa. “The so-called ID card programme was so far from us anyway.”

He added that he is not familiar with the position toward refugees of Thailand’s new government, which was named this week.

The UNHCR, however, said it expected the new Thai government would continue to consider the issue.

“We recognize the refugee issue may not be prominent on the new government’s agenda, but we expect the process to continue,” UNHCR spokeswoman Kitty McKinsey said.

The UNHCR plans to discuss the issue with the new government, which is to hold office until late 2007 when new elections are to be held.

With an ID card, refugees could work as migrant workers and would have the freedom to leave their camps and find employment in the surrounding area.

“Refugees should have the same rights as migrant workers,” McKinsey said.

Legal migrant workers in Thailand face many problems of their own, including being paid less than Thai workers, sometimes being cheated and often overworked.

But for refugees like Naw, that ID card and a job would be a dream come true. With her earnings, she could provide for her parents and younger brother and sister, she said.

The camps remained stable after the coup with new refugees continuing to arrive, and Thai government policy has not changed, said a worker with a non-governmental organization who did not wish to be identified.

About 150,000 refugees with the Karen and Kareni ethnic groups are living in nine camps along the Thai-Burma border. Some refugees have lived in the camps for 10 years or more, and many of the young people there were born in the camps. Those children have never even been to the country their parents fled. They only know camp life.

International organizations support the refugees with rice, oil and basic food stuffs, and some of them breed pigs, ducks, rabbits and other animals in the camps, but they have to sell them in the camp.

International organizations have also set up classrooms in the camps because the refugees are not allowed to attend Thai schools.

At this point, Naw and many others hope they will be able to work in Thailand, but Naw has another dream, too. She wants to return to her native Karen village to see where she played with her friends when she was child.

“I really miss my home village,” she said, but she said she’s also hoping for one dream at a time.

DPA

Filed under: Uncategorized

filtering out

I am at faculty of policial science Thammasat University browing at “Thai farmer: Thaksin Helped us” at BBC

Now we have to read different vocices at foreign press, while the protests are made to filter out those not interested in intellectual debate as if the distinguish themselves from “passionate mobs.”

What is wrong with passions against reasons. What about passionate yellow.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Yeah, we did talked

Thanks to the information given by the new civilian government that reveal some official did the talking with “insurgents.”

The talk has been achieved by the non-decisionmakers that hope to deliver what they want as insurgents. Hopefully, there are one insurgents representative to talk to but actually it was not. Let’s not be deceived by the leader of the movement. Actually people can be and can do in this age of ambiguity. Let’s not believe that any movement depends on its leaders alone. Let’s not talk about “them” as someone with a tattoo on there forehead ” Catch me, I made this bomb.”

Filed under: Something To Remember

A nice slap in the face…

Dr. Mahathir Muhamed is planting this secret peace plan in the South. I personally thanks him for this over-14-months- attempt to figure out what went wrong with Malay Muslims (the majority of Muslim but not necessary Muslims in general) in Thailand. Coupling with the initiatives from the junta that have to defeat the violence personally, it is like a slap in the face even the plan sound reasonable. According to him in the Sydney Morning Herald

Filed under: Political Sciences, Security, Something To Remember

License to Politically Rape

Filed under: Back up, Political Sciences, cut and paste from somewhere else