News Forum - Vigil to mark 45th anniversary of Thammasat University massacre

[Thaiger]

Today marks the 45th anniversary of the infamous October 6 massacre at Thammasat University in Bangkok in 1976, when 4,000 police and military forces blocked all exits from the university before firing machine guns, assault rifles, grenade launchers, and other military-grade weapons on the students after increased anti-government protests. An alms-giving ceremony this morning started the day of remembrance. Organizations play garlands and flowers in the courtyard on the university campus named for October 6 and requested the attendees to stand in silence pay respect for the over 40 people killed in the massacre. A student from the university read […]

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[gummy]

Unfortunately that sacrifice by so many innocents has brought about no change to the culture of the regime still in power these days. You can almost hear the rifle bolts clicking as they inch towards another tragedy to keep the corrupt and depraved in power. Well I think so anyway.

[Rain]

18 minutes ago, gummy said:

Unfortunately that sacrifice by so many innocents has brought about no change to the culture of the regime still in power these days. You can almost hear the rifle bolts clicking as they inch towards another tragedy to keep the corrupt and depraved in power. Well I think so anyway.

Yep.

In this sense, things haven't changed whatsoever - be it a so called civilian democratically elected govt or one of the usual coup derived variety. Hok Tula can only be remembered as to why the demonstrations took place. Same revolt. Same reasoning. To this day, some still don't get it - 

Has its contemporary place: 

1957, 1962, 1973, 1976, 1988, 1992, 2010, present day. 

What do they all have in common? 

[Rain]

38 minutes ago, whitesnake said:

Thai army AKA "Bar-stools!"

And exist for one reason and one reason only.

[Rain]

 

[Rain]

 

[gummy]

Got some pictures that I will not post of students having been hung from the trees being beaten. Animals and they are still in charge Of course it could have been stopped but then certain people were worried that their lifestyle would be changed for ever. That depraved and corrupt lifestyle is still on display to this very day.

[Rain]

1 hour ago, gummy said:

Got some pictures that I will not post of students having been hung from the trees being beaten. Animals and they are still in charge Of course it could have been stopped but then certain people were worried that their lifestyle would be changed for ever. That depraved and corrupt lifestyle is still on display to this very day.

There are a handful of sites in Thai that document these events and era.

Quite fascinating to read through them. 

[poohy]

I maybe wrong but was not the thammasat student  uprising on 14 October?

[gummy]

1 hour ago, poohy said:

I maybe wrong but was not the thammasat student  uprising on 14 October?

Well yes you are most certainly wrong as it was 6th Oct 1976. You are confusing yourself with the Thai student uprising on 14th Oct. 1973 where 71 people were reported to have died.

[poohy]

46 minutes ago, gummy said:

Well yes you are most certainly wrong as it was 6th Oct 1976. You are confusing yourself with the Thai student uprising on 14th Oct. 1973 where 71 people were reported to have died.

Aha  That must be  the one i  was thinking about i knew something happened on 14 October other than my birthday 

Is there a public anniversary for this one as well? (the massacre not my birthday)

 

Edited October 7, 2021 by poohy

[gummy]

Just now, poohy said:

Aha  That's the one i  meant with the famous Pulitzer prize photo

 

"One image, taken by AP photographer Neal Ulevich, captured the senseless brutality and madness of the morning on film; the most famous is the photo of a mutilated corpse dangling from a tree as a man gleefully smashes the lifeless body with a plastic chair. The crowd looks on, some even laughing. That photo would go on to haunt Thai politics for decades following. Neal’s images won him the 1977 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography."

Is there a public anniversary for this one as well?

 

No the the Thai administration and those that control them have almost wiped the accounts of this atrocity ( and others ) from the history books. 

[Rain]

23 minutes ago, gummy said:

No the the Thai administration and those that control them have almost wiped the accounts of this atrocity ( and others ) from the history books. 

Yet, luckily there is tonnes of material available on the subject matters that hasn't been gleaned nor censored by the usual authoritarian circles. 

[gummy]

35 minutes ago, Rain said:

Yet, luckily there is tonnes of material available on the subject matters that hasn't been gleaned nor censored by the usual authoritarian circles. 

Let's hope that one day there is a regime change and the true facts, reasons and persons culpable for the atrocity becomes better understood by the nation

[Rain]

23 minutes ago, whitesnake said:

Yet Thailand’s elite seems determined that it should be forgotten. It is barely mentioned in school history books. No official memorial to the dead has ever been erected. The only people arrested and jailed after the violence were 18 students who survived the massacre (including Somsak Jeamteerasakul and Thongchai, both now renowned historians of Thailand). None of the killers ever faced justice.

....interesting noted: A handful of renowned and respected Thai historians and social scientists that have survived and never left [or exiled] still play an important role by playing activists of sorts without retribution. 

[Rain]

The secrets and agendas [of contemporary times] go back as far as the late 50s, where it was all designed and renewed - bought into. 

[gummy]

2 minutes ago, Rain said:

The secrets and agendas [of contemporary times] go back as far as the late 50s, where it was all designed and renewed - bought into. 

I  deduced by research that it was earlier than that 1951/52. But perhaps I am wrong

[Rain]

7 minutes ago, gummy said:

I  deduced by research that it was earlier than that 1951/52. But perhaps I am wrong

Yeah, that could be said. I understand your reference of early 50s.

The revised power was set into place about 1957/58.....and everything fell into place.