Huddled around a table at a university canteen, six Thai students draft a newsletter celebrating democracy – a meeting that would have barely attracted a glance two months ago, but could now land them in jail.
They are part of a small but growing troop of undergraduates uniting in Bangkok to resist the curtailment of civil liberties under military rule.
“We should write about what isn’t being reported,” says Achara, a 24-year-old languages student spurred into action by the junta’s censorship of domestic media.
Democratic rights. Students and the coup. The legality of the takeover. Just some of the ideas she lists in a notepad whose cover reads “Big things often have small beginnings.”
These small and sporadic acts of resistance by students – from launching alternative publications to group readings of George Orwell’s anti-authoritarian novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” – are among the few public expressions against the takeover.
That is because even a typical campus debate on a newsletter carries a huge risk in post-coup Thailand, where the line between what the junta deems lawful and illegal is increasingly blurry.
Paradorn, a 20-year-old political sciences student, was arrested last month for handing out sandwiches after police thwarted a picnic rally.
“I’ve seen authoritarian rule in Thailand before. But I was shocked that 350 officers turned up,” he says at a meeting of anti-coup friends at another Bangkok university.
‘Freedom taken’
Despite agreeing to forsake further political activity and face trial at a no-appeal military court if he breaches the terms of his release – conditions other arrested students have also had to sign – Paradorn remains defiant.
“I wasn’t arrested because I did something wrong... My rights and freedom have been taken away. I cannot accept a system that wants to destroy democracy.”
Two days before it seized power on May 22, the army banned political assemblies of more than five people. It has responded increasingly aggressively to any form of protest.
In June, police arrested a lone student reading “Nineteen Eighty-Four” and eating a sandwich, while others have been detained for displaying a three-finger salute from the “Hunger Games” films – symbols of defiance against the junta.
Social media has become another target, with police trawling for dissenting voices, and authorities have even offered citizens a financial reward if they submit evidence linking someone to anti-coup activity.
This crackdown on freedom of expression has forced students to become more innovative in their campaigns.
To avoid detection, they rely on encrypted mobile apps, secret Facebook groups and even fake identities to plan protests – changing meeting times and locations at the last minute.
