Call for solidarity: How the international community can show support for Thai protesters

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This post was originally published on the Coconet website.

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Today, on the anniversary of the 2006 Thai coup, protesters will once again gather at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand, to call for political changes and democratic reforms. Students as young as 14 years old have been at the forefront of the protests, with some groups demanding ten key reforms, among them the revocation of the lese-majeste law and the pardoning of all those jailed due to this law.

With rampant arrests and state harassment, Thai protesters are calling for support from the international community in order to raise awareness of the current situation in Thailand. Members of the Coconet community have compiled a list of ways to show solidarity with Thai protesters online, as well as safety and security guides for those partaking in the protests.

ON SOCIAL MEDIA

To show your solidarity with Thai protesters, here are things you and your community can post and share on social media platforms.

Hashtags
- #WhatsHappeningInThailand
- #หยุดคุกคามประชาชน (which translates to #StopHarassingPeople)
- #19กันยาทวงอำนาจคืนราษฎร (which translates to September 19: Return power to civilians)
- #แนวร่วมธรรมศาสตร์และการชุมนุม (which translates to the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration Group, the main organiser of the September 19 protest)
- #ผู้หญิงปลดแอก #ปลอดภัยในม็อบ (which translates to #womenforfreedomanddemocracy and #protestsafely)
Graphics and social media cards
- These graphics against dictatorship and on the disappearance of Thai human rights activist Wanchalearm Satsaksit
- More social media cards by Freedom for Thai, available in multiple languages
Articles and statements
- An English RSS feed by Prachatai that aggregates the latest articles on the Thai protests
- An in-depth article by journalist and Coconet community member Hathairat Phaholtap on the ten key demands by United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration Group, the main organiser of the September 19 protest
- A statement by Forum Asia, dated August 13, urging the Thai government to respect free speech and the right to peaceful assembly

You can also post these stickers to show solidarity—and even print them out and distribute to your networks.

ON THE GROUND

Arul Prakkash, WITNESS Senior Manager of Programs for Asia and Pacific as well as a Coconet community member, has written and compiled the following resources for those in Thailand who will be participating in the protests.

Other resources on staying safe while protesting include:

“Attending a Protest” by Surveillance Self-Defense
“Safety During Protest” by Amnesty International
“Surveillance Self-Defense: Attending Protests in the Age of COVID-19” by Electronic Frontier Foundation

Aside from these tips, you can also read about non-violent communications to diffuse potentially violent situations. If you have other resources and more that you’d like to share with Thai protesters and the Coconet community, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Sara Pacia is the Communications and Engagement Coordinator of EngageMedia. A journalist by training and multimedia storyteller at heart, she is passionate about utilising and appropriating today’s digital technologies for the empowerment of the public and the improvement of media and data literacy.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.