A Thai court sentences an activist to 28 years for online posts about the monarchy
NPR Online NewsAPR 2023
Thailand's history of authoritarianism and human rights violations extends far past the 2020 protests, but these arrests of and criminal charges against children are a new low. As the long arm of the Thai monarchy, in coordination with the Prime Minister, continues its crackdown on speech both in the streets and online, it's up to the global community to step up and call for drastic political change.
As is the case in Myanmar, the Philippines, and throughout the East, US-funded media outlets are drawing previously non-existent divisions between segments of sovereign nations. First, they pitted Buddhists against Muslims, and now they're pitting so-called "pro-democracy" children against their parents and government. Reports like this aren't trying to bring about democracy, but are creating conflict so that the US can eventually intervene militarily and continue its long history of colonizing the region.