Bangkok's own Jan Palach
Some of you may have heard of Jan Palach, a Prague student who set himself on fire as a political suicide in protest against the Soviet crushing of the Prague Spring, and the 20th anniversary demonstrations were reckoned to have been an inspiration for the Velvet Revolution in late '89.
Anyway, a Thai man followed that example, so to speak, by ramming his taxi into a Thai army tank in protest against the military coup and has just been buried.
Given how little so many of my countrymen are bothered about democracy, liberty and so forth, I feel quite humbled by his sacrifice, and trust it will not have been in vain.
Anyway, a Thai man followed that example, so to speak, by ramming his taxi into a Thai army tank in protest against the military coup and has just been buried.
Given how little so many of my countrymen are bothered about democracy, liberty and so forth, I feel quite humbled by his sacrifice, and trust it will not have been in vain.
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on Wednesday, November 01, 2006 at 6:47 pm.
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No, the Thai wasn't copying the Prague student. Monks in Viet Nam were burning themselves to death in the 1970s. It's a Buddhist thing.
Not so much Buddhist as SE Asian.
Somebody rammed their car into me a couple of months ago and I would be fine with buring him as a protest against...something. More South East London
. I am always amazed that noone gets angry .The single most extraordinary example I can think of is the way that leaseholders have been persuaded that, because the value of their properties have gone up, they owe everyone climbing frames and youth clubs up to about £40,000 each.
My brother got out of a £3000 bill , as a leaseholder, by tying himself to the old gate they wanted to replace and calling the press.Its easy . Shout a lot
V - Yes, I know that monks in Vietnam used to do that. If memory serves the wife of the president used to refer to them as 'barbeques', but I was drawing the parallel with Jan Palach becaus eof what he was protesting about.
newmania
please tell me more
I am a freeholder and always looking for ways to fuck leaseholders over.
I presume that your brother lives n an ex local authority property?
that can cause hideous liabilities.
Croydonian - Oh, I see.
Mr C
I note some chemistry tween yourself and verity , angling for a free holiday down Mexico way?
In the UK the govt were terrified of Brain Haw(?) camping outside the House of Commons.
Then again, if we wanted to focus on democracy here in the UK I think we should burn down the office of EMAP, UBM etc and release us from celebrity obsession.
City Unslicker - You mean you are being held hostage to 'celebrity obsession'? You can't dismiss it from your life on your own?
PH - I have a great deal of respect for Verity, as I hope is clear. However, I believe that all of my regulars can be assured of the same levels of consideration, appreciation and courtesy. Fair?
CU - Haw is an annoying (insert expletive of choice), but there was definitely a sledgehammer / nut interface going on, which didn't work... The dumbing down of our culture and debate is irksome, but unless people are free to choose their own damnation, then they are not truly free at all.
ph - Equally to Croydonian's post, I find him a host with a regard for, and interest in, the posts of all his guests. I have never sensed that he favoured one above another.
I think he is interested in having a lively blog, which he has.
C Blog - Yes indeed, and Dale has copied him twice. How limp yesterday ( Dale -brand) to notice the "speaker”, issue, when by that time it was history. The Standard covered it before he did !
PHITCH - We may be at cross purposes. My brother in common with 11000 Islingtonians is a Leaseholder , not a freeholder( I am freeholder). He is a Leaseholder in the sense that in this country it is a common way of OWNING property, as in , having a Mortgage. Like the rest of Leaseholders, whose "Freeholder" is the council , in the guise of Managing agents , in this case , HFI ( Home for Islington) , they are being charged massive service charges. The bills are up to £40,000 , if not £50,000 each . The bills are wasteful (Coucil contracts ..biz as usual). The 70% on benefits pay nothing , and the “leaseholders “ pay their share of the tax bill (£280,000,000) and then again as a charge. Steve Hichens , Lib Dum supremo , now gone , justified this by pointing at the fact the properties had appreciated .
WHY IS THAT , because idiots like everyone I know scramble to borrow five times their salary to pay a huge mortgage !!
Any way , local issue ; my point was that the ex council tenant “Leaseholders” actually accept this argument to some extent . It shows the culture we have, in what was the “Peoples Republic of Islington”. They have been convinced that they don`t really own the property . In other words, the saintly Margaret’s marvellous idea ,to break the irresponsibility /benefits , stake free cycle , has been undone by a mixture of legal attack and propaganda.
This post reminded me of it because my brother , and others, who bought normally , cannot believe what those with a slave mentality put up with. When his estate tried to make him buy them a gate he wrote to the papers “Why not a swimming pool ?” This plus chaining himself to the old gate saved him the £3000. Direct action works.
( I `m in the local rag today on this subject so I `m a afraid it’s a “don`t get me started”)
With apologoes to the many fair minded people who , I know find me very dull indeed . I sympathise .
If Lord Brian Haw-Haw is allowed to shout his opinions in Parly Sq., why aren't supporters of our boys allowed to? (They're called p*tr**ts.)
2.11.6 09-55
..I`d be up for that , which has occurred to me as a good point to make and might get in the nationals (.as Verity did , yesterday)
N - can't the leaseholders buy out the council, using the leasehold reform act?
FP - All demos etc in Parliament Square have been banned, but because of poor drafting of the legislation, that tedious bore is still there, even though the legislation was aimed directly at him.
My point was to think of how we could protest in favour of democracy by demonstration and irrational action; not a strike to limit people's freedoms.
I am able to remain free from celebrity culture until such a time as it is forced upon me; rather like PH, eh?
C Dunno . Never occurred to me. I assume they can`t as they would otherwise do so immiediately and therby increase the value of the proeprty a great deal.
m I know what a freehold is I own one, and I also know that leaseholder have a right to buy or extend their lease (at a price)
as to your brother I am aware of the way that councils seek to screw over those who have exercised their "right to buy" As I look out of my window I can see trellick tower, a supposed architectural masterpiece (not to my eyes) where people pay over £300k for ex council flats, god help them when that building needs renovating.
PHITCH- Yes you are quite clear in the first place. What , then , have you got against , leaseholders ? They pay mortgages , they work , they pay tax? Its only a different form of porperty ownership ?
I don`t know the answer to this but I can quickly find out as I know the leader of the leaseholders association well. He is a fine fellow who is supposed to be nonnpartisan but in fact is a Conservative ( if not a wee bit to the right of that). A great thorn in the side of the Coucil. I `ll ask and report .
Cheerio
Typically, private leaseholders, such as those affected by the first PFI wave in question here, own flats that are in blocks of 4 - 8. At least 66% of the flats in the overall property must be owned by private leaseholders before they can enfranchise. The problem is that in many cases only around 50% of the leases are owned privately; council tenants live in the remaining properties. And the council tenants do not seem to be obliged to buy (even if they could afford it) or move out (even if they don't 'deserve' council housing), so the private leaseholders are stuck.
I am one of those private leaseholders in Islington...
N - good luck.
JT - Thanks for the clarification, and you have my sympathies.
C - 'Bout four years ago there was a little bout of self-combustion copycatting at the spot where Palach did his thing. These incidents (probably) got sufficient coverage for the Palach event anniversaries to be kept out of the MSM here in Czech
Croydonian,
A similar case just happened in East Germany. Nobody is reporting about it with the exception of a short article in a single newspaper. Ulster man asked for a translation when I first mentioned it on Cranmer's blog. Since it seems to better suit your present thread, here my attempt of translation:
"Fear of Islam"
After the self-burning of a priest the church exercises self-criticism
The action is shocking - and the motive of the action not less. The self-burning of a priest in Erfurt on occassion of the anniversary of the reformation leaves a perplexed parish. The bishop of the Church province of Saxony is searching for reasons for the desperate act.
Worried about the spread of Islam in Germany, a priest has burned himself on reformation's day in the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt. The 73 years old priest, who was retired since 1989, died on Wednesday afternoon in a specialized hospital from the consequences of his severe burns, said provost Elfriede Begrich.
The man had himself overflown with gasoline and set fire upon himself on Tuesday morning in a excavation pit besides the remains of the library. Thereby, the theologician called "Jesus and Oskar". This reminds the Church immediately on 1976, said the bishop of the Church province Saxony, Axel Noack. At that time, the priest Oskar Brüsewitz has overflown himself with gasoline and set fire upon himself in front of a Church in Zeitz (Saxony-Anhalt) to protest against the German Democratic Republic.
In the past three to four years, the 73 years old priest, who loved poems and poetry by Fontane and Hölderlin, had thematized again and again the position of the Church in regard to Islam, reported the provost. In a letter to her, he had urged to consider the problem more seriously.
In a farewell letter to his wife, he asked pardon for his action. At first, the police talked about personal motives for the suicide. The 73 years old was a priest for many years in the destrict of Windischholzhausen in Erfurt. "He was a very active person. Until 14 days ago, he acted as a substitute in Church services", said Begrich.
The motivation for the self-burning doesn't make things easier but more complicated instead, said Noack. "The tragedy remains." He is hoping, that there will be no disturbance concerning the question how Christians see Islam. "The issue of Islam is still discussed among us in the East", said Noack. There are only few Muslim dialogue partners, real meetings are rather the exception. "We are dealing a lot with it in theory." But a priest should be able to theologically ratiocinate the issue. At the same time, the bishop admitted failures of the Churches in its interaction with other religions and cultures. Especially in the East, "the practical cooperation of the everyday life does not exist". The bishop cautioned against a "clash of civilizations". Peacefulness and nonviolence is necessary for the cooperation of cultures and religions. A clear commitment of Muslims to nonviolence is part of it.
The self-burning happened during a Church service. In the protestant monastry, which Luther joined in 1505 as a monk, an endowment festival was celebrated with many visitors for the anniversary of the reformation. The 73 year old, who didn't carry any papers with him, had at first deposited his car keys at the reception, said the curator of the monastry, Lothar Schmelz. It cannot be excluded that the priest wanted to attend the Church service.
Since the door at the Western entrance was exceptionally closed, he transcend a fence to get into the excavation pit. Witnesses reported that he poured gasoline from a small can over his head. Employees of the monastry tried to extinguish the flames.
In the monastry, nothing will be as before after this "terrible thing", said Schmelz. The employees and sisters are shocked and bewildered. However, the monastry will also not close the doors of the Church.
dpa 01.11.2006
Just saw that Paul Belien has now also a posting about the self-burning of the priest and some interesting comments.
I feel off topic after all the lease holders and Germans but the elderly Bangkok taxi driver twatted the tank rather gently and subsequently hanged himself.
Politics, in the Orient, is not always straightforward and transparent as it is in UK where we find the mother of parliaments. Votes are bought. Some MPs consider themselves before the public interest, really.
Our putch is run by two soldiers who are well known as decent men. They still enjoy about 85% public support.
A quick take on the local scene from today's papers will give you a strong flavor of pre- and post-putch politics. Try these:
www.bangkokpost.com
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/
Politics here is just too interesting. I recommend you copy our gentle ways in your own dear country. Life should be sanook - innocent fun.
Chok dee,
Somchai.
Somchai,
Thank you for the clarification and the insights. From what I know of Thailand, it seems to be a broadly successful and contented society, and perhaps it is foolish of Westerners to view very different societies through the prims of our own experiences and values.
Meanwhile, I like the concept of sanook, and wish you much of it.
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