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Mockingjay banned in Thailand


Anna Begins

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https://www.yahoo.com/movies/thai-exhibitor-pulls-mockingjay-from-theaters-103128672222.html

 

The Hunger Games have returned to Thailand, but probably not in the way some people would have hoped.

 

Five university students were arrested in the country on Wednesday for flashing the franchise’s signature three-fingered salute at the country’s Prime Minister during an official government event ahead of the opening of the film in the country on Thursday.

 

Hours later, local cinema chain Apex Group, which was scheduled to start screening The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 in its theaters on Thursday, announced that it had pulled the film’s release.

 

The company told the Bangkok Post that it wasn’t pressured by the government, but “did not want to become embroiled in a political movement.”

 

According to local paper The Nation, the five were taken to a nearby military camp for “attitude adjustment.” A local human rights lawyer told the Bangkok Post that the students were forced to sign a document promising not to engage in political activity, under threat of further detainment and expulsion from the law school where they study.

 

Pro-democracy activists began using the franchise’s memorable protest gesture as an act of defiance during Thailand’s military coup in May. At the time, the military junta threatened to arrest anyone who was caught using it.

Edited by Anna Begins
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This was also in the news, last week:

 

Orwellian fiction and reality appeared to blur into one on Sunday when reports suggested that an Egyptian undergraduate had been arrested for possessing a copy of Nineteen Eighty- four.

 

A student identified only as Mohamed T had been caught in possession of the book at Cairo University, where a year-long wave of anti-government protests has seen several students killed by police, dozens expelled and hundreds sent to jail.  Government critics have likened the country’s return to strongman rule to the book’s plot.

 

Police said, they were unaware of its literary significance, and had instead accused him of filming security forces without their permission.  “None of us knows anything about this novel in the first place,” Mahmoud Farouk, the local investigations chief, claimed to a Cairo-based news website.

 

In Egypt, the regime claims to have seized power to save democracy and says its authoritarianism will build a freer future – an argument Orwell pre-empted more than 65 years ago when he wrote that many regimes in history “pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal”.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/10/egyptian-student-arrested-1984-orwell

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I'm not going to get embroiled in Thai politics here HOWEVER, as some of you know I'm married to a Thai so have a bit of inside knowledge of the political scene there.

 

When the Coup came in May this year, it was viewed as a positive move for Thailand as up to then there were violent protests between the Thaksin regime (whose younger sister Yingluck was PM) - the Red Shirts - and the anti Thaksin regime - the Yellow Shirts.  There was an impasse so the Military did what they felt was best.  It was a totally bloodless coup (I was there when it happened) and apart from a curfew it went quietly.

 

The General in charge is a hard-liner but very fair and he has obliterated much of the corruption bought on by the Thaksin Government.  He has effectively "killed off" mafia run businesses and cracked down on a lot of crime.  It's not perfect by any means and the item mentioned above doesn't make for good reading BUT most people welcome the change and it for the most part better than before.

 

I Just wanted you to get a picture of what is happening out there since the coup.

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Thanks for posting that Sue.  It puts a new perspective on the whole thing. 

 

The problem though, is that absolute power corrupts absolutely.  No matter how good the intentions.  And your post does indicate good intentions.  What that government does next will tell the tale as to whether it is a lasting good or becomes what it sought to eradicate.

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Thanks for posting that Sue.  It puts a new perspective on the whole thing. 

 

The problem though, is that absolute power corrupts absolutely.  No matter how good the intentions.  And your post does indicate good intentions.  What that government does next will tell the tale as to whether it is a lasting good or becomes what it sought to eradicate.

I agree x's 2.  (With both, the comment and Thanks Sue!)

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Thanks for posting that Sue.  It puts a new perspective on the whole thing. 

 

The problem though, is that absolute power corrupts absolutely.  No matter how good the intentions.  And your post does indicate good intentions.  What that government does next will tell the tale as to whether it is a lasting good or becomes what it sought to eradicate.

The plan is that the Military will bring back the Democratic vote once they are fully happy the factions involved in the politics leading up to the Coup don't happen again.  They forecast that to be in about a year's time.  It has happened many times before so I'm hopeful.  Coups are extremely common in Thailand as it has a history of political instability.  We're not talking of a Mugabe-style or even a Burmese junta type of government there. 

 

For what it's worth, we thought it was good news that the Thaksin government was brought down as corruption was so rife.  .When we were there during the coup we hardly saw any military so they didn't come in "guns ablazing" - they just stood around some of the main central squares.  When we were there, we saw them dinking coke outside McDonalds and they were having their pictures taken with tourists! 

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The plan is that the Military will bring back the Democratic vote once they are fully happy the factions involved in the politics leading up to the Coup don't happen again.  They forecast that to be in about a year's time.  It has happened many times before so I'm hopeful.  Coups are extremely common in Thailand as it has a history of political instability.  We're not talking of a Mugabe-style or even a Burmese junta type of government there. 

 

For what it's worth, we thought it was good news that the Thaksin government was brought down as corruption was so rife.  .When we were there during the coup we hardly saw any military so they didn't come in "guns ablazing" - they just stood around some of the main central squares.  When we were there, we saw them dinking coke outside McDonalds and they were having their pictures taken with tourists! 

I LOVE this form.  Thanks for that post!

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The plan is that the Military will bring back the Democratic vote once they are fully happy the factions involved in the politics leading up to the Coup don't happen again.  They forecast that to be in about a year's time.  It has happened many times before so I'm hopeful.  Coups are extremely common in Thailand as it has a history of political instability.  We're not talking of a Mugabe-style or even a Burmese junta type of government there. 

 

For what it's worth, we thought it was good news that the Thaksin government was brought down as corruption was so rife.  .When we were there during the coup we hardly saw any military so they didn't come in "guns ablazing" - they just stood around some of the main central squares.  When we were there, we saw them dinking coke outside McDonalds and they were having their pictures taken with tourists! 

 

Thanks for the info, I hope they follow through as you say.  I do tend to have a bit of a cynical attitude towards it though. 

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