Good morning,

It is still not clear what role EU election monitors will take in the general election currently scheduled for December 23^rd this year (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/08/30/headlines/headlines_30047083.php). The junta’s ‘prime minister’ General Surayud Chulanont appears to have accepted that there will be vote monitoring but refuses to sign a Memorandum of Understanding that will give the observers official status. Instead, they will observe as if they were ordinary citizens. There is a need for official monitoring, it is argued by many people, because of the concern that, with martial law still enforced in rural areas, the junta and its henchmen and cronies will use their power to harass poor voters, influence their votes and hinder the efforts of the People’s Power Party, successor to Thai Rak Thai, which is likely to be campaigning on a pro-poor redistribution manifesto. Vote buying has been a problem in Thailand for half a century if not longer and is likely to be worse in the next election now that political parties have been weakened and most will again be campaigning on personality rather than policy.

The Burmese junta appears to be using gangs of thugs to break up the wave of protests in Rangoon and possibly other parts of the country (http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=121224). Dozens of people are said to have been detained so far. This is what the Irrawaddy has to say: http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=8420.

The trial of two Greenpeace activists is due to be concluded at the Bangkok Criminal Court. The two are accused of interfering with Department of Agriculture affairs – they claim that they were exposing the DoA’s role in the illegal use of genetically engineered papaya seeds (http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/ge-papaya-010606). The two were also involved in ‘decontaminating’ one of the sites they say was used for growing the GE crops. They argue that the use of GE crops results in irreversible and uncontrollable changes in the environment and prevents farmers from exporting their goods to countries (for example Japan) which refuses to accept such goods. They face jail terms of several years if found guilty. A Greenpeace report on GE in Thailand is available on this page: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/GEpapayaThailand.

Back tomorrow at some stage – there will be a Graduation Ceremony which will occupy most of the day and then I have a make-up class in the evening.