phuketrichard wrote: ↑Tue Oct 05, 2021 8:36 pm Thammasat University will close its campus tomorrow on the anniversary of the October 6 massacre. TU has been under pressure to stop pro-democracy activists from organizing a remembrance ceremony.
The 1976 Thammasat massacre was some of the worst state violence against dissidents in Thai history, and has been hidden from view by successive Thai regimes.

It is not the number of the deceased (40) that has made the massacre of students at Thammasat University on 6 October 1976 linger in the memories of no small number of people, so much as images showing the unthinkably savage actions committed against the victims. But we would be mistaken to think that it was only those most repulsive actions that led to the deaths of people that day.

Thanks for posting about this very dark spot on Thai history. It doesn't seem to be mentioned on the website formerly known as ThaiVisa, at least not in the News section.

We should always remain aware of the dark side of Thai society and make sure younger expats know about this event, which is only one of series of crises such as Oct. '73 and Black May '92, etc., etc., up until today. Thailand's past may very well be its (near) future.

Also, the context of the event should be noted. As mentioned in Causes and consequences of the October '76 coup
by Marian Mallet (Journal of Contemporary Asia):

"Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia all fell to communist forces in 1975, and the threat of communist groups in neighboring countries led to panic among the Thai people. The presence of communist regimes on Thai borders, the abolition of the 600-year-old Lao monarchy, and the arrival of a flood of refugees from Laos and Cambodia swung public opinion in Thailand to the right, resulting in conservatives gaining far more support in the 1976 elections than they had the previous year. This right-wing shift would culminate in the 6 October 1976 massacre of student protesters at Thammasat University...".