Prachatai‘s english language site is carrying a provocative, translated article penned by Wittayakorn Boonruang. It is just one of many interesting translations that have been published on their site in the past couple of weeks.

This most recent article attacking the proponents of the “Thaksinocracy” school of academic argument concludes that:

…after the coup and the new Constitution, the same old atmosphere is returning to haunt us, the suppression of the political rights of the poor.

Among those who have helped to coin the term “Thaksinocracy” to justify the coup, those who claimed to understand the poor and democracy, now will you have the guts to raise your hand?

Please, I beg you. If you made even less than the minimum wage, if you had no big family to take care of [you], if you had no degrees that earned you livelihood, if you had no inherited wealth, if you had no fancy shops or factories, if you had no land to till, you would not have done anything other than support the party that gave you the most tangible benefits

And most importantly, all the poor elect their governments through a democratic process.

But for the academics who coined the term “Thaksinocracy”, do you have any sense to overthrow a disgusting system through a democratic process? What have you done more than masturbating your academic knowledge and giving the chance for people to dismantle the whole democratic foundation? Did that gratify you enough?

Have you delivered to the villagers more than the vote-buying politicians who you abhor so much? Have you ever really fought through a democratic process?

The full article – which gives voice to much simmering resentment – is certainly worth a read.