<p dir="ltr">My name is Atipong Pathanasethpong and I am the Spokesperson for the Project for a Social Democracy. You may have heard of my colleague at the Project for a Social Democracy, John Draper, the PhD student in Public Affairs Management at Khon Kaen University in Northeast Thailand who just over week ago offered to organize a mass surrender to the Thai authorities for attending the International Conference on Thai Studies in Chiang Mai, in solidarity with five academics and students charged with illegal political assembly there.</p>

<p>In early March, the Project for a Social Democracy launched its national media campaign with two major op-ed columns in the national English-language media. The <a href="http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1209473/social-democracy-offers-a-third-force">first</a>, in the <em>Bangkok Post</em> of Monday 6 March, was followed the day after by <a href="http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/opinion/30308127">another</a> in <em>The Nation</em>.</p>

<p dir="ltr">This analysis of the recently released Project for a Social Democracy’s Statement of Purpose, available in full below, attempts to put Social Democracy in context in the Thai Situation. As can be seen, there is a significant emphasis on philosophy, or political ideology, as well as on human solidarity, worker’s rights, internationalism, and economic, social, and cultural rights as well as civil and political ones. This is new for Thailand and should be welcomed.</p>