<p>This article is, of course, in reply to <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/3241">Pravit&rsquo;s article</a> directed at my Twitter responses to his stated position &ndash; that he privileges the rights of large powerful media companies to intimidate, harass and threaten young Thai women, over the rights of these young Thai women to live their lives free of such intimidation.</p>

<p>Being a committed advocate for freedom of expression, I have recently had the honour of being accused on Twitter by one foreign supporter of the red-shirt movement, by the name of Andrew Spooner (@Andrewspoooner), of supporting the right of yellow-shirt mouthpiece ASTV-Manager Weekly News Magazine to engage in &ldquo;hate campaign&rdquo; against one young red-shirt woman on its current weekly issue (Issue no.138, May 26-Jun 1, 2012). </p>

<p>The <a href="http://www.ccaa112.org/web/">Campaign Committee to Amend Article 112</a> (CCAA) has already collected over 10,000 signatures to propose the <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/2997">Nitirat bill</a> to Parliament to amend the l&egrave;se majest&eacute; law.</p>

<p>The death of lese majeste detainee Amphon &quot;Akong&quot; Tangnoppakul, also known as &quot;Uncle SMS&quot;, inside Bangkok Remand Prison Hospital on Monday has re-ignited hopes of amending the draconian lese majeste law.</p>

<p>Soon after Vipar Daomanee, a former Thammasat University lecturer, criticized red-shirt leader Nattawut Sai-gua for his endorsement of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra&rsquo;s decision to pay respect to Privy Council President Gen. Prem Tinsulanond, Vipar received a short note from an audience at a symposium she spoke on lese majeste law and prisoner of conscience Somyos Prueksakasemsuk.</p>

<p>Sharp-tongued and red-shirt-supporting writer and social critic Kham Phaka has decided to take a one-month break from hosting a television programme on Voice TV after her criticisms against Thai mainstream Buddhist practices last month were met with strong, and nasty, reactions from some monks and Buddhist organizations.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p>

<p>Two years on from the fateful events of April 10, 2010, Thais of various political persuasions still hold starkly different versions of history and no one has been held responsible for the deaths.</p>

<p>On 10 April, the father of a red shirt killed two years ago during the Abhisit Vejjajiva government crackdown on the red shirts told Prachatai that he wanted the truth about the killings to be revealed first, and reconciliation would come later.</p>

<p>A co-producer of the banned Thai film &quot;Shakespeare Must Die&quot;, which has been construed as a criticism of Thaksin Shinawatra and the red shirts, said he will launch a petition campaign to overturn the Film Board's April 3 decision to outlaw screenings of the work.</p>

<p>Red shirts and democracy advocates should question Thaksin Shinawatra, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship and the Pheu Thai Party whether their priority is to bring Thaksin home or to help those red shirts who are in jail, said Somsak Jeamteerasakul, a Thammasat lecturer and political commentator, on his Facebook page.</p>

<p>National reconciliation is an admirable goal but it would be a misplaced goal if Thai society has yet to learn how to co-exist and compete with those who think differently about politics in a peaceful, constructive and democratic manner.</p>

<p>A police team investigating the deaths of 16 people allegedly killed by the authorities between April and May last year has finished and forwarded the case of <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/search/node/charnnarong">Charnnarong Polsrila</a> to the prosecution, and it expects to finish two more cases, including that of the Japanese reporter Hiroyuki Muramoto, by this week.</p>