Dear Dao Din Students,
My name is John Draper and I am also from KKU. I would like to ask you a question about how you see autonomy. Maybe you could blog your answer on Prachatai so that we can discuss this in public in both Thai and English? I think it is important to discuss some of these ‘big ideas’ in public so that NGOs are not ignored and so that we are ready to present a sophisticated political solution – when the military lets us, of course ;<).
I understand that the military regime has asked you to work on your philosophy, ideology, and principles. So, what I - and tens of thousands of other people - are interested in is what framework are you using for autonomy? I understand autonomy to mean the right of a citizen or group of citizens with equal entitlements to exercise self-determination through the democratic process via public laws to encourage democracy. In particular, it implies decentralizing power in favor of limited self-determination by villages, cities, provinces, and regions.
In particular, because you are law students, I am interested in how your concept of autonomy can be used to specify new or amended public laws. My favorite way of describing democratic public law is by Held (1995, pp.192-193):
Sites of Power and Types of Rights |
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Sites of Power |
Categories of rights |
Examples of rights |
Particular domain of action which right helps empower |
1 Body |
Health |
(i) Physical and emotional wellbeing |
Pursuit of bodily needs and pleasures |
(ii) Clean, non-toxic, sustainable environment |
Physical continuity |
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(iii) Control over fertility |
Biological reproduction; freedom to be or not to be a parent |
||
2 Welfare |
Social |
(i) Universal childcare (ii) Universal education (iii) Community services |
Development of abilities and talents |
3 Culture |
Cultural |
(i) Freedom of thought and faith (ii) Freedom of expression and criticism (iii) Toleration |
Pursuit of symbolic orders and modes of discourse |
4 Civic associations |
Civic |
(i) Ability to form or join autonomous associations (ii) Active membership of civic associations (iii) Freedom of information |
Individual and group projects |
5 Economy |
Economic |
(i) Guaranteed minimum income (ii) Diverse forms of consumption and productive property (iii) Access avenues to productive and financial resources |
Ability to pursue economic activity without immediate financial vulnerability |
6 Coercive relations and organized violence |
Pacific |
(i) Peaceful coexistence (ii) Lawful foreign policy (iii) Accountability of political leaders for crimes, civil or criminal |
Physical security and non-coercive relations |
7 Legal and regulatory institutions |
Political |
(i) Due process and equal treatment before the law (ii) Adequate and equal opportunities for deliberation |
Participation in public agenda-setting, debate and electoral politics |
I believe this framework for autonomy already provides a framework for the New Democracy Movement’s calls for democracy, justice, human rights, people participation and peace. However, how do you see public law?
Sincerely,
John Draper
Reference:
Held, D. (1995). Democracy and the global order: From the modern state to cosmopolitan democracy. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.