Thai military launches ‘bring back happiness’ campaign after coup
Junta orders campaign with events that are a cross between army-controlled street parties and music festivals
The Thai Army’s new campaign, which is staging free festivals across Bangkok to “bring back happiness” to the Thai public following last month’s military coup, includes selfie opportunities, free food, hot meals, dance performances and the chance to pet ponies.
A bizarre combination of an army-controlled street party and a music festival, the “parties” have been taking place in parks and squares, where the public is showered with free food and drink and can watch the army sing and dance.
The campaign is by order of General Prayuth Chan-ocha, who took control of Thailand two weeks ago in a military coup that has been condemned nationally and internationally. About 300 people have been detained since the army seized power on 22 May, among them academics, journalists, activists, politicians and human rights defenders. Those protesting against the coup have held flash mobs in shopping malls, holding up banners likening junta-ruled Thailand to George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and flashing three-fingered “Hunger Games” salutes.
The junta, which calls itself the National Council for Peace and Order, has been circulating the theme of “happiness” extensively since overthrowing the elected government. It has plans for a new “happiness index” to determine how people feel after the coup, while Prayuth is delivering a weekly TV and radio programme called Returning Happiness to the People.
At the very site where demonstrators were until a few days ago, the army yesterday set up trucks, loudspeakers, a stage and even a petting zoo – complete with bales of hay, horses, a cowboy mannequin and a ceramic teepee.