Australian Red Shirt Conor David Purcell Wants To Return To Thailand

[waza]

He was on Australian TV news tonight. He stated that despite his ban from Thailand he plans to return there.

[relentless]

entitled to your opinion, but not on stages preaching. This is not your country, you are a guest. I hope they never allow you to return. You would just cause more troubles. Stay out!

[rubl]

in the seventhys i was working in east germanie not alowed to speak about politics

two years later algeria same thing both communist countrys

same same thailand?

Here in Thailand you are allowed to speak about politics, no problem. To join an illegal protest which gets violent and speak from that platform against the current government is not tolerated in most countries.

[astral]

OK.

If he wants to waste an air ticket from Australia to Bangkok Airport, and back

that is his perrogative.

[relentless]

It's hilariously funny that so many people don't think he should get involved in the politics of another country. But hang on a minute. The USA, UK and many other countries are only too happy to stick their nose into the affairs of almost any country they disagree with. Not only that but they are happy to allow hundreds of thousands of civilians to be killed. But that's ok, it's only colleateral damage. There seem to be plenty of double standards here. I don't hear you all saying how wrong it is to be involved in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.

Not same thing! Country trying to protect ourselves from tyrants who are hel_l bent on mass destruction. Same thing? No...

[tim armstrong]

Can't figure out if he is a drama queen, dumb arse, or douch bag. I think he should come back.

Something about this whole story doesn't sound right?!

[asiawatcher]

Well, according to http://www.mfa.go.th...482.php?id=2487 (see #11), he wouldn't be allowed back in anyway. He just loves being in the limelight I think.

The limelight is his sole motivations - what a drop kick!

[Alboy666]

What an idiot, or does he have mental health issues? Not content with alleging a fake consipracy against the government of Thailand (they "could have" planted drugs, but they didn't did they?) he now wants to take on the Australian government.

At least the other Red Shirt British gentleman has had the decency to shut his mouth about it once he was deported.

But you must remember he is of Irish descent.

The Irish can take a joke as well as anybody but what place does a stupid comment like this have on this board, tongue in cheek or not? Bear in mind that the Irish education system is one of the best in the world.

How many Irish people have disgraced themselves as visitors abroad?

[tracer5050]

He lucky the Thai goverment let him leave. He should never be allowed back in Thailand. If founf there a long prison stay would be good.

[Mitker]

"I am almost certain they will prevent me from returning"

Inch Alha.

[Kilgore Trout]

What an idiot, or does he have mental health issues? Not content with alleging a fake consipracy against the government of Thailand (they "could have" planted drugs, but they didn't did they?) he now wants to take on the Australian government.

At least the other Red Shirt British gentleman has had the decency to shut his mouth about it once he was deported.

But you must remember he is of Irish descent.

The Irish can take a joke as well as anybody but what place does a stupid comment like this have on this board, tongue in cheek or not? Bear in mind that the Irish education system is one of the best in the world.

How many Irish people have disgraced themselves as visitors abroad?

How about Bono....

[Alboy666]

What an idiot, or does he have mental health issues? Not content with alleging a fake consipracy against the government of Thailand (they "could have" planted drugs, but they didn't did they?) he now wants to take on the Australian government.

At least the other Red Shirt British gentleman has had the decency to shut his mouth about it once he was deported.

But you must remember he is of Irish descent.

The Irish can take a joke as well as anybody but what place does a stupid comment like this have on this board, tongue in cheek or not? Bear in mind that the Irish education system is one of the best in the world.

How many Irish people have disgraced themselves as visitors abroad?

How about Bono....

haha. ok I concede that one

[Rumblecat]

Ok, to take hypothetical example... let's say I'm an American citizen and I'm in Manchester, UK. There's a protest against the government going on and I witness the army showing up to control it, and then firing rubber bullets into the crowd, injuring people. hel_l, since it's hypothetical let's have them fire some live rounds in there as well. Government deny it. I have the chance to speak out about what I saw.

I'm guessing the prevalent attitude here is that because I'm an American in the UK, I should just shut up, right?

I'm not sure I totally agree with that then. But if I did speak up, I'm not understanding why people would be advocating beatings or long prison sentences as a result.

[dru2]

Mr Purcell - who accepted political charges against him but did not plead guilty - said he did not know a lot about Thai politics before he became involved with the Red Shirt but felt compelled to help after seeing the violence at protests in April.

It is obvious that he still does not understand Thai politics.

Yes he's probably thinking why didnt i get locked up for 3 month and deported after being pictured protesting with the Yellow shirts the other year, maybe its the blatant double standards that he doesnt understand.

Link to him as a yellow -

http://img718.images...54/img6593f.jpg

If this is genuine - and it certainly looks like him - then he's clearly desperately seeking attention. But more importantly, regardless of his "right" to spout his political views here, he was in the country illegally. This seems to be forgotten in many posts. he was overstaying his visa and had no money - so if nothing else he was an idiot to draw attention to himself. On top of this his family wouldn't pay a laughably small sum for a return ticket. He's very obviously one of life's losers, and no kind of hero at all.

[rubl]

Mr Purcell - who accepted political charges against him but did not plead guilty - said he did not know a lot about Thai politics before he became involved with the Red Shirt but felt compelled to help after seeing the violence at protests in April.

It is obvious that he still does not understand Thai politics.

Yes he's probably thinking why didnt i get locked up for 3 month and deported after being pictured protesting with the Yellow shirts the other year, maybe its the blatant double standards that he doesnt understand.

Link to him as a yellow -

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/8454/img6593f.jpg

Some more details, please. A few years back I got a few yellow shirts from the company I work for here, it was really fashionable for a while to wear them (and beats wearing dress shirt and a tie).

Edited September 8, 2010 by rubl

[SgtPepper]

What an idiot, or does he have mental health issues? Not content with alleging a fake consipracy against the government of Thailand (they "could have" planted drugs, but they didn't did they?) he now wants to take on the Australian government.

At least the other Red Shirt British gentleman has had the decency to shut his mouth about it once he was deported.

But you must remember he is of Irish descent.

What has that got to do with anything (Irish descent)?? An idiot is an idiot. Where they come from is of no consequence.

[lebelge]

Mr. Purcell go back to Australia and involve yourself of politics there! Don't come back. You are not welcome here by the Thais and us foreigners. You give us a bad name.

Not sure he is wanted back in Australia.......... He forgot the 1st rule when visiting another country, in my humble opinion, which is don't interfere in the politics of the country which you are visiting, in all likelihood you won't fully understand it, and any actions can reflect on other visitors. If you don't like the policies of a particular country .... just don't go there.

[rubl]

To refresh memories, from the 3rd of May 2010:

http://saiyasombut.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/the-curious-case-of-conor-david-purcell/

(assuming posting this link is not against forum rules)

[Mitker]

Ok, to take hypothetical example... let's say I'm an American citizen and I'm in Manchester, UK. There's a protest against the government going on and I witness the army showing up to control it, and then firing rubber bullets into the crowd, injuring people. hel_l, since it's hypothetical let's have them fire some live rounds in there as well. Government deny it. I have the chance to speak out about what I saw.

I'm guessing the prevalent attitude here is that because I'm an American in the UK, I should just shut up, right?

I'm not sure I totally agree with that then. But if I did speak up, I'm not understanding why people would be advocating beatings or long prison sentences as a result.

Another hypothetical example. You visit a country and some guys financed by a politician on the run organize illegal protests to fight a government they hate because it's not theirs, harbor renegade military openly calling for violent actions against the state, parade stolen dead bodies in the street, try heavily to excite people to riot by spreading lies after lies, storm hospital.... The government gives endless warnings until finally some attempt to restore order is taken. As it could be expected, this move results in casualties despite the multiple warnings.

I'm not sure I would jump on the stage and, from all my foreign deep knowledge of the situation, make myself a hero by giving a warmly welcomed helping hand to the riot leaders.

But it's just another hypothetical example.

[Mitker]

in the seventhys i was working in east germanie not alowed to speak about politics

two years later algeria same thing both communist countrys

same same thailand?

You're in Thailand and you're talking about politics. Right now, here.

[Rumblecat]

Yes, sure... but my example was about whether foreigners should speak out or not where you see what you perceive to be an injustice. Which is why I changed the incidents, the country and the nationalities involved. I'm interested in the principle of the matter- is it ever right for a foreigner to speak up about the politics of a country that he's in but isn't his own? Is it ever right for them to break the law by doing so, if they feel it's in the interests of justice?

That's the point of using a hypothetical situation. And, like I said, I'm not red shirt sympathiser, I'm more interested in some of the extreme reactions people have to Purcell speaking out- not in content of what he said, but in principle. What was it about the content of Purcell's speeches that you found to be particularly inflammatory..? Genuinely interested, because nobody really seems to be able to articulate what it was that he said that was so bad, beyond "A foreigner shouldn't get involved in another country's political situation".

[cardholder]

Ok, to take hypothetical example... let's say I'm an American citizen and I'm in Manchester, UK. There's a protest against the government going on and I witness the army showing up to control it, and then firing rubber bullets into the crowd, injuring people. hel_l, since it's hypothetical let's have them fire some live rounds in there as well. Government deny it. I have the chance to speak out about what I saw.

I'm guessing the prevalent attitude here is that because I'm an American in the UK, I should just shut up, right?

I'm not sure I totally agree with that then. But if I did speak up, I'm not understanding why people would be advocating beatings or long prison sentences as a result.

Another hypothetical example. You visit a country and some guys financed by a politician on the run organize illegal protests to fight a government they hate because it's not theirs, harbor renegade military openly calling for violent actions against the state, parade stolen dead bodies in the street, try heavily to excite people to riot by spreading lies after lies, storm hospital.... The government gives endless warnings until finally some attempt to restore order is taken. As it could be expected, this move results in casualties despite the multiple warnings.

I'm not sure I would jump on the stage and, from all my foreign deep knowledge of the situation, make myself a hero by giving a warmly welcomed helping hand to the riot leaders.

But it's just another hypothetical example.

In either hypothetical case you would be subject to the non-hypothetical laws of that country.

If it is deemed legal in the UK for you to speak in public about the politics of that country then speak out. However, if that is not the case then keep your mouth shut or suffer the consequences.

[way2muchcoffee]

Yes, sure... but my example was about whether foreigners should speak out or not where you see what you perceive to be an injustice. Which is why I changed the incidents, the country and the nationalities involved. I'm interested in the principle of the matter- is it ever right for a foreigner to speak up about the politics of a country that he's in but isn't his own? Is it ever right for them to break the law by doing so, if they feel it's in the interests of justice?

That's the point of using a hypothetical situation. And, like I said, I'm not red shirt sympathiser, I'm more interested in some of the extreme reactions people have to Purcell speaking out- not in content of what he said, but in principle. What was it about the content of Purcell's speeches that you found to be particularly inflammatory..? Genuinely interested, because nobody really seems to be able to articulate what it was that he said that was so bad, beyond "A foreigner shouldn't get involved in another country's political situation".

Of course he could get involved and speak out. Only not by speaking on a stage in an area taken over by armed protesters during a state of emergency.

He could have spoken out through the internet, interviews with journalists, interviews by redshirts in an area where his presence was legal, writing an article, a blog, a book, a forum, or any other number of ways that are within the law.

Unfortunately he chose to break the law, knowing full well what he was doing. He did so publicly, almost daring authorities to arrest him. In my opinion he was very lucky to have gotten off so lightly.

Edited September 8, 2010 by way2muchcoffee

[yellow1red1]

Well, I'll probably be dragged through the streets for this, but I think what he did was fairly brave. He saw what he perceived to be a big social injustice and he spoke out about it, knowing that his position as a foreigner would gain a certain level of media exposure to what he had to say. If you watch his speeches (which are fairly painful to sit through, I know) there isn't really anything that bad he says in them, or that controversial. And the message he promotes is one of reconciliation and peace.

Now I might be wrong about that and if anyone has chunks from his speech where he's doing otherwise, I'd be genuinely interested in reading or seeing them. But there seems to be some truth in what he reported seeing, concerning troops and civilians, and it takes a certain amount guts to stand up and be counted.

Don't get me wrong- I'm no red shirt sympathiser, and on a personal level I find Purcell oddly creepy, but I'm honestly interested to know what portions of his speech and what he said that people find so appalling that they'd wish various levels of physical harm on him. Or is it just a belief that a foreigner should never get involved in the politics of any country that isn't their own?

thing is, visit Thailand, live in Thailand, talk about Thailand - free speech is not allowed.

free speech is enshrined in the Costitution but not enforced.

They use another, unrelated law, to stamp it out.

sex for sale is illegal but not enforced

hang em high about child molestors is not allowed but beat the crap out of Purcell is

While an 'alleged' jail beating would not be good, is there only his word for proof?

The emergency decree INFORMED farangs to not get involved.

the 'courageous' know accept the consequences for actions

thin line between courage and foolhardy

name change new passport back to Thailand like the others do it..............

credit checks on travellers would stop most problem relocators

[Mitker]

Yes, sure... but my example was about whether foreigners should speak out or not where you see what you perceive to be an injustice. Which is why I changed the incidents, the country and the nationalities involved. I'm interested in the principle of the matter- is it ever right for a foreigner to speak up about the politics of a country that he's in but isn't his own? Is it ever right for them to break the law by doing so, if they feel it's in the interests of justice?

That's the point of using a hypothetical situation. And, like I said, I'm not red shirt sympathiser, I'm more interested in some of the extreme reactions people have to Purcell speaking out- not in content of what he said, but in principle. What was it about the content of Purcell's speeches that you found to be particularly inflammatory..? Genuinely interested, because nobody really seems to be able to articulate what it was that he said that was so bad, beyond "A foreigner shouldn't get involved in another country's political situation".

I think the point is that the red shirt movement seemed so manipulative to most of the observers (I know this "most of" will raise some hairs but I believe so) that they can hardly consider it as truly political in the first place. Most like mob control and dirty power games.

But in theory, I do agree with you that one can hardly remain untouched by true injustices he/she would witness. Now, to take part to some other country internal affairs is a matter of interference. And it's a matter of personal conviction to consider it appropriated or not. Few will advocate we should shut up about situation in Burma. But what about a "in God we trust" printed on bank notes with official circulation and status? Culture? Majority?... The question remains open in a global world. Where to put the limit? in BKK?

[chainarong]

Stay in Australia, join a political party , they are as useless as you are, mate .

[loser1]

He should stay away from the beginning. This is not his country and shouldn't be involved. What a pitty. This is all his own fault.

Try tellin' half the idiots on this forum that Thai politics is nothing to do with them.

[rubl]

Well, I'll probably be dragged through the streets for this, but I think what he did was fairly brave. He saw what he perceived to be a big social injustice and he spoke out about it, knowing that his position as a foreigner would gain a certain level of media exposure to what he had to say. If you watch his speeches (which are fairly painful to sit through, I know) there isn't really anything that bad he says in them, or that controversial. And the message he promotes is one of reconciliation and peace.

Now I might be wrong about that and if anyone has chunks from his speech where he's doing otherwise, I'd be genuinely interested in reading or seeing them. But there seems to be some truth in what he reported seeing, concerning troops and civilians, and it takes a certain amount guts to stand up and be counted.

Don't get me wrong- I'm no red shirt sympathiser, and on a personal level I find Purcell oddly creepy, but I'm honestly interested to know what portions of his speech and what he said that people find so appalling that they'd wish various levels of physical harm on him. Or is it just a belief that a foreigner should never get involved in the politics of any country that isn't their own?

thing is, visit Thailand, live in Thailand, talk about Thailand - free speech is not allowed.

free speech is enshrined in the Costitution but not enforced.

They use another, unrelated law, to stamp it out.

sex for sale is illegal but not enforced

hang em high about child molestors is not allowed but beat the crap out of Purcell is

While an 'alleged' jail beating would not be good, is there only his word for proof?

The emergency decree INFORMED farangs to not get involved.

the 'courageous' know accept the consequences for actions

thin line between courage and foolhardy

name change new passport back to Thailand like the others do it..............

credit checks on travellers would stop most problem relocators

You forgot the [rant][/rant]

[Insight]

It's been said elsewhere (not on this forum) the govt has been releasing "propaganda" about this guy.

Any idea where I can find such propaganda?

[Rumblecat]

Of course he could get involved and speak out. Only not by speaking on a stage in an area taken over by armed protesters during a state of emergency.

He could have spoken out through the internet, interviews with journalists, interviews by redshirts in an area where his presence was legal, writing an article, a blog, a book, a forum, or any other number of ways that are within the law. .

I think the point is that the red shirt movement seemed so manipulative to most of the observers (I know this "most of" will raise some hairs but I believe so) that they can hardly consider it as truly political in the first place. Most like mob control and dirty power games.

Cheers, some good points. Hadn't actually thought too much about the context of where he chose to speak out, but, yes, that makes perfect sense. If he'd chosen a neutral venue to speak out, then he wouldn't have left himself open to so much criticism. I do believe that Purcell believed what he was doing to be just and correct, but of course, if you align yourself with a particular political party, you become part of their machinations. Interesting- I hadn't even considered the prospect of him using other avenues to express himself and even the level to which he might have been exploited himself. Cheers for those replies, got me thinking anyway...

Edited September 8, 2010 by Rumblecat