Ovi magazine; Tuesday May 30th, 2023

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems, the thoughts, the reviews, the photos, the paintings and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Tuesday May 30th, 2023

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What will the next military coup in Thailand look like by Murray Hunter

There have been 14 military coups in Thailand since the April 1 1932 Siamese coup d’état that brought about a constitutional monarchy. Since then, the Thai military has played a major role in the nation’s politics.

Despite the regular nature of coups, the supreme military leader, General NarongpanJitkaewthaehas gone on public record promising the armed forces will not stage any coups, and leave it to the civilian politicians to select the next government.

However, over the last 24 hours around knowledgeable circles in Bangkok, there is talk about another possible coup. Such a warning was posted in the Bangkok Post on May 21.

The programme director from policies and development strategy at the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida) PhichaiRatnatilaka speculated that a military coup is a distinct possibility, if the Move Forward Party (MFP) leader Pita Limjaroenrat is unable to form a government.

Pita has stitched together 314 MPs to form a new government coalition. However, he is still short of the 376 votes needed to be selected as the next prime minister and form a government. Pita is appealing for senators to defect across and support the MFP coalition.

Continue reading HERE!

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Claims All On #poem by Saloni Kaul

“To get something we want some of the time
Is alright, like extracting treasures, mining gold from mine,
That adds to the occasion’s glamour, value prime,
Because of its prize rarity and qualities classed fine.”

Continue reading HERE!

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Insert Brain Here 2.0 #038 #cartoon by Paul Woods

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Ovi magazine; Monday May 22nd, 2023

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems, the thoughts, the reviews, the photos, the paintings and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Monday May 22nd, 2023

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Insurmountable challenges ahead for a new Thai government by Murray Hunter

One week after the May 14 election, the members of the Prayut-Chan-O-Cha government are carrying on business, as if nothing happened. The young Move Forward Party (MFP) leader Pita Limjaroenrat is trying to assemble a coalition and support from the senate that will give him the 376 votes necessary to elect him prime minister. 

In Thailand, the PM is not the person who commands the majority of seats in the lower house. The vote for prime minister is undertaken from a bicameral vote of both the lower house and 250 member senate. Currently Pita has support from 314 MPs designate in the 500 member lower house. That means Pita will have to win over 64 senators from the military appointed senate to acquire enough votes to become Thailand’s next prime minister. The only other alternative is for Pita to gain the support of AnutinCharnvirakul’sBhumjaithai Party, and retain Anutin as a deputy prime minister. This is something MFP supporters and Pheu Thai wouldn’t accept.

The probability of gaining the support of 64 senators would be an unprecedented shift in support away from the establishment and military towards the people. One might even include royalty. Any senator who voted for a prime ministerial candidate with the abolishment of Section 112 on the government platform, would face consequences.

Under such circumstances, the present government combining Bhumjaithai Party (70), PalangPracharath Party (40), United Thai Nation Party (25), Democrat Party (25), and the Charttaipattana Party (10), have 181 seats and with the support of the senate, would have 431 votes for their prime ministerial candidate. There is a possibility that Anutin, who has very close ties with the royal family, military, and the elite business families in Thailand, may rise as a potential compromise candidate.

Continue reading HERE!

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The Comedy of the Tragedy or Sputum to the sky #poem & #painting by Amir Khatib

“The sun deceived us
We were defeated by our grandfathers’ land
And the moon gave us whimper that we do not deserve”

Continue reading HERE!

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STEPS2 Exhibition – Opening

On Friday May 19th, the latest EU-MAN group exhibition, STEPS 2, opened in London, UK, to remind us that even in the darkest times of global pandemic creators constantly produce art!

Continue reading HERE!

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2nd opinion, quarantined! #11 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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Ovi magazine; Monday January 9th, 2023

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Monday January 9th, 2023

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New Thai travel requirements could dampen GDP forecast growth by Murray Hunter

Thailand’s vital tourism industry, just emerging from months of coronavirus stagnation looks likely to be crippled by an announcement by deputy prime minister and health minister Anutin Charnuirakul, likely driven by fear of Covid-bearing Chinese arrivals, that all visitors at some point will be required to show proof of at least two vaccinations and have health coverage that includes Covid-19 treatment upon arrival.

In addition, incoming tourists at an as-yet-unannounced date will be required to wear a mask in public places and transport, and take a rapid antigen test if they develop Covid-19 like symptoms during their stay. There has been no date set for the requirements become mandatory.

Some expatriates claim their vaccine certificates are no longer be retrievable in their phone apps, and many are wondering how authorities will enforce the mask mandate selectively upon incoming foreigners, with those already in Thailand not mandated to do so, as all mandates were lifted last October when Covid-19 was declared endemic. There is a possibility that this requirement will raise the level of local xenophobia towards foreigners.

The scrapping of all Covid-19 entry requirements late last year led to a surge of tourists across the border from Malaysia, Cambodia, and Laos creating a dramatic increase in economic activity in border provinces. Every hotel in Hat Yai, just north of the Malaysian border, was full over the new year holiday period. Arrivals from Thailand’s immediate neighbors to the beginning of November were made up of 1.24 million Malaysians, 373,811 Cambodians, 538,789 Laotians and 365,593 Singaporeans.

Continue reading HERE!

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O valley #poem & #painting by Amir Khatib

“O valley,
 I will order you to pass the baby to his mother’s breast,
 From the sky
 If I decide not to enter your land
 Without paying tribute, or be killed!”

Continue reading HERE

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Vivienne Westwood: Activism and the Godmother of Punk by Dr. Binoy Kampmark

There was the punk scene, Malcolm McLaren, their racy clothes shop at 430 King’s Road that started out as Let it Rock, the creation of a look, and the gathering of the earth rumbling Sex Pistols.  In fact, the late Dame Vivienne Westwood was already a proven stirrer, suggesting that she, not Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon, a.k.a Johnny Rotten, came up with the title for the barnstorming “Anarchy in the UK”.Boldly, she claimed that prior to McLaren and herself, there was no punk.

The Westwood look became ubiquitous with enthusiastic teens of the late 1970s, the use of studs, clothes replete with antisocial indignation, and the jarring, spiky hair to match.  In the opinion of Dame Zandra Rhodes, “We’d had flower power… then suddenly you had this very-hard hitting punk.”

In her 2014 memoir, Viv Albertine of Slits fame offered a striking description of aspects of Westwood costumery: “mohair jumpers, knitted on big needles, so loosely that you can see all the way through them, T-shirts slashed and written on by hand, seams and labels on the outside, showing the construction of the piece.”

Continue reading HERE

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Screws & Chips #51 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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Ovi magazine; Thursday October 27th, 2022

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Thursday October 27th, 2022

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The Decline of Buddhism in #Thailand by Murray Hunter

To tourists, Thailand is the most religious of countries, with 92 percent of Thais officially deemed to follow the state religion. The king must be a Buddhist, with Buddhist rituals enwrapped within royal ceremonies amid some of the most spectacular religious architecture in the world, which as much as anything gives the country its national character. 

It is areligion that seemingly permeates the very fiber of the country. Wrongdoers repair to the monkhood to atone. Buddhist artefacts adorn government buildings. Young males are expected to spend three months as novice monks.Thais can be seen every morning, giving alms to monks along the roadside to the tinkling of bells around all parts of the country.

Continue reading HERE!

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A Graveyard Meditation #poem by George Cassidy Payne

“I know the forests are burning
to the charnel ground, and probably,
there is little that can be done about it now”

Continue reading HERE!

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A fistful of cactus #39 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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Ovi magazine; Monday February 14th, 2022 – Valentine’s Day

 

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Monday February 14th, 2022 – Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day, also called Saint Valentine’s Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, through later folk traditions, has become a significant cultural, religious, and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world.

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What have we learnt over the last two years? The world has undergone a seismic shift by Murray Hunter

As citizens in different parts of the world, we have over the last two years shared a common experience. We have witnessed and been forcibly part of a string of events beyond our individual control, that have changed the world as we know it. The world is now very different from the recent past.

We must learn the lessons of these events and influences to prevent catastrophic consequences in the future. The following is a reflection upon the changing environment that now confronts us. We must recognise what these events and influences are in order to learn from them.

Continue reading HERE!

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“I did” #poem #art #astinstallation by Amir Khatib

“Like one who spins his dreams with threads of light
 Make the laughs that fuel my steps
 And my hours every day
 Like waiting for the sun to rise meditatively”

Continue reading HERE!

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Ghostin’ #028 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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Ovi magazine; Saturday February 5th, 2022

 

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Saturday February 5th, 2022 – World Nutella Day

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Could Malaysia and Thailand be heading into a bout of classic stagflation? by Murray Hunter

Medical experts around the world are beginning to say that the Covid-19 crisis is heading into an endemic stage with the emergence of the Omicron variant. The world is experiencing drags within supply chains, a lethargic recovery in international tourism, and continued pressures on the cost of living from high oil prices. Countries will need to transition from heavy restrictions to protect public health to a basket of measures to kickstart their respective economies. However, coming over the economic horizon in both Malaysia and Thailand is the prospect of stagflation hitting these respective economies, presenting policymakers with new challenges.

Classic stagflation was a phenomenon that hit the world in tandem with the oil supply shocks of 1973-74 and 1978-79. Stagflation is a condition where the economy is experiencing high inflation, recession, and high unemployment, all at the same time. It was perplexing to economists at the time because the remedies for each of the major conditions making up stagflation, would aggravate other symptoms. For example, boosting economic activity in the economy would be inflationary and fighting inflation with raising interest rates would adversely affect economic activity and increase unemployment.

Continue reading HERE!

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“I write poetry” #poem by George Cassidy Payne

“I write poetry
to perform
a craft”

Continue reading HERE!

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Insert Brain Here 2.0 #001 #cartoon by Paul Woods

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Ovi magazine; Saturday January 29th, 2022

 

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Saturday January 29th, 2022 – National Puzzle Day

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Bleak Outlook for #Thailand in 2022 – Challenges on every front by Murray Hunter

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has ordered the two-meter fence around government house raised, which critics describe as a metaphor for the government’s growing spate of dilemmas, especially with a swirling scandal over skyrocketing pork prices driven up by an outbreak of African flu that officials apparently tried to cover up, according to reports.

The country heads into 2022 as divided as ever and with the economy still in decline despite media attempts to dress it up. It is going into the third year of the Covid-19 pandemic following a 6 percent 2021 GDP decline according to the World Bank. Public debt is running at 58.8 percent of GDP, while household debt is now Bt14.27 trillion (US$430.2 billion), or 89.3 percent of GDP. Non-performing loans are increasing. Stagflation is a rising danger.

The official unemployment rate is only 2.25 percent, but it is believed that more than 2.5 million workers in the informal sector are either unemployed or under-employed. With the tourism sector still decimated, the only shining light within the Thai economy was the 16.4 percent increase in exports last year. Establishment-linked economists have downgraded their GDP growth expectations to 3-4.5 percent in 2022 as the latest Covid-19 wave sweeps the world.

Continue reading HERE!

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A chain of questions #poem by David Barger

“Will the changing climates
    Continue shifting?
Will the seasons ever swap
    With their ways?”

Continue reading HERE!

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Romain Rolland: The Cosmopolitan Spirit by Rene Wadlow

One of the major voices of the spirit of Citizens of the World is Romain Rolland (1866-1944). He is the symbol of those who would not let war destroy the cultural bridges between peoples, especially during the 1914-1918 World War.

Romain Rolland came from a French family with many generations in the legal profession. However, from his secondary school days on, his interest was in music, painting, history, and literature. Early he was drawn to German music, especially Wagner and Beethoven. Later he wrote an important biography of both Beethoven and Handel. He did his university studies at the prestigous Ecole Normale Superieure, a specialized higher education school which trains university professors. He was in the same class as Paul Claudel who became a diplomat and well-known poet.

At university he became interested in Russian literature and started a correspondence with Leo Tolstoy whose ideas he admired. After his studies, he received a scholarship to study in Rome in order to write his doctoral thesis on the history of opera. He also collected information for later articles on Italian painting.

Continue reading HERE!

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Screws & Chips #023 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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Ovi magazine; Friday January 7th, 2022

 

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Friday January 7th, 2022

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The role of corruption and narcotics in the Thai deep south insurgency by Murray Hunter

Institutional corruption and the narcotics trade within the Thai deep south are important dynamics of the ongoing insurgency. These two issues have often been neglected in most analyses of the regional conflict.

Up until early 2000, the southern Thai drug trade was primarily controlled by Chinese diaspora based in Hat Yai, Songkhla Province. Hat Yai is the major southern railway junction and where major roads crossed. The town became the major transit point for heroin shipped down from the Golden Triangle onto Malaysia and the rest of the world through Sadao, near the border.

As the Chinese mafia switched from narcotics and prostitution into legitimate businesses, the deep south provinces and Yala and Narathiwat became more important smuggling transit points, taken over by local Thai-Chinese.

Continue reading HERE!

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At a Red Light #poem by George Cassidy Payne

“There are those who only have their name to give as thanks.
Have you seen a two year old boy hand his papa an orange peel?”

Continue reading HERE!

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Where the #economy headed by Joseph Gatt

I think what COVID did was prune the dead wood. That is those industries that were not being productive but kept producing now have a pretext to halt production and shut down.

Those industries that were healthy and knew where they were heading are going to keep producing; start investing in new markets, and take over the old markets that were held by unproductive economies.

But the new economic order needs to be one where industries don’t waste money and energy on projects that are not productive. A lot of industries stayed afloat without being productive because they had easy access to credit and money, and were cooking the books so people in the industry could keep their jobs. And that’s a dangerous move in case we face new pandemic times.

Continue reading HERE!

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Ghostin’ #025 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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Ovi magazine; Saturday December 18th, 2021

 

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Saturday December 18th, 2021 – International Migrants Day

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The other Thai protests – Community resistance to the proposed Chana Industrial Estate by Murray Hunter

Thirty-seven elderly Thai villagers from Chana in Songkhla province, on 6th December were arrested in front of government house Bangkok for peacefully protesting against the proposed development of the Chana industrial estate. They were held in custody for a day and charged under the emergency regulations. After outcry from activists, academics and the National Human Rights Commission, they were released the next day without bail. Critics and the local media claimed the arrests by police under prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s orders was a grave miscalculation, as the villagers were both peaceful and lawful under the constitution.

The protest was led by local residents of Natub, Sakom, and Thaling Chan sub-districts of Chana where 30,000 people reside and primarily earn a living through fishing and small holder agriculture. They are members of the Chana Rak Thin or Love Chana Network who requested Prayuth honour an MOU the government had signed with the residents last year to undertaken an environmental impact assessment and cease preliminary work at the project site.

Prayuth had earlier torn up the MOU signed with the villagers which agreed to the environmental assessment.

Continue reading HERE!

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“It’s All Technique” #poem #haiku by Saloni Kaul

“Dreams flower, reach fruition.
Heights arrived, things ease.
Poem’s prime tension-release!”

Continue reading HERE!

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Worming 21#24 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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Ovi magazine; Monday December 6th, 2021 – Finland’s Independence Day

 

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Monday December 6th, 2021 – Finland’s Independence Day

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The Rise of Community and Micro Enterprises in #Thailand’s Deep South By Asae Sayaka and Murray Hunter

When one undertakes a sojourn around the Thai Deep South, one of the first observations will be the recent explosion of small business throughout the region. The three Southern border provinces, Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat have for decades exhibited the lowest number of SMEs in the country, reflecting the lag in development in relation to the rest of the country.

Back in 2005, less than 1.5 percent of total registered businesses in the nation were domiciled within the Southern border provinces. Yet even with a rise in violent incidents across the Deep South over the last year, a host of new community and micro enterprise start-ups have not been deterred. The number of MSMEs has risen from 30,000 in 2005 to 80,184 in the southern border provinces today. While many communities in Thailand have suffered severely during the Covid crisis, many communities within the Deep South have thrived through a mass of entrepreneurial start-ups.

Continue reading HERE!

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To draw himself in the mirror #poem & #painting by Amir Khatib

“He tried, over and over, to draw himself in the mirror,
 but in vain;
 As he lays down his first lines,
 show instead of hair,”

Continue reading HERE!

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Couple France-Algerie by Joseph Gatt

Algérie-France, la co-dépendence parfois toxique. Dans les années 60, 70 et même 80, le couple franco-algérien travaillait plutôt bien ensemble. Les souvenirs de la Glorieuse Révolution Algérienne de Novembre 1954 étaient présents dans les esprits des Algériens, mais aussi les souvenirs de la coopération professionnelle avec les français chrétiens et juifs et athés. Donc, entre 1962 et la fin des années 80, le couple travaillait plutôt en harmonie.

C’est dans les années 90 que le couple devient toxique. En 1985 la France impose un visa aux ressortissants Algériens (parce que l’Algérie a supprimé son autorisation de sortie du territoire). Puis la procédure de visas se complique. Or, les Algériens ont besoin de se rendre en France, parfois pour des soins, pour des études, pour faire du commerce, pour des prospéctives commerciales, ou encore pour rendre visite à de la famille, parfois en urgence (décès, maladie d’un membre de la famille, urgence familiale).

Continue reading HERE!

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Ephemera 21#30 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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Ovi magazine; Friday November 26th, 2021

 

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Wednesday November 26th, 2021

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Thailand: International Tourism May Take Years to Recover by Murray Hunter

With nearly 20 percent of Thailand’s pre-Covid crisis GDP related to tourism, the partial reopening of country’s borders on November 1 to international tourism was a risky move aimed at turning around the economy.

There has been a whole range of guesstimates made by the Tourist Authority of Thailand (TAT) about how many tourists will visit Thailand in 2021 and 2022, that have been optimistically predicted. However, these have been based more on hope than the reality of an unpredictable tourism environment because of surging worldwide Covid-19 cases and corresponding border restrictions across much of the world.

The partial opening of borders to visitors from 63 countries, comes at a time when bars, entertainment businesses remain closed across the country, and restaurants in most parts of the country are not allowed to serve liquor with meals.

The supposedly quarantine free entry for fully vaccinated foreign visitors, has been found not to be completely true as visitors are required to stay in isolation up to 30 hours in hotel quarantine, until their Covid test results come through. There is a host of paperwork and procedures required to enter Thailand, which include full vaccination certificates, a pre-paid hotel booking, USD 50,000 health insurance policy covering Covid-19 and the Thailand Pass, applied for online. The Thailand Pass website has been criticized by applicants for glitches and approval delays. As on November 4, some 50,000 applications were made, with 12,607 approvals.

Continue reading HERE!

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Istanbul #poem by Uzeyir Lokman Cayci

“The dock birds
pull me to the sea
like I am pulled to suffering,
to Istanbul, that wrings sorrows
that fall on me.
Solitude without you.

Continue reading HERE!

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Ma-Siri & Alexa 21#18 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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The Ovi magazine today

Kosovo's cannibalism by Thanos Kalamidas
In a civil war, like the one that happened in the former Yugoslavia, there are good guys and bad guys, since the truth is that there were a lot of times I felt very lonely or that due to my origins I was blamed to support only one side.

Why the Poor Stay Hungry by Rene Wadlow
As the United Nations Secretary-General said on 29 April 2008 at the end of a high-level meeting of UN Agencies in Bern, Switzerland devoted to the world food crisis "The food crisis threatens to undo all our good work."

Relocation of Rohingyas in a Deserted Island in Thailand by Rohingya Human Rights
In 1852, the government of the French Emperor Napoleon III opened a penitentiary island known as "Devil's Island" which was used for the settlement of convicts ranging from political prisoners to the most hardened of thieves and murderers.

EU's Regional Policy and Kurdish Question by Europe & Us
The Republic of Turkey has a credibility problem regarding solutions to the Kurdish question. Accepting Kurds as interlocutors seems difficult for those ruling elites whether they are old-style Kemalists or new-fashion Islamists.