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From Our Own Correspondent

Thailand's handcuffed democracy

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.41.3K Ratings

🗓️ 24 August 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Kate Adie presents stories from Thailand, Australia, Senegal, Germany and the US

Thailand has seen its fair share of political drama over the years. In recent weeks, the dissolution of the opposition party and the dismissal of the PM showed the firm grip on the country by unelected institutions. Jonathan Head has been watching the events rapidly unfold.

In Australia, there’s a deepening housing crisis with 120,000 people facing homelessness in the country every night. Soaring property prices and underinvestment in social housing and a growing population have made the situation worse. Katy Watson has been in Perth, Western Australia.

It was an idea that first had its inception in the 1980s: fighting desertification by planting a wall of trees across the African continent. The Great Green Wall would snake through eleven countries, from Senegal in the West to Djibouti in the East. But progress on the project has been slow. Nick Hunt has been in Senegal.

The Baader Meinhof gang are an anti-American, anti-imperialist terrorist group that spread fear across West Germany in the 1970s and 80s. The group claimed responsibility for a series of unsolved murders in the early 90s. So, the arrest of one alleged member of the group in Berlin has attracted significant attention, as Tim Mansel reports.

And finally, a cast of political heavyweights, ranging from Hilary Clinton to Barak and Michelle Obama to Bernie Sanders took to the stage in the glittering halls of the Democratic National Convention this week in Chicago. But back in Washington, Rajini Vaidyanathan spoke to some street vendors who were somewhat underwhelmed.

Producers: Serena Tarling and Farhana Haider Editor: Tom Bigwood Production coordinators: Katie Morrison and Sophie Hill

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.

0:05.2

Hello. Today Australia's West Coast may be the wealthiest part of the country,

0:11.2

but we hear from those who've been priced out of the property market

0:15.0

and are now homeless.

0:17.0

In Senegal, an ambitious reforestation programme known as the Great Green Wall is underway involving 11 countries, but will those who live

0:26.7

alongside it reap the benefits?

0:29.6

We're in Germany on the And finally the euphoria of the Democratic Party's National Convention in Chicago

0:46.2

dominated news networks.

0:48.8

So why are the merchandise sellers back in Washington disgruntled. But first Thailand has seen its

0:56.2

fair share of political drama over the years. The bitter political divide between the

1:01.7

red-shirted supporters of former deposed PM,

1:05.0

Taxin Sinawat and the pro-monarchist yellow-shirted protesters dominated

1:10.3

politics for several years. But the political upheaval is far from a thing of the past.

1:16.7

In recent weeks, the country's constitutional court not only ordered the dissolution of

1:22.4

move forward, the party that won the most votes and seats in last year's election,

1:28.0

but also banned several of its leaders from a return to politics for 10 years. This was on the basis that their plans to

1:36.0

change royal defamation laws were unconstitutional. Soon after the court moved to dismiss the current Prime Minister from office

1:45.0

for violating ethical standards in the appointment of a cabinet minister,

1:50.0

setting the stage for fresh political chaos.

1:54.1

The ruling Poole-Tai party then chose to replace him

1:58.2

with Mr Taxin's daughter.

2:00.8

Jonathan Head has been watching the events rapidly unfold.

...

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