<div>7th of March, the day before International Women&rsquo;s Day, was an important day for Aum Neko. It was the day, after four years of living as a political refugee in Paris, that her gender transition was legally recognised: the day she legally became Madame Saran Chuichai. But for Aum, legal recognition is irrelevant to her experience of womanhood. In her eyes, she has been a woman all her life and believes passionately in &quot;self-determination&quot; when it comes to gender identity. Aum is a transgender Thai woman. Unlike in Thailand, where trans people cannot change their gender, gender recognition laws were introduced in France in 2016.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><p>&nbsp;</p>

<div>“Goodbye” might be a symbol of the end of love for most people, but for a lèse majesté exiled junta critic, Nuttigar Woratunyawit, saying goodbye is an act of love.</div> <p></p>

<div>During the past four years, the junta has added many terms to the dictionary of Thai politics. Examples are Pracharat, Thai-ism democracy, attitude adjustment and etc. Prachatai talked to Petra Desatova, a PhD candidate from Leeds University, Her PhD thesis examines the attempt of the junta to rebrand Thailand. She argues that&nbsp;these terms are not merely a play on words, a systematic attempt to strengthen its authoritarian regime</div> <p></p>

<div> <div><em>An activist with the Assembly of the Poor on the issue of the Pak Mun Dam, Kritsakorn Silarak has been summoned to military bases 18 times. Kritsakorn spoke of the experience of his mother and coworker throwing their telephones in frustration with military pressure.&nbsp;</em></div> </div>

<p>Last week, a court in Yala sentenced Nurhayati Masoh, a blind woman, to one year and six months in prison for royal defamation. The person who filed the complaint against her is Phiphatanachai Sakawi, who is also a blind and the&nbsp;president of the Blind Society Association of Thailand.&nbsp;Pipathanachai tells Prachatai that&nbsp;&nbsp;Nuruhayati's crime has damaged the reputation of blind people in Thailand.&nbsp;</p> <p></p>

<p dir="ltr">Even more rock stars running charity marathons to seek donations for hospitals would not solve the structural problems of the nation’s healthcare system, which is under threat from the current military government.</p> <p></p>

<div>A UN rapporteur argues that Southeast Asian countries are undermining their economic potential due to the lack of freedom of expression, adding that social media companies should be more concerned about protecting customers’ privacy.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Average annual GDP growth in the Southeast Asian region for 2017 is forecast by the ADB at 5.0%. </div>

<p dir="ltr">October is an important month in Thailand’s political history as it marks the anniversary of two important political events. One is the popular uprising of 14 October 1973 where thousands of people rose up against military dictatorship, while the other, which occurred on 6 October 1976, was a massacre where unofficial sources claim that more than 100 people died.</p> <p></p>

<div>To break the taboo in Thai society surrounding the 1976 Massacre, a group of scholars have founded an online archive of the incident in the hope that Thai society will be able to learn from its bloody past.</div> <div> </div>

<div>The junta is always claiming that the Thai economy is on the rise, but how true is this? And is it rising in a healthy manner? According to one analyst, the Thai economy is good when we look at the overall figures, but when we go into detail, it is a totally different story.&nbsp;</div> <p></p>

<div>For three years, the ruling junta has proposed ‘national reforms’ on different issues. Though the previous reforms, like political reform, police reform and education reform, have been criticized for driving the country backwards, the recent reform of the Bangkok bus system seems to be quite constructive.&nbsp;</div> <div> </div>

<div>A young academic explains what Chulalongkorn University (CU) means to Thai society and why conservatives were so furious when a progressive activist was voted to be president of the university’s student council. &nbsp;&nbsp;</div> <div> </div>