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Join the campaign to Free “Penguin” Parit Chiwarak! #DrawPenguin
Join the campaign to Free “Penguin” Parit Chiwarak! #DrawPenguin #วาดรูปเพนกวิน
This campaign and drawing are created by Thai illustrator, Sina Wittayawiroj and we translated his caption from Thai to English below. It also includes the transcript of "Pai" Jatupat Boonpattararaksa's interview describing Penguin’s worrying physical conditions in jail.
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When the state is doing everything in their power to stop the world from seeing Penguin and his fight against injustice, we would like all the artists or anyone who is interested in to join us in #DrawPenguin #วาดรูปเพนกวิน , draw Penguin’s picture to show his condition in jail according to Pai Jatupat’s words. This way, the public will see that as every second passes by, our friend is still fighting valiantly against the injustice in this country.
Pai’s interview recorded on 28 April 2021:
“From 110 kilo and now he weighs around 90 kilo. He is thin, like it is obvious that he is thinner now, bonier. We were living together every day, I saw how he looked when we took a shower or changed our clothes. He lost so much weight. I think he weighs around 96 kilo now.”
“Every day we wore white t-shirts and shorts. Before the t-shirt looked small on him, now it seemed bigger. The t-shirts were white so Penguin wrote on the back “Hunger strike for justice. Abolish 112”. He used a blue marker to write and he had to write over and over again (to make the words visible on the t-shirts). He wore t-shirts like this during his hunger strike. But when the t-shirts were washed, the blue marker color was also washed out too and stained all over the t-shirts. So all the t-shirts he wore were staining in blue ink, the trace of the words “Hunger strike” barely visible. Some of the t-shirts were also stained with blood. Because one day, Penguin fell asleep and the IV tube stopped working so he bled a little. So that shirt has bloodstain on it now.”
“On his hands and arms, there are marks from IV tube injection all over them. The problem with IV tube was that sometimes they couldn’t find the veins to inject it,so they had to try injecting it in new spots over and over. And Penguin hasn’t been eating so it was even more difficult. They also had to measure his blood sugar level every day, so they took his blood sample every morning. They pricked his finger for the blood sample. It hurt and Penguin was saying “Ouch!” during the procedure . His hands were swollen because of fluid injection. There are marks from the IV tube everywhere on both hands and arms.”
“While he was hooked on the IV tube, he would always carry an inhaler. It became his signature look. He likes an inhaler, especially the one from the brand Poy-Sain. If he wasn’t hooked on an IV tube, he would carry a bottle of mineral sport drink and sip it constantly.”
“From the last time I saw him, how do you say it? He was bonier, thinner, his face looked gaunt, his belly shrunken. The changes were so obvious...we were used to seeing him all chubby, right? With chubby cheeks and looking healthy but he didn’t look like that anymore. But his eyes still showed his determination, that he was firm in his goal, that he would continue to bear all the suffering from this hunger strike. He wanted to eat but he would bear it because he wanted to fight back against injustice”
You can listen to Pai’s full interview HERE
Take action! In order to participate:
When posting penguin drawings on Facebook or Instagram, please copy and paste all of the captions above so people understand and can join in.
You can use any of the descriptions from Pai’s story for your drawing.
We will ask for your permission before using any of your drawings. The drawings will be printed out and handed to people participate in the protest calling for the release of all detained activists and protest leaders #ยืนหยุดขัง & will be used in a video and photo book to show the world the suffering and hardship Penguin had to go through.