Mimi (centre front) during the November 2020 Pride parade in Bangkok. Photo and caption from Prachatai. Used with permission The original version of this article was published by Prachatai, an independent news site in Thailand. Interviews were conducted by Rattanaporn Khamenkit and Natthaphon Panudomlak, and the article was written by Anna Lawattanatrakul. This edited version is republished by Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement. Mimi, 17, is a gender equality activist who has been charged with violating the Emergency Decree and the Public Assembly Act for giving a speech during a protest at the Ratchaprasong Intersection on October 25, 2020. A former member of the gender equality activist group Feminist’s Liberation Front and one of the creators of the Thai version of the Feminist anthem “A Rapist in Your Path,” Mimi now runs the Twitter and Instagram pages of Feminist FooFoo, which published content about gender justice. Prachatai spoke to Mimi (who uses the pronouns they/them) about the beginnings of their activism, life after facing charges for political expression, and the importance of gender justice in the pro-democracy movement. Mimi said their parents taught them about democracy when they were young, but they did not start joining political activities until they learned of the disappearance of Wanchalearm Satsaksit, a Thai activist in exile who was abducted from his condominium in Phnom Penh on June 4, 2020 and is still missing over a year later. Wanchalearm’s disappearance triggered a wave of protests against enforced disappearances, which became one of the central issues of the pro-democracy movement beginning in July 2020. Mimi was one of the young people who felt the need to do something at the time. Even though some say it is inappropriate for young people to protest, Mimi believes it is a good thing that young people are taking a stand, as this is a way of saying that they also have rights and a voice. They said that young people are often excluded from the decision-making process and are prevented from speaking out about issues which affect them. I feel that, if we are all people, we shouldn’t judge other people’s experiences through our own experience. When adults say that they know better, I think that’s insulting. It diminishes our demands and diminishes our values. I think that, even if they are in kindergarten or in primary school, they have the same right to complain that they are tired. They have the right to say that their quality of life is not good. Mimi began their activism by working with the Feminist’s Liberation Front and the Free Queer and Non-binary group. They were also one of the creators of the Thai version of the Chilean feminist anthem “A Rapist in Your Path” (Un Violador en Tu Camino). The first performance of “A Rapist in Your Path” in Thai took place during the Pride parade in Bangkok on 7 November 2020, organized by the Feminist’s Liberation Front, then known as the Women for Freedom and Democracy group, and the gender equality activist group Seri Toey Plus. The lyrics were then modified and used in other protests to speak out about social issues, including abortion rights, freedom of expression, the judicial process, and human rights violations in schools. Mimi now runs the Twitter and Instagram pages Feminist FooFoo, which publish content about gender equality and LGBTQ rights, and said that they would continue to campaign for gender justice. Mimi is facing charges for violating the Emergency Decree and the Public Assembly Act, after they gave a speech on gender justice and criticized the judicial process during the protest at the Ratchaprasong Intersection on October 25, 2020. They told reporters that after they reported to Lumpini Police Station on January 13, 2021 that the police initially thought the speaker was student activist Patsaravalee Tanakitvibulpon, but later found out that the speaker was Mimi and charged them instead. Mimi says their experience with the police and in juvenile detention have taught them that state officials have no understanding how to handle the pressing of charges against a minor, and lack gender sensitivity. As soon as they saw me, they immediately marked me down as ‘Miss,’ even though I might identify as Mx, or as someone who isn’t a Miss or Mister. I identify as non-binary, but they didn’t care about my gender identity, and what was so shocking to me was that they have never heard of LGBT. The juvenile detention centre lacks understanding in so many issues. They lack understanding in the issues we’re talking about. They didn’t understand what feminists are. They didn’t understand what LGBT is.