tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67640865541093306132024-03-14T14:09:48.417+07:00Thailand's TroublesThailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-26376059842630156442010-09-19T20:18:00.007+07:002010-09-19T20:43:40.753+07:004 years 4 monthsWhen a few thousand people openly protest their support for a cause labelled terrorist by a government willing to use deadly force to suppress those who question its writ it is hard not to conclude that the spirit of the movement is far from broken.<br />
<br />
The Red movement demonstrated that this afternoon and evening when they turned Ratchaprasong, site for a two-month sit-in protest which was finally brought to an end by troops using deadly force on the 19 May 2010, into a sea of red once again evoking the heady days of March, April and May. The graffiti, handwritten notices and banners were defiant, angry and confident, a mix of accusations and condemnation, demands and questions. The mood was joyful with singing and cheering, clapping and dancing. But amid the smiles, the feelings of solidarity, were not a few faces sad and serious. As ever people were polite and courteous, talking eagerly with new acquaintances. <br />
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Today was for the Red movement a commemoration of those killed on the 19 May 2010 by troops under the government of Abhisit Vejjajiva, of the rather misnamed Democrat Party, and the coup of 19 September 2006 when the elected government of Thaskin Shinawatra was ousted by troops serving the interests of an elite cabal which eventually engineered the government led by Abhisit.<br />
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His government has since the bloody day of 19 May made much of reconciliation and harmony but done precious little for justice. The arrogance, disdain and ignorance showed by him and those he represents and is associated with does not bode well for the future of Thailand. If there is any need of the reminder of the depth of feelings, the frustration and anger it comes no larger than the charred wreck at CentralWorld mall and its Zen Tower which were torched in a final spontaneous act of defiance by the remnants of the protest a few hours before sunset on 19 May. <br />
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Today's protest took place beneath that 19 story exclamation mark.<br />
<br />
The government insists people of the Red movement simply don't understand. The government is right. People don't understand. They don't understand why they should accept double standards. They don't understand why they should be denied justice. They don't understand why their choice at the ballot box should be annulled by the power of an unelected minority. They don't understand how they can be citizens of Thailand if their voice expressed at the ballot box is silenced by those who will talk electoral politics but when it doesn't go their way will walk the way of the gun. <br />
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The government, for now, appears to be in a stronger position. It may hang on for a very long time. It will probably find a way to delay and evade holding an election. Or the end may come rather sooner. Even the strongest regimes can turn out to be brittle when many people stand up in public to say enough. The fall of autocratic states in Europe in 1989 culminating with the collapse of the Soviet Union is an example of what can happen. Alternatively if rulers and their acolytes and supporters decide to resist matters may take a nastier turn as they did in China and Indochina during the 20th century and in various European states starting with France in 1789. What will follow in Thailand is anybody's guess but it would be brave man who would bet on the status quo.<br />
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<center><br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/win2kO1gj3buoezj9siR4Q?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYDyVab6lI/AAAAAAAABlM/hBhg_A0KfkE/s600/IMG_0117.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table>My gang will fight on and will win.<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/5CbDwRk6MpsONaSukP5fXg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYD00-0tUI/AAAAAAAABlU/RIQ3cMjkDfg/s600/IMG_0120.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table><br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/NoVnmbhWO8XQVRbiszsgzw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYD3zlUonI/AAAAAAAABlc/jlUYTCB3Iro/s600/IMG_0123.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table><br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/NzIa0j0KHoIHy4QgjF1ybg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYD5Y11ybI/AAAAAAAABlg/noCffbXUB7A/s600/IMG_0126.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table>Only those who with something to fear, perhaps blood a on their hands, might disagree?<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/sbtJztr3zNVLDL9XqH78jQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYD6WQyQxI/AAAAAAAABlk/1VmQ5dWidYs/s600/IMG_0127.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table>A good question.<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/I1cP0XIJ4yG5JCXhbgmhVw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYD-9B9AII/AAAAAAAABlw/2W8D80Ba-ss/s600/IMG_0131.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table><br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/aCuIaMtiip5D2u2J8U9dLw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYEEmS2I7I/AAAAAAAABmE/xeg7RR8RFHw/s600/IMG_0137.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table><br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Bqoisy0NTHp9JVuoBGrcWw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYEI_Y7IrI/AAAAAAAABmQ/7uhVXwL6mRw/s600/IMG_0140.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table>I know you are scared of the people.<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/sFqdxpcUmVuNoXH_gLhGSw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYEMfEpCXI/AAAAAAAABmc/USiVVeypwng/s600/IMG_0143.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table><br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/xvwteCuHuh7_DrkaIdvnSw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYENutppwI/AAAAAAAABmg/miotFr4mQQI/s600/IMG_0144.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table><br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/EJtGu-7QYd2_VBVyHR-FGw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYEUFnIOFI/AAAAAAAABm0/Pk-OVTInCPY/s600/IMG_0152.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table><br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/E-BK5GGI8HRvAyRJxhElIA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYEV1DchZI/AAAAAAAABm4/oAvaNJDWHrM/s600/IMG_0153.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table>Release [our] leaders now now!<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/tAehy9CA5_FEX-drR9oodw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYEXL59hjI/AAAAAAAABm8/nrIwEKfgtXE/s600/IMG_0154.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table><br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/k3v0n-oM6tQUHqHqMFbv9w?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYEaMOAuUI/AAAAAAAABnE/w8GU1e487p0/s600/IMG_0156.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table>Abhisit is not the only one with an image problem.<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/dryqRiAIIrttDvbE4PWifw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYEcidOQkI/AAAAAAAABnM/qNlSjSynULI/s600/IMG_0158.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table>Murderer.<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/V0v9xs-SBjFUpMygJWwOdw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYEeY_3HWI/AAAAAAAABnQ/ON_YlQC1RVA/s600/IMG_0159.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table>An alternative view of Deputy Prime Minister Suthep.<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/0ZyuggQzVkq-VLrRgp75tA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYEghfiZUI/AAAAAAAABnc/8bHEdhCzzMU/s600/IMG_0161.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table>Children, mothers and fathers of some of those killed receive a steady stream of donations.<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/dddLT8f7JOW2CiqAYrIa3Q?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYEoh2D8ZI/AAAAAAAABnw/afKQkk2nMyM/s600/IMG_0169.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table><br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/N_U7gv-dP-S48jexZHVPeQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYEtc2DaII/AAAAAAAABoA/1mAxh-2G0Aw/s600/IMG_0177.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table>Another good question.<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/H3vLGnd6rzUVevd55rWYUw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYEwJjknxI/AAAAAAAABoI/gVoeWBOJDQk/s600/IMG_0179.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table><br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/fK-YyUFoBiBpPwaIg1FvNA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYEygFblNI/AAAAAAAABoQ/Mhs2zBE3nIM/s400/IMG_0184.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table><br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/2nIuCJUAox_bgXKL6IJmdA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYEzWyeSUI/AAAAAAAABoU/Xuh3P6baBHU/s600/IMG_0185.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table><br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/AUaEOrQqRDId9QNWm-BUZQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYE0c7zRyI/AAAAAAAABoY/YQvSO75I1oE/s600/IMG_0186.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table><br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/D-3NTizV_IV_rLdZ2NhOww?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/TJYE1T_AlBI/AAAAAAAABoc/CkFhn1CW9ZU/s600/IMG_0187.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/19September2010RatchaprasongProtest?feat=embedwebsite">19 September 2010 Ratchaprasong protest</a></td></tr>
</table><br />
<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="600" height="400" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&captions=1&hl=en_GB&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2F103657339709676300673%2Falbumid%2F5518600313717575873%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_GB" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed><br />
</center>Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-16866513432778679332010-06-09T06:00:00.000+07:002010-06-09T06:00:01.668+07:00Losing faceFace, a carefully cultivated and respected reputation, is considered by many to be an important concept in the cultures of many east Asian societies like Thailand. Losing face can generate strong reactions including violence. The role of face as a motivating factor in the troubles in Thailand may never be satisfactorily resolved. What can be observed is who has lost face.<br />
<br />
Members of the amart may have felt a loss of face because of the unparalleled political success of Thaksin Shinawatra. He in turn may have felt a loss of face when he was deposed as elected prime minister by the coup of 2006. People who voted for him may have felt a loss of face because the coup made their votes and the feelings and wishes they represent worthless, they may have felt more loss because the coup implied they were less equal than others in society which in turn perhaps contributed to the resurrection and rise of pride in an identity of prai, or peasants. The amart perhaps lost further face in the election victories of parties associated with Thaksin and his policies. Voters may in turn have lost yet more face when those parties were removed from government by court judgments the impartiality of which is in doubt. The deaths of dozens of protesters and defeat at the hands of the army on 10 April and 19 May could have cost more face.<br />
<br />
If feelings are possible in equal strength regardless of material status, that they are common in their range to all people, then <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/04/blog-post.html">ไพร่</a>, or prai (peasants, commoners), and อำมาตย์, or amart (elite, aristocracy), alike may feel a loss of face equally. Where the difference lies is in the capacity to act to generate, protect, avenge and restore face. In this a rich woman may have more capacity than a poor man. But when those who each only hold a little power lose face collectively then they may be willing to collectively pool their power to restore face. Who then has in sum lost more face? Tens of millions of citizens have been disenfranchised over the last four years, especially those who voted for the ideas and policies of Thaksin and the political party he assembled as their vehicle (and of course as a vehicle for his personal interests and rewards)? Does their collective power and the desire to use it to restore their collective loss of face equal or exceed that of those who lost face as a result of the rise to power of Thaksin through the ballot box?Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-4944142653047821372010-06-08T06:00:00.001+07:002010-06-08T06:00:03.282+07:00Inequalities of a lost transitionPolitical transition in Thailand has been underway since a band of Young Turks, inspired by their studies in Paris, led a coup to replace monarchy of absolutism with one constitutionally bound to a ceremonial role in 1932. Their efforts to introduce participatory politics in the mould of parliaments such as those found in the kingdoms of northern Europe were within a decade brought to an end by conservatives rather taken with the national socialism of Germany and similarly aggressive efforts of Japan to build nation and state through dictatorship and force. Since then Thailand has flirted with participatory politics yet remained firmly within the grasp of conservative elements who see their interests best served through a state of autocracy in one guise or another employing various devices including limits on freedom of speech.<br />
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Political uncertainty and the dominance and indeed substitution of personal interests over national interests have been accompanied by substantial development of industry and infrastructure compared with what existed prior to 1932. Furthermore since the end of absolute monarchy the country has appeared relatively peaceful except for the tumultuous 1970s and the years since 2006. That the country appears to have made orderly material progress makes recent troubles all the more surprising on superficial examination and gives credence to the claims protests are a charade staged by the money of Thaksin Shinawatra, the brusque, autocratic and impatient elected prime minister deposed in a coup in September 2006, and his associates to bring down the government and the individuals and institutions which have provided support in order to clear the way for his return from exile and to power.<br />
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How much money Thaksin and associates are funnelling into the Red movement and how it compares to donations from Red sympathizers, protesters and activists is unknown. How much control or influence Thaksin’s money buys is unknown. Thaksin’s ultimate aims are known only to him and his associates and may indeed include a return to power. Yet such is the anger, animosity and outrage he raises among some he would should he return, especially to active politics, run a high risk of assassination.<br />
<br />
The focus on the influence and power of Thaksin may be overstating his reach and in doing so obstructing consideration of the structures of society upon which stands politics and protests. In those structures there lies much that runs counter to basic ideas of fairness and justice which appear to cross cultures and be perhaps the ideas most common to Man. They have been a feature of literature and theology since at least the times of Plato and other Ancients who put down their thoughts from the Nile to the Ganges to the Yangtze.<br />
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Thailand’s trouble is in becoming lost in transition since 1932 it has not been able to deliver much of the equalities of either liberal democracy or communist autocracy. Each system offers a different deal in terms of equalities which, with a nod to works of Atul Kohli and Adam Przeworski and other democracy theorists, may provide reason for citizens to buy into the system. Liberal (economy) democracy (power) balances social and economic inequalities with legal and political equalities. Communist (economy) autocracy (power) balances legal and political inequalities with social and economic equalities. In practise the equalities and inequalities are not quite so clear cut and the balances people perceive may shift over time particularly as economic fortunes wax and wane, information flows shift to alter perceptions, aspirations and interests. <br />
<br />
Thailand, unable to construct a firm, dominant structure of one system or the other, is left with a hodgepodge structure of mechanisms, interests and aspirations leaving most too face a life under social, economic, legal and political inequalities. Not dissimilar structures are found in other countries, particularly in transition from one structure to another, including contemporary China as it attempts to build and secure what may be described as an illiberal autocracy.<br />
<br />
Such structures are inherently unstable. They require great discipline or brutality, not infrequently bouts of extreme violence, or both to impose stability necessary for rulers to pursue their agendas, which may include national development, often mixed with maintaining the position, interests and privileges of competing elites ensuring vast material prizes accrue to them while leaving the majority with little. Thailand’s disparity of wealth, one of the greatest in the world, speaks of this. Some states, generally small and blessed with great commodity wealth such as Brunei, are able to avoid this fate, if they can also sidestep the resource curse, through state largesse to compensate for the costs of inequalities and economic consequences of great wealth disparity which necessarily limits domestic demand and thus the prospect of building a robust economy not hostage to fates of export markets.<br />
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The four inequalities underlying the structures of Thailand are accompanied by an economic performance which is not as impressive as it may appear. When compared to, for example, South Korea and Taiwan, which began their industrialization around the same time as Thailand, the economic performance of Thailand is disappointing, if not lamentable, in light of the favourable climate, a rich endowment of resources and a strategic location. South Korea and Taiwan have large middle classes, empowered and not uncomfortable working classes, and relatively accessible education able to meet the needs of developed society and economy. Perhaps a fifth of Thais may count as middle class, although defining class identities beyond narrow metrics such as income is an imprecise art and indeed may be getting harder, the working classes have been rather weak historically and have relatively little purchasing power because of low incomes and a high-level of indebtedness, and education has, despite much talk of reform, yet to develop the capacities to provide the knowledge and skills required for a developed society and economy producing high productivity, value and incomes.<br />
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Prospects for tackling political, and perhaps in due course legal, inequalities, brightened with the 1997 constitution and its model of participatory politics. Ordinary people were educated about the empowerment of voting under the rules of this constitution because it was their votes, some bought others not, which put in power the first government they felt was addressing their needs and interests. Votes were shown to bring benefits beyond their price on polling day. Consequently Thaksin’s second election victory was even greater than the first. Of course his party Thai Rak Thai spent heavily on promoting its policies through various advertising channels and arguably in doing so created for the first time a truly national polity. Money spent in this way undoubtedly helped to return the party to power and maintain its popularity. Similar dynamics are observed in developed countries which do not limit political campaign funds. America’s presidential election has since 1945 been one on almost every occasion by the candidate who was able to marshal a larger campaign treasury.<br />
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The participation and power felt by ordinary people as a result of the 1997 constitution was withdrawn through acts of disenfranchisement. The first was when Thaksin, under pressure from demonstrations led by his former business partner and media magnate Sonthi Limthongkul who is a progenitor of the Yellow movement which favours a strong monarchy and a limited electoral franchise, dissolved parliament in early 2006 as a prelude to a general election. The Democrat Party refused to partake in the poll claiming it was unfair. In doing that they undermined the validity of the election, they also undermined the fledgling participatory political structures which were showing promise of reduced political inequality perhaps even delivering political equality, which taken together served to undermine the rights of all voters tantamount to disenfranchisement. Their act paved the way for what was to follow.<br />
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The second act of disenfranchisement came with the coup which toppled Thaksin from his post as prime minister in September 2006. Supporters of the coup claimed they had to destroy democracy to save democracy. Yet surely the way to save democracy is not to put it to the sword but rather to participate with greater vigour, competition and engagement?<br />
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The third and fourth acts of disenfranchisement came when courts, in a country which frequently ranks among the ten most corrupt legal systems in the world, ordered the dissolution of Thai Rak Thai and then the elected government formed by its successor party. The first case was on charges of election malfeasance, the second case built around the late Samak Sundravej, then prime minister, appearing on television cooking which he had been doing for years and which was ruled to be illegal campaigning. Clearer cases of election finance improprieties dating back to 2005 for the now ruling Democrat Party are only due for rulings in August. These examples of legal inequalities echo with many ordinary people who openly talk of double standards. They see more double standards in the Democrat government’s zeal for prosecuting Red activists and protesters but indifference to bringing Yellows, including Kasit Piromya, the foreign minister, to trial for occupying Bangkok’s airports for a week in late 2008.<br />
<br />
The reversal of the shift towards political equality and perceptions of very public displays of legal inequalities are factors which have contributed to the anger, frustration and mobilization taking shape in the Red movement. The ubiquity of internet and social media plus mobile phones has spread news, interpretations and feelings farther, faster than before and helped keep the issues burning. Until the inequalities of Thailand are tackled the government and elements it represents will in the face of strong and widespread demand for political equality only maintain their position at great cost, effort and probably violence.Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-91063396335617641222010-06-07T06:00:00.001+07:002010-06-07T06:00:03.070+07:00Symbolic powerChe Guevara was a not uncommon face among the protesters at the Red movement sit-in at Ratchaprasong in central Bangkok which was cleared by the army on 19 May. Guevara’s face was on t-shirts, stickers and badges, even a few hats and the odd flag. <br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/HlNZ4YtgIX0RtCihatBgsw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S8vU8enJurI/AAAAAAAAA10/n1CFbKT0Z80/s800/Image0533.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Symbols?feat=embedwebsite">Symbols</a></td></tr>
</table>He was not the only legend of communist revolution. Mao was also around, although not as much as Guevarra. Lenin appeared on a few badges and the cover of a magazine devoted to the Russian revolution of 1917. <br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/yWQMI1Cy-HnbCQmtn_nx3A?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S8PpJGkEOwI/AAAAAAAAAxA/VrXSi-_WJms/s800/Image0453.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Symbols?feat=embedwebsite">Symbols</a></td></tr>
</table>There was Bob Marley too, who although never involved in a revolution is popular with disaffected youth around the world for his songs of protest. <br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/kDjnF7f2OuZoW2Kd_48Mag?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S9Mulrie09I/AAAAAAAABCQ/5jptMMLaco0/s800/Image0700.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Symbols?feat=embedwebsite">Symbols</a></td></tr>
</table>One evening I heard a speaker invoke the myth of Robin Hood. Another brought up Troy.Mahatma Gandhi was there too on t-shirts and badges. If I recall rightly either Nattawut or Jatuporn was on at least one evening wearing a Gandhi t-shirt. Pridi Banomyong, considered by some historians to be the father of Thai democracy in the 1930s, was on badges and his picture along with a quote was hung from a skytrain pillar. <br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/AnTIxj8AhtKEY_xMByi7TQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S8PpJytllbI/AAAAAAAAAxE/wrKZnUOGe9c/s800/Image0455.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/RedZoneSamizdatMessagesMediaGraffiti?feat=embedwebsite">Red Zone - Samizdat - messages, media, graffiti</a></td></tr>
</table>This is incongruous because few among the protesters were talking about communism. At its heart the Red movement is not even about the consequences, manifesting has great disparity in wealth within Thailand, of the structure of power and society, rather it is about the causes, the inequalities of the current structure which generated the coup, display a particularly arrogant hypocrisy, and result in injustice, unfairness and inequity of opportunity.<br />
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Perhaps the only thread that binds these figures is that they in different ways challenged authority and its legitimacy, power and views. How much protesters know about these figures, their history and their politics is unknown. The limitations of the Thai education system suggest deep knowledge may not be widespread. On the other much is changing because of the activism of the Red movement and the reach of the internet and mobile phones.<br />
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A tentative conclusion may be that these historical figures, while losing their political roots as their images move around the world on the Jetstream of globalization, simply stand for resistance, revolt and revolution. Their appearance among the Red movement is then indicative of the mood and determination of the disenfranchised in Thailand?<br />
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The employment of these images of people symbolic of revolution, perhaps as devices for communicating and expressing resistance and revolt, may be indicative of a rising spirit of collective consciousness in the Red movement, a mobilization for redress. Such a mobilization of the mind or spirit is it seems being accompanied by the emergence of a formal, public character not only in the organizations within the Red movement, primarily the UDD and Red Siam, but especially in the development of the guards of the UDD.<br />
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In the early days of the sit-in protest at Ratchaprasong the guards dressed in casual clothes, their only markers being a hat or a scarf. By the second month they had matured. One group wore uniforms complete with insignia, perhaps representing a proto-militia or an expression of a desire or intention to move along such a route should matters take a turn for the worst. <br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/t_xnSZ9TtI75TAQaxgcsuQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S8KdNMhb2SI/AAAAAAAAAmA/Ae5QgihhAnA/s800/Image0274.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/100411BangkokAftermath?feat=embedwebsite">100411 Bangkok aftermath</a></td></tr>
</table>These guards were generally found around the stage and at times by the barricades, especially that opposite Silom. The other group, who appeared more like volunteers and were typically found manning checkpoints at the barricades, continued to wear a scarf or a hat, and not always that, as a badge of their duties. <br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/NUbCDNtkroEHIcA2kbdl1w?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S8vVhaYi78I/AAAAAAAAA3E/4Tckc4gfht0/s800/Image0555.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/RedZone?feat=embedwebsite">Red Zone</a></td></tr>
</table>Whether the guards and their evolution into a uniformed formal and perhaps disciplined group is just posturing or something else may not be entirely clear until the history of these days and the movement can be explored in peace and safely written.Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-29777116757514591412010-06-04T06:00:00.005+07:002010-06-04T06:00:02.675+07:00The diaspora factorRevolts against the state usually stand a better chance of bringing about a revolution when they can draw on support from the beyond the country’s borders. During the Cold War the most prominent benefactors supplying money and materiel were America and the Soviet Union. Lesser powers, some neighbours others not, have also lent a hand to insurrectionists or bolstered the capability of the state in question.<br />
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States are not the only actors however. Diasporas also play a key role, which since the end of the Cold War may be increasing. Diasporas were critical to the supply of funds, weapons and safe havens to guerrillas in Northern Ireland, East Timor and Sri Lanka. They also helped sustain the fighting when deep-rooted ethnic and religious identities were mobilized to tear apart Yugoslavia. Diasporas sometimes exhibit greater determination, if not extremism, then people at the centre of the conflict through the phenomenon of long-distance nationalism.<br />
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Thailand’s diaspora has grown markedly over the last two decades in tandem with globalization, particularly of labour and human trafficking, and the rise of middle class spending power on overseas education. Credible estimates of the size of the diaspora are hard to come by. What constitutes the diaspora is also open to interpretation. Do Thais studying or working overseas for a few years count as part of the diaspora? They might be considered the periphery of the diaspora. Thais who stay for more than a few years, perhaps because of a business or marriage, becoming formally resident may span the semi-periphery and core. Thais who have taken up citizenship of another country or people whose parents or grand-parents originated from Thailand might be considered the core of the diaspora.<br />
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The greatest diaspora appears to be in America, Los Angeles has Thai Town, a quarter where most shops and businesses are owned by Thais targeting primarily the ethnic Thai market. Second might be Australia, followed by the UK, Hongkong, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and then the larger countries of western Europe.<br />
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How politically engaged communities of the Thai diaspora are and what their views might be may not be known with confidence until studies are undertaken. There are however websites claiming to represent Red groups in America and some states, in the UK, in Germany and Australia. The most prominent member of the diaspora is Thaksin Shinawatra, the elected prime minister deposed in the coup of 2006, who faces a jail sentence for corruption should he return home and now stands accused by the government of terrorism.<br />
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Overseas Red networks are vexing the government which feels frustrated and threatened by their influence, imagined or real.<br />
<blockquote>แต่ต้องยอมรับว่าผู้ชุมนุมมีเครือข่ายที่ทำงานอยู่นอกประเทศคอยป้อนข้อมูลที่ผิดๆ ให้แก่สื่อต่างประเทศ โดยมีอดีตนักการเมืองที่เกี่ยวพันกับพรรคไทยรักไทย กลุ่มธิงค์แท็งค์ (ถังความคิด) คอยชี้เป้าหมายความเคลื่อนไหวต่างๆ และมีการประสานงานกับสื่อมวลชนในไทย เพื่อบิดเบือนข้อมูลที่เกี่ยวข้องกับสถาบัน และสถานการณ์ภายในประเทศ<br />
มติชนออนไลน์ Matichon <a href="http://www.matichon.co.th/news_detail.php?newsid=1271942766&grpid=&catid=01">23 April 2010</a></blockquote>Which may be read: It must be admitted the protesters have a network working outside the country to supply information which is very wrong to foreign journalists by means of politicians involved with the [dissolved] Thai Rak Thai party. A think tank has indicated their aims are varied and they are coordinating with reporters in Thailand too in order to distort information about the institution [monarchy] and the situation within the country.<br />
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The article went on to quote Sathit Wongnongtoey, a minister in the prime minister's office, warning in parliament:<br />
<blockquote>"คนพวกนี้ทำงานเป็นขบวนการ มีเป้าหมายอยู่ที่สถาปนารัฐไทยใหม่ ดังนั้น สิ่งที่รัฐบาลกำลังทำขณะนี้จึงไม่ใช่การรับมือกับการชุมนุมธรรมดา แต่เป็นการรับมือกับขบวนการที่เตรียมการและมีเป้าหมายให้เกิดการเปลี่ยนแปลงครั้งใหญ่ขึ้นในประเทศไทย จะเห็นได้ชัดว่าแกนนำบนเวทีกลุ่มคนเสื้อแดงหลายคนได้พูดพุ่งเป้าถึงบุคคลระดับสูงที่ใกล้ชิดกับสถาบัน ซึ่งเป็นการจงใจ ซึ่งเรายอมไม่ได้ ดังนั้น จะต้องดำเนินการทุกอย่างให้คนเหล่านี้แสดงความรับผิดชอบ"<br />
มติชนออนไลน์ Matichon <a href="http://www.matichon.co.th/news_detail.php?newsid=1271942766&grpid=&catid=01">23 April 2010</a></blockquote>Which may be rendered as Sathit saying: The people working in this movement have the aim of establishing a new Thai state. Therefore the government is taking which it is not to withstand an ordinary movement but against a movement with the aim of bringing a big change. Clearly it was seen at the stage Red-shirt leaders were speaking harshly towards people close to the institution [monarchy]. We will not allow this intention to be achieved. So we must use every means to show that they are responsible. <br />
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As is usually the case with the government he did not furnish any clear evidence to support the claims of the activities of Red networks overseas. Still graffiti and art around the Red Zone protest at Ratchaprasong expressed popular anger felt for privy councillors and politicians identified with the coup. <br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Pcz3pJFU_8aIeJ8n8zOKdg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S8vU5neGgOI/AAAAAAAAA1w/X3xWPRfGvBo/s800/Image0532.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/RedZoneSamizdatMessagesMediaGraffiti?feat=embedwebsite">Red Zone - Samizdat - messages, media, graffiti</a></td></tr>
</table><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/qUNYShC7DOiogBWdWySKvw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S9-xnYemjsI/AAAAAAAABC8/48VQSZ1bPdM/s800/Image0705.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/RedZoneSamizdatMessagesMediaGraffiti?feat=embedwebsite">Red Zone - Samizdat - messages, media, graffiti</a></td></tr>
</table>What role, if any, the diaspora will play in the political confrontation in Thailand and whether communities will split and even use violence against each in their host countries is hard to estimate. The role of diasporas however in many civil conflicts suggests the Thai diaspora may play a greater role as the confrontation grinds on, especially if violence escalates and the Red movement reacts with force to counter the government’s growing use of force.<br />
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The growth of the Thai diaspora is another factor, like the <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/04/then-and-now.html">changes</a> in society in education and awareness plus the availability of <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/04/totally-connected.html">information</a> technology, which makes the context of the political breakdown different to the events of 1932, 1973, 1976 and 1992. The nature of the diaspora and its susceptibility to long distance nationalism may also have changed or be changing because of the information revolution, the total connectivity of society in Thailand, and the effects of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, feeds, chat and SMS.<br />
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To take a comparative in almost every village in Laos a family or two has arrived from China in recent years to set up a small shop or market pitch offering an Aladdin’s Cave of wares from the factories of Guangdong and beyond. In earlier waves of migration from China into Southeast Asia migrants often never returned home and have had sparse, if any contact with their relatives and hometown communities. Today Chinese migrants perched in their shops in the backwater villages of Laos are watching Chinese national and local television thanks to satellite and keeping in touch with family and friends by the internet and mobile phone and placing orders for more merchandise.<br />
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Although spatially they are far away from their community spiritually they remain close and are able to maintain and nurture relationships because of the elimination of geography by the technology of instant communication of information. They have one foot at home and one foot in the diaspora, they are not remote from life and its developments at home. There is no reason why such changes and characteristics should not apply to other diasporas elsewhere including Thais. How this may affect the passions and feelings which rose up in the past to shape long-distance nationalism as often tending towards more extreme positions remains to be seen. Thailand may be the first test case.Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-23704715894845596062010-06-03T10:33:00.002+07:002010-06-03T11:07:18.013+07:00Fragments of nationalisms?Communal, ethnic or religious identities have in recent decades been at the fore of civil conflicts, such as Aceh, East Timor, Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka plus the contemporary conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Myanmar. In Thailand some of the violence in three provinces bordering Malaysia is it seems a campaign by ethnic Malays, many of whom see their religion of Islam as an identity too, to breakaway to form their own state.<br />
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Civil conflicts over political ideology and the nature of the state appear primarily to have been a feature of the historical anachronism of ideological conflict which shaped the 20th century. There are communal and ethnic aspects to the Maoist movements fighting today in <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/india-nepalthailand.html">India and Nepal</a>.<br />
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Political confrontation in Thailand has an ideological character arising from the inequalities of the structure of power. There is a regional aspect in that perhaps most sympathizers or supporters of the Red movement are found in the north and northeast. A social movement could not achieve great mass without support from people in these areas because they account for more than half the population of the country.<br />
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There is at least casual talk among Red supporters of separatism, breaking away from the state headquartered in Bangkok. Within the Red movement the UDD and Siam Daeng organizations do not appear publicly to be promoting such a move. Moreover, the Red movement and groups within it are national in character active throughout the country. <br />
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However, the primary mobilizing factor is the anger and <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/pawn-fallacy.html">rage</a> at the abuse and injustices handed down by governments in Bangkok, especially the coup in 2006 and events thereafter, which have through their actions over the decades cultivated an impression that the government primarily acts in the interests of the elite and people in Bangkok. The governments of Thaksin Shinawatra, himself from the northern city of Chiang Mai, were the first many ordinary people felt to have made a genuine attempt to tackle the problems they face in their lives. His rule, for all its dark faults, like no other gave meaning to votes beyond their price on polling day. People feel their <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/to-be-citizen.html">rights</a>, voices and power have been taken away by the coup and the subsequent moves by old guard elites clinging to power and privilege. <br />
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Is there a budding contradiction between the national character of the Red movement and the anger for Bangkok? May a time come when the Red movement and its formal organizations have to decide whether to entail the heavy costs of fighting to change the structure of power emanating from Bangkok or take the possibly cheaper course of breaking away?<br />
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The administration of the state as historians like Pasuk Phongpaichit and Chris Baker, among others, have observed was modelled on that used by the British Empire in places like Malaya. For the purposes of the Empire and the era it might have represented the cutting edge in public administration. But that was over a century ago. Times have changed. Thailand’s administration has not changed greatly. In a sense this administrative structure has helped make possible the extraction from across the country of capital which has been concentrated in Bangkok. This has contributed to the <a href="http://opinion.inquirer.net/viewpoints/columns/view/20100526-272123/The-Battle-for-Thailand">imbalance</a> in economic and social development, noted by Walden Bello, making migration anything but a choice for many people in the provinces looking for work or trying to make a sustainable livelihood. David Streckfuss recently highlighted the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704546304575261331886900358.html">regional nature</a> of grievances with the current structure of power and society. <br />
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Animosity, anger and violence have worsened over the last few years culminating in the use of deadly force by the state against mostly unarmed and peaceful protesters on 10 April and 19 May. Should these trends remain intact a greater conflict descending into a hot <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/vote-for-war.html">civil war</a> is not unlikely. If the <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/war-like.html">conflict</a> continues might it awaken buried or suppressed ethnic identities?<br />
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Since the 1930s the Thai state has been attempting to build a nation around a single, unified identity of being Thai. While citizenship in many developed states is not based on ethnic identity but rather on what might be described as allegiance to the ideas and principles of the society, something like being a member of a club, citizenship in Thailand is closely, although not totally, connected to being identified by the state as being ethnically Thai. This is a relatively new identity derived, and even, usurped from the dozens of sub-groups within the Tai people or race who are found from eastern India to Vietnam, from southern China to Malaysia. Arguably Thai is the identity of citizens, some of whom are not ethnic Tai, of the political construct of Thailand, whereas Tai remains an ethnic identity.<br />
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Thailand’s attempts to forge a national identity of being Thai have sought to suppress the identities of Tai groups. The language of Bangkok, described as Khmeru-Thai by some linguists because so many words are borrowed from the Khmers to the east, has been imposed across the country as ‘standard Thai’. Yet it might be said to be anything but standard because it is not the language or dialect spoken at home by the majority. In northeast Thailand, or Isarn, people speak a variety of dialects of Lao, a sub-group of Tai. Lao dialects are quite similar to Muang languages or dialects of the north, or Lanna, which in turn are similar to the dialects of northwestern Laos, eastern Myanmar and the south of China’s Yunnan province. A Thai citizen who is a native speaker of Lao or Muang will probably find conversing with Tai in Laos, Myanmar, southern Yunnan, and perhaps even Vietnam or eastern India easier than a Thai speaking Khmeru-Thai, which many non-native speakers in Thailand still find awkward even after decades of this being taught in schools.<br />
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Lao and Muang have their scripts. In Isarn local scripts are rarely seen and hardly anybody can read or write them. In Lanna Muang has since the 1990s made something of a comeback, partly because the state in Bangkok lifted regulations prohibiting the public use of scripts of other Tai languages. Universities, temples and public buildings now often feature signs in Lanna and Thai. Language is important because it is often an element of identity and communicating the culture, customs and practises which inform an identity. The Lao and Lanna peoples of Isarn and Lanna do exhibit pride in their identities and have customs and arguably cultures which although similar are distinct from Tai of the Chao Phraya plain, Bangkok and the south.<br />
<br />
These identities have not yet it seems taking on an active political character. Are there enough parts to constitute slumbering ethno-nationalisms? Is there a risk that as the political conflict continues to worsen questions over the legitimacy of the state will come to be accompanied by questions over being part of the country of Thailand? What will it take to awaken and harness ethno-nationalisms in Thailand, are local elites already putting <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/hello-to-arms.html">plans</a> together?Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-7160749845548228162010-06-02T20:06:00.001+07:002010-06-03T11:01:31.256+07:00Geography of dissentThe resistance and revolt of the Red movement has not overtly disturbed many parts of Thailand while flaring up aggressively in others. In Lanna, or the north, and Isarn, or the northeast, provinces such as Chiang Mai, Udon, Khon Kaen and Ubon Ratchathani have seen particularly strong public displays of the Red movement including in some cases using fire to destroy the sala glang, which is the centre of the state’s power in a province. Some provinces are under martial law, others not. In Bangkok resistance erupted in Bon Kai and adjacent Klong Toei and in Din Daeng and nearby Ratchaprarop.<br />
<br />
Why does the Red movement appear to be particularly strong in these neighbourhoods of Bangkok and some but not other provinces? In the case of Bangkok these neighbourhoods are not well to do, being a mix of shophouses hosting a variety of businesses, merchants and markets, small workshops and a variety of accommodation, mostly lower end, some public, much private. Klong Toei also includes Bangkok’s largest slum. But these neighbourhoods are by no means unique in these respects. So why there and not elsewhere?<br />
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As for the provinces, some are among the most populous in the country, yet among the 20-odd provinces placed under martial law some are thinly populated, places like Nan. Some of these provinces, particularly Chiang Mai, are perhaps among the wealthiest places outside Bangkok. On the other wealth disparities may not be consistent between provinces. Why does the Red movement appear strong, more active and more rigorous in some provinces, but not others? What is the significance of the geography of <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/war-like.html">dissent</a>?Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-84189745928306933352010-06-02T14:55:00.002+07:002010-06-03T13:50:15.581+07:00Media of the Red movementNewspapers serving the Red movement were publishing while the government was shutting down other media channels, such as community radio and television, and banning or blocking websites. <br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/DAP0HNXgSPUbxIGHFLGOIw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S88yIDHkz0I/AAAAAAAAA_4/-p_C-VL-pzY/s800/Image0677.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/RedZoneSamizdatMessagesMediaGraffiti?feat=embedwebsite">Red Zone - Samizdat - messages, media, graffiti</a></td></tr></table>This changed on 28 May when the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation ordered Voice of Taksin, ความจริงวันนี้ Truth Today, ไทยเรดนิวส Thai Red News and วิวาทะ Wiwatha to immediately cease publication because they were posing a threat to national security. Other publications, such as คนเสื้อแดง Red-shirt People and สถานีประชาชน People’s Station, which do not toe the government line appear also at risk given the trend. A responsible and conducive media was one of the conditions set by the government for holding elections in its <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/governments-road-map-to-trouble.html">roadmap</a>.<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/aFrP8hLy00RuYUePbqzSoA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S9-yAojqkII/AAAAAAAABEQ/tdfsDKYPeTY/s800/Image0737.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/RedZoneSamizdatMessagesMediaGraffiti?feat=embedwebsite">Red Zone - Samizdat - messages, media, graffiti</a></td></tr>
</table>If Red publications are unacceptable what of ASTV, a television station, and ASTV Manager, a newspaper, both of which belong to Sonthi Limthongkul, one of the founders of the Yellow movement, which claims to defend the monarchy and favour a limited electoral franchise? ASTV’s outlets have on occasion used language inciting violence against people charged with lese majeste. For the Red movement it will be interpreted as another case of double standards.<br />
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That the government has decided to shutdown these publications can be interpreted as an indication that they were reaching a wide audience receptive to news, information and opinions questioning the legitimacy and narratives of the government. Truth Today and Voice of Taksin, in particular, were on sale at a few stalls in the Red Zone at Ratchaprasong. Vendors would wander through the crowd and McCafe selling mainstream newspapers as well as Red newspapers. Their distribution and popularity elsewhere in Bangkok and in the countryside are unknown. Thai Red News was available in Bangkok’s wealthy parts of Sukumvit.<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/jsM5ZxMeWfGLc_qcZMkDrQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_Dh9a0jmlI/AAAAAAAABjM/c6sWDTYKf_4/s800/Image0751%5B1%5D.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/RedZoneSamizdatMessagesMediaGraffiti?feat=embedwebsite">Red Zone - Samizdat - messages, media, graffiti</a></td></tr>
</table>Their popularity can be crudely assessed by their size, endurance, and advertising. Truth Today, Thai Red News and Kon Seua Daeng, a broadsheet, are bi-weeklies or weeklies. They ran to 32-pages (somewhat less for Kon Seua Daeng) printed on higher quality, more expensive paper than daily newspapers. The page count is about a third to a quarter of the mainstream weekly news magazines. Truth Today, an offshoot of the Truth Today television programme and channel which some see as the beginning of the Red movement, was into its third year. Thai Red News was in its second year and Kon Seua Daeng is in its first year. Their endurance suggests they were popular because of their rich discourse of ideals and principles associated with liberal democracy through explanatory articles, commentary and opinion plus news, some written by well-known figures in the Red movement. Perhaps 10-20 percent of their space was sold to advertising, which in turn may be an indication of the size and purchasing power of the Red market.<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/E0bWwGwxSUf7shqD-mIV9A?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_DjWLj6ZVI/AAAAAAAABjU/kWrWFldZ8K0/s800/Image0739%5B1%5D.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/RedZoneSamizdatMessagesMediaGraffiti?feat=embedwebsite">Red Zone - Samizdat - messages, media, graffiti</a></td></tr>
</table>The endurance of these publications suggests they were profitable. The alternative explanation is an unsubstantiated claim that they were only possible because of the finance of Thaksin Shinawatra. All publications generated revenue from the cover price, typically 20 baht compared to 10 baht for mainstream dailies, and advertising. Companies aim to advertise in places they think can reach a wide and profitable market for their products and services. Truth Today and Thai Red News also offered daily news updates by SMS for 29 baht a month. Whether these are banned too is unclear. Truth Today was also advertising for agents to distribute drinking water and energy drinks under the brand of Truth Today. If that venture into diversification is successful it would indicate the brand has equity and traction, and in turn the ideas and issues with which it is synonymous, which could be extended into other businesses, especially those with low barriers to entry and fast turnover. Such subsidiary revenues might have been used to underwrite the flagship news product or support organizations within the Red movement, particularly the UDD which seems closely allied to Truth Today.<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/khMicFEqyUC1ZxGyiBlAKQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S831N3Cn44I/AAAAAAAAA70/HRpGqOZFxXw/s800/Image0647.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/RedZoneSamizdatMessagesMediaGraffiti?feat=embedwebsite">Red Zone - Samizdat - messages, media, graffiti</a></td></tr>
</table>These publications endurance, size and advertising indicate popularity of a degree, perhaps beyond what might be possible if they were simply vanity projects financed by Thaksin, in which the government saw a threat it could not tolerate. This may be an indication of the size and strength of the Red movement and the fear it is creating within the government and among its backers.<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Gsv0uWVZ7T8jWYK9KKftnA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S8vU3_XoFwI/AAAAAAAAA1s/4xI7-yAihR4/s800/Image0531.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/RedZoneSamizdatMessagesMediaGraffiti?feat=embedwebsite">Red Zone - Samizdat - messages, media, graffiti</a></td></tr></table>There is in this censorship paternalism which positions people, who in the eyes of the law are adults fully responsible for their actions, as lacking the maturity to make the right decisions thus they will be made on their behalf by the state. It also reveals that despite the complicity of much of the mainstream media the government doubts its own ability to creatively win the argument about what is right for Thailand and who is best placed to form a government. Unable to argue successfully and unwilling to accept the result the response is to silence voices which disagree and may argue more persuasively. Not dissimilar approaches were used in the communist states of Europe and the Soviet Union. They eventually failed.Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-85423520861580928662010-06-02T12:08:00.001+07:002010-06-02T12:10:07.066+07:00Narratives of denial and delegitimization<blockquote>“According to Lt Gen Dapong security officials have entered the area on Thursday and found gas tanks that were wired with explosives and ready to go off hidden inside the Four Seasons Hotel.” <br />
Bangkok Post <a href="http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/178599/a-day-or-two-needed-to-clear-ratchaprasong">20 May 2010</a><br />
</blockquote>Evidence or independent verification to substantiate the claim appears absent. Soldiers did show me what they said was an improvised explosive device, or IED, made from a small fire extinguisher wedged behind a barrier put up to prevent entry to the Four Seasons car park on Mahadlekluang 2. The top appeared to have been sawn off, suggesting the extinguisher’s metal case was filled with something other than chemicals to extinguish a fire. Assuming it was a live IED raises questions of who made it, who planted it and to what ends? Circumstances suggest elements in the Red movement may have been responsible. Other suspects include third hands and state agents. Without a thorough investigation to identify the culprits conclusions can go no further than speculation.<br />
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The gas-tank plot fits the narrative of elements in the Red movement as terrorists. This appears to have begun immediately after the <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/04/boom-boom-bang-bang.html">grenade attacks</a> on Silom on 22 April when Suthep Thaugsuban, the hardline deputy prime minister, accused the Red movement of being responsible while blaming the attacks on <a href="http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/security/36462/bomb-terror-grips-silom">terrorism</a>. Without firm evidence Suthep claimed some of the grenades were fired from near the Rama VI monument, at that time surrounded by a Red camp. Without an impartial investigation it remains an allegation, which would not seem a responsible approach for a government which claims to believe in principles of democracy. It seems the Central Institute of Forensic Science was unable following its initial investigation of the scene to assemble evidence to implicate a particular party. Even if elements in the Red movement are responsible, as the government claims, it is arguable whether it is terrorism. That may be a matter for impartial courts.<br />
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The terrorist narrative is particularly powerful since the attacks on New York and Washington in September 2001. At its core the terrorism narrative attempts to remove reason from the Red movement, it denies validity to the issues they voice. It is associated with fear, uncertainty and extremism. The terrorism narrative demonizes the selected group, in this case the Red movement. Demonization can draw a strong psychological reaction because as Carl Jung observed it provides a target for the sub-conscious to project internal anger, conflict and fear, of aspects of character hidden deeply, associated perhaps with the shadow persona, because the conscious self dislikes or is afraid to admit them.<br />
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The terrorist narrative discredits and delegitimizes the Red movement while claiming legitimacy for any actions taken by the government including its own use of terror through the deployment of soldiers who have it seems shot dead and wounded many more civilians from positions high on tall buildings in the neighbourhoods of Bon Kai, Din Daeng, Ratchaprarop and perhaps elsewhere. Supporters of the government may find the demonization aspect of the terrorism narrative particularly seductive because it tees with their distaste, disdain and even intolerance towards the Red movement. Neutrals may also be swayed by the demonization to lend their support to the government. <br />
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Demonization opens the door to legitimizing active mobilization for people who refuse discussion and debate in preference to the relative simplicity and assurance of violence against the other. A door to radicalization of a section of the population may be opened up by the terrorism narrative as people move through demonization, legitimization and mobilization. If the government tries to take a road back to a more moderate position it may lose the support of this section of the population who in turn may be ready to transfer the support and legitimization to a more aggressive or extreme group of leaders. Suthep's recent claim rumours were being spread about the government using violence to <a href="http://www.bangkokpost.com/print/37708/">discredit</a> the government seem nonsensical given the photographic and video evidence to the contrary, however if seen within the light of the government shoring up support among its sympathizers and by insinuation implying anti-state elements are seeking to tarnish and undermine the government then it may in fact be a calculated statement.<br />
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Protesters were drunk and high claimed at least one tweet shortly after 19 May when the troops firing rifles killed dozens as they moved in to clear the protest. No evidence has substantiated the claim protesters were drunk and high. Even if they were does that justify deadly force? The intoxication narrative runs counter to anecdotal experience. During daily visits morning noon and night over the two months of the Red movement protest at Ratchaprasong I never saw alcohol on sale. I did see a small group of young men who were sleeping at the end of one of the Ratchadamri sois on some evenings drinking a little. They never appeared drunk and kept to themselves. As the tension was building in the days immediately before 19 May a 7-Eleven on Lang Suan, which was then within the Red zone, was looted of alcohol, cigarettes and food, including ice cream. By desperate Reds or common thieves who can say?<br />
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On 19 May around 10 or 11am I crouched down with a few young guys from Bangkok by the steps of the footbridge over Ratchadamri by the American Universities Association. One offered me a sip of his beer. He was the only person I saw that day with alcohol and he was not drunk, indeed given the firearm violence being employed by the state at that moment to kill, wound and perhaps terrorize, a little alcohol to calm the nerves might not be unreasonable. I met him again late in the afternoon as we watched men scrum over pennies from a safe looted from Central World. He saw it a stupidity, disappointment was written across his face. He wasn’t drunk. In two months of observation I never saw people appear to be drunk or high yet alcohol and narcotics are part-and-parcel of life, especially socializing, for people across society regardless of location across Thailand.<br />
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The intoxication narrative explains the violence by retreating protesters as hooliganism, thuggery, relieving the observer of having to consider that the protesters were venting anger, frustration and rage triggered by the government’s use of disproportionate force to silence their voices of grievances arising from their ideas, interests, interpretations, hopes, aspirations and even their worth or value as equal members of society, a position revealed to be a fraud by the coup which sent a stark message that some are more equal than others, that their voices counted for less than others.<br />
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One of the oldest narratives draws on the origin of rural roots to dismiss the agency of protesters. In this narrative rural is synonymous with stupidity, ignorance and gullibility which explains why people from the fields are poor. As Red protesters built up their barricade at the end of Ratchadamri on the evening of 21 April perhaps less than a hundred people stood outside the Au Bon Pain bakery on Silom opposite Ratchadamri shouting insults at the Red protesters many of which included references to buffaloes and other rural imagery. One interpretation is that rural people are like buffaloes slow, even slothful, and easily led. People of the Red movement are dismissed by detractors as rural folk being misled and manipulated by the money and promises of Thaksin Shinawatra.<br />
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The narrative ignores the diversity of the Red movement, especially the protests in Bangkok which were attended by many people who were clearly rather middle class in their wealth. The army estimated 70 percent of the protesters were from Bangkok and neighbouring provinces. Some of these may be seasonal or long-term migrants from rural provinces, while others are born and raised in the supposedly more sophisticated and intelligent urban provinces. It is a narrative reveals something about the ignorance, prejudice and bias of its purveyors.<br />
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The narratives of terrorism, intoxication and origin are explanatory devices which would appear to offer comfort because they help to make sense out of what appears confusing and even impossible developments particularly for people who hold world views which do not permit the possibility of certain groups having legitimate claims, feelings and agency. The narratives disparage, delegitimize and destroy the agency of protesters and their claims, interests and issues while conversely reinforcing the confidence, legitimacy and righteousness of the narrators. There is a sense of refuge about such narratives which suggests their subscribers may nurse fear not only of what might become but of the limits of their comprehension and the challenge to their world view. The narratives also provide reason not to inquire, objectively, which may arise from a contradictory confidence in their position and perhaps associated values which dictate that some are worthy of more privileges than others despite over 60 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-72988949939402924322010-05-24T16:44:00.000+07:002010-05-24T16:44:52.228+07:00Is burning buildings in a political conflict common arson?Fire was a weapon used by protesters of the Red movement in response to the assault by troops firing rifles on the protest in central Bangkok. Civic and commercial buildings were torched around Ratchaprasong, the site of the two-month peaceful sit-in, elsewhere in Bangkok and in some provinces. These acts have been widely described as arson. But is that apt given the political context of the violence?<br />
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Arson generally refers to setting alight of property with malice or for some personal gain for example through an insurance claim. In civil contexts this seems fairly clear cut and usually draws stiff penalties in most societies given the danger it poses to life, the damage it wreaks on livelihoods and hurt it causes to the soul. Arson then is a criminal act that may deliver a material or other benefit to the arsonist. In cases where the fire is set purely for the pleasure derived from watching fire it may be more accurate to speak of psychotic arson.<br />
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However burning property during the course of the political violence that is war usually goes without punishment unless it can be shown there was no military advantage whatsoever to be gained from destroying property. Nevertheless given the chaos that reigns on the battlefield and the difficulty in finding suspects and witnesses such crimes are rarely punished.<br />
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A comparative may be drawn with killing for which there are various degrees with varying punishments reflecting the context and provocations. In battle killing is legitimized, there is no punishment for the participants. However killing in war outside of battle may be considered a crime. Troops who shot dead protesters resisting their advance along Ratchadamri are not facing investigation over the killings. Neither are commanders or ministers. <br />
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In the torching of buildings that followed the <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/war-like.html">disproportionate</a> use of violent <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/coercion-and-consent.html">coercion</a> by the state to clear the protests protesters took up calls by their leaders to respond with fire. Many incidents of torching were of buildings with political connotations, although some were not. Fire may be considered in this instance a weapon of the weak. <br />
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Is it then appropriate to describe the torchings as arson given the common criminal connotations this carries? Does the description of arson serve to delegitimize their protest as political opening the way for categorization as simply criminal, or in the government's narrative of fear as an act of terrorism? Would it be more appropriate to describe the torchings as political arson or political burning? What is appropriate punishment for burning buildings for political motives in response to state excess?Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-36502770134213989902010-05-23T23:02:00.001+07:002010-05-24T16:16:59.941+07:00To be a citizenThis has not and is not a protest simply over the distribution of wealth and great economic inequality, which is itself a consequence of the structure of power. It is primarily about what it means to be a citizen of Thailand, about what kinds of equalities and inequalities are acceptable to society which bought into a constitution guaranteeing equal political rights to all through one-man one-vote. That principle was tossed aside by those who instigated the military coup of September 2006 against elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. <br />
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Whatever his shortcomings, his disdain for democracy and apparent taste for thuggery, he was elected repeatedly by a majority who felt his policies were squarely aimed at their interests, nevermind that he and his allies were also deriving their own benefits. Nobody elected the army. Nobody elected the อำมาตย์, or <i>amart</i> rendered as approximating the elite/aristocracy or perhaps the powers that be. The อำมาตย์ and previous governments had ample opportunity to serve the interests of the masses. They did not. That is their responsibility, a legacy they appear to be willing to defend with all the force of the state. <br />
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A popular interpretation is that the millions in the Red movement, which includes the UDD, Siam Daeng, other groups and many who hold Thaksin in high esteem, are the puppets of Thaksin, that he pulls all the strings. They may be right. Thaksin was mentioned by speakers at the Ratchaprasong stage and occasionally phoned in or tweeted encouragement. Many speakers however talked much more about double standards, about principles and ideas of what they imagine to be the pillars of participatory politics and a just society governed by a state with their <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/coercion-and-consent.html">consent</a>. <br />
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Without firm proof there is no reason not to consider that among the <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/pawn-fallacy.html">protesters</a> many, <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/04/blog-post.html">poor</a>, middle class and even wealthy alike, feel a great affront at having their choice at the ballot box annulled by a powerful few. It is an affront they readily admit with little prodding in conversation time and again. An affront felt deeply because of the weight of a history of coups, state violence and absent justice for hundreds, at least, killed by the state for protesting for their political rights. The fires are out for now but it may be just the beginning of a long <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/vote-for-war.html">conflict</a>.Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-76062555542757151992010-05-23T22:51:00.002+07:002010-05-24T16:17:44.423+07:00War, like?The Red Zone in central Bangkok was like another country, it had its own structures, its own ways, its own security, medical, food services. There was a freedom of expression of certain ideas and criticism probably not possible so openly outside in Thailand. In a sense there was an element of invasion, occupation, insurrection, secession. <br />
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As the protest at Ratchaprasong, which arguably could be construed as civil disobedience advocated by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King among others, was <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/coercion-and-consent.html">crushed</a> by the state on <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/showdown-in-bangkok.html">19 May</a> protesters replied with a 'scorched-earth' withdrawal setting alight buildings many of which could be associated with power and privilege of people and families, อำมาตย์, or <i>amart</i>, associated,in their eyes, with supporting the government they consider illegitimate. In about half-a-dozen provinces ศาลากลาง, or provincial halls, were torched. There have been reports of Thai flags and identity cards being burnt in some provinces. Torching of buildings in the context of a political protest crushed by overwhelming force of arms by the state is it not arson but a weapon of the weak. <br />
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After dispersing the protesters troops did what troops do after victory they appeared to help themselves to the <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/8uO7g8tHnltn46dqIijFIQ?feat=embedwebsite">spoils</a> of what was left behind by the defeated protesters who had fled, stacking their trucks with fans, provisions, speakers, medical supplies, and anything else lying around of value. To be sure this was not looting. How much of this booty would have gone to waste is hard to say, but whether it was appropriate is debatable particularly as some of it was clearly private property people might have returned to collect. A shame because their conduct generally was probably much better than their predecessors ordered to suppress civilians. In doing this they acted like a victorious army, further feeding into the sense of a war.<br />
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What is the significance and implication of targeted destruction of symbolic emblems and physical representations of the power and administration of the Bangkok-centred state and its supporters? Do such actions cast the Bangkok-centred state of Thailand as an occupier in the north and northeast where people can fall back on history, myth and lore of chiangs/xiangs, principalities and kingdoms stretching far back beyond the emergence of modern Thailand and even the precursor kingdom of Siam? And more recently the tales of the communist insurgency of the 1970s? What remains of the old insurgent camaraderie and networks? Are such flagrant acts indicative of deep and strong feelings of anger and injustice? <br />
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By contrast the violence in three Malay-majority provinces in southern Thailand have not so far seen the destruction of key point buildings or infrastructure symbolizing the Thai state. The comparative is limited perhaps by the extensive deployment of security forces in these provinces. Nevertheless after six years of violence, not all of it political by any means, it does seem strange that separatists there have not effected a successful attack on a prime symbol of the state or its agents such as assassinating a provincial police or military commander or general.Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-43318963569708438982010-05-23T22:33:00.001+07:002010-05-23T22:52:57.592+07:00Hello to arms?I spent most of the afternoon on 18 May at the Bon Kai barricades observing, listening, talking a little. I caught a snippet of a conversation which ran something like traders had visited Red areas offering weapons but nobody was buying. Why I don't know. Cost perhaps. Wariness of crossing the final line because to buy weapons signals the end of hope and the beginning of a war? <br />
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Still if this continues then how long can it be before Thailand's large black market in military weapons finds a way of satisfying demand to redress the force asymmetry, to even up the negotiation by force between the state and its discontents?<br />
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Armed "civilians" have already made appearances on 10 April, when <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/04/saturdays-clashes-video-view.html">men-in-black</a> were filmed taking a few shots at security forces, and possibly after the assassination of Major-General Khattiya Sawasdipol, or Seh Daeng, on 13 May when explosions and gunfire were heard almost every night in the vicinity of areas of Red resistance around Din Daeng-Ratchaprarop and Bon Kai. Gunmen were also seen on <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/showdown-in-bangkok.html">19 May</a> around Ratchadamri and <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/what-happened-at-siam-square.html">Siam Square</a>. <br />
<br />
How significant is the sight of civilians using weapons against security forces in a political conflict in Bangkok? Can they be dismissed as the agents of third hands rather than the vanguard of a Red militia aiming to match the government's use of <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/coercion-and-consent.html">coercion</a> with their own force to pursue the movement's aims? Is there any substance to a claim made by Jakrapob Penkair some time ago that for two years weapons had been smuggled in from Cambodia to Isarn? What happened to hundreds of thousands of small arms left over from the Cambodian wars? Anecdotally the Red movement seems far from defeated so what's next?Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-71743932649953929142010-05-23T22:29:00.001+07:002010-05-24T19:22:04.555+07:00What happened at Siam Square?Gunfire echoed from the Siam Square neighbourhood as the sun began to set on the 19 May. It continued sporadically through the night into the morning according to press reports. A woman with her baby who had taken refuge in Wat Pathuwanaram called me frequently after dawn to tell me she could still here shooting. I heard a few shots as I walked towards west along Rama I past smoking wreck of Central World. One man came towards me suggesting I turn back. However there were no more shots thereafter. <br />
<br />
I was told a man had left the temple that morning only to end up shot. That I could not confirm. Inside the temple I met a man who recounted how six people, mostly medics, were shot dead near one of the temple gates during the night. It is unclear whether these six include two people reportedly shot dead around 6pm on 19 May. A scrawny middle-aged man in shorts and t-shirt led me in to the temple to see the bodies as shots rang out. I only saw one body. A man ten-minutes dead, his eyes held shut with surgical tape.<br />
<br />
Today the traffic barrier around the skytrain pillar on the east side of the Henri Dunant intersection between the temple and Paragon mall had been hit by around two dozen shots. <br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/XRpDCCYaGixXh0lwwN6TIA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_prnK0ereI/AAAAAAAABhw/TBWAMFgWuPA/s400/Image0791.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr></table>They were probably aimed at the gunman with an M16 who I saw around 5pm on <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/showdown-in-bangkok.html">19 May</a>. A few more shots had struck the pillar and also around the traffic lights fixed to the footbridge above. When I inspected this position on <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/after-battle.html">20 May</a> there were four spent cartridge cases and two live rounds, perhaps misfires. <br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Rmfd0oun7vZR2LHzXZcpTA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TrxkJZUxI/AAAAAAAABY0/7aIneOKez-A/s400/P1000678.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Siam Square today betrayed no obvious signs of exchanges of gunfire, no bullet holes in glass or chipped concrete and brick. There is of course the burned-out shell of the cinema and a few shops and banks on the northeast corner of Siam Square beside the Henri Dunant intersection. <br />
<br />
So what happened at Siam Square? There was gunfire. There was at least one gunman. There were troops advancing from the west. The government says troops found a handful of rifles in the area and a Red guard leader near the temple told me there were more gunmen in Siam Square. a few others said similar things. But nobody could say exactly how many gunmen were in the area of Siam Square. Some said they were Red, one was not sure.<br />
<br />
Who were they? Reds? Third hands? Agents of a militia that is growing underground in the countryside? Why would a handful of gunmen take on hundreds of troops? Did the gunmen escape? Did they would or kill any troops?Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-62482728840881081522010-05-23T22:20:00.003+07:002010-05-24T16:18:51.811+07:00Coercion and consentOperation Ratchaprasong to put an end to the peaceful protest, arguably an act of civil disobedience in a form akin to a sit-in, on <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/showdown-in-bangkok.html">19 May</a> was an act of coercion to impose the will of the government administering the state.<br />
<br />
Coercion came in the theatrical form of overwhelming force of arms. Every infantryman carried a rifle with live rounds. Perhaps one-in-four or one-in-five soldiers also carried a shotgun. Many seemed issued only with buckshot ammunition rather than rubber bullets. Such force is disproportionate. Only a handful among the few thousand remaining protesters were armed with rifles. These gunmen appeared to be in the rear. What arms the protesters did have amounted to slingshots, sticks and <i>bang fai</i>, or homemade fireworks. All can cause some pain, but they are rarely deadly. Especially against soldiers sheathed in body armour. <br />
<br />
A proportionate response would have been troops well drilled in using shields and batons, plus perhaps an incapacitating agent such as tear gas or pepper spray and possibly a few stun grenades. A handful could have carried shotguns with rubber bullets or riot guns firing plastic baton rounds. In the rear a few marksmen could have stood ready to take down any gunmen who refused to lay down their weapons or were firing at troops. But this was not the response. The response was troops equipped for battle against a similar foe. This was a grand display of coercion. And a deadly one killing a few dozen, perhaps more, around the Rama IV monument and along Ratchadamri. All that can be said is that the death toll could have been much higher and that the troops who reached Ratchaprasong behaved well treating people firmly but respectfully.<br />
<br />
The protesters barricades were built by laying one tyre on to of another, topped off with bamboo pikes and in places wire. In the context of the history of Bangkok they were quite shocking. They too were an act of theatre, demonstrating to themselves and the state their belief and determination in what they were doing. In practical terms they were flimsy. The state used armoured-personnel carriers topple the barricades, clearing the way for soldiers and the press to dramatically clamber over. It made for a gripping television and teed with the state's claim that the Reds were terrorists who could only be dealt with through military might gone hunting.<br />
<br />
<object width="640" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/R4sdHXgcN0M&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/R4sdHXgcN0M&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="505"></embed></object><br />
<br />
The barricades could have easily and effectively been cleared by a couple of large bulldozers, either military or leased from a civilian contractor. Troops and the press could then have run through without the drama of clambering over the barricade. <br />
<br />
Coercion imposes rule by force, it is the method of autocracy, the antithesis of participatory politics. Coercion implies the state is either unwilling or unable to imagine and create alternatives to win from the people their consent to rule. In participatory politics, typically through the secret ballot of elections, everyone is equal through the right to cast one vote. In doing so they give their consent to the state to rule and to submit to its dictates if they are reasonable including the right to use a proportionate amount of force to keep the peace, usually through civilian policing.<br />
<br />
The promulgation in 1997 of a constitution, drafted with public participation, clearly put the power of delivering legitimacy to a government to manage the state into the hands of the people through regular elections on the principle of one man one vote. <br />
<br />
Many citizens however withdrew their consent because the principle of one man one vote was arbitrarily annulled by the action of a military coup deposing the elected prime minister in order to protect and preserve the interests of various elites, including the อำมาตย์, or <i>amart</i> rendered as approximating the elite/aristocracy or perhaps the powers that be. In taking this step their action sent a message to the citizens of Thailand that some were more equal than others, that the voice and interests of some counted more than others. <br />
<br />
In times past this may not have generated a great backlash, certainly nothing the state could not handle with a little brutality. Today is <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/04/then-and-now.html">different</a>, partly because ordinary people are more educated and some are more cosmopolitan, but equally, if not more so, because of the power of mobile phones and the internet which <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/04/totally-connected.html">totally connect</a> society. Anger, frustration and resentment at the insult that was the coup was multiplied through instant solidarity and it was kept very much alive by mobile phones and the web. Each time the party chosen by the majority was dissolved by the courts the effect was magnified. <br />
<br />
Many who disagreed with their disenfranchisement by the coup and the judicial dissolutions of the parties they chose to hand legitimacy to rule came to support or participate in the Red movement, either informally or through groups like the UDD and Siam Daeng. This reaction to resist through social movements is an attempt to regain their power and authority to hand down legitimacy to a government to administer and direct the state in the best interests of society not a select few. Their withdrawal of legitimacy was expressed through public protests and civil disobedience.<br />
<br />
This drew a half-hearted response from the government to regain consent in its attempt to dictate and impose a <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/governments-road-map-to-trouble.html">road map</a> for elections which ignored protesters demands for justice for those killed by the state on 10 April at Ratchadamneon and in the government's tepid reaction to negotiations, even on the evening of <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Wglm1wo5-kEJ:www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/178768/troubling-questions-after-operation-ratchaprasong+troubling+questions+operation+ratchaprasong+thitinan&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk">18 May</a>.<br />
<br />
Coercion is not going to be cheap. The events of April and May have created instant narrative, through videos and photos distributed by mobile phone and the internet, DVD and CD, newspapers and magazines. Experiences of those who participated in these events have equally become instant myth and lore again due to the tools of telephones and the web for creating and sharing information.<br />
<br />
The counter-reaction against consistent coercion may not come immediately. The backlash against the coup took a few years to build. Nevertheless a reaction seems more likely than not. The trends appear set. The government and its masters have opted time and again for coercion. Disenfranchised <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/pawn-fallacy.html">voters</a> across social classes, and their elite cheerleaders and donors, have demonstrated their determination and courage to stand up to the state's coercion. Unless the government changes tack matters seem set for a downward spiral into a dark and deadly <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/vote-for-war.html">place</a>.Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-73255646372158246262010-05-20T23:24:00.001+07:002010-05-21T14:51:54.222+07:00Cambodians and BurmeseCambodian mercenaries were manning army positions protesters told me at Bon Kai and Din Daeng during the afternoon on 18 May. The only evidence they could offer was that some of the troops they had tried to talk to could not speak Thai. A young woman, who was still selling drinks outside the Erawan Hotel while her baby perhaps just a year old lay sleeping on the ground as the army was advancing up Ratchaprasong, called from within the refuge of Wat Pathumwanaram to tell me it was too dangerous to outside as there were Burmese troops. Later when I reached Siam Square, where there had apparently been fighting between armed civilians and troops I only met Thai infantry.<br />
<br />
Could the government find enough Burmese or Cambodian mercenaries, put them in Thai uniforms and train them with Thai weapons at short notice? What benefits might there be other than increasing numbers of dependable troops in light of rumours of many junior soldiers being red?<br />
<br />
Or might it be that these rumours are without substance but spread and are believed because they relieve people of having to accept that they are facing, and being shot by, soldiers who like themselves are Thai? Some may be comforted if it is Burmese or Cambodians who are there to impose the state's will and defend its interests because of the generally negative stereotypes attached to these nationalities?<br />
<br />
Not dissimilar is the disagreement and even mystery over the identities of a handful of civilians with rifles who it seems fought with troops in and around Siam Square. I got no closer than eight, maybe six, feet to one man with an M16 for just a few minutes. It was not possible to talk. Some protesters say these men are Red, a proto-militia perhaps, but one protester insisted their identity and motives were a mystery. But what could motivate a small group of men other than anger, belief or vengeance to fight against the much greater numbers of the army when their only advantage may have been intimate knowledge of the urban terrain? On the other hand it may not matter because that they were there and fighting troops makes for common cause with people of the Red movement, whether they of the mind to pursue their demands by peace or through force. Thus their exploits may enter into Red mythology. Are these men drawn from the same group of men-in-black caught on film on 10 April? The armed man I saw was only wearing a black jacket, his jeans were blue and he wasn't wearing a hat or balaclava. Being dressed quite differently from the men-in-black may suggest he was from a different group?<br />
<br />
There is a large black market in military weapons in Thailand. Hitmen, enforcers and mercenaries are apparently relatively common livelihoods. It may not be difficult for either the government, Reds or other elements to finance hired hands to do violent work. Many hands may willingly take up such duties spurred on by the intensity of feelings and the depths of division in the country. This violent backdrop, the lack of evidence, and the interests of all players to pin blame on rivals for killings forms a difficult environment for building confidence, stability and engagement but a fertile one for rumour and suspicion.Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-27491295194783124942010-05-20T20:59:00.005+07:002010-05-21T14:49:33.343+07:00After the battle<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/CHUmgo3PdL_8L414hBgvjA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TqQ5-ixBI/AAAAAAAABUs/ElqP8JS9P48/s800/P1000437.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Troops sweeping Lang Suan using speakers to tell people to stay indoors for their own safety because there may be bombs and armed militants<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/gWBAE45mqObnV-d-4B9Bww?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TqecaFmOI/AAAAAAAABVE/DixIrq9aOQA/s800/P1000451.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Central World<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/P3-HXghoeBodG9uX8MI0EA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TqiIUsVRI/AAAAAAAABVM/_F0yD6UWDBM/s800/P1000456.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Firefighting<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/AQBmY_7HmfL_yc6pHct93w?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TqkG4GNbI/AAAAAAAABVQ/qADc5y6xDmQ/s800/P1000459.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Firefighter<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/s6ssLpe4CMqskrtVU1ZGJg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TrBeiv5NI/AAAAAAAABWI/db7BBfSMH4M/s800/P1000505.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Zen department store in Central World collapsed in spite of an extensive system of sprinklers for suppressing fires<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-6gnpoqVP7ed3V58s1Clag?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TrKrmObsI/AAAAAAAABWg/QiYJyKrBg3o/s800/P1000529.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Weary after a long night<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/0RRlYNi-5D-jmWNr0YRSig?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TrPLxqcqI/AAAAAAAABWw/Hk-KGzYSozg/s800/P1000541.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Smouldering<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6hOToMVKaXDv4Bn6hIck_Q?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TrRd8V00I/AAAAAAAABW4/YKGjc1t-iDw/s800/P1000546.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Zen<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/xQ9h4keSdeK3s_Fx7_VGTw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TrSgd2BhI/AAAAAAAABW8/6VIXnbWOp5Q/s800/P1000552.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Windows<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/e49KWXxPwIpThQglO-Ii8g?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TrV8Pk7OI/AAAAAAAABXM/UbAzqyiiMiw/s800/P1000562.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Sharpshooter at Siam<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/gzlMW_7oiGagKT7Lx7_rQw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TrYy_ULHI/AAAAAAAABXY/GNniQG-Sqjw/s800/P1000572.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Troops<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/2IdjQFcqLz8yWI7s9G33gw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TraGp_dlI/AAAAAAAABXc/6cxLekj_wS4/s400/P1000575.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Happee<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/wA4a7gZVbg8cDkmPp7arcA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_Tre7PL7wI/AAAAAAAABX0/CDW6fcGpQxA/s800/P1000596.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Love<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/JEUYdCKG_fTnaFnVtLiLdg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_Trlh045XI/AAAAAAAABYI/82nAUSb-wuE/s800/P1000607.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Siam Theatre<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/8uO7g8tHnltn46dqIijFIQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TrdzASxTI/AAAAAAAABXs/1zOYGwukb3I/s800/P1000594.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Spoils<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Rmfd0oun7vZR2LHzXZcpTA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TrxkJZUxI/AAAAAAAABY0/7aIneOKez-A/s800/P1000678.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Spent cartridge cases and a live round at the skytrain-pillar traffic barrier opposite Paragon where a civilian was ready to meet advancing troops with his M16<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6mZJkT3QLjVQKCf1SgXPLg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_Tr3aLZMwI/AAAAAAAABZI/A8MZpRywVtA/s800/P1000703.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Special-operations police<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/XjHsVEOvwL-vBZg74vwTEg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_Tr6tQYEbI/AAAAAAAABZU/EqDx7PqAry0/s800/P1000716.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Police officers wait for nervous civilians wary of leaving Wat Pathumwanaram because they did not believe the police promise of safe passage and transport home<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ACDCv10QNDpV2Q6LmAVsjg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TsFttWJ8I/AAAAAAAABZ4/4-r9wL-xCoU/s800/P1000766.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Leaving<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/JMPlgHBUSU0UG5z-EB5B9w?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TsKl90dVI/AAAAAAAABaQ/STNusLsdpYo/s800/P1000805.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>A leader<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/iMwWvr1vc0p94XF9F7y1dw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TsLgTEBpI/AAAAAAAABaU/nErSDK88XTY/s800/P1000815.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>A police officer reassures this woman's relatives she can safely leave and go home<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/uVfL2tWhNqyvrxBF6s0rwg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TsMs14jOI/AAAAAAAABaY/QeDKGjJBT1w/s800/P1000820.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Waiting to go home<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/t3R2n5wBX2qwiymRAtqxZw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TsPwvby2I/AAAAAAAABak/CwgT29qgwCs/s800/P1000833.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Time to go home<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/YYFS--Kz16kflpTW3bVGDg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TsVkL7ffI/AAAAAAAABa8/4oX-Z9vANC0/s800/P1000858.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Corpses of people shot inside the temple by the gate the night before<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/gRD9scMzC15Ltdujd7Q3tQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TsXfT-QDI/AAAAAAAABbE/uVmhPPmLmBM/s800/P1000860.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Offerings for the spirit<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/O0wF6YruVxEX1Wo1DUAnvg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TsbYhMB5I/AAAAAAAABbU/LaMur0HpUfc/s800/P1000865.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Tears of a medic for a lost friend<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/4220u1LERB3Lgj1ZflkJQA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TsdmakmQI/AAAAAAAABbc/DFvxmucWg8g/s800/P1000868.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Of course you can go home we have medical teams and transport for you outside<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ur2FqW-YxZxR-nr578rJLw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_TsgNoZpmI/AAAAAAAABbo/FqXVPVmDDk8/s800/P1000884.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Don't smile she said to her friends<br />
<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/wf4IrD34I77cdx8gqYR_7w?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_Tsoi94h-I/AAAAAAAABcE/HI8wc2teH34/s800/P1000903.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=embedwebsite">Aftermath 100520</a></td></tr>
</table>Bangkok City of Life - Chidlom<br />
<br />
More <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/Aftermath100520?feat=directlink">photos</a>Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-9948064192341169352010-05-20T19:44:00.004+07:002010-05-20T20:17:39.745+07:00Like it never happenedThere is as of this afternoon little trace of the protesters camp around the Rama VI statue at the southwestern tip of Lumpini Park. The clean up there is astonishing. It is as if nothing happened, that landscapers have been around to prepare the area for turfing. Litter, debris and leaves have been swept into small piles. The tents, screens, tyres, pikes, cooking equipment, trucks, montages of the killings of 10 April and everything else are gone. Feeding off patches of damp sticky earth and piles of debris are rather a lot of flies, indeed far more than there are on hundreds of bags of trash strewn across Wittayu between Lumpini police station and Sarasin. <br />
<br />
Rama 4 along the south side of the park was also quite clean. I did find five marbles, like those some protesters were using in slingshots, a plastic bullet fired by a shotgun, and a spent 5.56mm cartridge case with the stamp RTA (Royal Thai Army).<br />
<br />
Wittayu on the east side of the park had not been cleaned up at all. Not only were there hundreds of bags of rubbish but the police bus torched some days ago was still there. Police prisoner vans were still parked out front, a net stretched from them up to the top of the station to keep off grenades. Sarasin too was also still a mess. Ratchadamri between the skytrain station and just north of the Rama IV statue is still off limits. Troops claim there are improvised explosive devices. A soldier did show me what appeared to be an IED made from a small fire extinguisher wedged behind a barricade erected to prevent access to the Four Seasons Hotel car park. Earlier this afternoon explosive-ordnance disposal personnel detonated what they believed to be a device on Sarasin.<br />
<br />
How many really died or were hurt as the army charged in with armoured personnel carriers and troops armed with rifles and shotguns? Were armoured personnel carriers even necessary when perhaps among the protesters only a handful were armed with rifles, would not large bulldozers have been more than adequate to demolish the fearsome but rather flimsy barricades? Just an efficient clean up and return to normalcy or something else? Rubbing out the stain, erasing history?Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-41555781352995527082010-05-20T02:45:00.002+07:002010-05-24T19:19:20.195+07:00Showdown in BangkokI awoke expecting another day of grinding protest out on the streets and making plans for another unremarkable day. That was not to be when the condominium security guards told me there was shooting, the army was moving in and already were casualties, deaths. They were tense, frequently chatting on their radios I presume to guards of buildings in the neighbourhood and perhaps their company headquarters.<br />
<br />
I walked out on to Ratchadamri where all eyes were looking south towards Rama 4 and Silom. Perhaps a dozen or so people were watching on a television thick smoke curling around a tower of Chulalongkorn hospital at the southern end of Ratchadamri. I initially thought the hospital was on fire. It turned out to be the long tyre barricade opposite the hospital and Silom.<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/r1K922vbwSiytPe4MFI7uA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_P8GozPV2I/AAAAAAAABOk/4KYe0bOzXGc/s400/P1000123.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/BattleOfBangkok100519?feat=embedwebsite">Battle of Bangkok 100519</a></td></tr>
</table>From the south came small explosions and the occasional searing crack of gunfire.<br />
<br />
At the junction of Ratchadamri and Sarasin beside the northwest corner of Lumpini Park hundreds of Reds were gathered, many crouching or kneeling, others standing. Smoke obscured the view to Silom. Their mood was defiant, stoical, unbowed yet they had only slingshots, sticks, machetes, small petrol bombs and grenades improvised from fireworks. Murmurs and chat frequently gave way to jokes, giggles and laughter. One thing they were not was thirsty, boxes of water cups or bottles were never far out of reach.<br />
<br />
To the south where the barricades once stood people were resisting the troops, earning in return injuries and for some death. Rescue pick-up trucks and ambulances would occasionally speed down the street to receive the casualties upon which would draw packs of press photographers and cameramen. Dead and injured were taken to the Police General Hospital at Ratchaprasong. On one occasion an ambulance crossed the junction only to reverse at high-speed after it seemed to be the target of some sort of grenade. A Red guard said it was thrown from a small building in the northwest of the park. He said inside there were four soldiers. One medic returned winded, collapsing on the plants alongside the road. He said troops were shooting at medics trying to evacuate the dead and wounded. Still people would run forward to help evacuate casualties. On one occasion dozens surged forward in what could have been confused for a charge.<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Ljhwfk-dxCZ60dhCtHupSw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_P8R21YZ8I/AAAAAAAABPE/D161cfvZHY8/s400/P1000142.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/BattleOfBangkok100519?feat=embedwebsite">Battle of Bangkok 100519</a></td></tr>
</table>Meanwhile an armoured personnel carrier and troops were slowly advancing west along Sarasin towards Ratchadamri accompanied by explosions and shooting. Soldiers moved slowly pausing frequently for 20-30 minutes. Then more shots and explosions. Then nothing. As the army ebbed forward, so the Reds and the press would retreat amid a cacophony of shouting. A middle-aged woman with a chubby face in a red t-shirt said in good English there were snipers in the towers of the hospital shooting at Reds near the barricades. <br />
<br />
The Reds however remained calm. They were not a rabble, there was order and organization among their number of protesters and guards. Some were in small teams, perhaps friends. They were a mixture of Bangkokians and provincials. More than a few were carrying radios. <br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/IMUfqUaDLsyIiJNJGb7K-w?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_P8WgO0djI/AAAAAAAABPU/ftwWvYYtqTE/s400/P1000154.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/BattleOfBangkok100519?feat=embedwebsite">Battle of Bangkok 100519</a></td></tr>
</table>Others had a role, like an old farmer from Chiang Mai who carried a large box of dressings and first-aid materials. Occasionally someone would come by handing out small wads of cotton wool soaked with a strong spirit not dissimilar too menthol. The cracking and splintering of glass being hit by a blunt instrument in the Regent office building drew immediate shouts of อย่า (yaa - don't) from many guards on the street. A man emerged from the side of the building with shaggy hair, a thin metal pole and a homemade rocket. Guard leaders quickly gathered around him telling him not to damage property and asking who he was and what he was doing. They sent him off down towards the frontline.<br />
<br />
By around midday Reds had pulled back to beneath Ratchadamri skytrain station, which some guards, or perhaps militia is more accurate, were using as an observation. Some reporters saw one man cross the street with a rifle. Others went up to the station where they saw a three or four men with rifles before being turned away. In light of the country's bloody history of soldiers killing civilian protesters that some people should be armed is understandable. Whether they are really Reds or sanctioned by leaders of the UDD is unknown. Deploying soldiers with assault rifles and shotguns to confront protesters bearing rudimentary weapons not unlike those found on medieval battlefields would appear disproportionate. Most soldiers could have confronted protesters with shields, batons and pepper spray while armed troops stayed in the reserve. It would appear the militia in the station did not exchange fire with the troops because around 1pm calm fell across the battlefield. Rice and curry was brought down to the Reds in white polystyrene boxes who ate greedily.<br />
<br />
The calm prevailed for a few hours during which the UDD leaders surrendered drawing ire from many of the protesters still at the Ratchaprasong stage which throughout the morning had broadcast speeches and martial music. Reds on Ratchadamri, mostly poor young men, began to attack the Four Seasons Hotel and Peninsula Plaza with slingshots and anything else they could use to smash windows. Some were trying to start fires. Thick black smoke of burning tyres on the side street of Mahadlekluang 1 rushed into the sky wrapping around a hotel and giving the air a nauseous edge. Plumes of tyre smoke were also rising from barricades at Chidlom, Chidlom bridge and it seemed Phloenchit.<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/LIJT3ygqCW5TIkz9WFHYJw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_Q8Z9-5k4I/AAAAAAAABUY/STjbc_vVqyc/s400/P1000188.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/BattleOfBangkok100519?feat=embedwebsite">Battle of Bangkok 100519</a></td></tr>
</table>At Central World they gave full vent to their frustration, disgust and rage on this glittering symbol of wealth, privilege and power that will never be within their grasp. Windows were smashed. Molotov cocktails and homemade grenades rained into doorways. Rubbish was thrown onto the flames. Yet their efforts to torch the mall and attached office building were a tragicomedy of errors, bad throws and duds. Sadly pathetic. Still they kept on. A few men were just smashing windows for no apparent reason save anger. Nevertheless they kept on with their efforts to burn.<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/WFP-CIiSl2MEAuZWPkG0EQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_P8sFbqBjI/AAAAAAAABQw/aZTinlGeRqw/s400/P1000218.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/BattleOfBangkok100519?feat=embedwebsite">Battle of Bangkok 100519</a></td></tr>
</table>A safe was pulled out of the mall and eventually smashed open. Inside were a few small bags of coins and banknotes. They descended upon them like jackals on to carrion, pushing, shoving, tearing. A guard leader said they only wanted money to eat and go home, he told them to share the money a few hundred baht each. There was not even that much to go around, mostly coins. One man held up two 50-baht notes and a smile. A Bangkok guy said they were fighting over nothing, pennies. Meanwhile the burning continued. Cooking-gas bottles were taken up to the fires their taps full open releasing a powerful hiss of gas which quickly became a roaring jet of flame.<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/IY_c9sSWghgYxyWzJ9fu7w?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_P8vZGSvaI/AAAAAAAABQ8/JhwJrubysGM/s400/P1000237.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/BattleOfBangkok100519?feat=embedwebsite">Battle of Bangkok 100519</a></td></tr>
</table>Back at Ratchaprasong few were left. Vendors tried to cart away what possessions and stock they could. A few people sat around, lost without the protest. <br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-3B365DZ3BoewozOCj9QKg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_P9IgLSsII/AAAAAAAABSg/NXR3xZMtvNE/s288/P1000342.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/BattleOfBangkok100519?feat=embedwebsite">Battle of Bangkok 100519</a></td></tr>
</table>People picked about the belongings left behind by protesters who had fled out of the area or into Wat Pathumwanaram, pulling out clothes or pulling plastic bottles out of the debris and dropping them into large black plastic sacks to sell later. <br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/4wWoo3yMugxTWoeWZYgo1A?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_P9Sh1GAeI/AAAAAAAABTI/-3zpt21-0Hk/s400/P1000381.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/BattleOfBangkok100519?feat=embedwebsite">Battle of Bangkok 100519</a></td></tr>
</table>At the Pratunam bridge, north of the stage, adjacent to the Ratchaprarop live-fire area, another tyre barricade was burning fiercely while grey-brown smoke was slowly rising out of the Central World. The fires had finally taken hold. <br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ywf-RW211QadvZXaUDoZRQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_P8z-LMIxI/AAAAAAAABRQ/XcU2u0Oo8rc/s400/P1000259.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/BattleOfBangkok100519?feat=embedwebsite">Battle of Bangkok 100519</a></td></tr>
</table>Amid the press and lingering protesters a couple of soldiers with rifles and shotguns calmly walked in. More followed. They were polite, telling people we are all Thais, go home. A few men were stopped and asked for their papers. After perhaps 20 minutes the platoon left heading east along Chidlom.<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/HK_kyRkXNZ0yDNmXtNDAQg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_P9CufuK_I/AAAAAAAABSM/t8-e5pignk8/s400/P1000324.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/BattleOfBangkok100519?feat=embedwebsite">Battle of Bangkok 100519</a></td></tr>
</table>Back west to the Henri Dunant-Rama I junction beside Paragon mall a middle-aged man in a black jacket, glasses and flecks of grey in his black hair was crouched behind a concrete traffic barrier. His accomplice had a slingshot. He had an M16. <br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/018RSkX-pq0LGF1FxALRJQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_P9XhcQSPI/AAAAAAAABTc/rDum7HxL-EY/s400/P1000404.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/BattleOfBangkok100519?feat=embedwebsite">Battle of Bangkok 100519</a></td></tr>
</table>Walking back to Central World the fire was burning fiercely, glass was cracking and popping as the flames climbed higher and charcoal-grey smoke billowed. Nevertheless the area seemed placid, otherwise quiet. <br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/9J7jhKztlJQaMBEuFKCwqg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_P9Uh6sT5I/AAAAAAAABTQ/4hGAwSI7dHg/s400/P1000398.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/BattleOfBangkok100519?feat=embedwebsite">Battle of Bangkok 100519</a></td></tr>
</table><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/oQMOSBKCBSuFP_YCoAj4Fg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_P9bbNmwgI/AAAAAAAABT0/2SXyLlPHLYs/s400/P1000430.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/BattleOfBangkok100519?feat=embedwebsite">Battle of Bangkok 100519</a></td></tr>
</table><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/OGpg_maDRg58D80ipa3Jjg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_P9aqypWeI/AAAAAAAABTw/dbH2eK5EsDI/s400/P1000425.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/BattleOfBangkok100519?feat=embedwebsite">Battle of Bangkok 100519</a></td></tr>
</table>That changed with cracks of gunfire coming from Siam Square. Most people had taken refuge in the temple. Those on the street were keeping close to cover. A guard leader said they didn't care if they died or not, they had nothing, all they could do was fight and if they died well there were 20 million more across the country. He said there were armed militia in Siam Square battling with troops. He didn't know how many or what rifles they had. Next to the temple two men disagreed about who the militia were. One said they were Reds, the other said he didn't know who they were but they had come to help the Reds. He took us into the temple to see a fresh corpse, shot in the chest ten minutes before nearby. <br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Mqv9gpiIdTeXVanKzfP4ug?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S_prKfD77-I/AAAAAAAABhU/Do7NyVCfzIY/s400/Image0775.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/BattleOfBangkok100519?feat=embedwebsite">Battle of Bangkok 100519</a></td></tr></table>A man in t-shirt and shorts picked up a bamboo pike with a white flag and readied to run out it seems into Siam Square to help casualties. He was called back. Gunfire intensified. It was time to leave or be trapped in the temple for hours well into the night.<br />
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Come early evening ความ จริงวันนี้ (Truth Today - a Red media organization which was a reaction to the coup of 2006) reported 42 dead and 361 wounded. The numbers may have been much higher had the army charged in with armoured personnel carriers and heavy, sustained gunfire. Nevertheless the operation has come at the cost of more than lives and wounds. The protests have ended in blood. Accounts and pictures have <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/04/totally-connected.html">spread</a> across the country. It has become instant mythology, the narrative, the history people use to shape their <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/04/blog-post.html">identities</a> and frame their grievances and aspirations in a changing Thailand in which the consciousness, the sleeping resentment and entitlements of the masses have now well and truly <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/04/then-and-now.html">awoken</a>. Militia fighting, quite likely to their deaths, in Siam Square may well become heroes, legends to inspire others. Dozens of buildings are burning across Bangkok and in provincial capitals. Thai flags are reportedly being burned in Chiang Mai. Is this the end of the <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/vote-for-war.html">beginning</a>?<br />
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Battle of Bangkok <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/BattleOfBangkok100519?feat=directlink">pictures</a>Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-11464552642333396762010-05-18T11:33:00.000+07:002010-05-18T11:33:06.349+07:00Truth and reconciliationAcrid smoke and tear gas filled the air, thousands marched, tyres and buildings burned, there were rapes and killings. Today some of the buildings still stand gutted by fire, blackened by smoke. For the dead and injured there has been no investigation, no justice. Indonesians spent their weekend reading the recollections and thoughts of victims, witnesses and analysts as newspapers marked the bloody events of May 2008 which brought down the dictator Suharto.<br />
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Indonesia thankfully avoided going down the path of Yugoslavia and instead has, so far, taken one rather similar to that of India. Indonesia's economy is booming, its banks are strong, the government is despite corruption managing to run its finances prudently. Indonesia's media is among the freest in the world. <br />
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But the trappings of success mask ugly truths. The state has yet to tame the power of the country's oligarchs, its robber barons and political kingpins. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who made her name attacking corruption and ensuring fiscal probity, resigned earlier in May to take up the number two position at the World Bank after losing a political battle with Aburizal Bakrie who was facing a large <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/05/18/tax-monitoring-should-remain-a-priority-mulyani.html">tax bill</a>. The state's failure to make the law supreme is matched by its amnesia over the events of 1998.<br />
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Until the state can provide a measure of justice in day-to-day life and for its own failings and atrocities its legitimacy will remain in question. Matters may be out of sight and out of mind or accepted with a shrug as people go about trying to make their livelihoods under the claws of corruption but they are not forgotten or accepted. The pain, the anger, the resentment is there beneath the skin, festering, where it only takes a scratch for it to well up. Protests and confrontations are now a staple of life in Indonesia, bigger problems cannot be ruled out if the economy turns sour.<br />
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Thailand's troubles have a dark heritage too. There has been no justice for those who were killed or vanished when citizens challenged the state in 1973, 1976 and 1992. There is little indication matters will be any different for those who have died since 10 April. <br />
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How states and societies can resolve their conflicts and shift to a paradigm where the law reigns supreme is it seems something humanity finds difficult to effect. South Africa opted for something like total transparency with a truth and reconciliation commission. Yet today the promise of liberal democracy has turned out, so far, to be an empty one for most who still live in squalor, earn little and face rampant crime with a worse death toll than many wars.<br />
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Nevertheless the steps taken by Indonesia are probably in the right direction, particularly the freedom of the press and speech, but the road is it seems a long one, the destination lies clouded on the horizon. If Thailand is to move to a better place it too needs to take steps on the road being followed by Indonesia. Today's confrontation, if it does not descend into <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/vote-for-war.html">civil war</a>, may be the start.Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-487019814516911462010-05-14T18:41:00.000+07:002010-05-14T18:41:29.055+07:00The government's road map to troubleThe <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/way-out-or-another-twist-in-troubled.html">road map</a> for elections presented by the government was taken in many quarters as a positive step towards reconciliation. The UDD, the largest group within the Red movement, welcomed it as a starting point for negotiations. But as the days passed their demands grew as did the divisions it seems within their leadership. The government responded by tearing up the road map.<br />
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The UDD may appear intransigent, uncompromising and poorly led. Yet their reactions were to a road map presented by the government which claimed it was acting with the best of intentions. The content of the road map suggests otherwise. The words of the road map amounted a grand and arrogant exercise in imprecision reflecting either division about what to concede or an intention to deceive, to beguile the protesters into quietly and peacefully leaving Ratchaprasong. Abhisit Vejjavija, the prime minister, set a date for an <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/vote-for-war.html">election</a> which was not within his authority but vested solely with the Election Commission. He could though have set a date for dissolving parliament, but he never got any closer than indicating a loose timeframe. <br />
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The points of the roadmap did not point clearly towards an election, they pointed to endless opportunities for the government to claim its conditions for an election were not being met and thus cancel the election. It is easier for the government to use violence against the protesters when they are outside of downtown Bangkok out of international sight in the provinces. <br />
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A clear and precise road map may not have provoked confusion and division among leaders of the UDD. Instead it could have built confidence, demonstrated sincerity, and created an atmosphere for meaningful negotiations. If the government ever was serious about peace it went about it in a strange way that suggests it was only ever serious about destroying the protest and preserving the interests of those who stand behind the government and perhaps the Democrat Party as it faces <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/democrat-party-dissolution-after-15.html">dissolution</a>.Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-3048936189556644072010-05-14T18:17:00.000+07:002010-05-14T18:17:49.461+07:00India, Nepal...Thailand?Thailand may have and yet still appear to some observers, especially those who take an <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/pawn-fallacy.html">elite perspective</a>, an unlikely place for civil conflict with a significant class aspect. Two examples indicate that a deep conflict, with a class basis, is not unlikely, indeed a black swan.<br />
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One viewpoint on developments in Thailand simply holds that Thais are too poor, uneducated and therefore stupid to form opinions, hold views, and act for themselves rather than as pawns for others with money and power.<br />
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Two comparatives question this assertion.<br />
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In Nepal, where illiteracy, malnutrition, education and communication are far worse than Thailand, the strain of communism fashioned after Mao Ze Dong struck a chord with many, generating cause and passion to put down their hoes and pick up weapons. The Maoist insurgency in Nepal went in not much more than a decade despite the efforts of the better equipped and supposedly trained Nepalese army from being a spot of trouble in some remote districts to forming a coalition government and may now be on the cusp of taking full control of the government and state.<br />
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In India, the Naxalite-Maoists have been fighting for what they see as justice and equity, since 1967. They are now active in one-in-three districts. In many of the communities in which find support illiteracy, malnutrition and education are not much better than Nepal. Communication is rather better.<br />
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If people who might be dismissed by elite perspectives as uneducated and ill-equipped to think are willing to rise up and fight, seemingly without the financial support of immensely wealthy people, then it begs the question why ordinary Thais who are rather better educated and in generally much better health should not decide that their best interests and aspirations for a more equitable society and politics may only be attained by standing up to protest and if necessary fight. Prospects for a deep <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/civil-war.html">civil conflict</a>, perhaps even <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/vote-for-war.html">war</a>, are a black swan that may soon land.Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-63572778249492508192010-05-14T17:44:00.001+07:002010-05-14T17:56:32.907+07:00Double standardsAfter the grenade attacks in Silom and the clashes between Reds and security forces in northern Bangkok, in which one soldier was shot dead, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornthip_Rojanasunand">Porntip Rojanasunan</a>, director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science, or <a href="http://www.cifs.moj.go.th/">CIFS</a>, quickly arrived on the scene to lead investigations.<br />
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After the clashes on 10 April at Ratchadamneon in which 20 protesters were killed, most it seems by troops shooting into the crowd, and five soldiers including officers close to the queen, there were no reports it seems of the CIFS director securing and investigating the crime scene. An investigator, seemingly from <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/04/aftermath-of-confrontation-in-bangkok.html">forensics</a>, did make a brief examination of the spot where a Red flag bearer fell after being shot from a nearby armoured personnel carrier spilling across the tarmac his brains.<br />
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The CIFS is a relatively new agency of the Ministry of Interior, it is understaffed, has an inadequate budget, and huge log of cases worthy of investigation. It has on many occasions revealed criminal activity and incompetence by state agencies especially the police, which maintains its own forensics unit. Nevertheless the CIFS is a state agency and to some degree a tool of the government's interests, intentions and policies.<br />
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That the CIFS was widely reported to be investigating two incidents the government was manipulating to place blame and discredit the Red movement, to paint them as 'terrorists' falls into the narrative of the Red movement that politics is rife with double standards, something they are campaigning against.<br />
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The government's claims to be working to peacefully resolve the situation and to negotiate with the Red movement fall flat when its agencies appear, even if that is not the intention, of acting partially.Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-14730845071481587442010-05-14T17:09:00.001+07:002010-05-14T17:19:03.452+07:00The pawn fallacyA strand of perspective permeating the news, some dinner conversation and critical discourse boils down to viewing developments in Thailand as a game played by elite factions using society as a chessboard upon which the masses are but pawns.<br />
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This lens employs a narrow focus for examining the Red movement, the people of which, particularly the farmers, assembly hands and labourers, are discounted as nothing more than drones buzzing around for a little nectar. The root of this lies in their education which typically is less than ten years (although the trend is to more years in school due to government policies since the 1990s) and is of poor quality because of the state of the Thai public education system. Limited education is for many erroneously equated with low intelligence.<br />
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As people of the working class or <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/04/blog-post.html">peasantry</a> account for the majority of the Red movement the movement itself is dismissed as illegitimate, a tool for Thaksin Shinawatra, the elected prime minister ousted by elements of the army in a coup in 2006, and his allies to return to Government House. This overlooks a simple truth that for any social movement is to achieve <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/04/then-and-now.html">mass</a> in Thailand it will necessarily include many poor people with limited education because that is the situation of most Thais, that is what their state has given them after decades of corruption and elite interest in self-enrichment dressed up as national interest.<br />
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The perspective extends towards justifying the legitimacy of the government and the use of violence against the protesters because as they are poor, under-educated and pawns of Thaksin they can be discounted as can their cause, it is simply a front for a wealthy man who while in power showed little interest in strengthening the institutions of electoral politics and disdain for the law. In this regard however Thaksin is no different to most Thai leaders, and indeed is perhaps rather better than the tyrants of the 1950s and 1960s.<br />
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But what of the fact that there are rather a lot of people in the Red movement who are decidedly middle class? That few speeches talk of Thaksin and that there is within the Red movement criticism of Thaksin and support for ideas and principles bigger than Thaksin, that is beyond his <a href="http://bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/36930/udd-now-a-red-tiger-thaksin-can-no-longer-ride">control</a> if it ever was so? Can mere money buy the passion and dedication exhibited day-in, day-out in the Red Zone for two months? Can money cause people to confront troops armed and permitted to shoot to kill with sticks and stones? Are the Red movement political schools in the provinces teaching justice, fairness and rights to empty heads?<br />
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The perspective is comfortable and seductive for some, and sub-consciously reflexive for others, because it avoids the horror and challenge of trying to understand, explain and countenance the existence of mind and thought among those who are supposed to be stupid, fools and bumpkins. There is no need to spend months in the fields or on the factory floors to realize this is simply false. At times it seems every other taxi driver in Bangkok has something interesting, insightful and revealing to say which knocks a chip and more out of this perspective.<br />
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Beneath this perspective is a presumption that people never change, ironic for a society in which the religion professed by most reminds all that everything is impermanent. People do change, they are changing in Thailand because of their growing <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/i-wont-allow-it.html">cosmopolitan</a> experiences, <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/04/totally-connected.html">internet and telephones</a>, and the rising tide of ideas, knowledge and viewpoints washing in from overseas and welling up locally.<br />
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Furthermore the perspective views the masses as apathetic and essentially powerless. It overlooks that the poor engage in quite sophisticated livelihood strategies and are able to demonstrate great patience in waiting for the right opportunity to move. It also ignores that while individually their power is limited, when pooled together it can be great - and infectious because open solidarity is a huge inspiration.<br />
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The perspective denies that people told that they were all equal citizens with an equal right to cast equally valid votes have thoughts, feelings and emotions amounting to anger and just cause when the political party and its leader, Thaksin, they voted for overwhelmingly is deposed by a cabal of generals, aristocrats and jealous business tycoons. <br />
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Either Thailand is a country of electoral politics, with all the shortcomings and ugliness that may go with that, or it is not. If it is the former than an coup and allied shenanigans which brought the Democrat-led coalition into power, are untenable or if the latter than the system is one of sheer hypocrisy and those making a case for it with nouns drawn from the language of democracy are hypocrites.<br />
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This is clear to many ordinary people in society. They talk and discuss. They exchange ideas, thoughts and images by internet and telephone. They are listening to rousing and often sophisticated speeches from the UDD stage at Ratchaprasong, transmitted by myriad methods across the country. Over the last few months I have heard speakers at Ratchaprasong draw comparatives to Dracula, Robin Hood and Troy. Speeches, even if the allusions are not well understood, are not falling on deaf ears pinned for decoration to drones.<br />
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Thailand has never experienced the degree of transparency and diffusion of information and ideas as it is experiencing today. Views may be fuzzy, many may still struggle to see Thaksin's faults and apply the same standards to him as they are to Abhisit Vejjavija and the perverse joke of his Democrat Party, but they are nonetheless soaking up many ideas and principles, they are giving voice to their thoughts, fears and aspirations. <br />
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Recognizing that the masses are capable of forming opinions of what is in their best interest as allegedly equal citizens in Thailand is going to be essential to finding a way out of the falling rubble of the old system to a better <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/05/long-road-ahead.html">system</a> able to deliver what is good for the majority and what may in time lead Thailand to a better society, one which is less <a href="http://thailandtrouble.blogspot.com/2010/04/uniform-problem.html">corrupt</a>, better educated, and more equitable. <br />
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But this process of change is going to be messy, yet that is no reason to deny that it should not be taking place. There will never be a right time to begin. There can be then no better time for the people of Thailand to begin making that change, and making it positively, than today. The scale of support for the Red movement suggests that this happening, this is the beginning of change.Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6764086554109330613.post-31743463652642981512010-05-14T15:47:00.004+07:002010-05-15T15:13:22.902+07:00Who shot Seh Daeng?Who shot Seh Daeng <a href="http://www.sae-dang.com/">เสธ.แดง</a>, the army general Khattiya Sawasdipol (พลตรี ดร.ขัตติยะ สวัสดิผล) who has been something of a self-appointed security consultant to the Red movement, in the head on 13 May as he was talking with <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/05/13/thailand.journalist/">reporters</a> may remain a mystery.<br />
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/N09x_Yh7PcwM9ojhBcZvSA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_DwJ5BkzJ9Tw/S8vTwyDnjfI/AAAAAAAAAzE/DOcFT1iUt8Q/s400/Image0485.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/103657339709676300673/RedZone?feat=embedwebsite">Red Zone</a></td></tr>
</table>Responsibility for setting the stage is a little clearer. The government said it would deploy snipers to engage 'terrorists' among the Red movement. Announcing the use of snipers against a civil protest without any hard evidence of firearms among them may be considered excessive or expedient depending as much on the observer's politics as any objective assessment of risk. <br />
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While that debate continues, the announcement can be seen for what it was, that is a crude threat to intimidate protesters and a license, perhaps an accidental one, for a deliberate assassination attempt by the <a href="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1056557/1/.html">government</a>, by dissident elements within the state, by Seh Daeng's enemies (of which there may be many given his <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/richard-s-ehrlich-bold-carefree-and-with-plenty-of-enemies-he-was-always-a-target-1973027.html">colourful life</a>), or by elements seeking to spark a conflagration in expectation they will be the ones standing amid the smouldering ruins.<br />
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The shot was taken under somewhat difficult circumstances. It was night, the ambient lighting was poor and there may have been shadows to contend with plus the wind. On the other hand the shot was probably taken from the surrounding buildings, either through a window or from a rooftop. The sniper was probably within a few hundred metres and using an advanced night scope. He was probably a soldier or paramilitary policeman, probably serving or retired from one of the better trained units perhaps special forces. How many Thais could have confidently executed this task without hitting any of the surrounding journalists? Perhaps a few hundred.<br />
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The question is on whose orders or on whose account were they acting?<br />
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A subsidiary question is were those ordering or paying the sniper aware in advanced that Seh Daeng would be at the barricades near Silom or had they deployed snipers for some time in preparation to eliminate targets of opportunity?<br />
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On what grounds can the shooting of Seh Daeng, even by the government should that be the case, be anything other than attempted murder?Thailand's Troubleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340516163249525050noreply@blogger.com3