Protesters, members of the Red Shirt Party, mean business in Thailand. These protesters, educated and well informed, and polite and civil in most encounters, are now insisting on free elections in Thailand. The Red Shirt Party is not new. They made headlines in 1992. But today is a different time, a new concept.
One Red Shirt leader, a man named Karuna, quoted in a Time Online article, says: "In 1992 we were united in what we wanted: democracy. But today people have different ideas of what democracy is. The divisions in society are much deeper." Karuna continues, "For the middle class that by and large supports the government, democracy now means clean, effective government and elections that are not tainted by vote-buying, fraud or violence.
An article from The Age, dated May 20, 2010, describes the ending moments of a night of protest. The demonstrators had seized control of a shopping district, and were encamped their behind bamboo barriers. Before dawn, the Thai Government moved to regain control of the area. Thousands of troops, with armored vehicles, ringed the protest site. At sun-up the armored vehicles plunged through the bamboo barricades. The Red Shirt protesters were able to respond in kind, with handguns, rifles, grenades — and when these were exhausted, the demonstrators found themselves throwing bricks! Within the shopping mall thousands of women and many, many children were unable to leave, held defacto by the protesters.
The combat lasted about five hours; the Red Shirts saw no hope of victory. The Red Shirt leaders instructed their following protesters, numbering about 3000, to concede the loss; to go home peacefully. Protest leader Jatuporn Prompan instructed the fighters for democracy that, ’’Though the fight didn't reach our goal, we tried our best. Go home. We are sorry for not sending you home earlier. Go home safe". Nattawut Saikua, another leader, said, as he was being arrested, "Brothers and sisters, I'm sorry I cannot see you off the way I welcomed you all when you arrived here... Please return home." The leaders, called terrorists by the Thai Army, urged supporters not to give up the fight for political change.
Article comments
1 - roger nowosielski
Timely article, John. In between the unrest in Greece and now in Thailand, not to mentioned natural disasters or human fuckups like the oil spill, it looks like the world is up for a major overhaul. And it's interesting, isn't, how the governments are responding with the military.
The present mood and sentiment reminds me of the populous movements in Europe in the 19th century. The 1830 revolution comes to mind; and then, the one in 1860 I believe.
2 - Cannonshop
2 Let's hope we don't get a repeat of the bloodshed that was rampant immediately after WWII, or the bloodshed that was rampant in Europe through the 1930's, or in places immediately after the Soviets packed it in.
3 - Ruvy
Try reading another point of view on all this. It is not surprising that the author [Personal attack deleted by Comments Editor] has probably gotten the whole thing wrong - along with most of the lame stream media he follows.
4 - John Lake
roger nowosielski:
It is indeed a timely article! We might thank the editorial staff here for having the vision and wisdom to publish without delay.
5 - zingzing
this "lame stream media" thing is awful. who thinks that's clever? really? and who uses that term? oh? sarah palin? sarah palin of fox news sarah palin? bill o'reilly? wow. talk about giving yourself the reach around.
and ruvy, your devotion to and undying trust of pajamas media is pretty troublesome. you take one guy's opinion of what's happening as the gospel truth? really? it's a fucking blog.
6 - Doug Hunter
The interesting thing Roger is that they're doing alot of this in the name of the famed capitalist, multi-billionaire, and former prime minister Thaksin. He used his position in government to greatly extend his own wealth, lending money to other countries so they could finance deals with his private businesses (he got his fortune by signing a monopoly agreement for phone services in the first place). While he was making an additional private fortune, he used public debt to buy votes from the rural poor quadrupling the national debt in four years. Maybe that's the new way forward. Elites can run government for their own personal gain and throw and occasional scrap to the ignorant poor to get a vote. Meanwhile, the middle class and the not quite so elite get squashed.
I suppose it's not all that different from a Chavez in Venezuela, although not considered rich in the capitalist sense(gotta keep his leftist street cred) he de facto owns much of Venezuala's industry and is powerful beyond compare. Just more of the things I don't understand about the left. A disdain for powerful elites often leads to the creation of one all powerful dictator? More government is the way to less government? A very strange politics you have.
7 - roger nowosielski
I agree that the situation on the ground is more complex than it meets the eye. On the other hand, it's rather far-fetched to presume these protests have been organized through and through.
Perhaps it's too early to tell what's really going on.
8 - Dr Dreadful
I don't like the way the protesters were dealt with, but on the other hand Ruvy's linked article does have a point. Thaksin is a crook and a megalomaniac.
His ego even led him to bad-mouth the King at one point, which in Thailand provokes the same sort of cultural reaction as someone in the US burning the Stars and Stripes.
9 - Ruvy
you take one guy's opinion of what's happening as the gospel truth? really?
I'm supposed to take John Lake's word on foreign affairs seriously? The guy doesn't know [Gratuitous vulgarity deleted by Comments Editor] about anything happening outside of Chicago! His articles are almost always wrongheaded, lacking in basic facts, ill-researched and just plain wrong. It's just painful to read!
At least at Pajamas Media, I get something beyond the bullshit in the lame-brain media outlets, which do nothing but repeat the bullshit accepted as "truth" by the AP.
10 - Bpower
I have a vested interest in these goings on in that my wife is Thai and that she and my two young children are currently visiting family in Thailand. From my understanding, together with my research, it's easy to say that this debacle was NOT as cut and dried as this article makes it out to be. These protesters were directly supported by a man who is basically Thailand's answer to Silvio Berlusconi. The military responded the only way that a military can, with force.
The best summary I've yet read is this one by the BBC.
11 - zingzing
ruvy: "I'm supposed to take John Lake's word on foreign affairs seriously?"
not necessarily, but saying john lake is wrong because this other blogger is right is kinda foolish. the stuff i've seen on pajamas (the majority of which is stuff you've pointed out,) has been heavily slanted. this guy makes it out like the protesters in thailand are doing it just for the thrill of taking on the army or something.
12 - Ruvy
....saying john lake is wrong because this other blogger is right is kinda foolish....
John Lake isn't wrong because this other blogger is right. John Lake is wrong because his article is ill-researched, like most of his other attempts at issues that go beyond the Illinois border.
The article I cite points out that it was an élite in Thailand, one representing an ousted leader, that organized this "Red-Shirt" revolt. It was well funded and well organized. These are points that "Big Bad Johnny" misses entirely.
As for Pajamas Media, yes it is slanted to one side, and it is a side that for my purposes, that is to say representing events in the Middle East and Israel, is often whiny and purposely off course. The comment I wrote on the article is not there. The moderators don't like my comments because I do not whine, and I do not make excuses.
But in this article on Thailand (which is about a month old), there is a balance that one does not see in the lame brained media bullshit that such as John Lake rely on as authoritative.
13 - roger nowosielski
Neither is it cogent to naively suppose that a government, any government, is right in suppress a rebellion. Rebellions don't just materialize out of thin air.
There's got to be a cause.
14 - John Lake
Research, research, research! That's my middle name!