Blog Note: As Thai Intel went doing a deep research on the Middle East crisis-by going through the Middle East media-oddly Thai Intel kept seeing reports of the Red Shirts protest. In fact, even, boutique Middle East media like Arab News-ran wire services reports of the Red Shirts latest protest.
Curious, even before that-when Reuters had an analysis piece saying, “What the Middle East can learn from SE Asia democracies” something stuck in Thai Intel’s mind. It did not stop there, other analysis started to appear, like: “Can the Middle East democracies learn from Muslim Indonesia’s democratic process.”
Then what sparked this report, is that last night, on the Thai military TV5, on its Middle East wrap up-it was hyping up the King of a Middle Eastern country that just killed many protesters-as offering appeasement to the protesters. There was absolutely nothing there on TV5 about that King ordering the killing of protesters.
Fundamentally, this report is about “Forward Ping” and “Ping Back.”
Who says the struggle for democracy, liberty and justice, from one country to another, are isolated events? The fact is, the struggle for democracy, liberty and justice around the globe are “Inter-Connected.” The Middle East’s “Domino Effect” is the current example. Yet, the talk of the “Domino Effect” have been around since the end of WW2 all the way to the Vietnam War.
Is there any doubt, that the Thai Red Shirts movement, a grass-roots struggle for democracy against an “Extremely Entrenched Authoritarian” regime-was noticed globally-as seen with many global level media selecting the Thai Red Shirts movement news as the “Top Global News” of the year.
And with Al Jazeera, the global level media from the Middle East-breaking countless “Exclusives” on the Red Shirts struggle, and reported the Red Shirts struggle on practically a 24 hour a day basis-is there any doubt that the Red Shirts struggle was watched and followed by millions upon millions of those people in the Middle East?
Already, many analysis are finding “Correlations and Similarities” between the Red Shirts struggle, and the method of repressions the Middle East junta are using.
Thus, this struggle in Thailand between democracy, liberty and justice against a repressive authoritarian regime-both serves as one roots to many global struggle-and can help shed light on the future. Significantly, the Thai struggle can shed light to the “Tactics” to what other repressive regimes globally-will incorporate into their usage-meaning repressive regimes globally may become “Copy-Cats” of the Thai regime tactics.
The following are three reports: One from Reuters and AFP on the Red Shirts latest protest gathering-which was yesterday. The other one from Asian Correspondent on the documentary “Enter the Red Shirts.”
Reuters:
By CHALATHIP THIRASOONTHRAKUL | REUTERS
Published: Feb 19, 2011 19:51 Updated: Feb 19, 2011 19:51
BANGKOK: Thai anti-government “red shirts” mobilized tens of thousands of supporters to seek the release of detained leaders on Saturday, underlining festering problems in the divided nation ahead of elections planned this year.
The largely rural and urban working class demonstrators defied a special security law to rally at three locations in Bangkok, including the Supreme Court, which is due to make a ruling on whether to grant bail to seven top leaders held on terrorism charges since violent protests last April and May.
Police said some 30,000 people had gathered by early evening in what was the red shirts’ fourth big rally this year. It comes ahead of an election a deputy prime minister on Thursday said would take place before June.
The poll is unlikely to settle a long-running crisis in Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy and analysts say it could lead to more instability if the result is disputed by groups for or against Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s military-backed Democrat Party, which heads the current coalition.
There was a heavy police presence at the rally, during which the red shirts criticized the government over a state investigation into the 91 people killed during last year’s crippling 10-week protests broken up by the military.
The probe into Thailand’s worst political violence in recent history has so far been largely inconclusive. The red shirts claim troops were instructed to kill the demonstrators and have asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to carry out its own investigation.
Thailand has not ratified the ICC’s Rome Statute, meaning the ICC has no jurisdiction. However, red shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan told the crowd that Abhisit could be investigated, claiming the premier held both British and Thai nationality.
The British-born Abhisit told Thai television on Saturday he was a Thai citizen and was classed as a foreign student while at Britain’s Eton College and Oxford University. However, he did not explicitly deny holding dual nationality.
The red shirt protest moved to the city’s Democracy Monument, close to a rally by rival “yellow shirts,” another anti-government group demonstrating since Jan. 25.
The ultra-nationalist yellow shirts, whose protests since 2005 have helped to topple two government’s led or backed by former premier Thaksin Shinawatra — the figurehead of the red shirts — were once allies of Abhisit but now want him to resign, accusing him of losing Thai sovereignty to Cambodia.
Thailand’s opposition party, Puea Thai, remains largely under Thaksin’s control, despite him being in exile, and is seen as a serious election contender in what is expected to be a close race with Abhisit’s Democrats. Neither party is expected to win a majority and alliances with smaller parties could dictate which party leads the government.
Analysts say the presence on the streets of two powerful groups capable of lengthy, at times violent demonstrations present a serious risk to stability in one of Asia’s most attractive destinations for tourists and foreign investors.
But despite those risks, foreign investors braved the turbulence in 2010 and put a net $1.9 billion into Thailand’s stock market — the second-highest inflows in the region behind Indonesia — which helped push the baht to a 13-year high.
Thailand’s export-led economy is expected to have grown 8 percent last year and is likely to slow to 3-5 percent if there is no political turbulence, according to the Finance Ministry.
BANGKOK (AFP)
Thousands of Thai “Red Shirts” gathered in Bangkok on Saturday to mark nine months since a bloody crackdown on their anti-government rally and to press for the release of detained leaders.
Police estimated around 25,000 protesters massed in the city as part of a rally that crossed from Bangkok’s retail heart to Democracy Monument, both sites of bloodshed during last year’s April and May demonstration.
Dressed in their trademark colour and waving banners, flags and plastic clappers, the crowd cheered loudly as the movement’s key figures spoke to protesters.
“We came today to ask for justice for our people who died exactly nine months ago at this place,” said Thida Thavornseth, leader of Red Shirt movement.
“They died for our fight we will ask for justice for them from those who do not show either political responsibility or legal responsibility,” she said.
More than 90 died and nearly 1,900 were injured in clashes between protesters and the army during the two-month rallies in 2010 calling for immediate elections.
Thailand’s political landscape has remained fractured since the unrest.
The mainly rural, working class Reds are broadly loyal to fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and lives overseas to avoid a jail sentence for corruption imposed in absentia.
They view Thailand’s current government as undemocratic because it came to power in 2008 in a parliamentary vote with the backing of the army after a court ruling threw out the previous administration.
This week Thailand’s deputy prime minister suggested elections would be called by June.
Many key Red Shirt leaders remain in prison on terrorism charges and the protest movement has held a series of peaceful one-day rallies in the capital in recent weeks demanding their release.
Their arch-rivals — “Yellow Shirt” nationalist activists who claim allegiance to the throne — have been rallying near Government House recently in protest at Abhisit’s handling of a deadly border dispute with Cambodia.
The cabinet recently agreed to invoke the Internal Security Act in Bangkok to cope with the renewed political rallies.
Around 4,500 police officers were deployed in the city to maintain law and order, said national police spokesman Major General Prawut Thavornsiri.
Red Shirts, many of whom came into Bangkok from nearby provinces on motorcycles, cars and pick-up trucks, formed a procession through the city to the Supreme Court before heading to Democracy Monument, where they were due to stay until midnight.
Jatuporn Prompan, another key leader, promised to intensify the campaign.
“It is a full nine months since our friends lost their freedom, but they will be with us for the one year anniversary here,” he said, adding that the court will rule whether to grant bail to seven leaders on February 21.
On the street Red Shirt Worachai Hema said the group were determined to continue protesting at Ratchaprasong, despite authorities’ attempts to persuade them to congregate at nearby park.
“Our people died here so we will not move to anywhere else,” he said.
Asian Correspondent
Siam Voice
By Saksith Saiyasombut
Several readers have pointed out a trailer for an upcoming documentary titled “Enter The RED Shirts: A Documentary Project” by Aphiwat Saengphatthaseema. The filmmaker himself explains his project as following:
I documented both camps’ activities on the field and found that the topic is very relevant to the interests of the Thai and foreign communities, who are interested, yet still confused about the politics on the road and the historical event of Thailand. (…) Despite the news coverage, the Thais and foreigners did not have a clear picture of the details of the incident. This documentary aimed to provided in-depth incidents under a theme “diving to the red shirt’s world.” It wanted to shed the light why we need to understand the red shirts.
The Thai society has ambiguous opinions about the red shirts, thus I want to portray why the red shirts think and decide to fight these ways. I use many viewpoints of people that inspired the red shirts on well-rounded basis and based my story on an “understanding” that the people should respect and tolerate the differences among them. (…)
I used black and white footage in the documentary to signify that we can look at them neutrally, naturally and instinctively as human being with some values on their own, regardless of being defined by colors during their struggles. Finally, their spirits cannot be defined or be delusive by the colors the distinct them apart. The black and white footage highlight “fundamental instincts” because the human complexities are indivisible and people cannot be simply categorized politically, unlike the spatial arrangement in the modern thoughts.
From the looks of the trailer, this is to my knowledge the first documentary film that attempts to create a complete portrayal of the recent political crisis and also a very detailed account of the red shirt movement, including what happened after the 2010 May crackdown. Many familiar faces appear in the trailer like Prachatai’s Chiranuch Premchaiporn, social critic Sulak Sivaraksa, activist Sombat Boon-ngarmanong and many more. New footage might also give some new vantage points of key events.
All in all, this 8 minute preview is intriguing and we will certainly keep an eye out when the full movie is out. Be sure to check the trailer out below!
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