Meanwhile I try to track Thai politics so I know which intersection and skytrain exit to avoid. My Yellow Shirt friend feeds me information. My Thai friend who is a professor of fisheries at Kasetsart University issues warnings. I scour Twitter and read the ThaiVisa alerts on my local phone.

The middle class has finally risen. People from Bangkok and the rubber workers in the south continue with hundreds of thousands of whistling anti-government demonstrators scattered throughout the city. The whistles are deafening and remind me of the unceasing cicadas in the spring in Oaxaca. The Reds, supporting the ruling party with Thaksin’s sister as the puppet Prime Minister, have been instructed (I assume by the exiled Thaksin who is holed up in Dubai) to remain cooped up in the stadium to avoid clashes.

Politics in Thailand is inscrutable to the outsider but also to most Thais themselves. Speculation abounds in the alternative press and on twitter. Mainstream press of course is all government controlled. But by the end of December it certainly looks like Thailand is headed for more violence or at the least a silent coup to get the ruling regime out. The poor countryside Reds from the rural north who are the majority argue…but the ruling party was elected! Well, an election with votes and a leadership bought off by the wealthy Thaksin does not a democracy make. I’m convinced by looking at both Mexico and Thailand…and the lack of effort by governments to upgrade the education systems…that the oligarchies do not want people to be educated or informed. They may revolt…as many people have around the world where consciousnesses have been raised and information made accessible by social media.

Wondered around in the Silom district at the Saladaeng skytrain exit. I forgot how much I liked the area. Stopped to buy a whistle on a side soi from an anti-government seller for my friend. An article had just been written in the NYT comparing the situation of Thailand to the Ukraine. As if that wasn’t insulting enough, the US Ambassador to Thailand had just issued a statement…that sounded like a warning…to the people of Thailand to please avoid violence and settle their issues through democratic means. Patronizing for sure! The seller, sitting on the street in the middle of mounds of whistles on red white and blue ribbons, head bands, wrist bands all around her on the sidewalk… looked up at me and admonished this American angrily. “We liked Obama! What he doing?! Why he do this to us?! He make problems all the world!” These anti-government demonstrators are no dummies. What could I say? Except “I know, I know.”

Later, back at the guesthouse I have an interesting conversation at the hip cafe next door with a 40ish German businessman who has an up-close view of things. Says the King should appoint a care government made up of neutral parties like a rep from the UN and people completely outside the system and give them time to write a new constitution to allow election, instead of appointment of ministers, and initiate reforms. Then hold an election in a year or two. The election scheduled for Feb 2 will just restore the ruling party and the country will have all the same corrupt politicians and judges and just have the same problem all over again. I said I felt sorry for Thailand. He retorted “I don’t!” The meaning, I assume, is that they do this to themselves and don’t learn. Only in Thailand. Even Mexico, with all it’s corruption, isn’t this convoluted.

it has been raining and humid outside so am watching the Blue Sky Channel showing 4 different groups of protesters in Bangkok today. Comments on the ThaiVisa blog are interesting as usual. Of course I don’t have a clue what any the speakers are saying, singing, yelling and chanting.

A so-called million man march is being planned for tomorrow. This has a long complicated history but the bottom line is that exiled PM Thaksin has manipulated several groups to support his return to Thailand and others are dead set against not only his return, but his proxy government led by his sister that is currently in power.

At the Democracy Monument protest site, are a group of anti-Thaksin academics, representatives of labour unions from state enterprises, members of the Silom business community, political activists among others talking in front of thousands of cheering protesters with whistles and red, white and blue headbands.

The group on stage also includes leaders of the “People’s Army to Overthrow the Thaksin Regime” and the “Network of People and Students for Thailand’s Reform,” who have been holding separate rallies in Bangkok to voice their opposition to the government-backed controversial amnesty bill and the so-called Thaksin regime. The Student group is the most radical of course.

Meanwhile, pro-government red-shirt leaders have called on supporters to gather at Rajamangala Stadium today to discuss how to deal with what is expected to be a massive gathering of anti-government protesters tomorrow. The protesters are expected to split into 12 groups around Bangkok. The Chiang Mai 51 group has readied 150 buses to bring red-shirt protesters to Bangkok. So you can imagine what the traffic situation is going to be.

The police are worried that the red-shirt supporters will conflict with the anti-government anti-Thaksin supporters. 40 teams of rapid-response police officers have been set up to deal with the situation.

Toward the end of the day a grey-haired stately woman took the stage and voiced a plea to Thaksin to LEAVE US ALONE! LEAVE US ALONE! Then she said she was advised not to use rude language. So she swished her flag in the air with a “… OFF!”

I’m just going to sit in my guesthouse room with the TV and my computer for the day.