Red Shirts

Surreal Senility Or Sneaky Sane?

Posted on by Laughingnomad

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This cartoon originally appeared on womensEnews.org.  Check out more of the New Yorker cartoonist’s work at lizadonnelly.com (“How I Do and Don’t want to be Helen Thomas.”) and on her Open Salon blog.

89 year old Helen Thomas, a virtual institution in the Washington Press Corp, when ambushed by a rabbi, growled that Israel should get the hell out of Palestine and and that the Israelis there could move to Poland, Germany and the U.S.  Wow! Talk about speaking truth to power! It was too much for PC ears to take and she resigns her political column. The Washington press corps is pondering taking away her front row seat where she has needled presidents for generations. Hmmm.

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I have recently endured flights from Bangkok to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to Oregon, Oregon to Las Vegas, Las Vegas back to Oaxaca where I live. Right now, I don’t care if I see another airport or security line as long as I live. You don’t think jet lag combined with culture shock doesn’t turn the world into more of a surreal event than it already is?

Combine this with two months of demonstrations with round-the-clock fireworks, rockets, petrol bombs and gunshots and then three days of riots where 30,000 tires turned Bangkok black and 25 buildings were burned down…one of them Asia’s second largest mall…more than 90 people killed and a couple thousand injured…over 400 arrested and 200 disappeared…a volcanic eruption in Iceland that brought air travel to a halt nearly the world over and almost detained my dentist for weeks, floods, earthquakes, tsunami warnings…an outrageous “oil spill” that is surreal in itself. Add to that bombings in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan killing hundreds. A video  released by Wikileaks.com shows a U.S. helicopter attack on a group of people in Baghdad (and also their good samaritan rescuers) in which they were all killed including two Reuters journalists. Looked like a surreal video game except that it was horrendously real. Then a vicious Israeli attack on a Turkish flotilla attempting to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza by taking in supplies to the Palestinians. Helen Thomas conveniently took that off the front pages. (News junkie that I am, it’s a good thing I don’t have TV.)

Then Las Vegas, surreal in itself, where my son spent a week telling me all about the coming world financial crisis…backing it up with all his audio tapes by “renowned economic experts.”  Having read about the German bail-out of the Greeks and fear that Spain and Italy will follow, and with our debt in China’s hands it sounded rational to me. Buy gold and silver and get out of the market my son tells me. But…but…Come live with me in Oaxaca, I said, where people already live like people in the U.S will in the future.  It’s called self-sufficiency.

Finally it feels weird to be back in a relatively tiny slow Oaxacan pueblo after six months in Bangkok and Hong Kong.   70,000 teachers are striking again and a caravan to a barricaded Trique village in the mountains suffered the shooting death of a Trique woman and a Finnish human rights worker by a rival Trique group aligned with the government.  The weirder thing is that the demonstrators in Bangkok wore red T-shirts and the Triques wear red ethnic dress…at least the women.

A few days ago I took a nap about 3:30 in the afternoon. When I woke up, feeling quite refreshed, I went into the kitchen and checked the clock. 6:30, it said.  Oh my gosh, I thought, I slept clear through the night…not an uncommon occurrence these days! So I made coffee, toasted a bagel, and went out onto the veranda to check my email.

As I was sitting there facing the park, I noticed the sky getting dark. Oh, a storm must be coming in, I thought. I went on checking email (most of which are Couchsurfing.com forum posts) and Twitter where I get the latest information on the political aftermath of the Red Shirt rally in Thailand.  When  I looked up again the sky was a little darker…but no wind was coming up as is usual just before a storm, which, btw, took down one of the huge trees in the Zocalo the other day…the crack of it sending people running every direction. Somebody should prune!

So onto my Facebook updates.  By then the sky was really getting dark. I thought about that Mayan calendar that ends in 2012.  I noticed that my friend Rico was on line on Facebook chat so I asked him, Why is the sky getting dark?  He ignored me, however,  and started describing all his latest. Damn. Typical Rico, I thought.  But why is the sky getting dark!  By this time, I was really getting freaked out. RICO! What is going on?!!!  Dunno.  Is a storm coming in?  Don’t think so. It goes on like this.

Serious concern here. Finally I checked the date/time on my computer thinking maybe I didn’t change the time zone from Asia to Mexico…a 12 hour difference. No, it’s ok. Then I noticed the computer said it was Wednesday.  It should have said Thursday. What day is it, Rico? Wednesday, why?

As is obvious by now to my dear readers, in all this time it never once occurred to me that it was 6:30 in the evening.  Damn. Is this what I have to look forward to? Quit reading the news, I hear you telling me.  But isn’t this what senility really is?  Thoughts wondering aimlessly…alone…among their own disconnected damaged brain cells…oblivious to the world?

I take heart, though, from 89 year old Helen Thomas, who, btw, I think is sneaky sane. Me? Dunno. At 66 it doesn’t look good.

Burning Of Bangkok

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Just about eight minutes after the Red Shirt leaders gave their last speech on the main rally stage to jeers and tears, just before they gave themselves up to police who were closing in, flames and black smoke from burning tires has nearly covered 20 sites of the city for the last three days.  In the clash, protestors used everything from rocket propelled hand grenades, petrol bombs,  and molotov cocktails to slingshots and rocks and the military used hi-powered rifles, tear gas and tanks, although the BBC took video of the Reds using rifles too.  On wednesday, several people were killed…including both Red Shirts and at least one soldier. Anger at what was perceived as a biased media resulted in reporters being targeted and an Italian photographer dead. Hundreds were wounded including 3 other reporters.

Central World, the second largest shopping mall in Asia was burned out, the old Siam Theater, a cultural icon, was burned among about 3 dozen buildings, people being harbored in a wat were attacked, a TV station was attacked with staff having to be airlifted out by helicoptors, soldiers wounded, almost the entire country came under Emergency Rule and the government is enforcing a 9pm to 5am curfew…much to the consternation of young backpackers.  The MRT subway and BTS skytrain has stopped until further notice. The battle has spread to the provinces with at least two provincial halls being burned. So much for  peaceful Thai farmers.  The following Washington Post story with links to photos depict the disaster.

Thai military breaks up red-shirt protests in Bangkok

 

Story: Thai soldiers assault ‘red shirt’ encampment in Bangkok

The military launched an offensive to evict anti-government protesters from central Bangkok, a move that left parts of the city near anarchy.

 

Unrest in Thailand

Thailand has a long history of political unrest and protests. View a graphic showing the relationship between pro- and anti-government demonstrators over the last four years.

Graphic

 

Protest in Bangkok

View a graphic that chronicles the protest in Bangkok, Thailand.

Bangkok Not A War Zone!

Posted on by Laughingnomad

This makes me furious!  The NYT today had a decent article but the video in the sidebar said “City Like A War Zone.”  The Reuters’s reporter in the video repeats the term. The city is not a war zone!  Compare Bangkok to Los Angeles. The encampments of the Reds were in two small places only: at the Phan Fa Bridge and the intersection near the Chit Lom sky train station.  The battle shown by the video in the article took place at the Democratic Monument near the bridge…one place…a very small area. Sukumvit Soi 20, where I am staying, is four sky train stops from Chit Lom and 45 minutes away in good traffc away from the Phan Fa Bridge.

If you were not hearing about the demonstration, or just happened upon it, a person visiting Bangkok would never know anything was going on. The city is operating normally with the exception that the Chit Lom sky train exit and one mall is still closed.

And this statement:

“The aggressiveness of the anti-government forces, some among them using firearms and explosives, raised the possibility that provocateurs — the “third force” bent on destabilizing the government that some analysts had feared — had escalated the violence”

technically is correct but confusing. Mixing “anti-government forces” in a sentence with some among them when talking about a demonstration of the protesters gives the impression that indeed it was the Red Shirt protesters who had the high-powered rifles and bombs.  This has not been established yet. No one knows who fired the first shot which can be heard about one-third of the way through in the video on my last post.

And yes, there is a very real possibility that a “third force,” that the government is now calling “terrorists on the government run TV station” may have infiltrated the demonstration.  But you can be sure that whoever it was has a vested interest in the outcome of this crisis.

This makes me think of the massacre of 200 plus students in the soccer stadium in Mexico City in 1968.  Apparently, as most people understand it in Mexico today, the police stationed a sharpshooter on a roof of the stadium who then shot a policeman. What do you think the natural reaction of the police force was then?

Another sentence:

During Saturday’s clashes, bystanders sometimes cheered on the military, offered refreshments or gave them refuge to change out of their uniforms and flee the protesters.

Apparently the reporter was not on the scene for the whole month before the violence on Saturday when bystanders along the incoming routes were cheering the Red Shirts as they entered the city in waves. And it over-simplifies the divisions within the public itself toward the Red Shirts and the military that is itself divided.  It was the businesses in the malls that were complaining about the protesters. After the protesters took over ThaiCom TV station after fighting the police and military, the Red Shirts were seen shaking hands with the “watermelon” police who easily fell back.  Nothing is simple in Thailand.  But it’s the job of a good reporter to make it not seem so.

Between the country warnings and the press, tourists in Oaxaca in 2006  were scared off causing loss of jobs, closing of hotels and restaurants and all manner of other hardship that the city and state is still trying to recover from!  Is this going to help a country that depends (as Thailand does) on tourism for a good portion of it’s GDP?  The other reason for letting foreigners in is that they shine a light on activities and become “witnesses” that make it more difficult for the wrong-doers to get away with wrong-doing.  But the State Departments of various countries feel obliged to “cover their asses” in case some stupid tourist stumbles into trouble.

End of rant.

BTW, this afternoon some Red Shirts on motorcycles kidnapped the CAT Telecom CEO demanding he reconnect the broadband connection.

The number of casualties has gone up to 21 with nearly 900 wounded.  A call for blood overwhelmed the hospitals who have now called off the blood drive.

Thailand’s Colors…and Red Shirts and Watermelon Soldiers

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Taken from an article in Time

In Thailand, people literally wear their politics on their sleeves. The nation has been locked for years in a paralyzing political showdown between two camps. There are the red shirts, who support former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup and later convicted in absentia of abuse of power. And there are the establishment yellow shirts, who back current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. On March 12, around 100,000 red shirts, whose numbers are drawn largely from Thailand’s poor rural regions, began descending on Bangkok by bus, truck, boat and tractor for what they deemed their final stand: a massive march to force the yellow-backed government to hold elections, which the reds believe will favor them. “Relinquish power and return it to the people,” went the rally cry from protest leader Veera Musikapong. (See pictures from Thailand’s April 2009 protests.)

The protests are the latest in a years-running to-and-fro between the groups. In 2008, the yellows occupied Government House, the nation’s seat of power, for three months. Later they hijacked Bangkok’s two airports for a week, a disaster for a tourism-dependent economy. Last year, after a yellow-supported government took office, the reds swarmed an international summit at a seaside resort, forcing the emergency airlift of foreign leaders. That was followed by a scarlet siege of Government House, a takeover that culminated in Thailand’s worst political violence in nearly two decades.

Thailand’s color obsession extends beyond politics. Every day of the week has a shade. Born on a Wednesday? Your lucky color is green. Saturday is ruled by the color purple. Thailand’s beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej entered the world on mellow-yellow Monday, which is why for years millions of his loyal subjects have voluntarily worn that hue to begin their week. But since the yellow shirts, who made support for the monarch a cornerstone of their activism, have chosen that color for political purposes, the number of Thais donning it on Mondays has declined dramatically.

So what’s safe to wear in Thailand these days? Pink — and the hue gets to the heart of a color conundrum. The Thai King may have been born on a Monday, but he was born in Massachusetts, which is half a day behind Thailand’s time zone. Technically, he was born on Tuesday, Bangkok time, which means he should be honored by the color pink. In late 2007, King Bhumibol wore a carnation-pink blazer and shirt following a hospital stay, apparently because an astrologer had judged the shade as auspicious for his health. The monarch’s fashion statement galvanized a run on all things pink, with tens of thousands of shirts selling in a matter of days. Last September, the 82-year old King, the world’s longest-reigning monarch, was readmitted to hospital. In late February, during a rare public appearance, he was again pictured wearing a pink shirt, prompting millions of Thais to pull similarly hued clothes out of their closets.

Now, with the current popular uprising in Bangkok, Thai soldiers sympathetic toward the anti-government “red shirts” are called Watermelon Soldiers.

Commenting on the continuing protests of Thailand’s red shirts, Wassana Nanuam wrote in The Bangkok Post:

Among the rapidly expanding glossary born of this prolonged political conflict, the term “watermelon army” or “watermelon soldier” is one of the most catchy. It means soldiers who may be wearing a green uniform but are actually rooting for the red shirts: green outside and red inside, just like a watermelon.

According to Nanuam, the red shirts have been keen to publicize the “watermelon factor,”  claiming it shows that only the army’s top commanders support the government.

[Thailand’s Army chief] Gen Anupong has admitted that there are indeed “watermelon soldiers” but he could not estimate their numbers. “No matter what colour your heart is or what doctrine you subscribe to, you do your duty as a soldier when you are deployed. Do not bring the colour in your heart into your duty. Bear in mind that a soldier must have no colour. We serve the country and the King,” Gen Anupong said.

Nanuam noted that some watermelon soldiers are suspected of having leaked information to the red shirts, something the top brass is keen to halt:

Even though the military has tried to emphasise the need for soldiers to be professional and colourless in their line of duty by coining a new term – “mango soldier,” which is green both within and without (the popular unripe variety, of course) – they have been unable to curtail the popularity of the watermelon trend. …

For now, the hunt for the watermelon is on at the army. Those who are found to have “red flesh” will be moved out of important positions. This includes those who happen to have a watermelon wife – whose spouse is supportive of the red shirts – as well.

The hunt for the red watermelon, however, is causing discomfort among professional soldiers who may truly be colourless but are being watched with suspicion anyway.

I came to Thailand this year with three tops…red, yellow…and grey.  No one has mentioned grey yet…somehow I doubt if grey will get me into trouble but I’m tired of wearing it.