bangkok dave

I’m not a journalist; I’ll start with that. I write – and this blog is a way of sharing my thoughts on Thailand’s ongoing red-shirt crisis, particularly since the protests of 2010 turned deadly. On this subject, I am not a neutral observer. I’m against the red shirts – their ideology; their goals (not their stated goals, but the actual ones); their methods, particularly the calculated use of violence; their hypocrisy and sense of entitlement; their lack of compassion and self-awareness. But most of all, I’m against their political master: Thaksin Shinawatra, the billionaire former premier turned fugitive who’s organized the red shirt movement, funded its activities and infused it with his sociopathic personality and political ethos.

Most pieces in this blog were written as letters or short editorials; most have been published in the local papers. Some, especially the ones from last April-May will come across as emotional; which, in my opinion, is as it should be. This is an emotional topic, a matter of life and death, really – both in a human sense, and in a larger sense of what may happen to Thailand as a nation, so emotion is the right response, as far as I’m concerned.

On this issue, I don’t really get the concept of being neutral or detached. I also don’t know how some well-meaning people can separate the red-shirt movement from its political master and view it as a progressive force in Thai politics. For me, this is essentially projection and wishful thinking, because there’s just too wide a chasm between the red shirts’ words (‘true democracy,’ ‘justice’) and their deeds (hatred, violence, intolerance).

Some of those sympathetic to the red shirts hold the theory that the coup of 2006 that removed Thaksin from power was the Big Bang that spewed out all of Thailand’s current political problems, and they hold the established ‘Bangkok elites’ responsible for staging the coup and holding back the country’s democracy ever since.

There is certainly some truth to all this, but fact remains that Thaksin, a master manipulator of public opinion inside and outside Thailand, has also worked hard to nurture the myth that the coup was the cause, not the effect of Thailand’s political crisis. I would argue that while the coup was wrong, it was brought about by Thaksin’s abuse of power and the resulting political impasse.

Thaksin also managed to turn the issue of social inequality that Thailand shares with other developing countries into a national crisis – manufacturing violent outrage as a diversion from the fact that Abhisit’s government was making actual progress in improving people’s lives. This progress meant that Abhisit and his government became a mortal threat to Thaksin’s political ambitions and had to be destroyed by any means possible. 

At any rate, as much as I agree that Thailand needs major political and social reforms – few people dispute that – I can’t imagine that a quasi-totalitarian movement created by a corporatist billionaire is really the answer here.

In any case, my strong distaste for the red shirts and their actions does not mean I don’t value opposing or different views – I appreciate any intelligent opinion on the subject. I certainly don’t have much inside information on the events that others might possess and welcome any additional facts.

I appreciate everyone visiting this blog and reading my letters and observations. I only I hope I have something valid to contribute to this important topic.

Finally, a big thanks to my Twitter pal @freakingcat for this profile:

http://lossofgravity.wordpress.com/2011/06/17/faces-on-twitter-dave-bangkokdave/