Daily View: Thailand protests
Commentators try to explain and analyse the current violence in Thailand.
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of the conflict:
"Thailand's current crisis is many things. In part it is a class war involving impoverished farmers of the north and east who fear the loss of their land to corporate logging and other forms of agribusiness. In part it is a struggle between two types of politics: on one hand the old inward-looking army-based and royalist elite and its padded bureaucracy which faced no challenges for decades; on the other the globalising capitalism of a tycoon like Thaksin Shinawatra who used control of the television stations he owned to take advantage of universal suffrage to mobilise a mass following."
some context:
"Massive occupations of two areas of central Bangkok the past two months show that the rise of Thailand's 'red shirt' protesters is one of the most significant developments in Asia in 25 years, as it signals a new type of conflict involving entrenched elites and millions of workers who have migrated from farms to cities across Asia.
"In the 1970s, when most Asians lived on farms, ideologues fought their battles in mountains and jungles across Southeast Asia. Now, after some of the largest demographic changes in history, radicals can recruit massive followings in cities such as Bangkok with millions of disaffected laborers who no longer have farms to return to."
that the Thai protests reflect a worldwide uprising against the elites:
"In Thailand, the rage stems from the perceived neglect of the rural poor by the ruling class, backed by big business, the army, and the king. The populist billionaire and former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, appeared to be different. He used some of his vast wealth to shower money on rural areas. Rural people, grateful for his largesse, voted for him twice.
"Authoritarian, crude, and somewhat megalomaniacal (almost as though he were a king himself), Thaksin was a Thai version of Silvio Berlusconi. He was removed from office in 2006, following a bloodless military coup that was supported by the Bangkok middle class, whose members took to the streets in yellow T-shirts (the color of the Thai monarchy). Today's ongoing pro-Thaksin red-shirt rebellion is a form of revenge."
The that the only path to peace is through a democratic election:
"The army's tactics may force the protesters to submit - the Red Shirts' number has already reduced by half from its peak. But that will not resolve the instabilities that continue to dog a country that relies heavily on tourism for its foreign earnings. Thailand has seen 18 military coups since 1945, and may be on the verge of another. What is missing is any recourse to the democratic practices it promised to build on in 2007, when it adopted what was hailed as a pluralist constitution that would serve as a model for the rest of the region."
In the pro-government paper the that Thaksin Shinawatra's call for UN intervention is "unnecessary and unacceptable":
"Why bother with the UN when Thaksin himself is a key to help solve the conflict and put an end to the bloodshed.
"He is revered by the red-shirt leaders, the red-shirt protesters and the mob on the streets who have been causing mayhem in the past few days in Bon Kai, Sala Daeng, Witthayu, Din Daeng, Ratchaprarop and Victory Monument.
"Why can't Thaksin just instruct the red-shirt leaders to end the protest and allow the protesters to return home instead of asking for the UN's help? It is an open secret that the leaders are still answerable to him and often consult him."
that Thailand's election to the UN Human Rights Council last week saved the country from "sinking deeper into the abyss":
"The hard-won seat, which came at the height of street tensions and battles, showed that the country still enjoyed a good reservoir of support among the international community. Scoring the second highest votes of 182 after the Maldives at 185, they did better than the other 12 countries, including Spain, Switzerland and Poland. However, the diplomatic capital, especially on the home front, is getting thinner by the day."
