Blood, Sweat, and Tears

The Red Shirt protests have remained peaceful.  In fact, when their caravan of pickups and buses loaded with supporters made its way past my office this morning, there was more of a celebratory, Memorial Day parade feeling than a grim march to war.  Twangy, upbeat Isaan (northeastern Thailand) music was blaring out of cars and megaphones, and people were smiling, waving, cheering, and generally having a great time. 

The only thing that felt a bit threatening to me were the Red Shirts' (ninja) guards, "Defenders of the People", appointed to protect the protesters and fight back if the military makes it necessary.  These men were decked out in all black, some with ski masks over their faces, and dark sunglasses, a look resembling a mix between a bank robber and an intimidating highway patrolman.

OK, maybe not so intimidating with his sign language love and the guy behind him hamming it up for my camera.

Here are some more random pictures of regular people showing their support:

Yes, that is an American flag...

As the protesters have not made much progress politically in the past few days, perhaps there will be some action before they pack up and head home on Wednesday, as planned.  (Many, tired from the traveling and the heat, have already started leaving despite protests and encouragement from their leaders, according to The Nation.)  It seems that the Red Shirts are prepping for some serious bloodshed tomorrow, though of a non-violent kind.  How is that possible?  The Red Shirt leaders are requesting all protesters donate 1 cc of blood so that tomorrow evening they can pour 1 million cc's (the approximate equivalent to normal blood donations from 2,500 people) around the Government House, Democrat's Headquarters, and the Prime Minister's home.  Fears abound regarding the public health aspect of this plan; the Red Cross has refused involvement and warned of disease transmission.  Rumors have it that the blood scheme is the Red Shirts' "exit strategy" and a means of saving face.  Does this mean all will be quiet on the home front  come Wednesday or will the movement drag on and potential for real bloodshed increase?

Fish and Shits

In Thailand, where the weather is steamy and tropical, we have only been able to live vicariously through our connections on the East Coast of the U.S. as they live through serial snowstorms that are severe enough to close schools and offices.  Well, I now realize that we have our our version of the snowday here in the politically unstable and colorfully chaotic Land of Smiles.  

Following the verdict that called for the seizure of some of the assets of former Prime Minister Thaksin (you can read about the lead-up to the decision in this post), the country has been bracing itself for March 14th, the date chosen for Thaksin supporters ("Red Shirts") around the country to gather en mass in strategic locations in Bangkok to protest the verdict and to oust Abhisit Vejjajiva, the current PM. 

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News agencies have varying estimates of how many protesters are expected --ranging from 200,000 to the rally organizers' promise of 1 million.  It has been reported that the Red Shirt, many of whom are from poorer northern provinces, are getting paid between 300-1500 baht (approximately US$10-45) to attend the rally.  A rumor has also been circulating that families of protesters who are killed in action will receive 1M baht (approximately US$30,000).  That being said, it is uncertain is whether the protests will erupt into the violence proposed by Arisman, a second tier Red Shirt leader who, in a January rally, urged protesters to bring one liter of oil each to send a message to the military that if the Red Shirts are harmed "with just one drop of blood then Bangkok will be a sea of fire".  It is also possible that violence may be initiated by the "Yellow Shirts" or "Blue Shirts", two other feuding factions.  

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As most protesters don't have access to firearms, they have been urged to bring fermented fish stink bombs and bags of poop to protect themselves from the military.  These may have the power to be a stronger deterrent than tear gas!

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Just as in the U.S., the reports of an impending disaster have caused a stir in the population.  Schools are closed, offices locked up early (even T's company, always ready to weather any storm, declared their closing while we were at lunch due to the approaching Red Shirts), and people are flocking to the grocery stores to stock up on food and water.  After all of the hype, I am eager to see if any news-worthy action transpires.  Stay tuned!

Code Yellow

(Note: Don't let this post, a rare entre into politics, alienate you!)

With the Thai political situation about to get messy again, I decided to beef up and get up to speed on the current state of things.  I have been quite bad about staying abreast of politics here since they seem so illogical and irrational sometimes and I find it difficult to remain interested.  I do end up feeling pretty dumb when someone asks me about what's happening here and I bumble my way through an answer, hoping that the little bit I know if volumes more than the questioner knows.  

So, join me for a brief crash course on what's happening right now.  Learn a bit about what's happening in this far-away kingdom under the facade of sunny beaches, smiling people, and delicious food.  Dig a bit deeper, impress your friends with your obscure knowledge of Thai politics, and be ahead of the curve because breaking news is just 10 days away!  Information below is just a sliver of the big picture, but I hope it will provide us with a solid foundation -- enough of one so that I won't look stupid the next time a visitor asks me about the state of affairs here.

This post is all about the chaos created by this man, Thaksin Shinawatra. 

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Thaksin (pronounced TACK-sin) Shinawatra, the business man/former Prime Minister/one of the richest people in Thailand, is due to stand trial next week.  He was deposed in a bloodless military coup in 2006 and he and his family were subsequently charged with corruption on various accounts (nepotism, conflict of interest, tax evasion, muzzling the media, etc.).

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Thaksin's fall from power rapidly divided the country and led to a number of mass protests by the Red Shirts (supporters of Thaksin and the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship) and the Yellow Shirts (anti-Thaksin, People's Alliance for Democracy--aka PAD--supporters who were responsible for the famously disruptive take-over of the Thailand's main international airport in Bangkok in November 2008).  (These color alliances have left non-political Thailand residents with two fewer hues to wear so as to avoid being caught in the fray.)

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While Thaksin's political legacy is vast and includes attempts to alleviate rural poverty; the founding of the Thai Rak Thai ("Thais who love Thais") populist party, to represent the "common man"; the settling up of Thailand's first universal healthcare system; waging a war against drugs, and providing addicts with treatment programs, he is also known to be responsible for human rights violations, election fraud, and the questionable acquisition of great wealth while in office.

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The money earned during Thaksin's time in office came mostly from the sale of Thakin's family's shares of the Shin Corp, a leading Thai telecommunications company, to the investment branch of the Singapore government.  As a result of the sale, on which the family did not pay taxes, Thaksin was accused by some of his countrymen as a sell-out, relinquishing national assets to a foreign government.  The sale of the Shin Corp coupled with Thakin's facilitation of the purchase of prime real estate by his now ex-wife's, led to a review by the Thai Assets Examination Committee.  The AEC decided that Thaksin has abused his authority as PM in order to benefit his business interests and, consequently, the committee froze 76 billion baht ($2.2 billion) of Thakin's assets.   

 Thaksin's ex-wife, along with his three children

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Thaksin has managed to keep a relatively low profile due to self-imposed exile and the help of Nicaraguan and  Montenegran passports after the government revoked his Thai passport to restrict his movement.  Nevertheless, rumor has it that he has been engineering and financially supporting the Red Shirt movement from abroad.  Next week, on February 26th, the Thai Supreme Court will rule on his asset-seizure case.  It is not known what the outcome will be, whether protests (there will definitely be some colorful ones) will be peaceful or get out of hand, but the Thai government and police are gearing up for mayhem.

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