Red Shirts regroup after massacre by Thai troops
2010Clay Wadena 2010-06Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 16 →
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As this article goes to press, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva of Thailand has announced the end of the curfew in place in Bangkok and 23 other provinces. The curfew was called because of a nine-week rally in Bangkok by the rural and urban poor who make up the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (commonly referred to as the “Red Shirts”).
While the curfew is indeed being eliminated, and foreign governments have scaled down their travel alerts for Thailand, the Thai government has left in place the emergency laws decreed in early April (when the protest began) that gives the army broader powers, suspends certain civil liberties, bans public gatherings of more than five people, and censors media deemed to “cause panic.”
Many Red Shirt leaders languish in prison, facing possible death with no bail. Meanwhile, the Thai government just declared the closure of four publications that it linked to the protests and asked Interpol to help it locate and seize former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whom they accuse of terrorism in connection with the protests.
16 Socialist Action june 2010 The millionaire former prime minister, who was overthrown in a bloodless coup carried out in 2006 by Thailand’s military and elite, had become a symbol for the pro-democracy Red Shirt movement.
The Red Shirts attracted a mass following of people fed up with repeated military coups and the wide gap between the rich and poor of Thailand. Impoverished rural people have been noted to be the backbone of the movement; this sector also yearns for a land reform to help make ends meet.
Former Prime Minister Thaksin, in what he represents to the multi-class (Left) Thai soldiers fire on protesters encamped in central Bangkok, May 19. Red Shirt movement, resembles in many ways deposed President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras. Both leaders were very wealthy themselves, but when they came to power pursued mild populist agendas that began to threaten the rigid social hierarchies that exist in both Honduras and Thailand.
Because they pursued populist causes and were overthrown by military coups, the rural poor in both countries rallied in huge mobilizations that challenged the coup-makers and expressed support for a more equal and just society. In both instances the demands raised by protesters went beyond support for the deposed leaders, even though they remain major symbols of these respective movements.
The rally in Bangkok by the Red Shirts was essentially an occupation of a portion of the business district. The main demand was for the current prime minister to immediately call new elections. But Prime Minister Abhisit offered to call elections only in November and eventually sent in heavily armed troops to disperse the peaceful protesters (continued on page 11, in “Labor Notes: 1200 meet to discuss ‘rank-and-file recovery’”)