The incongruity of it all

The Thai New Year festivities begin today. From my apartment I hear cars with blaring music zipping by. I hear the joyous shrieks of people, perhaps they are spraying water on each other. Occasionally I can also hear gangs of motorcycle riders passing by boisterously. And since morning someone behind the building is playing music constantly – seems like a party is going on.

Sitting in my home – it would appear that Bangkok is celebrating. But when I log into the internet the newspapers speak about a different drama unfolding in different parts of the city.

Sample this:

13^th April: POLITICAL TURMOIL , CRACKDOWN BEGINS: At least 77 were injured as troops, firing tear gas and shots into the air, moved in to retake the Din Daeng intersection near Victory Monument from protesters.

13^th April: 10: 53 am: Metropolitan police warn petrol stations against attacks by protesters: Metropolitan Police chief Pol Lt Gen Worapong Chiewpreecha Monday instructed police to warn all petrol stations against possible attacks by protesters.

13^th April: 10:45 am: Protesters seize cooking gas tank vehicle and release it to warn troops to stand off: Protesters seized a cooking gas tank and placed it in front of the Din Daeng flats and threatened to blow it if the troops advance to disperse them.

13^th April: 10:28 am: Protesters drive cooking gas tank into King Power head office: Protesters droved a LPG gas tank vehicle into the compound of the King Power duty free shop head office on Rangnam Road at 10:25 am Monday, raising fear that they would blow up the tank.

And the update goes on. All train services from one of the major train stations in Bangkok was cancelled today morning. A State of Emergency is in operation since yesterday– meaning if more than 5 people gather in a public place, they are liable to be arrested. As far as I know, red shirt protestors are still gathered in the government house. An hour back the red shirts chased the media out of the protest area – accusing them of biased reporting. So, it is difficult to know what is really happening. To go back a few more days – on Thursday the red supporters were able to block one of the major traffic hubs in the city leading to exasperating traffic congestion. In response the PM declared Friday to be a public holiday. The red shirts then set their target on the ASEAN meeting to be held in Pattaya, an hr from Bangkok. They managed to breach the hotel security..there were clashes with 'blue shirts', local people mobilized to prevent any disruption to the meeting. One would wonder – why not the security forces? What was the need to mobilize local people? The ASEAN meeting had to be cancelled. The PM was embarrassed in front of the world. Infuriated he ordered the arrest of the person who led the invasion into the hotel. The red shirts retaliated – how come one of them could be arrested while the yellow shirts who led the closure of airports last year were not?

 

Anybody who has been following the situation in Thailand would know that this is a continuation of the events which led to the coup in 2006. Last year the yellow shirt protestors led mass demonstrations, took over the government house, successfully shut down airports in the different provinces and also invaded the international airport in Bangkok resulting in its closure for almost a week. They called their protests – 'pro-democracy movement'. The leaders were never arrested.

And yesterday I received a forward of a mass email sent by Prof Ji Ungpakorn, who has fled to the UK cause of Les Majeste charges against him. From UK he writes: No to the State of Emergency! No to the Military Crack-down! Return Thailand to Democracy Now ! …Thai Red U.K., the association of Redshirts in Britain, condemns the declaration of a State of Emergency by the illegitimate government of Abhisit Vejjajiva. We condemn the Military's use of tanks and live ammunition against protestors. We say no to another coup. We also condemn the arrest of Redshirt leaders and demand that all of them be released. … The behaviour of Redshirts in surrounding the Prime Minister's car or breaking into the hotel in Pattaya to close down the Asian Summit, did not result in serious injury or serious damage to property. This is in contrast to the actions of the Yellowshirts. Both in terms of "Means" and "Ends" the Red and Yellow shirts are opposites. We call on all freedom-loving people throughout the world to support the fight for Democracy in Thailand. We support the recent comments by Redshirt Jakrapop Penkair, when he says that the Thai people have the right to mount a Peoples' Struggle for Democracy.

Some call this 'revolution', some call this 'civil-disobedience' and all sides of the conflict are trying to justify their actions by saying they are true protectors of democracy. I am trying very hard to understand now - what do people mean by all these terms? What is this thing about 'means' and 'ends'. The yellow shirts justified the airport closure last year – generally saying that their 'end' of getting the government to resign was important for Thai society.

This is what the red shirts are saying today…