Cometh The Hour, Where Is The Man?

[seri thai]

In 1963 Martin Luther King led the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and gave his famous speech on racial equality and an end to discrimination.

The red shirt movement has led a similar march but it seems to me none of its leaders (especially Thaksin) have the stature or character to make a similar, popular impression. There are various political factions, shades of red and "interests".

I believe the weeks events signal a seismic shift in Thailands political culture, however it appears to represent vocal discontent rather than preparing a way forward

Sadly it appears to be a movement in search of a leader with true moral authority and vision. Does anyone out there have an opinion on who could do it (other than Thaksin)? Or want to step up themselves? n.b (only Thai nationals may apply!)

[yabaaaa]

Mr Bun?..................many Thais like him

[colinscarr]

If there is such a person in Thailand right now, he/she has not revealed him/herself yet.

Sad, because it would be great if the rural poor had a true champion who could achieve some of their aims rather than just lining his own pockets.

[roamer]

Should a splinter group emerge from the red shirts that echoes the demand for social and economic equality but not the return of Thaksin it would be far more likely to attract the support of students and academics. Possibly from such a group such a leader could emerge ?

[JohnLeech]

The best thing that could happen to the reds would be if Thaksin were to be assassinated. He would become a martyr, his populist policies rather than his various sins would be highlighted, and the yellows would lose their biggest stick with which to successfully beat the reds.

The yellows probably have the intelligence to have realised this - Thaksin had better hope the various assorted red factions don't.

[anon7867763]

The perfect leader is Thaksin.He can give them money to attend demonstrations so they can fight for something they don't understand

but seriously ,

As long as the majority of red shirts support Thaksin , there is no valid cause.All the other 'so called red shirt leaders' are puppets of Thaksin so the movement has no credibility in my eyes.Red shirts have a cause but they don't have a credible leader.

I can't see them going anywhere as none of their 'so called leaders' really represents them.

It's difficult , the poorest people in Thailand who actually need a rich , powerfull leader to represent them otherwise they are nothing , they'll never have a chance to get what they want or deserve.I sadly can't see a solution for them but I would like to see some help for the poor rural areas in Thailand

[elkangorito]

Yet another tiresom & repetitive political thread

Edited March 27, 2010 by elkangorito

[Mossfinn]

But you read it anyway?

[eggomaniac]

I was going to put my money on the reincarnation of Paul Revere and the Raiders, but recently learned, to my great surprise, that Buddhist don't believe in reincarnation.

Oh well........... They always have the offer of The Joseph Solution to fall back on.

[elkangorito]

Mossfinn, only to "announce" the repetitiveness of such a thread. If I didn't do this, the 'boring wheels' would simply continue to go around & around. The 'boring wheels' may still continue to do this disregarding my post but I live in hope.

Edited March 27, 2010 by elkangorito

[elkangorito]

I was going to put my money on the reincarnation of Paul Revere and the Raiders, but recently learned, to my great surprise, that Buddhist don't believe in reincarnation.

Oh well........... They always have the offer of The Joseph Solution to fall back on.

How about a comment from you in your 'Civil war' poll/thread!

[smokie36]

Mossfinn, only to "announce" the repetitiveness of such a thread. If I didn't do this, the 'boring wheels' would simply continue to go around & around. The 'boring wheels' may still continue to do this disregarding my post but I live in hope.

Wating your time. I gave up on this pointless rubbish last week. Its like a steamroller running out of control.

[Mossfinn]

elkangorito

only to "announce" the repetitiveness of such a thread.

Effort and reward springs to mind.

If I didn't do this, the 'boring wheels' would simply continue to go around & around.

Three wheels on this wagon

The 'boring wheels' may still continue to do this disregarding my post

I would be betting on three and four wheels, rather than one or two

but I live in hope.

I wish you well

[elkangorito]

^I just hope it runs out of steam quickly. How many more idiotic & repetitive threads about 'reds' & 'yellows' & any other colour, can a sane person tolerate? Oops!!! I forgot to mention that there are not that many 'sane' persons around anymore

Edited March 27, 2010 by elkangorito

[eggomaniac]

The best thing that could happen to the reds would be if Thaksin were to be assassinated. He would become a martyr, his populist policies rather than his various sins would be highlighted, and the yellows would lose their biggest stick with which to successfully beat the reds.

The yellows probably have the intelligence to have realised this - Thaksin had better hope the various assorted red factions don't.

#1 it will be an absolute disaster for Thailand if the reds win the day with Thaksin

#2 that would be only slightly worse than if they do not and the Yellows sustain the 'status QUO'.

I have Posted the reds would do better if he died of a heart attack. I agree the whole martyr thing would be a 'benefit', but not to Thaksin. dats a joke

Even without Thaksin, by natural or evil demise, the red movement, if ever victorious, will only do what other 'democracies' have done. They would create Imperialism that would make the Bush's look like boy scouts.

Edited March 27, 2010 by eggomaniac

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Well, it's one thing to have a leader in a moral sense, an Aung San if you will, but it's quit something else to have a competent statesman who can run a country. Hard to find those qualities in a single person. Thaksin was very competent at the latter (CEO style leadership), but lacks the moral authority.

Note by the way that any new and independent person will 100% sure be seen as a threat by Thaksin, as well as the establishment. Up-hill struggle, that.

Edited March 28, 2010 by WinnieTheKhwai

[yabaaaa]

Yet another tiresom & repetitive political thread

You see Kango I told you "Mr Bun" all thais like him and if they dont like what he does they can just eat him, it would have kept the thread nice n short too

[NALAK]

probably in prison

[Pakboong]

It was Greece who receives most of the credit as the birthplace of democracy, look at them now. Mob rule in the streets. Maybe the whole idea of democracy is a failure.

[scorecard]

Should a splinter group emerge from the red shirts that echoes the demand for social and economic equality but not the return of Thaksin it would be far more likely to attract the support of students and academics. Possibly from such a group such a leader could emerge ?

Well in therory that must be true, but:

- Could it be a 'splinter of the reds' - Don't think so, their leaders have proven again and again that they have no credibility whatever. I put this into a question - When, in the life of the red shirt / udd movement has any one of the red shirt leaders given a detailed speech or presentation with rationale, logic, etc? The answer is never. So next question - why not? The answer is because they are nothing more than a smokescreen for another completely different (and pretty nasty) purpose, and that doesn't need explanation.

- Attract students and academics - well that surely could be true in any country, but it would need to be lead, organized, promoted by a person with absolute credibility and aboslutely no baggage. So I ask my question again - When, in the life of the red shirt / udd movement has any one of the red shirt leaders given a detailed speech or presentation with rationale, logic, etc? The answer is never. So next question - why not? The answer is because they are nothing more than a smokescreen for another completely different (and pretty nasty) purpose, and that doesn't need explanation.

Are there other people in Thailand who could lead a movement to promote a deep awarenes in society of a need to change, with logic, with credibility? Of course there are, there are many honest, sincere and highly credible and capable people in Thailand.

So why haven't we seen them? Simple answer, because they are respectible credible honest capable people and in the past they have totally avoided politics because of it's poor image of nothing more gangs of ruthless dishonest incapable thugs and leeches.

But It's my belief that as Abhisit gains more ground they will probably start to appear, in the fairly near future.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

There are PLENTY really visionary people who currenlty are more or less in the Red camp simply because there's not much else going on right now opposing the status quo. These are academics (and ex academics. ) and educated middle class people. That you don't see this probably means you're not on the right Facebook (etc) groups.

But they're there. Thank God.

[TAWP]

There are PLENTY really visionary people who currenlty are more or less in the Red camp simply because there's not much else going on right now opposing the status quo. These are academics (and ex academics. ) and educated middle class people. That you don't see this probably means you're not on the right Facebook (etc) groups.

But they're there. Thank God.

Ah, Facebook, where all the intellectuals hang out. Playing Farmville no doubt.

[lannarebirth]

Well, it's one thing to have a leader in a moral sense, an Aung San if you will, but it's quit something else to have a competent statesman who can run a country. Hard to find those qualities in a single person. Thaksin was very competent at the latter (CEO style leadership), but lacks the moral authority.

Note by the way that any new and independent person will 100% sure be seen as a threat by Thaksin, as well as the establishment. Up-hill struggle, that.

Do you think Thaksin's "CEO style leadership" and his being a "competent statesman" was a benefit to Thailand as a whole when his government was negotiating FTA'a with foreign governments?

[WinnieTheKhwai]

There are PLENTY really visionary people who currenlty are more or less in the Red camp simply because there's not much else going on right now opposing the status quo. These are academics (and ex academics. ) and educated middle class people. That you don't see this probably means you're not on the right Facebook (etc) groups.

But they're there. Thank God.

Ah, Facebook, where all the intellectuals hang out. Playing Farmville no doubt.

"Insight" was arguing yesterday that the increase of subscriptions to Abhisit's page on Facebook was an indication of his increasing popularity.

I agreed.

However you guys can't have it both ways.

[dobadoy]

It was Greece who receives most of the credit as the birthplace of democracy, look at them now. Mob rule in the streets. Maybe the whole idea of democracy is a failure.

You mean to say choosing 'A & friends' or 'B & friends' and letting them divide the cookie up between them before choosing 'A & friends' or 'B & friends' again five years later ad infinitum doesn't truly represent the will of the people?

Radical thinking like that could lead to people actually finding solutions to global problems. Best stop it before someone gets hurt.

Edited March 30, 2010 by dobadoy

[bacchanal]

Cometh The Hour, Where Is The Man?

Who has the ability to lead the Red Shirt movement forward?

The red guy on the right looks well-equipped to lead the charge... but probably not in the direction most people want