State Of Emergency Declared In 15 Thai Provinces

[block2]

Bangkok Post..i wouldn't wipe me bum with it

[bermuda]

Thailand is trekking the path slowly to declare full martial law with democratic laws as well. It is following the leads and examples of China. Iron rule but keeping the citizens happy. I just hope they will do it right this time.

Good luck to all colors. One day those colors will unite like Benetton Shirts.

[12DrinkMore]

Well there has been a state of emergency for 30 years in Egypt now and it's recently been extended for a further 2 years. I wonder if Thailand is headed the same way. The economy is certainly heading in a similar direction.

State of emergency!! Give me a break, we have a bunch of farmers from Isaan being paid by the day to wear a red shirt in Bangkok. The leaders being paid a load more.

"stay calm, don't panic".

The Chinese who run this place will ensure that things continue to run and the economy remains vibrant and successful.

[asiawatcher]

Just wondering if EX-prime minister Taksin may have a serious lump in his throat about now..............???????????????

Hopefully - and let it be cancer with a sunset clause of about a week!

[asiawatcher]

Well there has been a state of emergency for 30 years in Egypt now and it's recently been extended for a further 2 years. I wonder if Thailand is headed the same way. The economy is certainly heading in a similar direction.

State of emergency!! Give me a break, we have a bunch of farmers from Isaan being paid by the day to wear a red shirt in Bangkok. The leaders being paid a load more.

"stay calm, don't panic".

The Chinese who run this place will ensure that things continue to run and the economy remains vibrant and successful.

Dream on....

[NALAK]

Meaning what exactly? As per the State of Emergency in those 15 provinces?

Business as usual,especially in Patts.

Does this mean that the authorities will try to prevent the red insurgent gatherings at Pattaya City Hall now?

they went last week, only to replaced for a day with no color shirt mob, sceaming out mega phones

[SantiSuk]

Well there has been a state of emergency for 30 years in Egypt now and it's recently been extended for a further 2 years. I wonder if Thailand is headed the same way. The economy is certainly heading in a similar direction.

What - you mean there is 7.5% GDP growth in Egypt?

That's the Thai growth rate announced on CNN (or was it BBC) yesterday by the Thai Finance Minister. Old TV diehards will say it is all lies, but I am not so sure - life goes on outside Ratchaprasong and tourism is only 6% of Thai life. All I see is burgeoning commercial traffic on the Highways of Central and South Eastern Thailand and this neck of Issaan growing steadily more afluent from abundant agriculture (new pickups and new tractors flowing out of the delaers).

Sorry if that Thai picture doesn't have quite the same colours that some TV members would seemingly like to paint.

[Jingthing]

Meaning what exactly? As per the State of Emergency in those 15 provinces?

Business as usual,especially in Patts.

Does this mean that the authorities will try to prevent the red insurgent gatherings at Pattaya City Hall now?

they went last week, only to replaced for a day with no color shirt mob, sceaming out mega phones

They may try to come back. A publicly stated tactic of the red insurgents has been if things go badly in Bangkok, that they will attack city halls all over the country.

[12DrinkMore]

If you are British it may be time to register here, just in case there is a free flight home soon

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A free flight home to the UK?

fuc_k, you would have to pay me to go back to that dismal and desperate place. Thailand under an Extreme State of Emergency is far better than the UK under Normal Conditions.

And. Monkfish, if you are an employee of UK HMG, then maybe you can explain why the UK Embassy in Bangkok charges extortionate amounts of cash for an arrogant piss poor service?

[12DrinkMore]

Well there has been a state of emergency for 30 years in Egypt now and it's recently been extended for a further 2 years. I wonder if Thailand is headed the same way. The economy is certainly heading in a similar direction.

State of emergency!! Give me a break, we have a bunch of farmers from Isaan being paid by the day to wear a red shirt in Bangkok. The leaders being paid a load more.

"stay calm, don't panic".

The Chinese who run this place will ensure that things continue to run and the economy remains vibrant and successful.

Dream on....

Hah, you think the Western economies run by Goldman Sachs and the rest of the bankers still have something to produce and offer to the world?

[hardy1943]

If you are British it may be time to register here, just in case there is a free flight home soon

British nationals are encouraged to register with our LOCATE service.

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living...ng-safe/Locate/

A free flight home to the UK?

fuc_k, you would have to pay me to go back to that dismal and desperate place. Thailand under an Extreme State of Emergency is far better than the UK under Normal Conditions.

And. Monkfish, if you are an employee of UK HMG, then maybe you can explain why the UK Embassy in Bangkok charges extortionate amounts of cash for an arrogant piss poor service?

Thank you for your input

[12DrinkMore]

Well there has been a state of emergency for 30 years in Egypt now and it's recently been extended for a further 2 years. I wonder if Thailand is headed the same way. The economy is certainly heading in a similar direction.

What - you mean there is 7.5% GDP growth in Egypt?

That's the Thai growth rate announced on CNN (or was it BBC) yesterday by the Thai Finance Minister. Old TV diehards will say it is all lies, but I am not so sure - life goes on outside Ratchaprasong and tourism is only 6% of Thai life. All I see is burgeoning commercial traffic on the Highways of Central and South Eastern Thailand and this neck of Issaan growing steadily more afluent from abundant agriculture (new pickups and new tractors flowing out of the delaers).

Sorry if that Thai picture doesn't have quite the same colours that some TV members would seemingly like to paint.

Well, thank you for that.

I totally agree. Asia is becoming self-sufficient. It doesn't need the Western debtors anymore. Shortly it will not need the devaluing USDs, GBPs EURs. Where can you you see potential for development? Europe, the US? Hah, nothing but debts, debts and more debts; no production just self deception.

[crazydrummerpauly]

Is the govt plan to conduct an old-fashioned siege around the red-shirts ? / no food going in

by stopping everything on the roads into the camp ? Starve them out ?

Is the disappearance of the blue internet icon on my laptop connected to TOT being shut down ?

Anyone else lost internet icon ?

[SPIKECM]

No surprise to me. The most dangerous girls in Thailand come from there.

I wonder why they choose to impose a "state of emergency" in Sisaket but leave the surrounding provinces alone?

[12DrinkMore]

No surprise to me. The most dangerous girls in Thailand come from there.

I wonder why they choose to impose a "state of emergency" in Sisaket but leave the surrounding provinces alone?

:D

[centrico]

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I would rather stay here than go there.

More violence, rapes, muggings and gun crime than I ever hear of in Thailand and that is just Mosside

Thailand may be in some difficulties but there are still a lot of wonderful people here of all colours and SOE or not, I am staying put

[elektrified]

My wife lives in Kalasin area and last night eastern USA time when we were skyping the internet went weird and the cam for me wouldnt work--maybe it was just a normal brownout==but she hasnt written me since then and usually does during her day--

You are reading too much into a typical lousy Thai Internet connection. There is no conspiracy.

[racefan]

There was a state of emergency in my part of Khon Kaen this evening when my local shop ran out of Leo.

Emergency averted by a trip by stepdaughter to another shop.

I don't think the residents of K.Kaen would know what an emergency is!

[sbk]

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[gotlost]

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A free what??? Your dreaming. Never in a thousand years.

[willy1957]

Is this going to end in a civil war?? Nobody seems to be prepared to compromise,wich is normal in democracy and democracy and more social rights, that is what the Red Shirts are fighting for right?

[roamer]

If you are British it may be time to register here, just in case there is a free flight home soon

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A free flight home to the UK?

fuc_k, you would have to pay me to go back to that dismal and desperate place. Thailand under an Extreme State of Emergency is far better than the UK under Normal Conditions.

And. Monkfish, if you are an employee of UK HMG, then maybe you can explain why the UK Embassy in Bangkok charges extortionate amounts of cash for an arrogant piss poor service?

Wait until martial law is declared. Curfew & jumpy cops and troops is no fun. Thailand has come a long way in 30 years, it can go back there even faster.

[george]

Related news:

US, UK closes Embassies in Thailand, 'Very concerned' about violence

Full story:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/US-UK-Closes...nd-t364959.html

Live updates from our 24/7 News Desk:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Bangkok-Red-...id-t364898.html

[MAJIC]

If you are British it may be time to register here, just in case there is a free flight home soon

British nationals are encouraged to register with our LOCATE service.

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living...ng-safe/Locate/

I would rather stay here than go there.

More violence, rapes, muggings and gun crime than I ever hear of in Thailand and that is just Mosside

Thailand may be in some difficulties but there are still a lot of wonderful people here of all colours and SOE or not, I am staying put

Heard all this anti Uk/Brit stuff many times.where would you go if: You needed 1st class Medical care,ran out of money,got shafted by the GF,needed your national pension paid,visit family and friends?

Theres also a lot of wonderful people there too! and not everywhere is like Mosside.

[ThailandTommy]

Well, let's see what it means in Chiang Mai. Hopefully it means that the authorities will finally break up the red shirt gathering behind Wat Phra Singh. We shall see....

Er.... they are the authorities

[cerphr]

My wife lives in Kalasin area and last night eastern USA time when we were skyping the internet went weird and the cam for me wouldnt work--maybe it was just a normal brownout==but she hasnt written me since then and usually does during her day--

Wow, my ex is from Kalasin. Small world.

[roamer]

Interesting article.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

A turning point in Thailand

By CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON

Special to The Japan Times

BANGKOK — 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.

When I first lived in Bangkok in 1987, the city of 6 million was dominated by Chinese-Thai business elites and Thai officials with fair skin and links to the monarchy. Farmers in Isaan in the northeast seemed to live in another century, plowing parched rice paddies with water buffaloes. Youth flocked to Bangkok for a flashier life.

After two decades of migration from northern provinces which doubled Bangkok's population, these poor dark-skinned laborers — and their city-bred offspring — have essentially held the government hostage and pushed it to call for November elections a year ahead of schedule.

This demographic time bomb also exists in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Manila and other cities with huge migrant populations. If Thailand's red shirt uprising is a revolution of rising expectations among the servant class, then migrant laborers elsewhere might also demand a greater share of political power.

In the case of Bangkok, a new generation of insurgents — born up-country, raised in the city — managed to take over central Bangkok in a dramatic display of force that startled visitors and most Thais as well. Dubbed "the Bamboo Fortress," their protest site struck me as something kids would make if given free reign over a city; indeed, kids were among the protesters who built up barricades out of tires, bamboo staves and razor wire. Occupying a swath of central Bangkok roughly the size of the Forbidden City in Beijing or Shibuya in Tokyo, the "Red Zone" also drew comparisons with the Green Zone in Baghdad and Palestinian enclaves in Israel because of its maze of checkpoints manned by surly guys in black and red who evoked fears of the Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia in 1975.

Unlike previous conflicts in remote border areas, this urban rebellion has been happening outside the balconies of Bangkok bloggers and the windows of commuters, Japanese expats and tourists on the Skytrain. Lacking direct contact with protesters, many in the Thai media have mislabeled them off-duty farmers; in fact, many live and work in Bangkok and are able to quickly pad the size of crowds wherever protests occur.

The red shirts, who are used to taking sweaty buses or whiny two-stroke motorcycles to low-paying jobs with no benefits, have no qualms about causing inconvenience to white-collar employees and middle-class shoppers addicted to their air-conditioned cars.

Their protests — first near the backpacker mecca of Khao San Road, and then near Siam Square — have superimposed their rural-rooted culture into core urban areas. With maw-ram music and frying pans burning chilies, their protests resemble up-country temple festivals, with street vendors selling red rambutans, red sausages and almost anything else red.

While some enjoy the chance to stroll through central Bangkok without traffic jams and noxious fumes, many Bangkokians and royalist "yellow shirts," on the other hand, are sick of them, and angry at Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva for not evicting them by force. But the problem is, even if the reds surrender now, they could easily re-emerge to take over another site of Bangkok, such as Suwannabhumi airport, as the yellows did two years ago.

Known for decades for Buddhist tolerance and political apathy, Thailand's transformation into a highly politicized and polarized society is a shock for many frequent visitors. Rallied by almost nonstop speeches and comments on TV and radio, the lower classes from rural provinces as well as Bangkok are no longer afraid to spout their anger at Thailand's elites, who they say have made them prai (slaves). I hear this in every taxi, restaurant and shop in Bangkok — far beyond the protest areas.

Unlike previous uprisings in Bangkok led by students in 1976 and the middle class in 1992, the red shirts who have been sleeping overnight in the fortress are mainly seniors and women with kids — the type of ordinary people who gave Thailand it's reputation as the Land of Smiles. Often lacking formal education, people such as Euang, a Bangkok housewife who left her kids with relatives in order to stay in the Red Zone, and Nee, a Bangkok mother who sells clothing to protesters, are happy to talk about ideology and injustice.

Their calls for change increasingly echo across Thai society and the colorful expat community. In a mix that only makes sense to Thai insiders, many say they are pro-red shirt, pro-Abhisit, pro-King Bhumipol, anti-Thaksin, anti-military corruption, and anti-yellow shirt leader Gen. Chamlong Srimuang.

With a strong following everywhere but southern Thailand, the reds could win the next election by sweeping the north and winning half of Bangkok, as former ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra once did. Even if they lose the election, their protests will continue until they finally get their say and their way.

With millions of former farmers now in cities to stay, entrenched elites from Bangkok to Beijing to Mumbai will have to make room for them in government. Otherwise, given the ready supply of bamboo across Asia, more fortresses could go up in the cities of the region.

Christopher Johnson, who has covered Thailand since 1987, is author of "Siamese Dreams." His photos inside the Bamboo Fortress are at www.globalite.posterous.com.

[tracer5050]

I come back to the US for 3weeks and every thing goes to hel_l.

[daboyz1]

Weird they picked Si Sa Ket, but none of the surrounding provinces.

[hawker9000]

Suddenly the redshirts are poster children for every poor and "downtrodden" person back to the time of Robin Hood. I think Pol Pot had a solution for these class inequalities, and I'm not so sure some of THIS red leadership doesn't share some methodology with THAT red (well, THEY called the color "rouge") leadership... Red sympathizers - be careful what you wish for.