Political conflicts are not always just black and white

[webfact]

Political conflicts are not always just black and white
Pravit Rojanaphruk

BANGKOK: -- FOR MANY THAIS, the chaos in Egypt appears to reflect the situation at home. Like Egypt, Thailand is affected by deep polarisation, mutual hatred, refusal to compromise, deaths and denial.

"Those [Thais] who approved the killings using weapons of war live on television are no longer human," @bigrong92, an elderly Thai, tweeted on Monday.

When the coup in Cairo was taking place on the night of July 3, some Thais spent hours on Twitter updating one another or expressing their support or opposition to what was happening. Red-shirt supporters voiced their opposition, while those against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra supported the Cairo coup.

Thais who clearly backed the September 19, 2006, coup at home that ousted Thaksin were quick to say that this is what happens to elected but autocratic leaders like Thaksin or Mohamed Morsi.

Other than drawing a comparison between Morsi and Thaksin, there are also the similarities between many Egyptians' fear of the Muslim Brotherhood taking over their country and the fear of anti-monarchists turning Thailand into a republic.

Then there are the similarities between the bloody crackdown on the streets of Egypt and what happened on the streets of Bangkok in 2010.

Thais from both camps relived the horror and reinforced their respective beliefs on Twitter.

Some red shirts called the Egyptians who supported the July 3 coup in Cairo the multi-coloured Egyptians (Egyptian salim), much like the multi-coloured shirts who supported the Thai coup in 2006.

The situation in Egypt has been complicated by the religious strife between Islamists and Coptic Christians as well as the geopolitical struggle with the United States, which is firmly holding a big stake in the future of Egypt and the region.

Thailand has none of these factors, but it is shackled by the lese majeste law, which does not allow any discussion on the role of the monarchy. This is especially so since the 2006 coup and the 2010 crackdown staged in the name of protecting the monarchy.

It would be a total waste if Thais simply used parts of the unfolding events in Egypt to describe their personal political preconceptions. Instead, we could benefit from the emotional distance between events in Egypt and Thailand and recognise the shortcomings of both sides of the political divide in Egypt and find |out how it reflects flaws on either |side of the divide in Thailand.

Without earnest introspection, Thai commentaries on the mayhem in Egypt will only reflect the Kingdom's political divide.

A few red shirts gathered outside the Egyptian Embassy in Bangkok last week to protest against the bloody crackdown.

While many of us are saddened by the rising death toll in Egypt, we should also try to learn the nuances behind the conflict and rise above the simple black-and-white perceptions of the state of Thai politics.


-- The Nation 2013-08-21

[MaxLee]

THAI Political conflicts are not always just black and white[/b]

Yes indeed,... It's aALL about I-I-I AND ONLY ME ME ME AND NOT MY PROBLEM AS LONG AS IT SUITS ME ME ME SCREW THE REST OF THE WORLD KINDA ATTITUTE

[Chittychangchang]

Multi-colored shirts = multi-colored streets!

The moral of the story is....

Them that is sitting pretty should do more, but won't because they won't sit pretty anymore.

CCC

[noitom]

The Times They Are a-Changin' - Bob Dylan, 1964

[klauskunkel]

Political conflicts are not always just black and white

Yes, they are mostly red and yellow

[tomross46]

The problem is within. People in power are the cause of the problems, they feed the problems with money. It is time that change what is happening, or you could see Cairo in Bangkok. PM Morsi was elected, but he turned against the people. It became that if you had a different ideology, you were targeted. The people of Egypt went into the streets to demonstrate against the elected government. Demonstrators were killed, Christians and Muslims that were not part of the Islamic Brotherhood were targeted. The demonstrators requested support, the military came to their support.

It is time for Egypt to work out their own problems. Politicians from USA and EU can not fix their own problems, so how are they going to fix the problems any where else.

[surangw]

it is black and white if using money and power in place of black and white