ELIZABETH NAAI WRITES – The “Bangkok shutdown” is drawing a darker, deeper line between the country’s rural, poor, pro-government Red Shirts, and the reform-oriented Yellow Shirts. While strong influences of sadkina (ศักดินา) – Thai feudalism – make corruption an old friend in Thailand’s national politics, reform is still a new beast…
Full Article THAILAND: Blue Bloods Versus New BloodsTag: Pheu Thai Party
THAILAND: Might Equals Right?
ELIZABETH NAAI WRITES – Thailand’s Democrat Party leaders are using momentum from the country’s current protests to further their own, longstanding cause: The overthrow of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinowatra and the dominant Pheu Thai Party. Protests first erupted between royalists (locally coined as “yellow shirts”) and those loyal to Thaksin (the…
Full Article THAILAND: Might Equals Right?THAILAND: Political Trend Alert – Red is Out
ELIZABETH NAAI WRITES – Donning a “Red shirt” may soon be a political faux pas due to the highly contested Amnesty bill before Parliament. After 2010’s violent political strife, Thailand finds itself navigating the retributive versus restorative justice debate. Deep political rifts between the Red and Yellow shirts have done…
Full Article THAILAND: Political Trend Alert – Red is Out