[p2p-research] great reportage from thailand

[Michel Bauwens]

a really good reportage of the red march,

though written before the violent attempt at suppression on april 10, it
makes really good points:


the author is an anonymous chiang noi, one of the sole sane voices in the
otherwise awful english-language press in thailand, both the nation and the
bangkok post have been unbearable in this crisis,

from
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/03/22/opinion/Witness-the-death-of-deference-30125247.html

(please note I now keep extensive track via
http://del.icio.us/mbauwens/P2P-Thailand)


 Witness the death of deference
By Chang Noi
Published on March 22, 2010

 FOR MANY REASONS, Red March has been very, very disturbing. It hasn't
conformed to expectations. It hasn't confirmed prejudices. It has been new
and different.
    For a start it has been unsettling for many people because it was simply
so big. The crowd did not approach the dreamy promise of a million people,
but as the sun-baked BBC correspondent breathlessly exclaimed, it was the
biggest political gathering in Thailand for over three decades. This was no
small feat given the obstructions. It's not so difficult to stage a rally
when attendees only have to change their shirt and take a short taxi hop
from the office. The logistics are a lot more difficult and expensive when
the rally site is hundreds of kilometres away. Provincial governors were
ordered to obstruct the movement of people. Police set up countless
checkpoints. Pro-Newin elements in the northeast laid on entertainment and
issued threats to deter people from leaving for the capital. The media
carried reports about money distributed to protesters to move. None carried
reports about the money spent to prevent them moving. Despite all these
efforts, downtown Bangkok was a sea of red. The 10-kilometre column from
Rajdamnoen to Phaholyothin broke records.

Red March was unsettling also because (so far) it has truly been
non-violent. The laborious police searches of buses and trucks turned up
next to nothing. The TV news was reduced to showing the shock discovery of a
handful of rounds of ammunition. A massive number of people roamed all
around the capital for a week with no more than a few scuffles. Bangkok
motorists looked on grumpily, but the sheer carnival atmosphere of the
protests tended to keep tempers in check. Partly this orderliness is due to
the police who invested enormous efforts in keeping the traffic moving. This
effort betrays considerable sympathy within the force for the red-shirt
cause � another thing that is unsettling. The lack of violence is all the
more remarkable given the disorganised state of the redshirt leadership.
These were supposed to be the rural hordes, the barbarians at the gates, the
great unwashed, red in tooth and claw. But there was no sign of ploughs
beaten into swords, let alone barbed wire, gun-toting "guards", or piles of
used golf clubs.

Red March was worrying also because of the number of pick-up trucks. The
protesters were supposed to be the downtrodden. And the thing about the
downtrodden is that they really are trodden down into resignation,
passivity, deference. They can usually be ignored or easily managed. But
these were the aggrieved with assets. Of course many foot soldiers of the
movement do count among the least well off. But the social range of the
protesters is much wider than the simple analysis of the poor against the
privileged. In the far north and the northeast, it is not just the poor who
support the red shirts
<http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/search/adsearch.php?keyword=+red+shirts+>but
just about everybody.

Most of all, Red March was disturbing because of the enormous show of local
support in Bangkok. From the moment the columns of pick-ups began arriving
in the city, people gathered on the pavement to clap and cheer and wave in
welcome. Some of these fans were taxi drivers and motorcycle taxi riders,
the movement's staunch allies. But others were true-blue Bangkokians. All
along the route to Phaholyothin people came out of shops and offices to line
the street and cheer. Chang Noi happened on the column after it had left
Abhisit's house in Sukumvit. It was like being at carnival. Jolly luk thung
music was blaring from loudspeakers, augmented with a lot of extra
ching-chap, chanting, and cheering. On the trucks, people were waving,
singing, and giving the thumbs-up. Not one unsmiling face. Alongside, people
had come to windows, or onto office balconies, or out from shops onto the
pavement. Most had snatched up anything red to wave along � a tie, a towel,
a hat, a piece of paper. The press and the pundits have played the conflict
as the provinces against the city. But how does that analysis fit with these
pavement scenes?

In Chang Noi's neighbourhood, there's a worker community. They used to be
pro-Democrat because the local Democrat politicians helped them to get
residence rights and basic services. They served as Democrat canvassers in
several elections. They are now deep red. In the evenings, the kids come out
to play on the street. For a year now, one of their favourite games has been
"street protest." They march up and down and wave flags. They shout "No more
double standards," "Down with amat ," and "Abhisit out." They are not in any
hurry to move off the road to allow a car to pass. Their average age is
around ten.

A decade ago, Chang Noi predicted that the city folk would have to build a
wall around Bangkok, or float the city away into the Gulf of Thailand, a bit
like Singapore. Of course, that has not happened. Instead they have tended
to brick up their own eyes and their ears. While this extraordinary event
was unfolding in the city, the mainstream media made heroic efforts to
ignore it. No vox pops. No atmospheric scene painting. Few pictures. Only
when the blood campaign caught the eye of the foreign media (and had an
implied element of violence) did the coverage get more enthusiastic.

Instead of reportage we got endless predictions of a bad ending. The numbers
are increasing, so it will turn violent. The numbers are dropping, so it
will turn violent. The temperature is high, so tempers will snap.

Red March has been disturbing because it has messages so striking that they
slip through the walls. Despite government efforts using taxpayers' money,
it was huge. Despite the chaotic state of the red movement's leadership, it
held together through fellow feeling. Despite the conventional analyses, the
support spreads far beyond the rural poor. Hard to ignore despite those
bricks.


-- 
Work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University - Think thank:
http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI

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