Sunday, April 25, 2010

'Rebellious Mood Takes Root in Rural Thailand '

Six weeks of demonstrations by red-shirted protesters turned violent this week in Bangkok, but the capital is not the only place with a whiff of insurrection in the air.

It appears the situation has gone beyond the factionalism of Thaskin and Abhisit, which is predictable when working class people discover their power. Convoys of military reinforcements from the countryside have been blocked from entering Bangkok. And dissent in the military , which is made up mostly of working class people, is evident.

Again, no way to know how this turns out. But the downtrodden of society are gaining the confidence that comes with collective power.
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The roots of this actually date back to the Asian financial crisis, which stripped the traditional Royalist-oriented elite of their veil of invincibility. This allowed the emergence of Thaskin, who brought in international capital - particularly Chinese capital.

The political fallout from economic crises takes a long time to unfold, and I expect that to be the case in the United States as well.

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1'Rebellious Mood Takes Root in Rural Thailand ' - New York Times; Fuller

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