Weekend Violence in Thailand

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There has been a lot of killing in Bangkok and upcountry this last weekend, and the killers are of somewhat uncertain connections.  The firearm and grenade attacks have targeted anti-government protest sites, but in both Trat and in Bangkok nearby children have been killed while either eating noodles or shopping with parents, and this has added a new sickening dimension.  

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“Collateral damage” is the euphemism that the government of the United States of Dubya/Obama uses when American bombs kill innocent non-American bystanders in its never ending imperial wars, but it is evil recklessness on the part of the actor no matter who that is, governments or independent actors.  It is an evil disregard for life. 

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Here is an earlier photo of a young brother and sister killed right in the heart of Bangkok’s shopping district when they were with their father. (Please let me know if this link doesn’t work.) 

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-Zenwind.

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Police, Riots, and Death

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Today there was bloodshed in Bangkok as police tried to move against and evacuate the die-hard anti-government protesters.  It appears that today certain radical goons on the protesters’ side started the lethal fire with firearms and grenades.  One police officer was shot dead and several were wounded.  Predictably, the police used lethal fire in response, and there were dead and wounded among the protesters. 

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It is like a re-play of 10 April 2010, when the Red Shirts were the protesters and from whose ranks deadly fire killed military men trying to clear them out of protest sites, with the predictable deadly counter-fire.  The hate and violence just cycles round and round. 

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Tomorrow (Wednesday) promises a big anti-government rally, with who knows what consequences?  The day after (Thursday) I am planning to be in the city all day until late meeting friends.  Coming home late might be a problem if too much shit hits the fan, but I’ll deal with it when the time comes, as I'm sick of being limited by this civil warfare.  

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Twitter updates from those monitoring the action are a good way to stay informed about dangerous parts of the city.  Mobile internet is earning its keep. 

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-Zenwind.

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Eve of Thai Elections: Gunfights and Explosions

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Wounded lying in the streets. 

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After only two or three hours since last consulting it, my Twitter feed (@Northwindhermit) alerted me to 87 unread Tweets!  That signifies that news is happening fast on the streets.  Folks in the wrong place at the wrong time are being shot or pinned down by gunfire.  Literally, it’s bloody awful.  Violence goons from both sides of the divide are getting in their trigger time. 

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Tomorrow is a national election day in Thailand, albeit a highly disputed and controversial election that will most probably solve nothing in this fractured land that is on the brink of cultural civil war.  The political idiocy will just go on and on. 

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What is needed?  In my opinion it is the complete “death of politics,” as Karl Hess advocated over 45 years ago.  That is, greatly needed is a constitutional system that limits any and all governmental power.  There is just too much power to be had here, even by electoral means.  Checks and balances on all power are needed.  Extreme and radical limitations.  Decentralization of power, federalism, rule of law, strong independent courts that can check the tyranny of either majorities or elites.  As F.A. Hayek observed 70 years ago, when a political system allows great power to be had in the hands of any government – even an elected one such as the 1933 German one – it will be the gangsters, the wolves, who lust for and successfully take that power. 

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We are hunkered down in our home and will not venture too far out tomorrow.  But we are not worried about ourselves.  I have enough beer stocked up, we have enough water and food, and the cats’ food is ample.  Bangkok is a huge sprawled-out city, so the places where violence rages are usually safely spread out and far away, as we are on the outer fringes.  But we would like to see peace someday. 

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-Zenwind.

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