I was planning to go into Bangkok this past Saturday to hear
my favorite band, Mundee, play at The Rock Pub, but I had to cancel plans when
I heard there would be a big political protest that day in the very area I would
be in. This news took everyone by
surprise because it was a flash mob action only announced about 24 hours
beforehand. Over a thousand people showed
up.
Are we in for another long round of protests, disruptions,
and discord?
Background for anyone not in the loop: Thailand has a long history of democratic
governments alternating with military coups.
In just my 13 years here, the Army took over in 2006, with eventual
elections of a government that the Army threw out again in 2014 after months of
protests in the streets. The generals
wrote a new constitution before the most recent elections, but this
constitution stacked the deck in favor of the military elite, ensuring that
they will dominate Parliament. A new
populist political party, the Future Forward Party (FFP) did remarkably well in
last year’s election, coming in third, and it heavily criticizes the military’s
grip on power. The FFP is especially
popular among young folks.
The courts, seen as puppets of the military, have used a
technicality to disqualify FFP’s young leader from his election as a Member of
Parliament, and they are now moving to disqualify the entire party. So the FFP leader called for a peaceful protest
in the heart of Bangkok on Saturday, and over a thousand came. Political protests here are illegal still,
from a military-written law from the last coup.
Civil disobedience. The FFP
promises more and bigger demonstrations next month.
What will the generals do?
Many in the rising middle class here are sympathetic with the military
when it steps in to stop rioting and restores order. But the young people who sympathize with the
FFP take courage from the protesters in Hong Kong and other recent opposition
movements throughout the world, and many Thais are sick of military coups. I cannot see either side backing down. I don’t know where this is heading. TIT = This is Thailand.
-Zenwind.
.
