Todd Crowell: Is Thailand Going the Way of 1936 Spain?
[Todd Crowell worked for Thailand-based Asia Times from 2006-07. He is the author of "Far From Worries: a Year in the King's Town." He currently writes from Tokyo.]
Bangkok circa 2010 is looking more and more like Madrid circa 1936 every day. That was the year that the bloody Spanish Civil War began, which lasted until 1939 and killed hundreds of thousands. Could such a bloody event engulf the Land of Smiles?
The government headed by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, which took office after the judges disenfranchised enough members of parliament for the old government to lose its majority, at first seemed to calm things down. But anti-government demonstrators have, in effect, taken over the capital and challenged the government to drive them out.
Consider these parallels: In 1931 the Spaniards adopted a new liberal constitution and enshrined strict separation of the monarchy and government. Similarly, Thailand adopted a liberal constitution in 1997 (since abrogated by the 2006 coup) with numerous checks and balances. The King was already a constitutional monarch.
The Spanish crisis was preceded by several elections which, though considered fair, failed to satisfy one side or the other. Thailand recently held two elections; one in 2006 that was annulled by the courts, the other, held in December 2007, was won by the party headed by ex-Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat - generally considered a proxy for ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup.
In the months leading up to the Spanish Civil War, both sides turned increasingly to vigilantism. In Thailand red-shirted protesters stormed the East Asian summit venue with sticks and slingshots last year, and briefly occupied parliament last month. But then they learned their tactics from the opposition (now the government) in its illegal seizure of the capital's two main airports a year and a half ago.
Thailand is dividing along several lines: Between the "red shirts" worn by the anti-government protesters and the "yellow shirts" worn by the supporters of the present government (who were formerly anti-government protesters themselves); between rich and poor. There are geographical divisions as well, between the people of the Thai heartland, those around Bangkok and between the south and those living in the north and northeast.
The Royal Thai Army also shows signs of splitting. The army was humiliated following its recent bloody but ineffective effort to disperse the red shirts. Many conscripts hail from the same rural classes that dominate the red shirt movement, and it is clear that their officers are uncertain they would obey any future commands to suppress the movement.
The former government, loyal to Thaksin, had some attributes of the Republican or Loyalist side of the Spanish Civil War. They claimed the mantle of legitimacy, endorsed by the most recent election and the elections before that. Meanwhile, it was common (for Westerners anyway) to describe, with some justification, the yellow-shirted protesters as anti-democratic "fascists."
Yellow shirts and red shirts, fascists and democrats, monarchists and anti-monarchists, class against class - it all seems so retro, like an old movie from the 20th-century. The scourge of the 21st century is supposed to be Islamic anomie, turned to terrorism - not class warfare...
Read entire article at RealClearWorld
Bangkok circa 2010 is looking more and more like Madrid circa 1936 every day. That was the year that the bloody Spanish Civil War began, which lasted until 1939 and killed hundreds of thousands. Could such a bloody event engulf the Land of Smiles?
The government headed by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, which took office after the judges disenfranchised enough members of parliament for the old government to lose its majority, at first seemed to calm things down. But anti-government demonstrators have, in effect, taken over the capital and challenged the government to drive them out.
Consider these parallels: In 1931 the Spaniards adopted a new liberal constitution and enshrined strict separation of the monarchy and government. Similarly, Thailand adopted a liberal constitution in 1997 (since abrogated by the 2006 coup) with numerous checks and balances. The King was already a constitutional monarch.
The Spanish crisis was preceded by several elections which, though considered fair, failed to satisfy one side or the other. Thailand recently held two elections; one in 2006 that was annulled by the courts, the other, held in December 2007, was won by the party headed by ex-Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat - generally considered a proxy for ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup.
In the months leading up to the Spanish Civil War, both sides turned increasingly to vigilantism. In Thailand red-shirted protesters stormed the East Asian summit venue with sticks and slingshots last year, and briefly occupied parliament last month. But then they learned their tactics from the opposition (now the government) in its illegal seizure of the capital's two main airports a year and a half ago.
Thailand is dividing along several lines: Between the "red shirts" worn by the anti-government protesters and the "yellow shirts" worn by the supporters of the present government (who were formerly anti-government protesters themselves); between rich and poor. There are geographical divisions as well, between the people of the Thai heartland, those around Bangkok and between the south and those living in the north and northeast.
The Royal Thai Army also shows signs of splitting. The army was humiliated following its recent bloody but ineffective effort to disperse the red shirts. Many conscripts hail from the same rural classes that dominate the red shirt movement, and it is clear that their officers are uncertain they would obey any future commands to suppress the movement.
The former government, loyal to Thaksin, had some attributes of the Republican or Loyalist side of the Spanish Civil War. They claimed the mantle of legitimacy, endorsed by the most recent election and the elections before that. Meanwhile, it was common (for Westerners anyway) to describe, with some justification, the yellow-shirted protesters as anti-democratic "fascists."
Yellow shirts and red shirts, fascists and democrats, monarchists and anti-monarchists, class against class - it all seems so retro, like an old movie from the 20th-century. The scourge of the 21st century is supposed to be Islamic anomie, turned to terrorism - not class warfare...