Living in Limbo...
Today was a relatively calm day in Bangkok. There was little smoke on the horizon and for the first day since last Friday, there has been no reports of deaths. This can be seen as a positive - a glimmer of hope that perhaps things are changing. However, the government has just extended the city wide "vacation" until Friday the 24th. One has to wonder what they have planned if they have requested the inhabitants of an entire city to stay home for the next three days. Not surprisingly, I am apparently not part of that request since teachers at my school have been ordered to come into work tomorrow. The school has been closed to students but we are expected to show up. I guess it's not that bad, I'm sure I'll get a lot of work accomplished and I only live a short mototaxi ride away. I just think it's a bit irresponsible in principle but it's not my decision to make...it's just my decision to follow. At least they are not putting the kids at risk. I would hate to have to deal with getting 600 kids home safely if things got very bad in the middle of the school day.
Things were looking hopeful today for while. The Reds agreed to a mediator but then the government said they would not talk until the rally site came down and the Reds said they would not leave the rally site until the troops left and the government came back saying that they would not pull the troops back until the rally site came down. Great...well done. Both sides are clearly showing the world that they are ready to deal with this situation in a mature fashion. Ridiculous. So we are back to square one.
Additionally, in typical Thai government fashion, the government gave the Reds until 3pm on Monday to get out of the protest zone. They brought in the Red Cross to evacuate women and children, they dropped leaflets from helicopters threatening anyone who stayed with 2 years imprisonment, the threat of a violent crackdown after the 3pm deadline loomed. 3pm came and went, the Reds said they weren't moving and at 3:30 there were still 5000 of them in the protest zone. The government, stuck in a difficult situation because their empty threat didn't work quickly issued a "uh nevermind" type announcement and said the protesters could stay. As I've stated before, the Thai government does not seem to understand the basic principle of action/reaction and it is because of this that the Reds told them to shove it up their asses.
"you have to get out by saturday night or else..."
"oh, you didn't leave...ok, nevermind"
"we're putting all of Bangkok under a curfew so you don't come out and fight. Stay inside or else..."
"oh, you said you don't care about a curfew...ok, nevermind"
"everyone needs to be out by 3pm or else...."
"oh, 5000 of you are still here...ok, nevermind"
Why would the Reds do anything the government says if they have a clear record of empty threats. It's clear here that the Reds are the ones making the decisions simply because the government isn't going to carry through. I've been trying to figure out why the government keeps changing their minds and I think it may have to do with one of the following:
1) Abihist doesn't want the blood of thousands of unarmed civilians on his hands. Might not look too good for his chances of reelection and those pesky people at the UN might notice that he's a mass murderer
2) He's too worried that the majority of the military are "watermelon soldiers" (green on the outside but red on the inside) and when the order comes down to forcefully take back the protest zone, they will refuse
3) Some Thai cultural thing that I can't even begin to understand
Whatever the reason things are not progressing.
The BBC and CNN and other global media outlets have been saying that the Red protests have been "paralysing" Bangkok for months. Unless your life revolves around shopping, this is a complete exaggeration. My life up until now has not been affected at all. It is now, however, that Bangkok is being paralysed. One has to wonder how long people will sit back and watch this carry on. Sooner or later things are going to have to move in one way or another. Lets hope that it moves in the direction of peace and progress.
I originally wanted to focus this post on the way the media, especially the Thai media, is manipulating the situation through exaggerations and rhetoric but I'm getting tired.
Stay tuned....
As I was sitting in my apartment watching the fighting play out on TV and out my window Country Joe and the Fish popped into my head:
Well come on all of you big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again,
He got himself in a terrible jam,
Way down yonder in Vietnam,
Put down your books and pick up a gun,
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun
And its 1,2,3 what are we fighting for?
Don't ask me I don't give a damn,
The next stop is Vietnam,
And its 5,6,7 open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
WHOOPEE we're all gonna die
Switch "uncle Sam" for "Abihist" and "Vietnam" for "Ratchaprasong" or "Silom" and it becomes pretty apparent that humans have an innate capability to fail to learn from their mistakes.
Where's Woodstock when you need it!
J
Today was a relatively calm day in Bangkok. There was little smoke on the horizon and for the first day since last Friday, there has been no reports of deaths. This can be seen as a positive - a glimmer of hope that perhaps things are changing. However, the government has just extended the city wide "vacation" until Friday the 24th. One has to wonder what they have planned if they have requested the inhabitants of an entire city to stay home for the next three days. Not surprisingly, I am apparently not part of that request since teachers at my school have been ordered to come into work tomorrow. The school has been closed to students but we are expected to show up. I guess it's not that bad, I'm sure I'll get a lot of work accomplished and I only live a short mototaxi ride away. I just think it's a bit irresponsible in principle but it's not my decision to make...it's just my decision to follow. At least they are not putting the kids at risk. I would hate to have to deal with getting 600 kids home safely if things got very bad in the middle of the school day.
Things were looking hopeful today for while. The Reds agreed to a mediator but then the government said they would not talk until the rally site came down and the Reds said they would not leave the rally site until the troops left and the government came back saying that they would not pull the troops back until the rally site came down. Great...well done. Both sides are clearly showing the world that they are ready to deal with this situation in a mature fashion. Ridiculous. So we are back to square one.
Additionally, in typical Thai government fashion, the government gave the Reds until 3pm on Monday to get out of the protest zone. They brought in the Red Cross to evacuate women and children, they dropped leaflets from helicopters threatening anyone who stayed with 2 years imprisonment, the threat of a violent crackdown after the 3pm deadline loomed. 3pm came and went, the Reds said they weren't moving and at 3:30 there were still 5000 of them in the protest zone. The government, stuck in a difficult situation because their empty threat didn't work quickly issued a "uh nevermind" type announcement and said the protesters could stay. As I've stated before, the Thai government does not seem to understand the basic principle of action/reaction and it is because of this that the Reds told them to shove it up their asses.
"you have to get out by saturday night or else..."
"oh, you didn't leave...ok, nevermind"
"we're putting all of Bangkok under a curfew so you don't come out and fight. Stay inside or else..."
"oh, you said you don't care about a curfew...ok, nevermind"
"everyone needs to be out by 3pm or else...."
"oh, 5000 of you are still here...ok, nevermind"
Why would the Reds do anything the government says if they have a clear record of empty threats. It's clear here that the Reds are the ones making the decisions simply because the government isn't going to carry through. I've been trying to figure out why the government keeps changing their minds and I think it may have to do with one of the following:
1) Abihist doesn't want the blood of thousands of unarmed civilians on his hands. Might not look too good for his chances of reelection and those pesky people at the UN might notice that he's a mass murderer
2) He's too worried that the majority of the military are "watermelon soldiers" (green on the outside but red on the inside) and when the order comes down to forcefully take back the protest zone, they will refuse
3) Some Thai cultural thing that I can't even begin to understand
Whatever the reason things are not progressing.
The BBC and CNN and other global media outlets have been saying that the Red protests have been "paralysing" Bangkok for months. Unless your life revolves around shopping, this is a complete exaggeration. My life up until now has not been affected at all. It is now, however, that Bangkok is being paralysed. One has to wonder how long people will sit back and watch this carry on. Sooner or later things are going to have to move in one way or another. Lets hope that it moves in the direction of peace and progress.
I originally wanted to focus this post on the way the media, especially the Thai media, is manipulating the situation through exaggerations and rhetoric but I'm getting tired.
Stay tuned....
As I was sitting in my apartment watching the fighting play out on TV and out my window Country Joe and the Fish popped into my head:
Well come on all of you big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again,
He got himself in a terrible jam,
Way down yonder in Vietnam,
Put down your books and pick up a gun,
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun
And its 1,2,3 what are we fighting for?
Don't ask me I don't give a damn,
The next stop is Vietnam,
And its 5,6,7 open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
WHOOPEE we're all gonna die
Switch "uncle Sam" for "Abihist" and "Vietnam" for "Ratchaprasong" or "Silom" and it becomes pretty apparent that humans have an innate capability to fail to learn from their mistakes.
Where's Woodstock when you need it!
J
1 Comments:
Thanks so much for the update. It's important to get the "real" news.
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