The rightists’ discourse of capitalist threat obviously differs from the leftists’ Maoist anti-capitalist discourse of 30 years ago. These rightists speak pretty much the same anti-neo-liberalism and anti-globalization language which Thai intellectuals and activists have adopted since after Oct 6, 1976.
Although all the interviews were done years after the 1997 economic crisis, the pain caused by the capitalist crisis was still alive in their memories. Their discourse on the cause of the crisis turned out to be nationalist and against ‘farang’ or western capitalism, pointing to western capitalist giants led by the US bullying emergent smaller capitalist nations. For the ease of digestion and propagation, it was made a story of conspiracy among a handful of global political and financial figures, often including George Soros in particular. The ‘Washington Consensus’ was understood simply as a plot by western capitalist neo-conservatives to destroy smaller states. With the calamity besetting Thai nationalist capital which had eagerly embraced globalization over a decade earlier, globalization has become undesirable. Their discourse against western capitalism was therefore not of a socialist bent, but was outright nationalist, against those ugly farangs abusing decent Thais.
Most of the interviews were done during the years of Thaksin administration which was seen as representing the evil western capitalism, subsequently labelled as ‘vicious or immoral capital’. The exasperation against Thaksin and globalization and the global anti-American sentiment fed into one another. Among the rightists I interviewed then, only one person liked the Thaksin government, and the rest were suspicious of Thaksin because he was pushing the agenda of globalization.
--MORE--"Why must the Amerikan MSM LIE ABOUT EVERY STINKING THING?
BANGKOK - About 100,000 protesters seeking to topple Thailand's government turned their wrath yesterday on the 88-year-old top adviser to the country's revered king, accusing him of undermining democracy by orchestrating a pivotal 2006 coup.
Most of the protesters massed near the Bangkok residence of privy councilor Prem Tinsulanonda to demand he step down from his palace job for allegedly engineering the military's ouster of their hero, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
They also demanded that current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva quit his post. Red-shirted protesters clapped and cheered as their leaders delivered fiery speeches to denounce Prem, a former army commander and prime minister, and to accuse the country's military, judiciary, and other unelected officials of interfering in politics.
"Stop pulling strings from behind the scenes for the benefit of a few people you support at the expense of the majority," shouted Jatuporn Phromphan, a protest leader. "We will not tolerate that!"
Prem, who has denied involvement in the coup, remained inside his home while police and soldiers stood guard in the streets and within the compound's walls. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 81, is widely revered, and by tradition the utmost respect has also been extended to those who surround him. To issue public attacks on his top adviser is unprecedented in recent Thai history.
Yesterday's protest could be another watershed moment in political turmoil that has shaken Thailand since demonstrations calling for Thaksin to step down for alleged corruption and abuse of power led to the 2006 coup.
Thaksin's allies went back into office after post-coup elections, but the anti-Thaksin movement gained momentum through last year. Anti-Thaksin activists - the yellow-shirted People's Alliance for Democracy - helped topple two pro-Thaksin governments by occupying the prime minister's offices for three months and seizing Bangkok's two airports for a week.
The yellow shirts ended their protests in December after courts removed two pro-Thaksin prime ministers from office and dissolved their parties, paving the way for Abhisit to take power in parliament in December.
The TRUE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT!!!!
Thaksin supporters are now employing virtually the same street-protest tactics in a sustained, grassroots challenge to Thailand's traditional ruling elite. Thaksin still has strong backing among Thailand's rural majority, who benefited from his generous social and economic programs.
Why must the MSM LIE so much?
Yesterday's protest showed his supporters can mobilize a large number of people, said Thitinan Pongsidhirak, a political scientist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. "But street protesters on their own will not bring down Abhisit's government or force the resignation of certain privy councilors. Something has to give," he said.
--more--"
And the TRADITIONAL DESCENT into VIOLENCE by the GLOBALIST AGITATORS!!
"Protesters take control of Bangkok streets; Government declares state of emergency" by Ambika Ahuja and Grant Peck, Associated Press | April 13, 2009
BANGKOK - Swarms of anti-government protesters attacked the prime minister's car, seized control of major intersections in the capital, and commandeered buses, bringing new chaos to the Thai capital as the country's ousted leader threatened to return from exile to lead a revolution.
The government declared a state of emergency yesterday but, without the intervention of security forces, it was unclear how any bans could be enforced. In front of the city's biggest luxury mall, demonstrators danced atop two armored personnel carriers they had forced to a stop, waving flags and shouting "Democracy." The red-shirted crowd swarmed around the vehicles and demanded the keys from the unhappy soldiers inside.
"Sorry, can't find them," came a muffled reply. The protesters drifted off, and the vehicles left.
The uncertain encounter - and others like it across Bangkok, where security forces stood by while protesters ran rampant - reinforced that three years of turmoil between alternating governments and protesters opposed to them seemed ready to peak again. As night fell, demonstrators demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva controlled many streets in the city center. Police vans at some intersections were abandoned and looted.
Outside the Interior Ministry earlier in the day, a furious mob attacked Abhisit's car with poles, stones, and even flower pots as it slowly made its escape. Police in riot gear nearby did nothing. Protests were also reported in areas of northern and northeastern Thailand, with one group threatening to blockade the main bridge linking Laos and Thailand across the Mekong River.
Ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, regarded by most of the protesters as their leader, called for a revolution and said he might return from overseas exile to lead it. "Now that they have tanks on the streets, it is time for the people to come out in revolution. And when it is necessary, I will come back to the country," he said in a telephoned message broadcast on loudspeakers to followers who surrounded the prime's minister office.
Political tensions have simmered since Thaksin was ousted by a military coup in 2006 for alleged corruption and abuse of power. He remains popular for his populist policies in the impoverished countryside, while his opponents - many in urban areas - took to the streets last year to help bring down two pro-Thaksin governments, seizing Bangkok's two airports in November for about a week.
It's just the same old bs, day-after-day!
The pro-Thaksin demonstrators, calling themselves the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, say Abhisit's four-month-old government took power illegitimately and want new elections. They also accuse the country's elite - the military, judiciary, and other unelected officials - of undermining democracy by interfering in politics.
The emergency decree bans gatherings of more than five people, forbids news reports considered threatening to public order, and allows the government to call up military troops to quell unrest. "The government can't do anything. There are too many of us. We will show them what tens of thousands of unarmed civilians can do. The people will finally rule our beloved Thailand," said Lada Yingmanee, a 37-year-old housewife at one of the protest sites.
Army spokesman Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd said soldiers and police were being moved to more than 50 key points in the city, including bus and railway stations. He said the military presence was not a sign of an imminent coup, a common feature of Thai political history. Abhisit, in an address televised just before midnight last night, called on the public not to panic and to cooperate with the government to end the crisis.
Sitting at a meeting table with Cabinet ministers and top military and police officers, he declared that "the military and the police are friends of the people. They do not want to use violence. They are simply enforcing law and order."
They don't even want to hurt the globalist agents, although I suspect they will be forced to by the you-know-whose!
Abhisit earlier vowed swift legal action against protesters who stormed the venue of an East Asian summit in the beach resort of Pattaya on Saturday. Thai authorities had to evacuate the Asian leaders by helicopter. A protest leader who spearheaded Saturday's demonstrations, Arisman Pongruengrong, was taken into custody yesterday and flown by helicopter to a military camp for questioning, said police spokesman Major General. Suport Pansua.
"Clashes turn fatal as unrest spreads in Bangkok; 113 injured as military vows to end 'chaos'" by Seth Mydans and Thomas Fuller, New York Times | April 14, 2009
BANGKOK - Soldiers armed with assault rifles fought running street battles with anti-government protesters yesterday as unrest spread through a wider swath of the Thai capital and the chief of the country's armed forces vowed to use "every means to end the chaos."
Two people were killed and more than 113 people injured in yesterday's clashes, according to hospital officials. Included among the wounded were 23 security officers and other government personnel. Major shopping malls shut their doors, foreign governments advised their citizens in Bangkok to stay inside, and the government banned the sale of gasoline in the center of the city in an effort to stop protesters from making Molotov cocktails.
"We will not use weapons unless it is necessary to defend ourselves," said General Songkitti Jaggabatara, the supreme commander of Thailand's armed forces. "We will not use them excessively." By late evening security forces had cleared most major intersections and the protestors were facing off against army and police units in the streets around the prime minister's office. Also in the area were hundreds of pro-government vigilantes armed with machetes and clubs.
Seeing as the PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT gets the MSM SLIGHT, well, you know, readers. Agenda-pushing, enemy-creating MSM!
In a separate clash earlier yesterday at a major intersection, soldiers fired shots from automatic rifles and tear gas at the protesters, who answered with gasoline bombs. The gunfire appeared to be aimed above the protesters, but hospitals reported more than 70 injured, many from tear gas, and some news reports said that two demonstrators and two soldiers had been wounded by bullets.
Thailand's Army just a bunch of bad shots or....?
The violence came on what is normally a day of animated celebration, the Buddhist new year and water festival. Street parties and revelry continued in some Bangkok neighborhoods untouched by the strife but the center of the city remained tense and at least a dozen streets were barricaded by protesters, many of whom were armed with clubs and slingshots. By late afternoon, security forces had cleared most major intersections.
Now I AM ANGRY!!! SPOILING a PARTY and GOOD TIMES with this s***?!!!!!!
The unrest pits security forces against protesters known as the Red Shirts who are linked to Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister ousted in a 2006 military coup. But there are fears that violence could spread if other groups become involved.
It's like an MSM PROGNOSTICATION and PROMISE. I can't wait until tomorrow's report!
Thaksin, who is overseas and faces a two-year prison sentence on charges of abuse of power if he returns to Thailand, told CNN that the government was concealing "many" deaths in the clashes. "They even take the bodies on the military trucks and take them away," he said. The government did not immediately respond to the accusation.
The Red Shirts are defying the government's decree of a "Severe Emergency Situation," including a ban on blocking any traffic, imposed in Bangkok on Sunday, a day after protesters shut down a regional summit meeting. They vow to continue their demonstrations, which have become increasingly violent, until Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva steps down.
Abhisit's location has remained secret since Sunday when his motorcade was attacked and an aide was dragged out of his car by protesters and reportedly beaten.
After three years of political crisis, including the 2006 coup and a weeklong closure by protesters of Bangkok's two airports late last year, many business leaders had hoped for a period of calm under the government of Abhisit, who came to office in December.
The CIA and GLOBALISTS had OTHER PLANS!!!
But the prospect of continued instability and the images of soldiers and military vehicles on the streets of the capital over the past two days seem sure to further damage an economy already badly battered by the global financial crisis....
It's called the BIG SQUEEZE!!!!
--more--"
