Thailand update: Return of the Yellow Shirts

Thailand's right wing Yellow Shirts are calling for martial law

As Leftfield has already reported, the centre of the Thai capital Bangkok has been locked down for weeks now, as hundreds of thousands of Thais, mostly from the rural and urban poor, have camped out in mass protests. The Red Shirts, as they are known, demand the immediate dissolution of parliament, and fresh elections. The current government of Thailand has never been elected, and the last elected government was deposed in a military coup.

The current government of Abhisit Vajjajjiva last weekend rejected a peace offer from the protesters that would have given him 30 days to dissolve parliament and 60 days after that to hold new elections. Protest leaders emphasised that they wanted to try and save lives and prevent violence with the compromise. The PM’s reaction was to begin preparations for a military crackdown to try and resolve the crisis, which has seen clashes throughout the capital over the course of this week.

Now, the right wing, pro-monarchy and pro-military movement, the yellow shirts, have re-emerged calling for the Red Shirts to be crushed. Yellow Shirt leaders called for martial law, and the military to take action on its own if the government does not, clearly paving the way for another military intervention in politics. The Yellow Shirts’ own violent protests in 2006 helped pave the way for the military coup that installed the present government. They represent the business and bureaucratic elite, and fundamentally oppose new elections because they know the majority of Thais, who live in poverty, would not choose a government to their liking.

Red Shirt protests have been much bigger than the Yellow Shirts'

And Thailand’s ailing King Bhumibol Adulyade (the world’s longest reining monarch) has also spoken to the nation for the first time, calling on all Thais to “perform their duties strictly and honestly.” When you take this alongside the fact that the government has tried to justify its violence against unarmed protesters on the basis that they are “republicans” (which is not even true in many cases), the stage seems set for a final confrontation between the mass of the people and traditional elite, centred on urban businesses, the nobility and the monarchy.

A key argument deployed by the government as to why they won’t dissolve parliament is that they need time to deal with the economy, and pass a new budget to support the economy. In other words, the government is determined to make ordinary people pay for the crisis caused globally by financial capitalists, just like here and across Europe. The difference in Thailand is that the poor are organised and in the streets. Although their demand is simple, a return to democracy, the stage is set for a much bigger class confrontation which will shape the whole future of the country. The whole world could learn a lesson from the way ordinary Thais have got into the streets to stand up for their rights, and we’ll watch with interest to see if the Red Shirts can maintain their fortified position, and hold off the coming military crackdown.