When I last wrote, I was expecting things to cool off. Like the rains in Thailand, just when it seems so hot that you can't stand it anymore, a storm cloud rolls in, drenching and flooding the streets of Bangkok, cleaning the sidewalks of dog poop, the air of pollution, and the heat of humidity. I expected someone - a red shirt leader, the army, protesters, the prime minister - to back down, to renegotiate, to step in, or to just stop. That seemed to have been the pattern for the past month or so. There would be some sort of violence, whether it was a scuffle between protesters and soldiers, a grenade attack, or reports of snipers, and then both sides would step back, in some cases, quite literally. The rhetoric would come down a notch, and things would be quiet for a week or two. That's what I expected to happen.
What did happen was more like the giant thunderstorms Bangkok gets every rainy season. On Monday, I went to bed thinking we would go back to work on Wednesday. On Tuesday, there were sporadic scuffles and firefights between the army, who was trying to close off the site, and the protesters. But, there was less smoke, fewer text messages (only 3 after several days of 10+), and, it seemed, less urgency. There were still rumors of a crackdown by the army, but that threat became as empty as the boy crying wolf.
*****
I woke up before 7am Wednesday morning to the insistent beeping of my cell phone. Work had already been cancelled and the Embassy was closed until Friday. This message had to be something bad.
To give you an idea of the dread I felt at almost every text message, here's an edited sampling: "shooting and explosions... stay indoors" or "security operations to begin... ALL employees directed to seek a place of safety and/or remain home." Not great messages to get at any time, but especially not when you're half asleep.
So, when my cell phone started beeping, I could not just ignore it. "Heavy military presence on Bangkok streets." What? Of course there's a heavy military presence on Bangkok streets! There has been for weeks. What does that mean??? Not being able to go back to sleep, I opened my recently-always-on-standby computer, refreshing Gmail, Bangkok Post, BBC, and Twitter pages in one fell swoop. As they refreshed, I turned on my TV to Channel News Asia. While the news was still limited, reports of the army finally "cracking down" on the protesters were hitting the news channels, along with photos of armored personnel carriers (aka tanks) breaking through the tire-and-bamboo barricades that surrounded the protest site. That day, another 15 text messages came in, telling us to stay indoors and not to move. By 1:30pm, though, it seemed like the government had successfully cleared the protesters. Several red shirt leaders announced they would turn themselves into police custody and many protesters were heading to National Stadium, where buses waited to take them home. It was not over yet though.
A little after 1pm, I started to see heavy smoke from my balcony. It was much closer than the previous smoke I'd seen coming from the Rama IV expressway entrance. Turning my computer back on (which I'd turned off in the hopes of stopping my obsessive page refreshing), I saw new reports of red shirts, or black shirts, or someone, setting fire to numerous buildings throughout Bangkok. The smoke I could see, visibly different from the tire fires earlier in the week, seemed to be coming from the Channel 3 News building near Asoke. There were reports and pictures of fires along Sukhumvit and Rama IV, essentially boxing me into my apartment. Then, my power went out.
Now, I've dealt with losing power before. But not when all of my news was connected to my having power (and internet). It was slightly scary, especially when I realized that my cell phone battery was also low. But, there was nothing I could do, so I just read, glancing at the skyline occasionally (or obsessively) for additional smoke. I tried to go up to the pool-top roof of my building, but it was closed. I saw smoke rising from the protests sites, along with some from what looked like the Asoke interchange, and the Rama IV area. When my power came back on around 5pm, I frantically plugged all of my devices in.
It seemed like things went crazy in Bangkok after the protest area was stormed by the army. Mysterious black shirts spread throughout the city, smashing phone booths, setting fires, and causing chaos. Fires were set in over 30 buildings in Bangkok, destroying the famous Central World shopping mall as well as the Siam Theater.
It was particularly disorienting and disheartening for me - throughout the protests, I'd been amazed by the amount of respect and order involved in the protests. Both sides seemed to respect, and in some cases, empathize with each other. The so-called watermelon soldiers (green on the outside, red on the inside); the Thai citizens who brought food, cold drinks and umbrellas to police; orderly processions of red shirt protesters... everything seemed so respectful. Until the April 10th deaths. Even after the ***** of April 10th by xxx side, both sides stepped back. There was genuine disgust and sadness at the state of events and the deaths that occurred.
There was also respect for property. There was no "rioting" really - cars were not set alight, buildings were not destroyed by fire or attacked and shops were mainly safe from looting. I was impressed. After hearing about riots in San Francisco, Kenya, Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan, or Nigeria, with extensive loss of life and property, I was impressed by the restraint shown by Thai people. It was a "mob," but without a mob mentality. Until May 19th.
*****
Thailand is famous for its tolerance. It's known for it's smiling people who do not take offence at disrespectful foreigners; it's known for being accepting of sex change operations, lady boys, and homosexuals. While this is a generalization, most of it is true. There's a live and let live philosophy; a deep value of saving face; dislike of confrontation; no beating through the bush, or even around the bush. It's not that there isn't a line, though, that can't be crossed. Thai people aren't accepting of everything and the line here is trigger thin. And, once you cross it, there seems to be no going back. I think what happened May 19th was that crossing the line - and once crossed, it was hard for anyone to control the "black shirts" actions.
And then, Thailand jumped right back over the line. The government imposed a curfew, prohibiting everyone from being outside between 8pm and 6am. Miraculously, that's what happened. In the week and a half that a curfew was in place, only a handful of people were arrested for breaking it. After Wednesday night, the violence almost disappeared. On Thursday, I only got 7 text messages, and none of them contained the frantic ALL CAPITAL letters of previous texts. Friday, the text messages were down to a respectable three. On Sunday, the Skytrain and subway started running again. And, on Monday, I went happily back to work.
What this all means for the long-term stability of Thailand is still questionable. And the question of how all of this happened in Thailand is fresh in everyone's mind. Since the army coup in 2006, which ousted Thaksin Shinawatra, there have been protests by all different color shirts. And, there's never been a resolution that all sides agree on. In my opinion, the current prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajjiva, has the greatest opportunity to reunite the country. He can accept accountability for his and his governments' actions as well as provide true and lasting justice to people on all sides. He can bring about national unity. He can become a trustworthy source of information and guidance. He can set up sustainable and just solutions to Thailand's structural and economic inequalities. The key word is can. He CAN; whether he WILL is yet to be seen.
Another summary by BBC of day-by-day events in Bangkok, until May 19th.
(I will try to include some relevant links and pictures soon. Right now, only Bangkok Post links are included, which tend to be a bit biased against the red shirts.)
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