Red Shirt Protest

Former Prime Minister Thaksin was well represented in the crowd

We were advised on Saturday, May 19^th (my mom’s birthday!) to avoid a certain area of town, because there were going to be large numbers of Red Shirt protestors.  Now – I always hear about those thrill-seeking tourists who hear about dangerous situations (i.e. running with the bulls in Spain) and scurry up ready to see the action firsthand.  I thought they were crazy…

But, how can you say that you are a student, activist (not Red, but strong supporter in regards to the opportunity of peaceful protest) and peace builder – and not go to the protests?!  So, after a long day in the library, Carolina and I took “the long way home” in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the action.

As we edged towards the Skywalk – red was everywhere exiting off the BTS.  I got excited.  There was A LOT of red.  As we continued to walk towards the square – more and more red flooded the Skywalk.  Our little four lane way of people traffic quickly became a one lane road, as people crowded the sidewalk standing in support.  With our backpacks on [and non-red attire] we continued to push our way through crowds.  At one point, I jumped up to see over the crowds, and caught a glimpse of the square – and it was covered in red.  

What a lot of people misunderstand and misreport, is that the color divide in Thailand (red versus yellow) is violent, unorganized and pointless.  While the government is slow to make change, when you have 20,000 people fill a square wearing the same color and peacefully speaking on stage, it is effective.  The red shirt protest included a candlelight vigil for Uncle SMS, a farmer who was tried and sentenced to twenty years due to accusations that he wrote SMS messages about the Queen.  These messages, although not released, were in apparent violation of the country’s Lese Majeste law, despite the defendant’s claims that he did not know how to text and that the phone was under repair at the time the messages were sent.  Uncle SMS died earlier this week in prison from cancer.

 

Overall, the protest was impressive, and I was happy to see action.  In comparison to say, the United States, I was thrilled to see people putting actions behind their words and peacefully protesting what the government was doing and getting their voices heard.  It is easy to bitch and moan about something you don’t like – but it is another to act upon it.  By showing up 20,000 strong, their message was clear and it was impossible to deny that these individuals were apathetic in their actions.