Reddy or not

The red shirts are still at it. It's been nearly two weeks since this ragtag army of rice farmers and laborers from the East and North descended on Bangkok to force the Abhisit government to resign and hold new elections. Heat and exhaustion seemed to be taking a decisive toll, but Saturday the reds came roaring back with a massive "march"---in trucks, cars and thousands of motorbikes---along forty miles of major city streets. The six-mile-long, 65,000-person caravan of honking, hooting, yelling ruffians---as the middle and upper classes here view them---was disruptive but carefully non-violent. The reds' security people worked hand in hand with the police to prevent traffic gridlock. Bangkockians who complained to The Bangkok Post that the reds caused "traffic congestion" might have been asked, how could you tell?

Saturday's big stunner was the reaction along the parade route. Forecasts of some fear and widespread indifference were all wrong. Tens---more likely hundreds---of thousands of city residents turned out to cheer the reds. It wasn't just that Thais love a good show, which they do. The ecstatic crowds were the low-paid street vendors, waitresses, security guards, motorbike taxi drivers, hotel maids, mechanics, construction workers and others who do the grunt work for Bangkok's middle and upper classes. These people feels as voiceless and alienated from the feudal power structure as the farmers do, and here was a chance to show it.

One of the things you hear from farangs who have lived in Thailand for a while is that the Thais are no longer as genuinely friendly as they once were, that the famous Thai smile is more calculating now. (These comments are generally followed by, "It's the Chinese influence.") In the three years Joe and I have been coming here, the Thais have seemed plenty good-natured to us, but on Saturday I saw thousands of faces that reflected something we don't see every day here, and that is joy.

Now the government is unnerved. They apparently believed that their restraint and patience would wear the reds down and they would drift away. But the reds have been bouyed by the local enthusiasm, and apparently by the continued financial support of the canny Thaksin Shinawatra. The renegade former prime minister is orchestrating the protests from Montenegro---Montenegro!---and he insists on amnesty for his corruption conviction as part of any deal Abhisit is willing to make. No deal seems anywhere near, and this Saturday the red shirts say they will hold the biggest political rally in the history of Thailand.

Joe will back in time for Saturday's blowout. In fact, he is in Yangon and is going to try to get on a flight to Bangkok today. So, soon we should get some pictures of the red shirts up on the blog. I am scheduled to fly to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a weekend visa run, but I might postpone that.

Any of you interested in Thai history and politics should pick up the latest issue of The Economist. There's an excellent piece on the current mess and on the monarchy's role in creating it by keeping Thailand from becoming a fully grown-up democracy. Beloved King Bhumibole has been hospitalized since last September with a "respiratory infection" and his days are numbered. The thought of the crown prince, a man of---let's just say poor character---assuming the throne makes Thais despondent. The Economist piece explores all this---and of course has been banned in Thailand, necessitating its widespread, white-hot circulation on the internet. Thailand has free speech except when it comes to the you-know-who's.

I watched the US health care vote Monday morning on CNN. (There on CNN International was the actual CNN-domestic Wolf Blitzer and "the best political team on television"---which is like saying "the best chicken-frying team at KFC.") Wow. Maybe the country isn't doomed. Anyway, Obama lives!