Monday, March 15, 2010

Bangkok Red Shirt Protest, March 15: Observing the observers

Thai Journalist Devakula, interviewed a moment ago in Bangkok on Al Jazeera said that Thai television is not covering the protests.  The question is whether -- with Internet cafes everywhere -- this makes any difference in 2010.

I spent the last couple hours tracking the most recent reports and photos of half a dozen live-bloggers.  Some impressions:
  • The largely rural protesters are receiving smiles and encouragement from many citizen onlookers
  • The security forces are staying out of the way, and the protester marchers are peaceful
  • The protesters are spread out over various parts of Bangkok, including shopping mall areas, making it difficult to determine the total number.
Have a look at the unfolding scene through their eyes. 
Posted by Jotman on Monday, March 15, 2010

1 comment:

  1. Khakjaan WessingtonMarch 28, 2010

    The Hippies Have it Made: The Squares Obtain New Trades [Today's News Poem, March 27, 2010]
    http://toylit.blogspot.com/2010/03/hippies-have-it-made-squares-obtain-new.html
    “Tens of thousands of red-shirted protesters threatened to force soldiers from the historic heart of Thailand's capital Saturday, raising tensions in what so far has been a nonviolent bid to bring down the government.”
    --KINAN SUCHAOVANICH (AP) – 9 hours ago at 12:35pm PST
    http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g3j-vAVG1fg3kEfnogTiH8_4EXvwD9EMTJPG0
    “Tea Party groups like FreedomWorks recognize that they are benefiting from the labor of many people who have been hit hard economically. But its chairman, the former House majority leader Dick Armey, argued that their ranks will remain strong — and connected — even as members find work.”
    --Kate Zernike, The New York Times, March 27, 2010
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/us/politics/28teaparty.html?hp
    ““It’s no worse than alcohol,” said Ms. Kutilek, 30, an administrator at Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco. “Drunk people get really belligerent. I don’t know anybody who gets belligerent on marijuana. They just get chill.””
    --Jesse McKinley, The New York Times, March 25, 2010
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/us/26pot.html

    The madness mobs provoke is only matched
    With blandness slobs invoke. The game is hatched
    Inside a game of brinks. They tote their greed:
    Deride a claim that thinks. Or vote for weed:
    A lifestyle (pair with work). Or dare the cops—
    In strife-bile, share death's lurk—they cleaned with mops
    A pool of protest blood. The teabag punks—
    The ghouls of foe-blessed crud—are fascist skunks,
    With shirts of browner shades of protest hue.
    They'll hurt: they're clowns with blades. Our blood is due.

    http://toylit.blogspot.com

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