17 March 2010

Pimpa: Politics written in blood

(ABC The Drum, 17 March 2010)

Thailand is in yet another phase of political and social transition as the red shirt protesters pour their own blood, literally, on the ground at Thai Government House. The act of blood pouring is an outcry for structural change to the current Thai Government.

What the red shirts, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), request of the Government is to dissolve parliament. They call for a new election, and a return of an administration in which they can find a semblance of certainty and solace.

The blood symbolises a struggle to regain their democracy; a peasants' revolt. For Thais, rituals involving blood represent death, finality. This may be the message the UDD need to send to Prime Minister Aphisit Vejajiwa, a message to end the conflict between the UDD and incumbent administration.

By: Nattavud Pimpa, Senior Lecturer, School of Management, RMIT University.