Workers, farmers risk lives in political battle

May 18 — The rural and urban poor of Thailand have entered the political arena in unprecedented numbers. Even a threatened bloodbath by the military-backed regime may not be able to reverse the impact of this awakening. Whatever the immediate outcome of the confrontation of urban and rural poor with the Thai military in Bangkok, this struggle will change the political climate and weaken U.S. imperialism’s role in Thailand.

Thousands of poor rural and urban Thais, called the red-shirts because they wear red T-shirts, have been occupying posh areas of the capital since March, demanding that the current government resign and there be new elections. After one sharp clash in April, in which the military killed about 20 protesters, a stalemate between the military-backed regime and the mass-backed opposition lasted until mid-May.

There was evidence that individual soldiers in the conscript army as well as some officers were reluctant to be used to repress a popular uprising.

Starting on May 13, troops opened fire on the demonstrators. Over the next four days they killed another 37 people as they sniped at protest leaders and media reporters, along with rank-and-file protesters. The troops have overwhelming firepower. Demonstrators have been courageously fighting back, using hand-made explosives and firebombs and setting up barricades of burning tires in the capital and on some of the roads throughout the country.

Bangkok, the Thai capital, is home to 15 million of the 67 million Thais. It is where the political fate of the country is usually determined. The red-shirts are also very strong in the rural Northeast of Thailand, however, and even if defeated in the capital could continue an uprising from there.

Not only the government party but also the leading opposition politicians have kept Thailand a loyal cog in the world imperialist system. As in any mass action, political leadership in the current standoff remains extremely important. Nevertheless, the opposition has opened a mass struggle both in Bangkok and in the rural provinces that may escape these bounds.

Background of Thailand

In the 19th century the British and French imperialists took over most of South and Southeast Asia, dividing it up into their colonies. Thailand, however, which was called Siam until 1939, remained a nominally independent monarchy and buffer between French Indochina and British-controlled Burma and India. Following World War II, U.S. imperialism replaced its European colonialist counterparts as the big outside power in the region.

The Pentagon was unable to stop the people of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia from winning independence, but it held onto its military bases in Thailand. During the war against Vietnam, the U.S. flew 80 percent of its reconnaissance and bombing raids against North Vietnam from its seven Thai bases and used the country as a rest and recreation area for its troops. The Pentagon maintains close ties with the Thai military, which has more than 1 million conscript troops.

The leader of the opposition party, the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship or UDD, is former Primer Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a coup in 2006. Thaksin is himself an enormously wealthy telecommunications entrepreneur. He has a reputation as a populist, however, as his government provided nearly free health care and other benefits to the very poor and won record voting support in 2005.

Regime threatens firepower

Current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva represents the traditional Thai elite. He is in power through a coup and relies on the military to keep him there. Commenting on Thai television on May 15, Abhisit said, “We cannot retreat now.” It was a threat to use the military’s full force against the civilian demonstrators.

On May 13, a Thai army sniper shot Major Gen. Khattya Sawasdipol in the head, a half hour into an interview with New York Times reporter Stephen Fuller, whose head was also grazed by the shot. Gen. Khattya was the highest officer to have joined the opposition.

While the leadership of the UDD has offered to compromise to end the standoff and hold elections — which they expect to win — the regime is giving them no such choice at this time. It refuses to guarantee their safety or impunity from prosecution. This may make a bloody confrontation inevitable.

If the troops are ordered to slaughter the people, and the people refuse to retreat, this creates a testing point for military discipline. The class and family interests of the soldiers and lower officers place them closer to the red-shirts than to the elitist regime.

According to a May 17 Reuters report, “Large numbers of soldiers of lower ranks and some senior officers who have been sidelined after Thaksin was toppled sympathized with the protesters, while the military’s top brass are at the other end of the political spectrum, allied with royalists and business elites.” While the British and U.S. media always speak in the name of democracy, the article reflects the real concerns of the imperialists as it warns: “If the army fails to quell the unrest, other fissures in Thai society could flare into the open, pushing the crisis dangerously close to a long-discussed and much-feared tipping point toward a mass underclass uprising.”

On the other hand, the Thai regime and the top generals know that if the government cracks down to try to quell the protest, it may unleash a protracted struggle that involves the mass of urban and rural poor of Thailand in determining their own destiny.