Staying Home as Bangkok Burns

Working as a teacher in Bangkok over four years, I've become accustomed to the ebbs and flows of Thai politics. Coups and protests have become a peculiar part of everyday life. In a very non-threatening manner, these incidents always seemed to be occurring somewhere else and subsequently had very little effect on my life.

One of the charms of living in Thailand is that throughout all these events, life went on as normal. Old ladies still made Pad Thai on food stalls in the street, teenagers carried on playing online games in internet cafes until the early hours and the guards outside my apartment continued to sleep contently through their night shifts.

This time it’s been a bit different. The protests have moved from 'somewhere else' to the heart of Bangkok's commercial centre. To the luxury malls around Siam Square, the business districts of Sathorn and the bustling nightlife of Silom. When I see images of violence in these areas that I know well, it suddenly seems very real.

I've watched video clips of commuters running terrified from a grenade attack at Sala Daeng station, where I regularly catch the sky train. I've seen photographs of columns of soldiers marching down Sathorn Road, past the building where I take Thai language lessons. I've read reports of gunfights in Suan Pluu, where I get my hair cut and pick up vegetables from the market. It's a bit too close for comfort.

After a trip home to visit my family, I arrived back in Bangkok on Thursday night, just in time to see the prolonged anti-Government 'red shirt' protests descend into chaos. As I sat in the taxi, heading back from the airport, we passed trucks packed with soldiers and policeman and my improving Thai listening skills regularly picked out the words 'soldier', 'violence' and 'guns,' as drivers reported the situation to each other over their radios.

My house and workplace are located on a small street off the Sathorn Road, about a fifteen minute walk from the limit of the red shirt protest zone. Far enough away to feel reasonably safe, but close enough to be boxed in by the army blockades. I haven't left my street in five days. Most of the main roads out of my area are intermittently occupied by army patrols, red shirts burning tyres and the chaotic exchanges when they meet. The sky train and underground services remain closed indefinitely. At the moment it seems like the safest option is to stay put.

With all schools closed for at least a week, most of my colleagues have escaped the city altogether, passing their time on the beach until the trouble blows over. It is worth pointing out that, despite the disturbing images broadcast worldwide on the news, the conflict is very localised. Across most of the country and indeed most of Bangkok the atmosphere is calm and life is carrying on as normal. Thai friends who work in the outskirts of the capital are expected to report for work as normal. Even work improving the drainage and resurfacing the road in my street continues. Foreign friends holidaying in nearby Ko Samet tell me the vibe there is still relaxed and peaceful.

I've always been interested in politics and while I'm neither brave nor foolish enough to go to the protest area myself, I've been keenly following events on the internet. The Thai print media, especially the two English language newspapers, are widely regarded to be at best restricted and worst quite biased in favour of the Government, so I've been trying to gain a more balanced perspective by following events online. Many foreign correspondents are using Twitter to report in real time what they are seeing on the ground in the protest zone. Endless clips have been uploaded to You Tube, alleging to show terrible acts by the red shirts or soldiers. Blogs like New Mandala entertain lively debate on the causes of and possible solutions to the conflict.

Thai society traditionally values conformity and, working as a teacher, I've seen first-hand how the education system focuses on rote learning of bulk content over development of independent thinking skills. As a result most Thais appear quite accepting of what they are told and are reluctant to question authority. This is causing the debate here to become highly polarised and dominated by blatant propaganda on both sides.

Some of my more high society Thai friends are now joining a rapidly growing campaign on Facebook, to discredit what they believe to be biased coverage from international networks like BBC and CNN. Biased, presumably, because it challenges the Government's accepted line. On the other hand, I've spoken to taxi drivers who vehemently deny that the red shirts are armed with anything but slingshots and repeat wild claims about Government conspiracies, that they heard on red shirt community radio shows.

Most of my work colleagues are tired of the situation even if they are enjoying the time off work. They can’t understand why the Government has allowed the protest to continue for so long and are glad that its finally being resolved even some of the military’s tactics seem a little heavy handed. People question why the protesters were allowed to set up camp in the first place. “It wouldn’t have been allowed to happen in my country”, is a response I’ve often heard.

With my Thai friends the reaction is more mixed and the emotions run stronger. The stakes are higher for them. They can’t just up and leave if it gets bad and are quite rightly worried about the consequences for the future of their country. The split within my group of friends mirrors the split in the country. My richer friends, often educated abroad, I met at parties playing western music in the upmarket bars of Thong Lor and RCA. They’re firmly sitting on the yellow side of the fence and often quite stridently. But I have other friends that I got to know at underground metal concerts. Many of these are people who have come from the rural provinces to work in Bangkok for as little as a hundred baht a day. Almost without exception they support the red shirts.

I’ve been surprised by the strength of feelings about these issues as Thais are usually quite reluctant to show their feelings in public. One of my friends works as a style consultant at a high end fashion shop in Central World. He’s been unable to work for over a month now was nearly in tears as relayed his fears for the future of Thailand. Like many, he blames Thaksin for stirring up trouble and thinks the Government are fully justified in their actions. The lady who makes ice tea in a shop down the road from my school is more pragmatic. With the school closed and most local businesses shut her sales are down, but she supports the Government dispersing the protest as it may at least lead to an improvement in following weeks.

The conflict is often billed as the rural poor coming to protest against Bangkok’s urban elite. There is some truth in this but it sometimes forgotten that Bangkok’s population includes a huge number of rural born casual workers. Just as in the West, immigrants often fill the jobs that the natives don’t want and so it is in Bangkok. Talk to a street cleaner, motorbike driver or food stall owner and you will invariably find that they were born in the Northeast of Thailand. Ironically, it is these people who have in many ways been worst affected by the crisis. When the Economy is hit, it is the casual work that dries up first.

Many friends have had to return to their home provinces. Without work they simply can’t survive in Bangkok. One of my flatmates expressed alarm this morning. “”7/11 has sold out of MAMA noodles,” he told me. “What will the poor people eat?”. To many foreigners this would seem like a joke but he’s actually quite serious. At six baht a packet, these instant noodles are what casual workers fall back on when they can’t afford any other food. My red leaning friends know the protesters won’t be able to hold off the military indefinitely and seem quite resigned to what is happening. They’ve got used to yellow shirts throwing insults at them, regarding their alleged limited education and lack respect for the monarchy. They’ve got used to seeing videos of civilians being shot and listening to Government claims that the violence is all instigated by red shirts. However angry they might be about this, they’ve learned to accept it. They don’t feel empowered in their society and don’t feel their voice will be heard.

Currently, my feelings about the situation are more of depression than fear. The conflict is taking place in a localised area which I can avoid and is in no way targeting foreigners. But Thailand is a country that I have grown to love and to see it falling apart like this makes me deeply sad. It is hard to imagine how the current standoff can be peacefully resolved. Even if the protesters do withdraw, or the army forcibly removes them, it seems likely that there will be lasting consequences in Thai society.

A version of this article was first published on the Australian website New Matilda.

http://newmatilda.com/2010/05/20/staying-home-bangkok-burns

Update

Since I wrote this article events have moved on and tensions have escalated. The army cleared the protest zone and hardline protesters have moved around the city, setting fire to landmark buildings like the Central World shopping mall and the Thai Stock Exchange. I don’t think any of my friends or colleagues would have any support for such mindless actions. I go to bed tonight feeling that something significant has changed in Thailand and wondering how long it will take the country to recover.