Media choruses sing secular hymns that Asia is the Future. These choruses consist of data showing increases in their middle classes, periods of double digit economic growth, and seamless combining of ancient systems of Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc with modern ethos of capitalism (i.e. the image of Lee Kuan Yew) This hymn played in heavy rotation in the media suggest that Asia's past as colonial satellites showed no prologue to it being the Future. Of course, all generalities give way to glaring exceptions. The exception in this case is Thailand. Unlike the rest of Asia, Thailand was never colonized by Europe. Current political conditions, however, in Thailand show that its stands vulnerable to becoming a neo-colony. This neo-colonization shows a microcosm of a trend occurring throughout the world. Empire lives. And, where it does, even its most "benevolent" intentions create servant classes.
Thailand, though, today faces not a benevolent empire but a cynical oligarchy consisting of an exiled leader who governs remotely using various tools: Skype, cell phone, etc [4]. In addition, the exiled leader is insulated somewhat by a western mainstream media whose reporting and analyses, despite their impartial and educated tone, parrot the oligarchy converging on Thailand. Egypt started the first "twitter" revolution, while Thailand shows quite possibly the first Skype-enabled oligarchy. Somehow I doubt the NSA's big data regime will find anything concerning about this Skype-enabled oligarch in exile. Much coverage, though, of Thailand over the past few years shows it as a nation that recovered from the 1997 crisis to reemerge as a trusted partner of globalization.
Bangkok now receives more tourists than any other city worldwide demonstrates its integration into the global order and its trendy cosmopolitanism [5]. These credentials should pump renewed hope into the vaguely yet blissfully stated concept "globalization." Anecdotally, "globalization" as a term lost its luster, something that once invoked is a self-evident good, a good work in progress. The weakening of the Thai state's political legitimacy prompts my asking: Ok another example that "globalization" is an empty trope...So if not globalization...then what? And, given "globalization's" death as a coherent conceptual framework with which to analyze current trends happening worldwide, how do we assess the implications of Thailand's conflicting images of being the West favorite Asian playground and a dysfunctional body politic subject to mass protests and military coups? A closer analysis of the recent crises endangering the legitimacy of Thai's political order shows Thailand embodies a different narrative: a nation wherein its masses teeter on the brink of detonating revolution, and outside forces are working to enable the power structure there to suppress those masses.
Thailand's current Leader in exile and Leader via social media, Thaksin, is a well connected figure. His affiliations and actions show he is an elitist. [6]. But, some of the mainstream media's recent coverage of Thaksin's opponents suggest they pose a threat to democracy [7]. So, in short, the key to comprehending the current crisis of legitimacy is learning whether the mass protests show a genuine mobilization of the masses, or elitists resorting to defiance to weaken the ruling party who represents the poor?
The Washington Post editorial board concluded that the protestors are coup-seeking ingrates, undermining democratic institutions:
POPULAR DEMONSTRATIONS against democracy are becoming an unfortunate trend in developing countries where elections have challenged long-established elites. The latest case is Thailand, where thousands of people took to the streets Monday to demand that the country’s freely chosen government step down, that an unelected council take its place and that elections scheduled for next month be canceled. The protesters’ strategy appears to be to disrupt Bangkok to the point at which the government will feel compelled to resign or be removed by the military. [8].
In addition to the Post's editors view that these protests (led according to them by the opposition Democratic Party) are cynical ploys to undermine democracy, the protestors themselves seek to safeguard their socioeconomic statues by opposing a democratically elected regime who represents the poor. They argue thus:
The Democrats represent Bangkok’s middle and upper classes and the traditional business establishment linked to the royal family. Mr. Thaksin, a billionaire businessman who now lives in exile, is a populist who draws support from previously disenfranchised Thais — the poor in urban areas and the rural northeast. While he did abuse power and commit human rights abuses when he was in office, his governments were freely and fairly elected, as was Ms. Yingluck’s. [9].
The Post's editorial board concedes Thaksin's abuse of power and committing human rights' abuses. But, their expressing his sister's succeeding him via an election in this context suggests that Thaksin's abuses are worth mentioning though pose no threat to Thailand's supposed vibrant democracy.
Has Thailand's recent elections legitimized one of Thaksin's infamous "War on Drugs" that occurred from February to April 2003? This war resulted in over 2,800 being killed. Thailand's government conducted a research into these killings to determine to what degree the victims were actually involved in the drug trade. They concluded:
In August 2007, the military-installed government of General Surayud Chulanont appointed a special committee chaired by former Attorney General Khanit na Nakhon to investigate the extrajudicial killings that took place in 2003 as part of Thaksin’s “war on drugs,” but no action has ensued. After five months of inquiries, the committee only gave to the government statistical details about the number and nature of the murders. Its report – which has never been made public – said 2,819 people were killed in 2,559 murder cases between February and April in 2003. Of those killed, 1,370 were related to drug dealing, while 878 of them were not. Another 571 people were killed without apparent reason. [10].
Were the wave of protests that started in Bangkok during December 2013 motivated by these bloody excesses? Some of the Western media's coverage neglects to examine this question. Also, the Western media ignores to what degree the extensive lobby machine (consisting of U.S. corporations and well connected lobby and public relations firms) advocating to the behest of Thaksin has undermined Thailand's democracy. These U.S. lobbying efforts seek to influence the present and future of Thailand's sovereignty. Simply review the lobby requests documents submitted to the U.S. Congress over the past few years (documents available at docs.google.com/file/d/0Bzf5hXPESLSdZWJBVXQtajhFaTQ/edit?pli=1 or altthainews.blogspot.com/2012/11/thailand-thaksin-shinawatras-foreign.html. Readers must decide for themselves whether these Thai protestors' speak with more veracity than the Western media.
Another critical message speaks to the alert and curious minds here: Bangkok's emergence as a chic cosmopolitan playground, especially for many Westerners, is neither a product nor a cause of conscious efforts by a mass body politic empowered through functioning democratic institutions. Instead, the playground waxes a glamorous gloss overshadowing a social, political, and economic landscape wherein many of its masses are seen in the Western media as competing homogenous groups of rice farmers and royalists etc, or who live in reality as an unrepresented, unheard "other."
But wait...what about the U.S. Asian pivot? It seeks to become our 21st century version of making the world safe for democracy. Or, as the facts show this U.S. pivot intends to make the world safe for oligarchy.
1. Sherfinski, David. "McCain: 'Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country.' The Washington Times. March 16, 2014. www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/16/mccain-russia-gas-station-masquerading-country/dir="ltr" style="text-indent: 0px !important; ">
2. Hellevig, John. Awara Group's Study "Putin 2000-2014, Midterm Interrim Results: Diversification, Modernization and the Role of the State in Russia's Economy. A Wittgensteinian look at the Russian economy." December 2014. http://www.awaragroup.com/upload/Awara-Study-Russian-Economy.pdf
3. BBC News Europe. "Ukraine Crisis: Transcript of Leaked Nuland-Pylatt Call." February 07, 2014. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26079957. Victoria Nuland, Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, conducted a much publicized phone call--leaked to the public and posted on You Tube--with Geoffrey Pyatt, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine. The media has discussed somewhat Her infamous declaring "Fuck the EU" to Ambassador Pyatt. This expletive deserves less attention, though, than their discussing which persons should occupy what posts in the Ukranian government. Both Ukraine and Thailand operate as U.S. satellites.
5. Quan, Kristene. "And the World's No. 1 Tourist Destination Is...Bangkok is now the most-visited city in world." TIME. http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/06/01/bangkok-claims-the-worlds-no-1-tourist-destination-title/
6. Thailand: Thaksin Shinawatra's Foreign Lobbyists. AltThaiNews. Sunday November 18, 2012. http://altthainews.blogspot.com/2012/11/thailand-thaksin-shinawatras-foreign.html
10. "Thailand: Prosecute Anti-Drugs Police Identified in Abuses." Human Rights Watch. February 08, 2008. http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/02/06/thailand-prosecute-anti-drugs-police-identified-abuses
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