And the inverse is also true. Amongst the heterogeneous Red Shirts, there's blind love for Thaksin and blind hate for the "ammarts". Both sides will need to GROW UP.
Agree - although technically now Thaksin functions precisely as an unelected 'ammart' running the Pheu Thai government via remote-control. Perhaps little has changed and, Thais, like most other democracies, have a choice for either 'ammart01' or ammart02'(Democrats or Republican - what's the difference?). In a way, a democratic, representative equilibrium of sorts is being achieved - for the 'anti-Thaksin ammarts' are rather popular amongst the minority of voters (e.g.Democrat voters) and they are not letting the 'pro-Thaksin ammarts', popular amongst the majority voters, have everything their way (and each sides have their feared 'mobs' to boot!). To 'grow up' both sides will have to realize this - there have been six years of 'negotiations' (interspersed with urban battles) - how much longer?
It wont be another 80 years now that the ammart have lost control of the information flow. To quote from one of the best Thai academics around: "In the long run, whatever colour the grass roots are they are not stupid as they can receive all the news and information"
While I share in your idealism, lessons from the global Occupy Movement suggests that even in 'advanced' democracies with a much freer flow of information, the 1% will always hold a highly disproportionate power. The middle-class pays the progressive tax but the global ammarts have financial inventive ways of avoiding it. I am not that optimistic that this will change in the near future (where, for instance, a sizable proportion of the better informed American electorate vote for tax cuts for the rich by default) - don't know about 80 years.
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And the inverse is also true. Amongst the heterogeneous Red Shirts, there's blind love for Thaksin and blind hate for the "ammarts". Both sides will need to GROW UP.
Agree, but when people wake up to Thaksin they can at least vote him out (something they have had great difficulty doing with the military & ammart)
Agree - although technically now Thaksin functions precisely as an unelected 'ammart' running the Pheu Thai government via remote-control. Perhaps little has changed and, Thais, like most other democracies, have a choice for either 'ammart01' or ammart02'(Democrats or Republican - what's the difference?). In a way, a democratic, representative equilibrium of sorts is being achieved - for the 'anti-Thaksin ammarts' are rather popular amongst the minority of voters (e.g.Democrat voters) and they are not letting the 'pro-Thaksin ammarts', popular amongst the majority voters, have everything their way (and each sides have their feared 'mobs' to boot!). To 'grow up' both sides will have to realize this - there have been six years of 'negotiations' (interspersed with urban battles) - how much longer?
It wont be another 80 years now that the ammart have lost control of the information flow.
To quote from one of the
best Thai academics around:
"In the long run, whatever colour the grass roots are they are not stupid as they can receive all the news and information"
While I share in your idealism, lessons from the global Occupy Movement suggests that even in 'advanced' democracies with a much freer flow of information, the 1% will always hold a highly disproportionate power. The middle-class pays the progressive tax but the global ammarts have financial inventive ways of avoiding it. I am not that optimistic that this will change in the near future (where, for instance, a sizable proportion of the better informed American electorate vote for tax cuts for the rich by default) - don't know about 80 years.
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