Red Shirts: How do you avoid them?

In so many ways, Phana seems to defy the Bangkok streotype of Isan. The District Town shows no sign of real deprivation despite its lack of commercial development. A person from the adjacent town of Trakan Phuetpon,which IS commercially developed (2 banks, 7-11, daily market, Tesco Lotus mini, etc. none of which we have) recently commented that Phana has no shops but plenty of money. The connection seems pretty obvious to me.

Phana defies the political stereotype, too, because it has been a staunchly Democrat enclave for many years, even though the occasional constituency boundary change has sometimes produced an MP of a different party. 

I do have some Red Shirt stories, though, and two of my informants rank amongst the top gossips in Phana.

One story concerns recruitment for the current protest in Bangkok. A recruitment team went to the village considered the poorest in the district and failed to recruit a single person.

Another tells of a man here who was recruited for an earlier demonstration and was promised 500 Baht for his participation. He came back very disgruntled because he had ended up with just 50 Baht in his pocket ... the rest had been 'deducted' for expenses such as travel, food, and so on. He won't be going again.

I have met one 'supporter' of the red shirts, a man, somewhat the worse for drink who wanted me to help him with his MEd dissertation, who whispered his views and asked Pensri and I not to tell his wife or children, who all thought otherwise.

So if you want to avoid the Red Shirts, come to Phana.

Thanks to a reference in the BBC's reporting of the 'bloodspread' in Bangkok, I have discovered the wonderful blog of SOMTOW SUCHARITKUL, also known as the author S.P. Somtow. I loved his first book 'Jasmine Nights' about a boy called Little Frog, and I have also read 'The Bird Catcher' about a famous Thai serial killer whose remains can be seen in the very macabre museum at Siriraj Hospital in Thonburi. That was  in a collection of very Thai ghost stories. In his short post yesterday he made a seriously sensible suggestion regarding blood-letting. I recommend you take a look at it HERE and go on to explore some of his other posts. I guarrantee they will give you an amusing and always different take on Thai life in Bangkok. On life, in fact.

Comments

[Michael Hare]

My maid is really upset. She likes the red shirts because the yellow shirts and the current government look down on poor country folk like her and say they are stupid.

And when an Isarn lady gets mad, just agree with her.

She's mad because of the current paddy rice price. Only 6 baht/kg and they were PROMISED more! That is why so much dry season rice was planted in Isarn this year. With the cost of watering and fertiliser, they won't make any profit at all.

She wants Thaksin back, because when he was here, paddy rice was 12 baht/kg.

What can I say. She and her family are deeply affected by the economic situation and they say the government is doing nothing for them at all. They keep getting poorer.

[Lawrence]

I can't disagree with the bit about agreeing with an Isarn lady when she gets mad!

But here people are saying they HAVE been paid the subsidy, and it has made a huge difference. Also, the government is still paying low-user water bills and electricity bills. And the 30 Baht health fee is now zero. What are you to believe?

[Martyn]

Lawrence you must be living in a one off community compared to the rest of Isaan. No red shirt supporters about, money talks and red shirts walk.

I had a look at Somtow's blog and his blood post makes a lot of sense but as we are talking about politics then that quality goes straight out the window.

I intend doing a little research on the Bird Catcher as it's the kind of theme which really interests me. Thanks.

[Catherine]

I've read 'Jasmine Nights', so thank you very much for pointing me to Somtow's blog. Mind you, I'm not political (it's pretty apparent on my blog) but he's not just about politics.