Red shirt villages blossom in north-east Thailand

By Peter Janssen Jun 19, 2011, 2:12 GMT

Udonthani, Thailand - Nong Bua, a small village of less than a hundred families on the outskirts of Udonthani city in north-east Thailand, has declared itself 'red.'

In a ceremony on June 15, inaugurated by Buddhist monks and followed by lectures on democracy and a peppy performance by the local school band, Nong Bua became the 217th 'Red Shirt Village' in Udonthani province, 450 kilometres north-east of Bangkok.

About 40 villagers, mostly elderly, had gathered in the town's communal hall for the ceremony, many of them sporting red T-shirts with the words 'We love Thaksin' emblazoned on the back.

They sat in front of a large billboard that reads 'Red Shirt Village for Democracy,' with a picture of a smiling Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's former prime minister who was ousted by a coup in September 2006.

'By becoming a red shirt village the people are more united and think the same,' said Don Chainapun, an advisor for the red shirt village movement. 'But this has nothing to do with the election.' Thailand is heading for a general election on July 3.

This month the launch of new red shirt villages has taken off in the north-east, home to about one-third of the Thai population of 65 million, and a traditional stronghold Thaksin, the de facto leader of the Pheu Thai party.

The party is expected to sweep the North-eastern provinces in the upcoming polls.

Thaksin, who has been living in self-exile to avoid a two year jail sentence on an abuse-of-power verdict, was also a prime mover behind last year's red shirt movement, officially called the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD).

The UDD mobilized tens of thousands of protesters from north and north-east Thailand to descend on Bangkok in March-May to press Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve parliament and call for a general election.

The protests led to bloody street battles between demonstrators and authorities that left 92 dead, including nine police and soldiers, and ended on May 19 with the arrests of hundreds of red shirt followers and their top leadership.

The government crackdown on the red shirts has left many people bitter, especially in the north-east where the majority of casualties hailed from.

A widespread perception that the victims of the bloodshed have not received justice and the government has not accepted responsibility for their deaths is one explanation for the birth of red shirt villages.

'These people had a feeling that they had been crushed by Bangkok,' said Buapan Promphaping, a social science professor at Khon Kaen University. 'Their relatives and friends were killed and arrested and they needed help, so it was necessary for them to unite.'

But the proliferation of new red shirt villages right before the general election, has raised questions about what is really behind the phenomenon.

Maha Sarakham Governor Thongthawee Pimpsen has reportedly vowed to crack down on red shirt villages in his province for breaching laws on local government.

The criticisms are not limited to Thai authorities.

'I think the red shirt villages are wrong,' said Taworn Sansombat, the former village headman of Baan Kamplalai, in the north-eastern province of Khon Kaen. 'Villages should be open to all political parties. In this village we are very democratic. If we want to vote for someone it's our own business.'

Even some of the red shirt leaders question the motives of those behind the red shirt village push.

'They are just causing problems for the villagers,' said Kwanchai Praipana, an Udonthani red shirt leader who spent nine months in jail after his arrest in May. 'I think some of the organizers are just trying to get the Pheu Thai party interested in them.'

The phenomenon points to the rather amorphous nature of the red shirt movement, which at times seems very well organized, as was witnessed during the 69-days of protests in Bangkok, and at other times appears grass-roots driven.

One thing is obvious: the red shirt movement, and now the red shirt villages, will be a political force in Thailand's post-election period, even if the Pheu Thai party wins and leads the next government.

'We will keep setting up red shirt villages, even after the election,' said Sangiem Samranrat, a former Thai police officer who quit his job to join the red shirt movement in 2009. Sangiem now lectures newly opened red shirt villages on the Thai constitution and democracy.

'We want to tell the Pheu Thai party that they better do something for the good of the people if they become the government, otherwise they will hear from us,' Sangiem said.