Word: classe
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...shirt leaders know their popularity depends on fanning the flames of class rage. Even though some of their supporters are rich entrepreneurs who profited during Thaksin's rule, they have reached into the language of Thailand's feudal past and characterized the current political crisis as pitting the phrai against the amataya. Roughly translated, that's a conflict between the serfs and the aristocracy. Abhisit struck back on local TV: "Thailand no longer has [such] social classes. People are equal under the constitution, although they have unequal opportunities." But the underclass isn't convinced. "The poor work hard and contribute...
...Abhisit surely recognizes how wounding class divisions can be if left to fester. Currently, the richest 20% in Thailand controls two-thirds of the nation's wealth. "In many [Bangkok] districts, the richest and poorest have been living side by side for years and people feel these income gaps," says the PM's spokesman Panitan. "We may not see confrontations like in Latin America but, if not managed, this could be a big problem in Thailand, and demonstrations will be the order of the day for years to come...
...Still, as much class resentment as the reds have harnessed, it's not clear how Thailand will move forward from a seemingly never-ending cycle of red and yellow protest. "It's a deadlocked situation," says Sompop Manarungsan, another Chulalongkorn economist. Plenty of Thais are fed up with both political factions and just want a government that isn't constantly stuck in crisis mode. Abhisit has offered dialogue with the red shirts' leaders, but no amount of talking over the past four years has resulted in any political conciliation. Equally distressing for Thais, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, often considered an arbiter...
This is the rare DreamWorks movie that might have benefited from a few more gag writers. Its early reels rely too heavily on the conceit that medieval Norsemen spoke with a Scots accent, and the other teens in Hiccup's dragon-training class never surmount their stereotypes. But Sanders and DeBlois, two Disney vets who told a similar kid-and-feral-pet fable in 2002's Lilo & Stitch, have the knack of giving life to fantastical interspecies friendships. And the technicians at their disposal (including the Coen brothers' ace cinematographer, Roger Deakins) have splashed the screen with landscapes that would...
...wealthy coal-mining hub that's home to 1.5 million people. A public-works project worthy of Kubla Khan's "stately pleasure-dome," Kangbashi is filled with office towers, administrative centers, government buildings, museums, theaters and sports fields - not to mention acre on acre of subdivisions overflowing with middle-class duplexes and bungalows. The only problem: the district was originally designed to house, support and entertain 1 million people, yet hardly anyone lives there. Only a handful of cars drive down Kangbashi's multilane highways, a few government offices are open during the day and an occasional pedestrian, appearing like...