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...Instead, the red shirts are incensed that Abhisit is in office at all. In December 2007, in the first postcoup election, Thai voters cast the most ballots for a Thaksin proxy party. As fears grew that Thaksin might be pardoned by his allies and stage a political comeback, the yellow shirts responded by occupying the Prime Minister's office complex for months and hijacking Bangkok's two airports for a week. They only dispersed when a court dissolved the then ruling party as punishment for electoral fraud, allowing an Abhisit-led coalition to form through parliamentary backroom deals. "This...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Thailand: Why the Reds Are in Revolt | 4/5/2010 | See Source »

...Red-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...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Thailand: Why the Reds Are in Revolt | 4/5/2010 | See Source »

...unlikely that Abhisit will heed the protesters' demand for a snap election, not least because every election since the 2001 ballot that swept in Thaksin has favored the reds. At any rate, the Prime Minister has until 2011 to hold polls and doing so right now - in the wake of a global financial crisis and before his own populist reforms have had time to take full effect - would likely mean career suicide. Meantime, his reluctance to travel widely in Isaan - the impoverished northeastern farm belt where Thaksin's support is strongest - because of safety concerns makes Abhisit look even further...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Thailand: Why the Reds Are in Revolt | 4/5/2010 | See Source »

...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...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Thailand: Why the Reds Are in Revolt | 4/5/2010 | See Source »

...About the only commonality between Thailand's two factions is a shared taste for political voodoo. In mid-March, thousands of red shirts lined up to donate their blood, which was then splashed by the bucketful at the Prime Minister's office and private residence. Brahmin priests attended the bloodletting, casting hexes on the government amid swirls of incense. Such black magic, which dates back to Thailand's pre-Buddhist past, might seem like the domain of superstitious peasants. But last year, yellow-shirt leader and media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul placed sanitary napkins soaked with menstrual blood around a Bangkok...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Thailand: Why the Reds Are in Revolt | 4/5/2010 | See Source »

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