Word: thailander
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...Class warfare" is how the red-shirt leaders describe their movement - and the designation is more than a rhetorical flourish. Within a generation, Thailand was transformed from an exotic R&R playground for American soldiers fighting in Vietnam into Southeast Asia's manufacturing base, the world's top rice exporter and one of the most inviting vacation destinations on the planet. Yet even though per capita annual incomes reached nearly $4,000 in 2009, many Thais are still stuck in rice paddies or fish canneries wondering how the nation's economic boom bypassed them. Thailand...
...years' free education to a pension scheme for lower-income families. "When there are divisions, people can become quite emotional," laments Panitan Wattanayagorn, Abhisit's spokesman. "Their liking or not liking you doesn't seem to depend on how good your programs are." (Read "Parsing the Color Codes of Thailand...
...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...
...largest electoral mandate in Thai history. Economists have critiqued the loan projects, pointing out that much of the money was spent on satisfying consumption cravings, as opposed to building businesses, thereby creating unsustainable debt loads. Long-term reality mattered less, however, than short-term perception. At last, Thailand's downtrodden felt like they mattered - until the 2006 coup ousted their chosen man. (Read the interview with Thailand's former PM Thaksin Shinawatra...
...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...