Word: thais
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...have been true for most of the past six decades, but now a five-year economic boom has created an urban, affluent, well-educated middle class that is demanding a voice in politics, and it cannot be subdued by bullets. The very name given to the demonstrators by the Thai press -- mob mua thue, or mobile-phone mob -- testifies to the interaction of affluence and politics: democracy activists coordinated their protests by cellular telephone...
...revered King, Bhumibol Adulyadej, has tried to guide the country toward stability, but he has no legal power over political affairs. Belatedly, he did mediate a compromise last week to stop the bloodshed by getting the Suchinda government's promise not to block amendments to the Thai constitution that would trim the soldiers' authority. And he appointed an emissary, former Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda, to negotiate with Suchinda an amnesty agreement for those responsible for the crackdown. This apparently eased military objections to Suchinda's ouster...
Throughout the 1980s, Thai society changed rapidly. A boom spurred largely by Japanese and Western investment in chemicals, textiles, consumer electronics and other industries gave the country one of the highest economic growth rates in the world, averaging around 11% from 1987 through 1990 and slowing only to 7.5% in 1991. Thailand, a nation of more than 55 million people, is the world's largest rice exporter, a leading producer of seafood and one of Asia's top tourist destinations. Living and educational standards have expanded enormously: in 1965 only about 16,000 Thais were attending college; today the number...
...unable to prevent some from turning to rock-throwing violence. Gothom Arya, vice chairman of the Campaign for Popular Democracy, an academics' group, asserts that "everybody rallied behind the students: the political parties, the NGOS ((influential nongovernmental welfare organizations)) and the middle class. This represented | something very new in Thai politics. The middle class is more powerful than ever before...
...Anni Rubinger, Melanie Stephens, Simonetta Toraldo Photographers: Terry Ashe, P.F. Bentley, William Campbell, Greg Davis, Rudi Frey, Dirck Halstead, Kenneth Jarecke, Cynthia Johnson, Shelly Katz, David Hume Kennerly, Steve Liss, Christopher Morris, Robin Moyer, Carl Mydans, James Nachtwey, Matthew Naythons, Robert Nickelsberg, Chris Niedenthal, David Rubinger, Anthony Suau, Ted Thai, Diana Walker...