Bangkok ablaze

Almost exactly a year ago I was in Thailand on a fortnight’s filming trip with work, experiencing stunning scenery, meeting really friendly people and enjoying all that you get from a different culture.

Now, that country – and Bangkok in particular – is an ugly place, bereft of the beauty I witnessed. It’s a place of anger, symbolised by the countless fires across the city and black smoke billowing out of the high-rise landscape.

I’ve been saddened to see the protests by the anti-government Red Shirts group escalate over the last few weeks.

The last few days has seen violence, bloodshed (including the killing of a renegade general who backed the protests) and swift action by the Thai authorities, who have hit back to try and bring Bangkok under some sort of control again.

On Wednesday, a night-time curfew was put in place in the city, and across 23 Thai provinces, and that has been extended to three more nights.

And it’s that ‘control’ which the Red Shirts are so opposed to – they want to bring the government down, claiming there should be fresh elections. Their ‘leader’ is the former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a military coup in 2006.

The majority of Red Shirt protestors hail from the north of Thailand and they benefitted from Thaksin’s populist policies when he was in power.

The Red Shirts desires for deep-rooted change led them to literally camp on the streets of Bangkok and, when skirmishes with the army increased, so did their acts of lawlessness. Someone I met whilst in Bangkok e-mailed yesterday saying it is ‘not unarmed civilians peacefully protesting but rather guerrilla warfare that has got out of control’.

I fear what has happened in Bangkok over the last few days is just the start; it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Violence is already spreading to other part of Thailand, including the popular, and serene, tourist destination of Chiang Mai (where I stayed last year).

The damage being done is immeasurable – to social structures, to the infrastructure and to the tourist industry which the country so relies upon.

The situation in Thailand is just one place in the world of where ‘the masses’ are publicly showing their feelings against the establishment – where people want radical change and justice. We see it in Greece too at the moment and with the global economic crisis, especially in Europe, expect more of the same in other places too.

The feelings of anger, injustice, hatred, bitterness so openly expressed in Thailand and elsewhere originate, I believe, from people’s self-centredness – from our greediness, from our desire to be better than our neighbours, willing to do anything to be in a better place, with a higher status.

For example, although the Red Shirts are a group, it’s being reported that there are factions between members leading to ‘in-party fighting’ – it seems that individuals there are more in it for themselves than for the good of the community and the group.

I hope and pray that some sort of reconciliation between the Red Shirts and the government (and their support group) might be found in Thailand – but fear this is some way off yet. Before the talking begins, the action must stop – otherwise this beautiful country may never fully recover.

(Photo credit: Timo Kozlowsk)