Where are the young reds?
May 1st, 2010 by Les Abbey, Guest Contributor · 17 Comments
Last Sunday afternoon I spent a few hours strolling from Chidlom to Silom inside the UDD controlled area leaving it via Lumpini Park. Although not a red shirt supporter I had a pleasant reception from those I talked with, from those on the gates and from a couple of old acquaintances. I have spent time in the northeast and I do get on well with the residents of that area, probably better than some of the Bangkok middle-class does.
During my walk I noticed something strange. I feel I did not increase the average age of those in the area at all, even though I'm late middle-aged myself. Where are all the young people? We have schools and universities on holiday and yet there were no large groups of youth in the area. I thought I might have at least found some male vocational school students who seldom pass up a chance to use up some testosterone.
Now I don't want the above to be seen as an attack on the red shirts, it is just a question. In fact it made me think back to the PAD occupation of the airport. On my visit there the average was probably similar to the UDD's today although obviously from a different social group. You may well think that a hot Sunday afternoon does tend to leave only the older people hanging around and maybe there are factors that occurred because of my timing, but I think we could probably agree that both movements have failed to attract large numbers of younger people. Why is that?
When you look back to 1992 or 1976 you would see an under-30 age group make up most of the crowds. I suspect many of the 1992 pro-democracy movement did show up in the PAD rallies and a few even in the UDD's also, but these are 18 years older now.
17 RESPONSES SO FAR ↓
1Srithanonchai // May 1, 2010 at 5:17 pm
I did about the same Les did on Songkran, i.e. on the day the UDD relocated from Panh Fah to Rajaprasong. I crossed over to Robinson to get some dinner. My experience was truly bizarre. I moved out of a serious political protest into thousands of youngsters filling up Silom fighting it out with their water guns. It seemed that two very different Thai worlds existed side by side without taking any notice of each other.
2Athita // May 1, 2010 at 5:49 pm
(1). Those young reds, they used to come before the 10 April incident, but after the crackdown at Phan Fa, they are forbidden from their parents not to join the protest. However, some joined with their family.
(2). Many teachers in Thai schools, universities, they "brain-wash" their students that the Red movement is to topple the monarchy and only for Thaksin.
(3). It's interesting to see that the PAD use "networking strategy" by keep forwarding emails with rumors, via Facebook, emails etc. So you can see a group called "Facebook group" among the multicolors or pro-government group (a.k.a . PAD's avatar)
3Tarrin // May 1, 2010 at 7:25 pm
I just want to add on Athita, I totally agreed with her, anyhow right now there is a thing call "Social Sanction"
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Social-Sanction-yuthhkar-lng-thh-thang-sngkhm/108738429154376?ref=mf
The aim was to target almost all the known red youth around in facebook, I even got my picture up there. It was a dirty tactic but it works pretty well. Some of the people was only sympathize to the red and they got put their name in there. What worst was that, some is not even red but because some people just hate them so they got put their picture on and got paint as anti monarchy and such, this is very dangerous for any red to show themselves.
I want to report this page to facebook but I dont know whether the page break any term of use or not.
4Jabalaba // May 1, 2010 at 7:29 pm
The young are at home going to school and taking care of the farms and farm animals while the adults are away in Bangkok protesting. There is now a political consciousness amongst the adult population that did not exist a decade ago when it only existed amongst University age children. Whole villages now flock around red shirt T.V., rallies and meetings involving everyone but mostly the adults. It has been afterall the intent of previous governments to lift the educational and economic level of all members of society was it not? So, now you have it and no one should be surprised at this new awareness.
Mass education, mass transportation, expanded road and rail systems , radio, t.v. and the internet have all conspired to bring the rural poor and working classes together as a mobile mass movement. It's going to take some adjustment amongst the rest of Thai society to come to this acceptance. Mao Tse Dong solved the problem of maintaining control in China by providing just the opposite for his people. He drove everyone out of the cities , restricted travel, restricted education and restricted access to the means of communication. What is taking place in Thailand is inevitable and a direct result of those things I have mentioned above. The current government must understand that it cannot go back or force those with whom it disagrees to go back to the way they were either like Mao did in China. I have the feeling that this simply has not yet sunk in. Which is unfortunate because if the current goverment were to realize these shifts that have taken place they would be better able to negotiate the future.
You can't keep them down on the farm anymore as the old saying goes.
Jabalaba
5john francis lee // May 1, 2010 at 7:46 pm
The same is true in the US. Old folks like myself are aghast and against the sickening replay of aggressive warfare, this time the serial aggression against Islamic nations, and see the US political system for what it is – corporate driven and unrepresentative of the people's desires.
The kids are busy… with other things.
The opposite of what it was like when I was their age.
How about Australia?
6KING BNE // May 1, 2010 at 11:45 pm
Maybe you've seen my stickers up all over Bangkok? This post smells like naphthalene. It's the same old argument wheeled out about music not being as good as it used to be, or that young people are ruder now than they were in the past. The implication is that young people don't care about politics. Young people have their own political systems, and you just don't know about them because you're no longer young. See if you can infiltrate them you old fogeys. Be wise to us young whippersnappers. If politics is sport you must've gotten political arthritis. All I can recommend is vaseline.
P/S Van Halen rocks!
7Ricky Ward // May 2, 2010 at 12:29 am
Interesting to read Athita's comment:
(2). Many teachers in Thai schools, universities, they "brain-wash" their students that the Red movement is to topple the monarchy and only for Thaksin.
and then a reference to Mao Zedong.
During the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" students were encouraged to be critical of their teachers and many took this advice to great lengths.
Makes me think of a CMU academic who has a greater than life-size golden robed picture behind his desk, where students prostrate themselves on the floor in front of him.
8Portman // May 2, 2010 at 2:15 am
The rank and file reds at Rajprasong seem to be now about 40-50% over 50 years old and most, apart from the Chinese looking ones using eating at McDonalds and using the wi-fi, look like farmers waiting around for rice planting to start. What is disturbing is the red shirt guards who hang around the stages and spill out at the Saladaeng intersection. They certainly don't look like farmers – more like hired thugs on the fringes of society who are otherwise unemployable and far too lazy to work on farms.
9Nawa // May 2, 2010 at 3:07 am
Thanks for the warning, Tarrin.
There is now Facebook police, under the misnomer of Social Sanction. The sanctions are way beyond social. Facebook users have been fired from work, arrested, and received death threats. Their offense: lese-majeste, equated with threat to national security.
10whoopla // May 2, 2010 at 8:39 am
Tarrin, please can you post the FB page in question. FB needs to be alerted that their network is being abused and is potentially putting peoples lives in danger by nefarious activities and entrapment by malicious groups that FB is not aware of.
11crocodilexp // May 2, 2010 at 8:52 am
@Nawa
Can you present a compelling case that Social Sanction is a hate group devoted to harassment or persecution of individuals due to their political attitudes?
If so, contact Facebook could probably terminate the page for violating their Terms of Service.
http://www.facebook.com/help/?topic=reportabuse
Moreover, many media and online communities (e.g. Digg) are very interested in serious real-world damage caused by the likes of Facebook, and I imagine linking a story there would get fair amount of attention.
I looked at the FB group, but don't read Thai well, so can't really do much.
12Tarrin // May 2, 2010 at 10:51 am
I know only 2 pages so far
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Social-Sanction-yuthhkar-lng-thh-thang-sngkhm/108738429154376?ref=mf
http://www.facebook.com/Watchred
Well, if anyone felt like helping, you can go to the page and click on report or
go to abuse@facebook.com and write what is happening, whoopla already summarized it for you.
13Tarrin // May 2, 2010 at 10:57 am
Whoopla Im trying to post the link on but it seems like newmandala filtered out post with links out
[AW: comment with links now retrieved from spam filter.]
anyway if u have facebook account then after the facebook url just type in watch red or Social-Sanction-yuthhkar-lng-thh-thang-sngkhm
Im wondering why its only those with yellow mentality that can came up with such a thing, during the yellow hayday I never see anything like this before.
Well, if anyone felt like helping, you can go to the page and click on report or
go to abuse@facebook.com and write what is happening, whoopla already summarized it for you.
14KING BNE // May 2, 2010 at 11:14 am
crocodilexp, I've seen plenty of users with ridiculous 'Shoot Thaksin' or 'Shoot Redshirt' and the like profile pictures. In English too! Obviously, with social networking you're just going to get a reflection of societeal attitudes online, so with the present polarization in Thai politics, obviously political affiliated facebook groups will carry 'hate'… Even groups against the protest with seemingly innocuous titles like 'No dissulution of parliament' are filled with users using aggressive profile pictures. Are there any pro-red facebook groups that are comparable to Social Sanction?
15Bow Street Runner // May 2, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Tarrin 13
"Im wondering why its only those with yellow mentality that can came up with such a thing, during the yellow hayday I never see anything like this before."
Think Mo-So,
Think ISOC!
16sopranz // May 2, 2010 at 3:43 pm
What time of the day did you go there?
That also have a role in the composition of the crowd, especially around the Ratchadamri barricade. Younger people stand there in mass during the night, waiting for possible moves by the army or police which also mean that normally during the morning and early afternoon most of them lay somewhere sleeping. The red shirts protest in Ratchaprasong changes frequently during the day in term of age, composition, and numbers.
17Jay // May 2, 2010 at 4:03 pm
From my point of view, the 18 years old may vote, so Thais don't expect some below 18 yo. to care much about the politic yet but fashion, music and all other entertain elements.
The 18 to 22 are not paying much attention to the politics, most of the Thai between 18 to 22 are still facing difficulties making decision about their life, what they want to do and what they want to be in the near future.
Among those young Thais I have talked to about politics, most of them change the channels when there are NEWS on TV with the feeling that politics are boring issues (better watch advertisement).
It is already difficult during this holiday for the youngs in BKK, as the siam paragon is not allowed to go by parents,…. so they plan to go to other departmentstore instead.
The light of the nation is to quickly improve our educational system, which is out date, the government needs to attrack the best brain back from industry and business, the gov't needs to pay 3 times higher salaries to educational staffs with fairly recruitment systems for teachers at all level.
We needs the best brain back to our education systems here in Thailand.