Rev. Danny Fisher

My latest “On the Buddhism Beat” post is now online over at Shambhala Sun Space.  This week, it’s a conversation with my friend and former colleague, anthropologist and Thailand scholar Erick D. White, about the political demonstrations currently taking place in Bangkok.  In addition, we also discuss ongoing violence in the restive south of the country.  Here’s a snippet of our conversation…

Erick, I remember when you and I were working together in India in 2006 and news broke that Thailand’s Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, was ousted in a military coup. As I understand it, the “Red Shirts” demonstrating against the governmentright now are supporters of his, and they want the current Parliament dissolved and new elections to be held. Is this right? Would you help us fill in the blanks?

The “Red Shirts” is a broad, expanding social movement that contains many different distinct groups and ideologies within it. Initially it consisted more exclusively of supporters of Thaksin, but over time it has diversified. Journalists, commentators and “Red Shirt” supporters themselves recognize this diversity, and there are increasingly disagreements and debates over ideology and strategy within the umbrella-like movement. In general over the course of the last year or so, the centrality of Thaksin has declined, as more and more supporters identify themselves as more concerned with ending military dominance of Thai politics and restoring democracy than rehabilitating Thaksin’s personal political fortunes or the political party associated with him. The relative balance of these differing goals within the movement is a subject of much debate though.

Read the rest here.