The Center for Southeast Asian Studies presents...

THE SOUTHEAST ASIA

SPEAKER SERIES
TOKIOKA ROOM
MOORE 319
APRIL 23
12:00 PM
FRIDAY
THE RED SHIRTS’ UPRISING: A CHALLENGE TO
OLD PARADIGMS ABOUT THAI SOCIETY
A Discussion with Anusorn Unno, Marcus Ferrara, Ehito Kimura, and Ben Kerkvliet
Précis:
The Red Shirts’ uprising which emerged right after the 2006 military coup and has intensified
over the past four weeks represents significant changes in Thailand’s political landscapes.
Streets in Bangkok which were used either by “the student movements” in the early and mid
1970s or by “the cell-phone mobs” in 1992 or by “the Yellow-Shirt Alliance” in 2004-2006,
are now occupied by ordinary people from and of the upcountry in their attempt to express
their political grievances and concerns. It is also the first time in Thai history that a Prime
Minister has been brought to the negotiation table with protest leaders in a television live
broadcast, and also the first time that such an uprising has forced the military back to the
barracks. Several academic attempts have been made to make sense of these changes. The
Red Shirts’ uprising, some argue, shows that the paradigm of an urban/rural divide (which
implies that “rural” elects the government but “urban” overthrows it), is no longer tenable.
Others maintain that the ruling elite conspiracy theory has also been discounted. In addition,
the idea that there is a “class war” has also been debated and critiqued. The panel will
discuss a crucial moment in Thailand’s political history and examine it through the
perspectives of both Thai and international observers.

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