I almost mis-read Mr Farrelly’s article as India and China fighting over Kachin…corrected myself!
Bottomline there is only one who can help the Kachin prosper as an ethnic group – the Kachins themselves. All the other parties have their own agenda – India wants to shut off the support to its rebels; China wants the cheap goodies; the West wants to preach human rights and the Burmese just wants to own Kachin.
Ideally the Burmese will have to respect the Kachin as masters of their own destinies hopefully in the near future, the West has to understand that their belief systems are not universal and really localized, China has to work on a sustainable model of economic trade and commerce in resource rich lands and India has to see the larger picture of political stability in a regional perspective than just myopically settling for shortcuts.
#Charoenkhwan Sabye Sabye
I don’t mind if we have all sort of Royal Ceremonies, its country’s character and colour as long as they don’t send an invisble hand to interfere our right.
Shwe Phou Phou, all the workers I’ve spoken with about the “Champion” (SD Fashion) case have been quite explicit about having gone on strike on May 2, after having met with workers from another factory at the May Day rally on May 1. Also, cutting off the water supply and occupying a factory would be extraordinary anywhere, let alone among migrants in Mae Sot. I’ve heard nothing about such actions, and I think if they had occurred, they would have at least been in the Burmese language news. However, as mentioned in your information, the Human Rights and Development Foundation (actually the Labor Law Clinic, which is basically the same body) did assist the SD Fashion workers in filing their complaint with the labour protection office. You can follow up with HRDF about this at [email protected]. I hope this helps.
Whatever happens, I truly believe that both the ammart and Thaksin will muck it up.
Neither side believes in or trusts democracy and both what their players at the table to participate in the Thai kleptocracy. Have they agreed on a formula for sharing the ‘corruption’?
Unlikely.
Hopefully the people will start to get a true labor movement, agrarian reform, stronger civil society through actions of community movements in the South, in red shirt villages, in outlying communities.
Perhaps there will be a movement to start decentralization and local elections and control.
ASSK’s popularity among the Kachins has never been unconditional from my experience, and the war and her silence have pretty much destroyed it. I suspect part of silence on the delay of votes in the three districts in the Kachin State is due to the fact the NLD wouldn’t win.
the game play is more complex that this piece makes out; there are two processes happening at the same time, one that we can talk about because it is newsworthy; the other hidden from view… (so we must wait and see). BTW/ Jatuporn was of course dumped by the courts last week which shows how all-powerful the amaat are and why PTP have little choice– other than jump from the top floor.
Biggest weakness is the lack of proper analysis of relationship between Thaksin and Red Shirts which is far more complex and nuanced than just one of simple patronage. In fact, to suggest it can only be that (which this paper doesn’t to be fair) reveals the lack of insight of those who make that claim rather than anything else.
Those who also assume the Red Shirts are “revolutionary” in a classic socialist sense are missing one key point – the Red Shirts, while having some leftists in their ranks, are broadly petit bourgeois and more closely aligned to a form of liberal democracy than outright socialism. Of course nearly all liberal democracies have mixed systems of markets and state.
So, the academics and other commentators like Fernquest who project their fantasies of what the Red Shirts should be like and who, in the same fantasies condemn the Red Shirts for aligning with their partners of choice (and I see the Thaksin/Red Shirt relationship as a partnership more than a patronage) are guilty of an abject failure. Question is, is this analysis driven more by a specific political agenda (likely) rather a lack of critical imagination?
As for the “compromise” – in many ways Thaksin pushing for this actually reveals some of how the Red Shirt/Thaksin partnership is put together and also the weaknesses of it.
To my mind the Thaksin/PT/Red Shirt coalition was at its strongest just after the election last year. They needed to move quickly and force the amaart into backing down. They didn’t and have been on the back foot since. Now the amaart are pushing at the schisms, attempting to break the partnership apart so that both elements can be dealt with individually. The Reds will be dealt with via brutal force should they protest; Thaksin/PT will be dealt with via the courts and international media/NGOs, who now must be considered as part of the amaart’s tool box.
We’re back into real politick now and all that entails. Who, ultimately, offers Thailand the best chance of progress, social justice and democracy? The amaart, with their alliance of neo-fascists, military and royalist cronies, with decades of coups, massacres and a proven opposition to democracy, or, despite all its very obvious flaws, the nexus of Thaksin/Red Shirts/Pheu Thai?
As for the Bangkok liberals – well, my view is that they have very little understanding of the Red Shirts or how to leverage political power. They are far more content standing around sneering at the ordinary grassroots Red Shirts for choosing Thaksin as a partner than actually being part of a process of change themselves. These liberals, rather than holding their endless and tiresome run of panels, talking shops and Facebook updates, need to learn to listen to those who are actually effecting social and political change rather than impose their academic “theories” on an ill-fitting model.
My own view is that the civil war – and the underlying problems in ethnic areas – run central to Burma’s woes. And it struck me that while ASSK is about to go to Oslo and the UK she has not addressed the war – at least as far as I can gather. And I wondered why that is. I have written before how her cult-like status in the west (of which my work has played a part) was in danger of obscuring more pressing issues. And I interviewed Shan refugees who had no idea who she was, and some who did who openly distrusted her. But that story isn’t one people want to hear so there were few takers. Her ‘no-comment’ approach to the civil war could be a delicate balancing act with the military. But there is a danger that the Shan and Kachin and others may see the progress inside the country as a Burman pact and the minorities concerns are sidelined. But now that ASSK has entered the political arena, perhaps people will look at her more critically (in a constructive way), rather than placing her on a pedestal.
This thing reads more like a revolutionary manifesto than a contribution to scholarship.
There are some interesting bold assertions that once transformed into tentative falsifiable hypotheses deserve further analysis and an academic paper or two, such as:
“Yingluck is the best choice of leader for none but the ammat. For the ammat, Yingluck is functionally equivalent, though inferior, to Abhisit Vejjajiva (that is, being a premier but acting as a spokesperson) – but endowed with Thaksin’s mass appeal. ”
But in this one is hard to discern what you are imagining:
“But why has Thaksin, despite a landslide election victory, rushed into this compromise game – rather than waiting for better timing or even an opportunity to eradicate ammat’s power?”
In the past, Thaksin stacked the military and favoured his own family members and businesses in policy and appointments (See chapter in Thaksinization of Thailand). He redistributed economic rents in his and his associates favour (see Aj. Pasuk’s paper in Thai Capital). Thaksin has been and appears to still be a lot less revolutionary than you imagine him to be. In short: same same but different.
Need some help. What follows is a labour article sent to me by the Bangkok ACILS office earlier this month. Their article states that the strike began on 28 April. Is this the case?? Your assistance is kindly appreciated.
—————
April 28, 2012
About 600 Burmese migrant workers went on strike at the Champion garment and textile factory in Mae Sot. A day before the strike the workers cut off water to the plant. They continue to occupy the plant. Workers are striking because the employer continues to pay them well below the minimum wage. With the assistance of Human Rights and Development Foundation the workers have filed a petition and complaint to the provincial labor office.
This (in particular the first paragraph) is a rather unbelievable piece of reactionary and patronizing royalist ideology by an arch member of the ammart’s aristocratic section. People should turn up at the event in large numbers, ask uncomfortable questions, and tell the speaker whether they, as “Thai people,” believe what he claims they believe.
It does appear that the Harvard Thai Studies move is a high-level attempt by the royalist group in Thailand to establish a pro-royalist Thai Studies center at Harvard in order to “use” Harvard’s high-rank and status to promote and “endorse” a benign view of their own entrenched power position and enormous wealth/ownership in Thailand.
It would be very disappointing to many of the pro-democracy forces in today’s Thailand situation as well as many Thai scholars around the world, if Harvard were to willingly go along with this plan to “prostrate” itself before Thai royalism and to serve as a platform for such an extreme anti-democracy, anti-academic freedom, anti-free expression group as the Thai royalists and Thai Royal family.
As if Harvard were some kind of impoverished rural Isan bargirl working in a Bangkok brothel whose services were available to whoever has the most cash on a particular day.
On the other hand, if Harvard were to appoint Federico Ferrara, one of their own Ph.D. graduates, Thai scholar presently at the University of Hong Kong and author of THAILAND UNHINGED which thoroughly de-constructs the myth of “benign and benevolent” royalism in Thailand, then that indeed would be an important advancement in Thai Studies in the U.S.
Of course, such an appointment would immediately cut off all possibility of Thai royalist funding for the Harvard project as the Thai royalist view of Professor Ferrara is that he should be charged with Lese Majeste and thrown in a Thai prison to rot for 15 years.
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The Kachin war in regional perspective
I almost mis-read Mr Farrelly’s article as India and China fighting over Kachin…corrected myself!
Bottomline there is only one who can help the Kachin prosper as an ethnic group – the Kachins themselves. All the other parties have their own agenda – India wants to shut off the support to its rebels; China wants the cheap goodies; the West wants to preach human rights and the Burmese just wants to own Kachin.
Ideally the Burmese will have to respect the Kachin as masters of their own destinies hopefully in the near future, the West has to understand that their belief systems are not universal and really localized, China has to work on a sustainable model of economic trade and commerce in resource rich lands and India has to see the larger picture of political stability in a regional perspective than just myopically settling for shortcuts.
Kachin State: Don’t mention the war
The pedestal that ASSK has been placed on is so high, that when she finally topples off of it, it’s going to be a very long drop.
She is admired by many people in the west, but in Burma I don’t think her popularity has reached god-like status. Yet.
Talk on royal cremation ceremony
#Charoenkhwan Sabye Sabye
I don’t mind if we have all sort of Royal Ceremonies, its country’s character and colour as long as they don’t send an invisble hand to interfere our right.
Anatomy of a Burmese migrant strike
Shwe Phou Phou, all the workers I’ve spoken with about the “Champion” (SD Fashion) case have been quite explicit about having gone on strike on May 2, after having met with workers from another factory at the May Day rally on May 1. Also, cutting off the water supply and occupying a factory would be extraordinary anywhere, let alone among migrants in Mae Sot. I’ve heard nothing about such actions, and I think if they had occurred, they would have at least been in the Burmese language news. However, as mentioned in your information, the Human Rights and Development Foundation (actually the Labor Law Clinic, which is basically the same body) did assist the SD Fashion workers in filing their complaint with the labour protection office. You can follow up with HRDF about this at [email protected]. I hope this helps.
Why the compromise game?
Whatever happens, I truly believe that both the ammart and Thaksin will muck it up.
Neither side believes in or trusts democracy and both what their players at the table to participate in the Thai kleptocracy. Have they agreed on a formula for sharing the ‘corruption’?
Unlikely.
Hopefully the people will start to get a true labor movement, agrarian reform, stronger civil society through actions of community movements in the South, in red shirt villages, in outlying communities.
Perhaps there will be a movement to start decentralization and local elections and control.
Talk on royal cremation ceremony
So its official, its not a monarchy but a theocracy run by a modern Jesus.
Not head of state. Now GOD.
As an agnostic can I constantly question the existence of……………….
Or is it Article 112?
Kachin State: Don’t mention the war
ASSK’s popularity among the Kachins has never been unconditional from my experience, and the war and her silence have pretty much destroyed it. I suspect part of silence on the delay of votes in the three districts in the Kachin State is due to the fact the NLD wouldn’t win.
Why the compromise game?
“Thaksin has been and appears to still be a lot less revolutionary than you imagine him to be.” >> Exactly…
Why the compromise game?
the game play is more complex that this piece makes out; there are two processes happening at the same time, one that we can talk about because it is newsworthy; the other hidden from view… (so we must wait and see). BTW/ Jatuporn was of course dumped by the courts last week which shows how all-powerful the amaat are and why PTP have little choice– other than jump from the top floor.
Why the compromise game?
Interesting read and thanks for posting this.
Biggest weakness is the lack of proper analysis of relationship between Thaksin and Red Shirts which is far more complex and nuanced than just one of simple patronage. In fact, to suggest it can only be that (which this paper doesn’t to be fair) reveals the lack of insight of those who make that claim rather than anything else.
Those who also assume the Red Shirts are “revolutionary” in a classic socialist sense are missing one key point – the Red Shirts, while having some leftists in their ranks, are broadly petit bourgeois and more closely aligned to a form of liberal democracy than outright socialism. Of course nearly all liberal democracies have mixed systems of markets and state.
So, the academics and other commentators like Fernquest who project their fantasies of what the Red Shirts should be like and who, in the same fantasies condemn the Red Shirts for aligning with their partners of choice (and I see the Thaksin/Red Shirt relationship as a partnership more than a patronage) are guilty of an abject failure. Question is, is this analysis driven more by a specific political agenda (likely) rather a lack of critical imagination?
As for the “compromise” – in many ways Thaksin pushing for this actually reveals some of how the Red Shirt/Thaksin partnership is put together and also the weaknesses of it.
To my mind the Thaksin/PT/Red Shirt coalition was at its strongest just after the election last year. They needed to move quickly and force the amaart into backing down. They didn’t and have been on the back foot since. Now the amaart are pushing at the schisms, attempting to break the partnership apart so that both elements can be dealt with individually. The Reds will be dealt with via brutal force should they protest; Thaksin/PT will be dealt with via the courts and international media/NGOs, who now must be considered as part of the amaart’s tool box.
We’re back into real politick now and all that entails. Who, ultimately, offers Thailand the best chance of progress, social justice and democracy? The amaart, with their alliance of neo-fascists, military and royalist cronies, with decades of coups, massacres and a proven opposition to democracy, or, despite all its very obvious flaws, the nexus of Thaksin/Red Shirts/Pheu Thai?
As for the Bangkok liberals – well, my view is that they have very little understanding of the Red Shirts or how to leverage political power. They are far more content standing around sneering at the ordinary grassroots Red Shirts for choosing Thaksin as a partner than actually being part of a process of change themselves. These liberals, rather than holding their endless and tiresome run of panels, talking shops and Facebook updates, need to learn to listen to those who are actually effecting social and political change rather than impose their academic “theories” on an ill-fitting model.
Vajiralongkorn on “roll of dishonour”
The Spanish royals didn’t attend aither, apparently because of the issue of Gibraltar. That was perhaps the most conspicuous absence.
Kachin State: Don’t mention the war
Delicate balancing act?
Kachin State: Don’t mention the war
My own view is that the civil war – and the underlying problems in ethnic areas – run central to Burma’s woes. And it struck me that while ASSK is about to go to Oslo and the UK she has not addressed the war – at least as far as I can gather. And I wondered why that is. I have written before how her cult-like status in the west (of which my work has played a part) was in danger of obscuring more pressing issues. And I interviewed Shan refugees who had no idea who she was, and some who did who openly distrusted her. But that story isn’t one people want to hear so there were few takers. Her ‘no-comment’ approach to the civil war could be a delicate balancing act with the military. But there is a danger that the Shan and Kachin and others may see the progress inside the country as a Burman pact and the minorities concerns are sidelined. But now that ASSK has entered the political arena, perhaps people will look at her more critically (in a constructive way), rather than placing her on a pedestal.
Why the compromise game?
My reaction to a first read is more like #3 than #1. Interesting, but I must slowly work through it again.
Why the compromise game?
This thing reads more like a revolutionary manifesto than a contribution to scholarship.
There are some interesting bold assertions that once transformed into tentative falsifiable hypotheses deserve further analysis and an academic paper or two, such as:
“Yingluck is the best choice of leader for none but the ammat. For the ammat, Yingluck is functionally equivalent, though inferior, to Abhisit Vejjajiva (that is, being a premier but acting as a spokesperson) – but endowed with Thaksin’s mass appeal. ”
But in this one is hard to discern what you are imagining:
“But why has Thaksin, despite a landslide election victory, rushed into this compromise game – rather than waiting for better timing or even an opportunity to eradicate ammat’s power?”
In the past, Thaksin stacked the military and favoured his own family members and businesses in policy and appointments (See chapter in Thaksinization of Thailand). He redistributed economic rents in his and his associates favour (see Aj. Pasuk’s paper in Thai Capital). Thaksin has been and appears to still be a lot less revolutionary than you imagine him to be. In short: same same but different.
Anatomy of a Burmese migrant strike
Stephen,
Need some help. What follows is a labour article sent to me by the Bangkok ACILS office earlier this month. Their article states that the strike began on 28 April. Is this the case?? Your assistance is kindly appreciated.
—————
April 28, 2012
About 600 Burmese migrant workers went on strike at the Champion garment and textile factory in Mae Sot. A day before the strike the workers cut off water to the plant. They continue to occupy the plant. Workers are striking because the employer continues to pay them well below the minimum wage. With the assistance of Human Rights and Development Foundation the workers have filed a petition and complaint to the provincial labor office.
Kachin State: Don’t mention the war
Not directly, explicitly and publicly at least.
Like a lot of people , usual high school essay of peace is better than war and everyone should strive for it and such and such.
Why do you ask?
And why people do not write Aung San Suu Kyi, as Aung San Suu Kyi ever?
Talk on royal cremation ceremony
This (in particular the first paragraph) is a rather unbelievable piece of reactionary and patronizing royalist ideology by an arch member of the ammart’s aristocratic section. People should turn up at the event in large numbers, ask uncomfortable questions, and tell the speaker whether they, as “Thai people,” believe what he claims they believe.
NLD MPs at the ANU
Did Phyo Zeya Thaw provide links to any of his music? Couldn’t find any with a quick google…
Thai Studies at Harvard
It does appear that the Harvard Thai Studies move is a high-level attempt by the royalist group in Thailand to establish a pro-royalist Thai Studies center at Harvard in order to “use” Harvard’s high-rank and status to promote and “endorse” a benign view of their own entrenched power position and enormous wealth/ownership in Thailand.
It would be very disappointing to many of the pro-democracy forces in today’s Thailand situation as well as many Thai scholars around the world, if Harvard were to willingly go along with this plan to “prostrate” itself before Thai royalism and to serve as a platform for such an extreme anti-democracy, anti-academic freedom, anti-free expression group as the Thai royalists and Thai Royal family.
As if Harvard were some kind of impoverished rural Isan bargirl working in a Bangkok brothel whose services were available to whoever has the most cash on a particular day.
On the other hand, if Harvard were to appoint Federico Ferrara, one of their own Ph.D. graduates, Thai scholar presently at the University of Hong Kong and author of THAILAND UNHINGED which thoroughly de-constructs the myth of “benign and benevolent” royalism in Thailand, then that indeed would be an important advancement in Thai Studies in the U.S.
Of course, such an appointment would immediately cut off all possibility of Thai royalist funding for the Harvard project as the Thai royalist view of Professor Ferrara is that he should be charged with Lese Majeste and thrown in a Thai prison to rot for 15 years.