Abhisit’s military-backed government has rejected negotiations with the Red Shirts and the olive branch offered to the government by the Red Shirts yesterday. After meeting with various foreign ambassadors at the protest site, the Red Shirt leaders offered a compromise demand: dissolve parliament in 1 month and elections 2 months after that. But Abhisit’s military government, which has never been elected, has turned its back on a peaceful solution. They have ordered the army to use lethal force to disperse the peaceful protests within 48 hours. Abhisit and the army already have blood on their hands from the shooting of 21 civilians on 10th April.
The Red Shirts are strengthening their defenses, calling in the Red Shirt motorcycle riders to defend the barricades, urging people to join the protests (but not in red shirts so as not to be stopped by the military). Red Shirt supporters in the provinces should try to stop troop movements, and if the army start a crackdown in Bangkok, they should take any necessary measures in the provinces. Motorcycle riders in Bangkok should also take any necessary measures in such an event.
The NGOs and so-called “peace activists” have failed to condemn the government and continue to provide legitimacy for government violence and the destruction of democracy.
All Power to the Red Shirts! Power to the People! Power to Workers and Peasants! Down with the Dictators, the Army, the Fascist PAD, and the Monarchy!
Giles Ji Ungpakorn is a Thai socialist, currently in exile in the U.K. His latest book Thailand’s Crisis and the Fight for Democracy will be published in April 2010. See, also, “Thailand: Seeing through the Mist of Tear Gas” (MRZine, 16 April 2010).
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