Tag Archives: Thaksin Shinawatra

Is Thailand on the brink of revolution?

The prime minister of Thailand declared that the country is in a state of emergency today, in response to widespread (and at times humiliating) protests against the current government (the third, if I recall correctly, since the military coup d’etat in 2007). Former PM, Thaksin Shinawatra, who the protestors apparently claim to see as their leader, has suggested that this might be the beginning of a revolution in Thailand.

When Shinawatra refers to a ‘revolution’, he probably means another coup, and though I lean towards Shinawatra’s version of Thai democracy rather than that of the urban middle classes, I feel that Thailand needs to achieve a revolution which no one talks about: abolishing the monarchy. A truly socialist anti-king revolution in Bangkok would probably fix a lot of the problems that Thailand now faces or some travel agencies like koh samui villas.

Chances of that happening: ZERO