The Red Shirts () are a political movement in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, formed following the 2006 coup d'état which deposed then-Prime Minister

Thaksin Shinawatra Thaksin Shinawatra (, ; born 26 July 1949) is a Thai businessman and politician who was the 23rd prime minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006. Since 2009 he has also been a citizen of Montenegro. Thaksin founded the mobile phone operator A ...

. Originally synonymous with the

United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship The United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD; , alternatively translated as National Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship), whose supporters are commonly called Red Shirts, is a political pressure group opposed to the People' ...

(UDD), a group formed to protest the coup and resulting military government, the movement subsequently expanded to include various groups with diverse political priorities. Its members range from left-wing and/or liberal activists and academics to the large number of Thaksin's rural and working-class supporters. The movement emerged as the result of socioeconomic changes in

Northeast Thailand Northeast Thailand or Isan (Isan language, Isan/, ; ; also written as Isaan, Isarn, Issarn, Issan, Esan, or Esarn; from Pāli ''isāna'' or Sanskrit ईशान्य ''īśānya'' "northeast") consists of 20 provinces in northeastern Thai ...

in the 1990s and 2000s, including a growing middle class, rising aspirations, and an increasing awareness of the extreme inequality and of the fundamentally weak democracy in Thailand, typified by Thailand's

primate city A primate city is a city that is the largest in its country, province, state, or region, and disproportionately larger than any others in the urban hierarchy. A ''primate city distribution'' is a rank-size distribution that has one very large ...

problem. Red Shirts

group dynamics Group dynamics is a system of behaviors and psychological processes occurring within a social group (''intra''group dynamics), or between social groups ( ''inter''group dynamics). The study of group dynamics can be useful in understanding decision ...

center on frustrated economic and political aspirations to improve democracy and overcome inequality, which contributed to the

2009 Thai political unrest A series of political demonstrations and following unrest occurred in Thailand from 26 March to 14 April 2009 in Bangkok and Pattaya against the government of Abhisit Vejjajiva and the military crackdown that followed. Up to 100,000 people demonst ...

and the

2010 Thai political protests The 2010 Thai political protests were a series of political protests that were organised by the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) (also known as " Red Shirts") in Bangkok, Thailand from 12 March–19 May 2010 against the ...

, as well as shared suffering at the hand of the ruling class hegemony. As with other minorities, the Red Shirts have been

dehumanized upright=1.2, link=Warsaw Ghetto boy, In his report on the suppression of the Nazi camps as "bandits". file:Abu Ghraib 68.jpg, Lynndie England pulling a leash attached to the neck of a prisoner in Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse, Abu Ghr ...

and

demonized Demonization or demonisation is the reinterpretation of polytheistic deities as evil, lying demons by other religions, generally by the monotheistic and henotheistic ones. The term has since been expanded to refer to any characterization of indivi ...

, with insults such as "Red Buffalo" (; ''khwai'', 'buffalo', is a common insult in Thai meaning a stupid person), since reclaimed by some of its targets. Their claims for

transitional justice Transitional justice is a process which responds to human rights violations through judicial redress, political reforms and cultural healing efforts and other measures in order to prevent the recurrence of human rights abuse in a region or countr ...

following the

2010 Thai military crackdown On 10 April and 13–19 May 2010, the Thai military cracked down on the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) protests in central Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. The crackdown was the culmination of months of protests that cal ...

have been subverted by the Thai state.

References

Political history of Thailand Thai democracy movements 2006 establishments in Thailand 2006 in Thailand Political career of Thaksin Shinawatra {{Asia-poli-stub

See also

References