Thread: Who are the Red Shirts?

The Panthamit Yellowshirts, thanks to their backers in the media, their 24 hour a day TV Channel and their highly public actions, are well known to all of us. It seems that not so much is known about their redshirt opponents, this thread is an attempt to fill in some of the gaps. The policies, politics and tactics of Panthamit have been covered in detail in newspapers, on TV, and on the Internet but little has been said about what their opponents want - this is of course mainly because the Thai media, apart from NBTV, some radio stations and one or two newspapers, actively support Panthamit and have no interest in presenting the Redshirts case other than for propaganda purposes.

The Redshirts are an umbrella group, formed mainly from the DAAD (Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship). The current name for the Redshirts in Thai is ลมแนวรวมประชาธปไตยขบไลเผดจการแหงชาต (National United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship) but they are popularly known in Thailand as Nor Por Chor and in English as the UDD.

They first appeared in 2006 as a loose alliance opposed to the September 2006 Military coup and their first widely publicized action was a demonstration outside General Prem's (President of the Privy Council) house in 2007. They accused him of being the major moving force behind the coup. During this demonstration the crowd, several thousand strong, threw water bottles and stones at Prem's house and the police after the police the police had made an attempt to arrrest the UDD leaders. The crowd was broken up by riot police baton-charges and tear gas.

The UDD continued to protest against the Military Government but called off their rallies after the PPP, under Samak, won the 2007 election. The UDD resumed activity as a reaction the PAD rallies of May this year.

Nor Por Chor's power-base and support is firmly based in the North and North-East of Thailand. Many of them are staunchly pro-Thaksin and pro-TRT/PPP although they have a number of differing viewpoints within their camp, within the Reds debate and diversity of viewpoint is encouraged. This can lead to some uncomfortable alliances, marxist academics seemingly finding themselves on the same side as old-style political Mafia bosses. A number of anti-Thaksin and anti-TRT academics, intellectuals, and social activists have expressed support for Nor Por Chor as they see them as the only effective force against the fiercely conservative and authoritatrian PAD. Nor Por Chor are firmly opposed to any military involvement in Thai politics and have stated that they strongly support electoral democracy and oppose the use of mob pressure to force an elected government out of office. They also reject the current military-drafted constitution and wish to reinstate the 1997 constitution.

Their leaders include several members of the PPP, presenters of the Kwarm Jing Wan Ni (The Truth Today) show, academics and social activists. Core leaders include Veera Musigapong (Presenter of "The Truth Today and ex-TRT Executive), Jakrapob Penkair (Former Spokesman for Thaksinn), and Jatuporn Phromphan (PPP MP).

The alleged aims of the UDD are simple, a return to the political system as it was pre-coup, the restoration of the 1997 constitution, and an undoing of the changes imposed by the Council for National Security, which changes included appointing a large number of unelected senators to the upper house.