The protesters - the so called Red Shirts - are loyal to a former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been urging demonstrators to overthrow the government.
The telecoms billionaire, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006, fled Thailand in August before being sentenced to two years in prison on corruption charges.
He has made a series of speeches by telephone and video in recent weeks encouraging his anti-government forces to take to the streets. Jakrapob Penkair is a leading member of the red shirt protest movement, and he spoke to Karen Percy yesterday evening in Bangkok.
Presenter: Karen Percy, South East Asia correspondent
Speaker: Jakrapob Penkair, deputy secretary to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and president of the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship
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3 comments:
IMO, his English is quite good, as usual.
Actually, I was quite surprised that he left out much of the usual spin - basically I see this interview as an extension of the themes he raised at the FCCT a year or so ago.
The disturbing thing is that he is trying to say this is a revolution like say the french or russian ones, and he basically wants to kust let it play out no matter what the violence.
I think that is quite irresponsible when there are other less violent possibilities.
Thanks for posting the interview.
I can't believe my alma mater give this guy a degree.
By *Giles Ji Ungpakorn*, Turn Left Thailand
April 13, 2009 -- For the fourth time in forty years, troops have opened
fire on pro-democracy demonstrators in Bangkok. Each time, the aim has
been the same: to protect the interests of the conservative elites who
have run Thailand for the past 70 years.
For those watching the cold-blooded murder by soldiers on the streets of
Bangkok, it may be tempting just to assume that the present chaos is
merely about different coloured T-shirts and supporters of different
political parties, as though they were mirror images of each other. This
is not the case.
Full article at http://links.org.au/node/993
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