Thaksin Shinawatra has asked his supporters to stay on a little longer, but from the way things are going, the Bangkok showdown is looking more and more like a TV series whose script writers don't know how to end. When the red shirts regrouped at the Phan Fa Bridge yesterday evening after peacefully roaming Bangkok on thousands of vehicles, it was almost symbolically "back to square one".
There was renewed hope for negotiations, with Satit Wongnongtaey and Weng Tojirakarn mentioned as government and red-shirt representatives, respectively. But the fight has changed its billing from "I will floor you within two rounds" to a highly tactical one that may last until the final gong. Satit and Weng may start talking, but the two men who really matter remain a world apart in intriguing propaganda warfare.
Obviously, Thaksin had designed yesterday's activities to be a campaign of love. It was to counter Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's attempt to label the rally as his opponent's tool to spread hatred and deepen the divide. Protesters waved and smiled to bystanders during their city tour, receiving friendly greetings in some areas but hostility or disapproval in others. What went missing in the long convoy was a theme that Thaksin had tried to amplify over the past few days - that this was a fight between phrai (slaves or lowly peasants) and ammart (aristocrats or royal advisers).
With Thaksin photographed in Montenegro overseeing a hotel renovation project on a beach paradise, Abhisit has taken the phrai theme and turned it into his own ammunition. In rapid-fire media interviews, he deplored efforts to spawn hatred and mocked the richest phrai the world has ever seen. He was backed by former Democrat leader Chuan Leepai, who warned that the declaration of a "class war" could drive Thailand towards a disastrous division that could never heal.
A "peace" drive by the neutrals earlier has greatly affected both camps' strategies, and neither side wants to be blamed for triggering violence. Now the fight is about who can project their version of the story to the unbiased audience in Thailand and beyond. Are the oppressed rural poor defying illegitimate and abusive state power, or is a political fugitive causing social rifts through a hate campaign for his own benefit?
The rally has been boosted by more involvement of Pheu Thai MPs, who had kept a distance, leading to a relatively low number of protesters in Bangkok. Pheu Thai's late arrival was capped yesterday by leader Chavalit Yongchaiyudh visiting the Phan Fa crowds. "I have never seen this kind of discipline," Chavalit told the protesters, lauding their peaceful Bangkok roaming mission. "Today our mission is accomplished."
Red-shirt leaders will take heart from the rising number of protesters, which means reinforcements from the provinces must have come.
Here are two boxers dancing and dancing, with a little bit of jabbing. If this is a real sport, it may be boring and not worth the ticket cost. But with Thailand's peace hanging by a thread, the current situation could be the best deal the country can get - at least for now.
