red shirts and red herrings

Amid the gloom and foreboding surrounding the Condem victory in Britain, it is understandable that some might look far afield where exciting revolts and movements might be found to give those awaiting the firm hand of tory governance some vicarious joy.
The most visible and misunderstood of these foreign rebellions is the redshirts of Thailand, where the fact that the protesters are dress in RED is enough to gain support from the more credulous, or those who consider that they are fighting the state is enough
However the world is a far more complicated place. Luckily on Dave Osler's site there is some sanity his reader LesAbby is a Thai resident and is able to give a proper analysis of the situation: The Class politics of the thailand crisis

the comments are especially interesting as LesAbby confronts some of those leftwingers who would rather see the world as they wish it to be rather than it really is. this for me is the clincher

Another quick thought. The red shirt movement has failed to expand its base to three important groups, although this could of course change. I have already talked about their inability to attract young Bangkok industrial workers and the trade unionists in the state sector. Another group missing are the university students both from the provincial and the Bangkok universities. Instead of the say 50% student makeup of the rally you could expect, you find it’s probably less than 1%. This should be the area you would think the academia based Trotskyist movement could supply the numbers.

Last night the red shirts were driven away from setting up a stage at Ramkhamhaeng University, a school where fees are low and many courses part or flexible time so attracting poorer students. Now whether this was by fellow students, the police or other elements I haven’t found out yet.

Going the other way and looking at a group that overwhelmingly supports the red shirts, you find the police. Now while the army may be the more corrupt group in total financial value, the police are the most corrupt group the public has to deal with on a daily basis. Their traffic stops are there to do just one thing, generate cash payoffs. In the ‘entertainment’ industry by far the largest mafia like organization is the police force. If they are on your side you should start to get a little suspicious.