Eat, talk, pray, revolt
A political movement desperately tries to stay relevant
THE elegant avenues surrounding the prime minister's offices in the capital are the scene of the latest confrontation between the government and the country's seasoned street-fighting men, women and children. This time it is the turn of the ultranationalist yellow shirts, the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), rather than their rivals, the left-wing red shirts.
The protest camp which has sprung up over the past few weeks chokes off traffic access to both the national assembly building and the offices of the prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva. Beneath awnings, hundreds of tents line the pavements in neat rows. There are kitchens, and stalls selling trinkets of such revolutionary role models as Muammar Qaddafi. Buddhist monks mill around. “Long live the King!”, the stickers on musicians' guitar cases proclaim. In the yellow-shirt camp, they do not mean Elvis.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline "Eat, talk, pray, revolt"
From the February 26th 2011 edition
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