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Students, young people, and even children have been protesting around Thailand since July. The peaceful dissent started online during lockdown when Thai youth began discussing forbidden topics, including the monarchy. The symbol of the protests has been the three-finger salute from the film The Hunger Games and a hashtag, #WhatsHappeninginThailand. So what is happening in Thailand right now?
Thai politics has traditionally fallen into two political camps coded to two colours, red and yellow. Yellow is the colour of the establishment who support unquestioned loyalty to the monarchy and to King Maha Vajiralongkorn. He was crowned Rama X in a lavish ceremony in Bangkok last year. Yellow also means the government of Prayuth Chan-ocha and of the military who control Thai politics.
Red is the colour of populist and leftist dissent. The Red Shirts were the supporters of billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is now in exile. Thailand's worst political violence in recent years was in 2010, when the reds and yellows battled in Bangkok. The conflict culminated in troops killing about 100 people. However, the student protesters this year defy those colour codes.
The students' core demands are an end to the harassment of dissidents, the dissolution of parliament, and the writing of a new constitution. Many of the protesters voted for Future Forward, an opposition party that was disbanded by the authorities in February. That caused many young people to conclude that working within Thailand's supposedly democratic system made no sense.
Now one faction of the students are demanding limits on the powers of the king. In Thailand that's a really big deal. Saying the wrong thing about the monarchy can land you in jail. They also want to cut the palace's budget, for the king's private wealth to be separated from crown assets, and for parliamentary oversight of the monarchy, similar to what happens in the UK.
Although Thailand is officially a constitutional monarchy, the king, who lives mostly in Germany, has until now enjoyed immunity from criticism. Little wonder that the yellow establishment regards the students as radicals. Police have charged more than a dozen people with sedition and other crimes.
But the students aren't backing down. This is a new generation of young people who are showing a fearlessness that surprises their elders. And they are promising to shake up Thailand with more protests in weeks to come.