absolutelyBangkok archive · Books & Movies
Originally published June 21, 2010
Relive Black May with Al Jazeera’s “The Rageh Omaar Report: The Year of Living Dangerously.” As if the Thai government’s PR campaign fell on deaf ears you’re left wondering if the red shirts are no front. The last words belong to the opposition, it’s the government that’s in need of explanations. Add some somber music and there you have a classic drama.
There is always the danger of superficiality and clichés when outsiders try insider reports. It’s suggested the poor and innocent were only armed with slingshots and firecrackers. Still, we learn that the reds try to turn the pro-Thaksin movement into something very different, into a class war — and why is it that fewer people visit Siriraj Hospital these days?
Think what you want of our governor, but Sukhumbhand’s assessment of implicitly calling the red protest self-defeating gets lost amidst much “there’s no way out.” Sukhumbhand warns the rural people who were on the streets they’re the first to feel the effects of the protest. They’ll suffer. We hear Jatuporn, but no word about the cash war, war weapons, lies and deception.
No wonder the reports’ comments at Al Jazeera’s YouTube site are locked. Or is there a way out? And just a thought: If the reporter would ask his local colleagues how to pronounce local names he’d only gain credibility.
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