JF:
> In Japan wasn't land reform imposed by the American > occupation under MacArthur? This is what I've read from all the standard sources (like Reischauer). It seems to have created the Japanese equivalent of the Republican-voting dairy farmer of the MidAtlantic US. They hold a few rice paddies and vote for the conservative elements of what ever party prevails--usually LDP but also Komeito. > > >From what I can see what's been going on in Thailand > is a class struggle accompanied by a split in that > country's ruling economic and political elites. > Besides the billionaire entrepreneur they > had at least one general (who was assasinated) > and apparently at least some degree of support > within the country's security forces. When > the government decided to suppress the > red shirts, there were reports of clashes > between different army and police units. Yes, there was talk of a civil war, but I doubt it. I'm not even sure who killed the general. You have to remember that any government organ like security forces or military will draw heavily on the very sort of people who will identify with the red shirts. Also, any successful 'national development state' will recruit and indoctrinate people outside the current elite as the elite expands. So it would seem the establishment was split on what to do about the protests. But if I'm reading the situation right, the silence of the king means the anti-red elements did what most of the establishment supported, however reluctantly. In such a situation we see Thailand is not that different from S. Korea or Taiwan in its authoritarian approaches to dealing with dissent. I think another factor is unease over the economy because Thailand suffered a lot in the 96-98 crisis and the current global crisis looks to be still unfolding as a global crisis. Another factor to consider is the Muslims in the south. Thaksin's actions against them were brutal and creating far too much tension with Malaysia and Indonesia. CJ _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
