Pheu Thai’s recent decision to embrace parties linked with the 2010 bloody military crackdown on red-shirt protesters may have shaken many members of the movement. However, it has far from destroyed its spirit.
“The red shirts have existed and will continue to exist,” affirmed Thida Thavornseth, a former leader of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), the group that led the red-shirt movement for more than a decade.
While noting that the movement got behind the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) Party and its reincarnations, People’s Power and Pheu Thai, Thida prefers to see “red” as synonymous with the struggle against injustice. The red shirts, she explained, are people who want to secure power for the people.
“I can tell you there are still many such red shirts in the country,” she said.
Who are the red shirts?
Thida said red shirts can be divided into…
