That's not my name

Someone starts the cd and my worries begin. Its not from the shadow boxing. I don't fear the fight, I don't fear getting hurt, instead my phobia is of developing a Pavlovian response to the music. Just like a dog who rings a bell to get food and so loves bells I worry that this old mutt might turn into a fighting machine when The Tings Tings come on. My fists punch the air and I think about kneeing people. I imagine the dim lights of Lumpinee, the smell of menthol, the third man in the ring and my blows landing against my opponent as the lead singer screams "That's not my name!" When I get punched I can only envision myself kicking my opponent back in the arm repeatedly, screaming over and over and over again; "That's not my NAME! THAT'S NOT MY NAME!!!"



We play the same few cds over and over here at the gym which reinforces my actions to music. This can obviously be a good thing, like who doesn't get excited during the Rocky soundtrack, but the Ting Tings? Bummer.

I am slated to fight at Lumpinee on February 26th. Its in about 2 and a half weeks. I have to drop about four kilos which is the only thing that is haunting me. I hate cutting weight. I'm hoping to drop down to 68 or 69 kilos the week before the fight that way I only have to cut two or 3 kilos. Maybe if I quit eating all that fucking rice.

My time here at Sitmonchai has been enjoyable. I've been practicing my Thai a lot and of course have been tested several times on it. Unfortunately my version of Talay Jai is still somewhat stilted sounding. P' Ay yelled at me about it telling me to sing smoother. Unfortunately I'm no Carrabao. Soon though, soon.

Chimatli discovered another good hit with CarCrash International that is worth checking out.



I've also joined twitter on the suggestion of several friends out here. Twitter seems particularly good for news streaming. There is a constant run of information about the recent surge of activity on the Thai/Cambodian border. The conflict has been a rallying point for the nationalistic sect of the yellow shirts. It should be interesting to see what happens. There are rumors of a coming coup, but there are always rumors of coups out here.

I've been following Thai politics pretty closely out here which is interesting. There are a couple good sites I'd recommend:

Khi Kwaii

Bangkok pundit

New Mandala

Letters from Thailand

Bangkok, the eternal city, the city of angels... My plane landed late at night, and it took me some time to be processed through immigration and to the sathorn house. I've been staying with friends whom I've lived with before. They moved from where we were living to a new spot in the silom business district. Next to the house is one of the largest office buildings in the area. While most of the international businesses run down sukumwit, the silom features most of the international banks. Droves of office workers flood our small little side soi during the day to eat at the local side street restaurants. The steady stream of hungry proles has inflated the price of food around here from the reasonable price of 30 baht for a dish to 35 baht. Unbelievable!!!

I've spent the last few days since my arrival having sanuk. This has meant lots of clubs both at appropriate hours and after hours. I've spent two nights this week at the after hours club Wongs, which is located close to the sathon house, a short 40 baht ride. Staying up til 5 am drinking at a bar with friends is an outrageous amount of fun but has been damaging to having a regular sleep schedule.

Along with my exciting night life I've been running and exploring the area. The house is located close to Lumpini park. I've enjoyed running to the park and seeing the serene crab grass landscape. They have a handful of ridiculous exercise machines that are for public use. Old people tend to like the weird contraptions the most, I guess age makes one more excited for oddities.

Coming back to BKK has made me interested in Thai politics once again. A friend and I were able to check out the mass gathering around Central World today. With over 30,000 people attending the protest shows the obvious strength and continuing divide within the country. The protest was peaceful when I was there and mainly were people hanging out listening to Isaan music, and/or the speakers. Former Prime Minister Thaksin spoke at one point via a cell phone call, evidently the red shirts do conference calls. The protest was to commemorate the deaths of protesters last year. There was a violent class between the red shirts and the police in which 90 were injured or killed. There has been an interesting class aspect to the red/yellow shirt division with the red shirts being composed of the peasant class and working class within thailand while the yellow shirts tend to be more middle and upper class.

A friend and I were talking about the take over of space between the two colors. The red shirts have taken over a main center of Bangkok business shutting down the high scale shopping in the area. This impact of local/urban business can be juxtaposed to the yellow shirts take over of the Suvarnabhumi airport in eastern Bangkok. While the red shirts impacted local economy the yellow shirts laid seige to the national and international economy of Thailand. The seizure of planes at the airport damaged travel tremendously and Thailand's economy is bolstered heavily by tourism. Looking at the take over of space we can see the class/cultural differences between the two groups. For the peasantry the appropriation of an urban area can be seen as an attempt to claim a "right to the city," removed from Bangkok itself the peasants have a spectacular relationship to the city. Most of the capital is centred in the city while little goes out to support the areas in which they live. With the growing popularity of the internet in the Isaan area the peasants are gaining a virtual access to the city without a physical port to plug into. The yellow shirt acquisition of the airport was an attempt to wrest national power back into their hands, it can be seen as a "right to the state."

The economic impact of the airport take over and the occupation of the Central World area was roughly the same, according to my Thai friend, a native Bangkok resident. While the economic damage is the same the amount of time the two occupations took have been starkly different. The yellow shirts were far more strategically savvy by taking over the airport causing more damage in a week than the two month siege by the red shirts. The red shirts caused a fair amount of terror though as they burned buildings whilst the yellow shirts engaged in no property damage. This is a class difference as well, poor people are always viewed as more violent than the cultured and non violent rich, who merely engage in systematic violence hegemonically.

The violence between the two camps will probably continue on. This will be unfortunate in the coming few years as the health of the 85 year old King is in decline. The King's reign has been a benign impact on Thailand and his regency has been a visible stabilizer within the country during its series of coups and instabilities. With the death of the King a power vacuum will be created. The next in line is the unpopular second child of the royal family, a son. The stabilizing void caused by his death is also not talked about amongst the Thais as they revere their god status king whom has an Orwellian Big Brother appearance throughout the country and abroad (next time you stop in a Thai Restaurant $10 says there's a picture somewhere in the place with a picture of the King. If not you're probably not in a Thai restaurant).

Politics should be interesting out here to say the least.

While running regularly I haven't been training. Hopefully I'll get to that soon. In the meantime I've been catching up on some great music. My latina musical swami Chimatli has been posting some great jams of late. Kid sister throws some solid beats, while Deux has bitching electronic. I of course like the Sisters of Mercy cover that she put on. In addition to the jams from Chimatli I've been listening to some new electronica. My friend recently suggested Boys Noise. Boys Noise falls into the same camp as Bloody Beetroots, Dj Steve Aoiki, and Mstrkft. Arguably this new "hard" electronic is distinctively punk as noted by my homie over at Dead Time Pacifies.



Given my copious amount of free time I plan on keeping the blog updated regularly going back to my once a week production schedule. Stay tuned for more awesome shit!!!

Red Shirt Redux- From the Economist

FOR much of April and May, Bangkok’s Rajprasong shopping district was taken over by a raucous protest movement that was eventually quashed by the army. On Sunday, four months after that episode ended in bloodshed, the “red shirts” were back. Several thousand showed up to chant anti-government slogans, release red balloons, tie ribbons on lampposts and call for justice and democracy. If you squinted, and ignored the charred shopping centre torched during the clashes, it was a vision of the April demonstrations. But Sunday’s influx of protesters did not linger. By evening, the crowd had drifted away, having made their point: the red shirts are back.

Thailand’s prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, has tried to push the tragic events of April and May into the background. He has appointed various committees to investigate the violence and to address social and economic inequities in Thailand. Officials tried to frame the red-shirt revolt as a power play by Thailand’s former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been accused of bankrolling the protests and inciting violence. Thailand’s economy has picked up steam, defying predictions of a downturn in the second quarter. Mr Abhisit’s supporters hope that continued growth and a large dollop of welfare spending will save him from defeat when parliamentary elections are held, sometime next year.

Sunday’s gathering was a riposte to such glib optimism. Red shirts are still fuming over their rough treatment by the army, which stands squarely behind Mr Abhisit. A popular slogan at Rajprasong was "Stop Killing People". Others made the point that though 91 people were killed, most of them at the hands of heavily armed soldiers, the army has shown no remorse. “We want society to remember that people died here. Everything the government says is one-sided,” said a middle-aged woman. As if to confirm her view, Thailand’s state-run broadcast media largely ignored the protest in Bangkok, as well as a large rally held in Chiang Mai.

The red shirts are no angels. Armed militants emerged from the shadows during clashes with troops; some of the dead and injured were soldiers, including a decorated army colonel. Low-level thuggery has often marred red-shirt protests in Bangkok and elsewhere. The charred shopping centre is a reminder of the chaos they unleashed on the capital's downtown in May. Many Thais are turned off by both the pro-Thaksin red shirts and their arch-rivals, the royalist "yellow shirts", who occupied Bangkok’s international airports in December 2008.

Mr Abhisit rode to power on the back of the yellow-shirt protest movement. He has failed to bring them to task for their transgressions, even while hundreds of red shirts were rounded up and jailed in May. Much of the movement’s leadership is in prison or on the run. Mr Thaksin lives overseas, and flits between countries on various passports, thumbing his nose at Thai efforts to extradite him over a politically motivated corruption conviction. He is among the red-shirt figures facing terrorism charges, though few expect him to stand trial.

Bangkok has been under a state of emergency since April, but Sunday’s protest was allowed to go ahead. That it ended peacefully may give the government room to lift the emergency when it comes up for renewal in two weeks. But that does not mean that the capital is secure. A series of bombings and attempted bombings have been blamed on militants among the red shirts. Thailand’s southernmost provinces have been under emergency rule for five years as troops battle a shadowy Muslim-led insurgency. That conflict shows no sign of ending. The national politics is coming to bear an uncanny resemblance.

It's no sin to kill communists

By AMBIKA AHUJA, Associated Press Writer.

When Samak Sundaravej became Thailand's prime minister on Feb. 6, pundits wondered how long it would take the right-wing firebrand to put his foot in his month. Not long at all it turns out. For the past two weeks, the 72-year-old Samak has turned the spotlight on his past with comments that have shocked Thailand and focused heated debate on a massacre of student protesters three decades ago. The pugnacious prime minister publicly denied any role in the carnage of Oct. 6, 1976, and told CNN in a recent interview only "one unlucky guy" was killed that day _ even though historical records show almost 50 perished. "No deaths, one unlucky guy being beaten and being burned," Samak said of the death toll when asked about the incident. "Only one guy died that day." Violence was unleashed that day on leftist student demonstrators gathered to protest the return of ousted Prime Minister Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn, one of the so-called "Three Tyrants" _ national leaders who were ousted by a student-led uprising in 1973. Photographs and video footage from the time shows security forces and right-wing paramilitary troops firing weapons into the campus of Bangkok's Thammasat University. Protesters were shot, beaten, hung, and set ablaze. Bodies were publicly mutilated. Some were dragged around the university's football field. According to the official record, 46 people were killed and hundreds more were injured. Some human rights groups and witnesses suggest the death toll was in the hundreds. Samak's dismissal of one of the country's most traumatic events sparked outrage among the public, academics and relatives of the victims. It also prompted intense soul-searching in a country where talk of the 1976 massacre is all but taboo, partly because of the failure of any authorities to intervene to stop the brutal spectacle of Thais killing Thais. Newspapers have seized on the incident to criticize Samak, academics have organized lectures to discuss the rarely mentioned subject, and Samak's remarks have been brought up repeatedly during parliamentary policy debate last week. Samak should be "ashamed" of "his insensitive, inflammatory and plainly inaccurate comments," the Bangkok Post, one of the country's main English-language newspapers, said in a Feb. 13 editorial. Samak "knows very well what went on because he played a key role." Critics have said Samak's anti-communist rhetoric on radio and at rallies at the time helped stoke sentiment that prompted the lynching of students. Samak _ like others in the Thai establishment then _ subscribed to a motto of the extreme right wing, "It's no sin to kill communists." As interior minister at the time, critics said Samak had hundreds of "leftists" arrested in a witch hunt reminiscent of the anti-communist persecution spearheaded by U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s. But Samak has repeatedly denied any involvement in the incident, which came at a time when Indochina had fallen under communist rule and Thailand was deeply polarized between right and left. "Why did a murderer with blood on his hand receive more than a million votes?" Samak asked rhetorically during parliamentary debate this week, referring to his landslide election victory for Bangkok governor in 2000. Analysts said Samak's controversial remarks so early in his tenure could undermine his premiership, threatening to turn even his allies against him. "It has become a hot issue that might be a rallying point, bringing his current political allies and his opposition together," said Kanokrat Lertchoesakul, a professor at Chulalongkorn University. "It's an emotional issue for many people across today's political spectrum." Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee and Chaturon Chaisaeng _ allies of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and now supporters of Samak _ are among many contemporary politicians who were leftist student leaders in 1976. On Saturday, Chaturon said Samak "should gather accurate information before speaking" about the incident. Charnvit Kasetsiri, a former rector of Thammasat University and a historian, said Samak's clumsy remarks could provide the opportunity to re-examine "a traumatic history that hasn't healed," and force others who took part to answer for their crimes. After the incident, an amnesty was issued that prevented any of those responsible for the massacre from being brought to justice. "How many people in Thailand actually know about what happened then? It's not even in the history textbooks in our school curriculum," Charnvit said. "The ruling elite want it forgotten because it goes against mainstream conservatism that is preferred in Thailand. But it reopened the wounds of many people who were there."

The Invisible Hand

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on Sunday hit out at an "invisible hand" he says continues to pull the strings behind attempts to rock the government and the People Power party.
"Although the government has been formed, this (invisible hand) never gives up," he said in his weekly TV address.
"The leader should watch out."
He said he would disclose who is the invisible hand, and take action against anyone trying to undermine his administration.
After the programme, he told reporters he was gathering evidence to take legal action against those trying to undermine the administration and his party, including attempts to intimidate people to put an end to the PPP.
Mr Samak said opponents were using a three-pronged approach to try to rock the new government:
False reports he would abolish the Bank of Thailand's 30 per cent capital control measure
Erroneous stories that he was trying to place former executive members of the disbanded Thai Rak Thai party on the boards of state enterprises
Poll fraud allegations against House Speaker Yongyuth Tiyapairat.
Mr Samak accused the invisible hand of being behind all three issues, which have received wide media coverage.
"There is something fishy in news reporting" because of vague news sources, he added.
He denied interference in the Finance Ministry and the policy on capital control measures. He defended Finance Minister and PPP secretary-general Surapong Suebwonglee, who was forced to comment on the former TRT members banned from politics for five years.
The central issue, however, was the result of the investigation into Mr Yongyuth, a PPP deputy leader.
The prime minister blasted those who leaked the results of an inquiry into Mr Yongyuth's case undertaken by an Election Commission panel.
Mr Samak attached those who leaked the results to the media, saying it was a "dirty trick" aimed at destroying the government and the PPP.
The EC found him guilty of bribing local officials in exchange for votes in the Dec 23 general election. Mr Yongyuth will probably be forced to step aside from the House speaker's chair if the EC agrees with the investigation.
He could be banned from politics for five years if found guilty by the Supreme Court. If he is convicted, the party could be disbanded if there is evidence that it was aware of Mr Yongyuth's illegal actions but did nothing to stop them, because he was deputy leader of the party at the time of the alleged vote buying.