Thais divided and marking this historic month in their own ways

One has to be at a certain age to know what “October” used to be all about. And those people must be wishing things were as simple today as they were in the 1970s. There was unspeakable cruelty back then, but at least things were clearly “black” or “white”. 

With red shirts and yellow shirts both growing out of the pro-democracy uprising of that historic decade, it has been an intriguing evolution. This year, we again mark October with a wavering knowledge of “dictatorship” and “democracy”.

One of the telltale news headlines this week has it that Thaksin Shinawatra is going for broke while his political camp has superior parliamentary power. 

That this invokes extremely different emotions and interpretation among Thais, shows how divisive the country’s politics has become. The lines have been blurred between heroes and villains, and right and wrong.

October activists of the 70s have parted ways. Some joined the People’s Alliance for Democracy, or simply became independent anti-Thaksin crusaders. 

Others have been backing him to the hilt, or even giving him strategic advice. Studies have been conducted on why people who fought and shed so much blood and tears together in the old days, have gone in opposite ideological directions and become instrumental in the country’s seemingly irreconcilable situation.

Is the parting of ways a part of growing politically old? This is a tricky question. 

If the nation has become “older” now, does that mean the October dramas of the 1970s are the result of being young? And yet, if the 70s represent a politically young Thailand, the current political impasse must be indisputable evidence that we haven’t aged well.

If the Octobers of the ‘70s taught us about black and white, perhaps these are the times to learn about grey, which has become the real colour of Thai politics. And while grey is a much harder colour to learn, we can take some concrete lessons acquired from the “black and white” classroom. One of these lessons is that freedom of opinion, or freedom of expression, is the only thing that can keep the truth – or the hope of it – alive. 

Another lesson is that stereotyping is a very dangerous thing, because it can divide people who are supposed to be friends, or reinforce the belief of politicians – or anyone pulling the strings – that the only way to win power is to fan hatred.

If we can’t learn these key lessons, the Octobers of the 70s will mean little in the long-term. The same political tricks will continue to be applied, albeit in more advanced ways. Politics will remain the battleground of propagandists, but what’s different today is that the “casualties of war” will be more numerous. 

Politics was more limited in the 1970s, so the “Thammasat massacre”, or the exodus to the jungles of student activists, did not threaten to tear the country apart. Today, if things go wrong, the consequences will be far more terrible.

Thais are marking the month of October differently now. That is perhaps the best we can hope for. That every Thai, whether they are yellow, red or multi-coloured, can share history – albeit from a different perspective – is better than having no history to share. That may be the simplest and most valuable lesson we can draw from this extraordinary political evolution.