Protesters led by the right wing People’s Alliance for Democracy have occupied Bangkok’s main airport and demanded the resignation of prime minister Somchai Wongsawat, having brought down a government earlier this year and played a role in the 2006 coup that brought down former prime minister Thaksin.
Despite its name, the People’s Alliance for Democracy is deeply anti-democratic. It argues for banning the “insufficiently educated” from voting and says parliament should be partly appointed by the monarchy.
A sign of their upper class connections is the attendance of Queen Sirikit at the funeral of a PAD protester, along with the army chief and the leader of the opposition. The army has refused to disperse protesters at the airport, leaving the government to rely on the police.
We say: this reactionary movement must be resisted on the streets. But Thailand’s exploited workers and peasants cannot rely on the police or on the government to defend their democratic rights. They should organise mass protests of their own in defence of democracy, and extend it into a struggle against the capitalist system that both the government and opposition defend.