Red Shirts (Thailand)

The Red Shirts (Thai: เสื้อแดง, romanized: Suea Daeng) are a political movement in Thailand, formed following the 2006 coup d'état which deposed then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Originally synonymous with the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), a group formed to protest the coup and resulting military government, the movement subsequently expanded to include various groups with diverse political priorities. Its members range from left-wing and/or liberal activists and academics to the large number of Thaksin's rural and working-class supporters.[1][2][3] The movement emerged as the result of socio­economic changes in Northeast Thailand in the 1990s and 2000s, including a growing middle class, rising aspirations, and an increasing awareness of the extreme inequality and of the fundamentally weak democracy in Thailand,[4][5] typified by Thailand's primate city problem.[6] Red Shirts group dynamics center on frustrated economic and political aspirations to improve democracy and overcome inequality,[7] which contributed to the 2009 Thai political unrest and the 2010 Thai political protests,[8] as well as shared suffering at the hand of the ruling class hegemony.[9][10][11] As with other minorities, the Red Shirts have been dehumanized and demonized,[12] with insults such as "Red Buffalo" (Thai: ควายแดง, romanized: khwai daeng; khwai, 'buffalo', is a common insult in Thai meaning a stupid person), since reclaimed by some of its targets. Their claims for transitional justice following the 2010 Thai military crackdown have been subverted by the Thai state.[13]

Selling red shirts during UDD protests in 2010, Bangkok.