THAILAND'S MOMENT OF TRUTH - ZENJOURNALIST

act of limited or temporary noncooperation. If the number of persons willing to act
is small, then the initial act might, for example, involve placing flowers at a place of
symbolic importance. On the other hand, if the number of persons willing to act is
very large, then a five minute halt to all activities or several minutes of silence might
be used. In other situations, a few individuals might undertake a hunger strike, a vigil
at a place of symbolic importance, a brief student boycott of classes, or a temporary
sit-in at an important office. Under a dictatorship these more aggressive actions
would most likely be met with harsh repression.
Certain symbolic acts, such as a physical occupation in front of the dictator’s palace
or political police headquarters may involve high risk and are therefore not advisable
for initiating a campaign. [Sharp, From Dictatorship to Democracy]
On June 26, 2010, Sombat tied red ribbons around a street sign at the northeast corner of
the Ratchaprasong intersection. It was a simple, individual gesture of resistance against the
government’s efforts to erase the memory of the May killings. He was immediately arrested,
and held in detention for two weeks.
Just two days after his release, on July 11, Sombat was back at Ratchaprasong, this time with
dozens of supporters. Around 30 protesters suddenly swept through the crowds of Sunday
afternoon shoppers and converged on the street sign. Some began fixing red tape and ribbons
around the sign; others held up placards printed in Thai and English with the words: “People
died here.” They chanted the same words, in Thai, a simple remembrance of the dead.
Three protesters daubed in red paint lay motionless on the sidewalk in a symbolic piece of
street theatre. And as a small crowd of curious onlookers and journalists gathered, Sombat
appeared, wearing a white T-shirt printed with the slogan “I am red”, and wrapped a red cloth
banner around the base of the sign. It was a tiny protest, particularly by the standards of the
vast Red Shirt rallies earlier in the year, and that was its strength. Several police were present
to observe, but kept their distance, even though political gatherings of more than five people
were banned under the state of emergency. The authorities had learned by now that arresting
people merely for tying red ribbons to a street sign and saying that people had died in the area
made them look heavy-handed and oppressive. The protesters dispersed unmolested, having
widened the space for peaceful political dissent a little further.
Week after week, Sombat’s “Red Sunday” group staged events so self-consciously nonconfrontational
that the authorities they very successfully satirized remained unsure how
seriously to take them or how to respond. On July 25 there was a Red aerobics event in
Lumphini Park; some of those who took part in the exercise session were daubed with fake
blood or painted their faces into the grotesque death masks of ghosts or zombies. On August
1, scores of Red Shirts lay on the ground at the Democracy Monument in memory of the
dead. Another event in Lumpini park on August 8 drew more than 500 people; a week later
it was 600. On September 12, Sombat organized a Red bicycle rally in the area around
Ratchaprasong, pausing at places where people had died during the May violence. Cyclists
yelled “soldiers shot the people” and “we do not forget” as they pedalled along the streets.
Meanwhile, a small group of students from the Prakai Fire Group with ghoulish make-up and
torn, bloodied clothes held a procession on foot and by Skytrain from Wat Pathum Wanaram.
Many dismissed these events as irrelevant, and Sombat was often portrayed in the media as a
lunatic or a clown. But they were part of a deliberate strategy to expand the possibilities for
protest and help potential supporters overcome their fear, ahead of a large commemorative
rally planned for September 19. As Sombat told Peter Boyle of the Green Left Weekly:
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We organised a process to break down this fear. The build-up events were symbolic
appearances that were not big enough to provoke the full force of government.