Thailand's Broken Democracy

JAMES NACHTWEY—VII FOR TIME

Remembering Bangkok's dead Symbolic coffins painted red

When I was a kid growing up in bangkok, we used to have "coup days" — school would be canceled because of the threat of tanks rolling down the street. I loved the bonus vacation time, but the fact that putsches, or rumors of them, happened so often as to merit a specific type of holiday proved just how unstable Thailand's political landscape was. Thirty years later, not much has changed in one of the world's favorite vacation destinations. As red-shirted antigovernment protesters have besieged Bangkok for a month now, my son's school has been intermittently shuttered. And the...

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